Tue 31st January 1.30pm – 2.00pm With Kirsty
Thu 2nd February 1.30pm – 2.00pm With Kirsty
Sat 4th February 2.00pm – 2.30pm With Madelaine
Sat 11th February 2.00pm – 2.30pm With Madelaine

To understand what yoga is really about, you need to experience it for yourself.
Initially it seems to be no more than a series of strange physical postures, but in time,
anyone who continues with regular practice becomes aware of a subtle change in their
approach to life creating a more balanced and harmonised life. Yoga is for everyone
regardless of your age, fitness level.

Sunstone Women are offering free yoga taster sessions on the above days. It’s open
to ladies that have never tried Yoga before but would like to try it out for them selves.
Non Members are welcome to come along so bring a friend. All taster sessions must
be pre booked at reception.

The benefits of Yoga.

Physical benefits.

Flexibility; Stretching your tight body in new ways will help it to become more flexible, bringing greater range of motion to your muscles and joints. Over time, you can expect to gain flexibility in your hamstrings, back,
shoulders and hips.

Strength; Many yoga poses require you to support the weight of your own body in new ways, including balancing on one leg,[ such as the tree pose] or supporting yourself with your arms[ such as the Downward facing dog]. Some exercises require you to move slowly in and out of poses, which also increase strength, inc Core Strength.

Muscle tone; As a by-product of getting stronger, you can expect to see an increased muscle tone.

Pain Prevention; Increased flexibility and strength can help prevent the causes of some back pain. Many people who suffer from back pain spend a lot of time sitting behind a computer or driving a car. This can cause tightness and spinal compression, which you can begin to address with Yoga. It can also improve your alignment, leading to prevention of many other types of pain.

Better breathing; Most of us breathe very shallowly into the lungs and don’t give much thought to how we breathe. Yoga breathing exercises focus the attention on the breath and teach us how to better use our lungs, which benefits the entire body. Certain types of breathing can also calm the Stress response, which has both physical and mental benefits.

Mental Benefits.

Mental Calmness; Concentrating on what your body is doing has the effect of bringing calmness to the mind. Yoga also introduces you to relaxation techniques, which help to quieten our thought processes.

Stress Reduction; Physical activity is good for relieving stress, this is particularly true of yoga. Because of the concentration required, your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away during the time you are doing yoga.

At Sunstone we offer 3 different kinds of Yoga classes.

Hatha yoga.

A yoga class that includes breathing techniques, various postures and relaxation and concentration practises.

Ashtanga yoga.

A more dynamic and challenging yoga combining various postures together.

Iyengar Yoga.

More straightforward and structured-improves posture, flexibility, alignment and general body strength.

January 2012 – View / Download (pdf)

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