Great question by the way…

In all yoga classes, we are asked to come inwards and to notice what is present. We also say “only do what feels good in your body” or “only go to a 6 out of 10”. Yet, how often have you or your students gone too far? Or pushed or reached into a pose to a point where you were unstable? Or to get the ‘best’ value? Or to just do our best?

All our lives we have been taught to lead from our head, to achieve, to strive. We have learned to push through pain and exhaustion, to keep going. Think about it, how often do you say yes to meeting someone when what you need is an early night, or how often do you not eat because you have some work to finish, or even drive tired because you’re in a hurry. 

Even in a yoga class, how often have you waited until after savasana to use the bathroom. 

Each time we do this, we ignore our body’s internal cues. And this can be necessary at times. I had great sympathy for my teenage girls when they were doubled over with cramps and feeling awful. AND I still told them to get their butts out of bed and get to school. However,  there is a cost. Today, what should be the exception has become a habit, and we don’t even notice! In a Yoga class this shows up as not knowing where our left arm is or not knowing when we should say no. 

Embodied Yoga bucks this trend by allowing the student to focus inward on their body, their sensations and experiences. As teachers, we are less focused on poses as a shape to achieve. Instead students are encouraged, while given time, space and detailed cues to listen to their own bodies, to find out what works for them at any given time and to develop the agency to know what feels right in their body and what doesn’t. In short; our focus is on the people, not the poses.

At the Yoga Picnic, we will have a range of classes using this method. Discover how we can use it in a Flow class with Mary, or to BUILD TRUE STRENGTH with SARAH, or to have some fun and play with PARNER POSES with KATE and DORATA, or join LAURA to find out more about the principles and why they are so important.

As Yoga Teachers, you can explorere the WHY of an embodied approach to all asanas, the purpose and the benefits of the ARUNA METHOD, which begins with release/melt, then works on integration/the roll, then comes containment and finally true strength.. You will learn to lead classes which empower your students.

We focus on alignment, but not alignment in the traditional sense. Rather than focusing on external alignment cues, you will cue your students to find their inner stability and power knowing that this will probably look different in each body within the class. This is not teaching for aesthetics, it is teaching for true strength and wellness.

Cuing for an embodied class is very different to a regular class. Come and see the difference for yourself.

Our bodies hold patterns, patterns of movement of ease of habit. Somatic Yoga helps us to identify these patterns, gently interrogate them, consciously find the freedom to choose a different path and ultimately find more ease and more freedom in our movements.

And, yes this can be hard to imagine without experiencing it. So, imagine a grassy field, and in this field you see a track in the long grass. This is the path made by the rabbits. Yet as it is a well worn path it is the path you take. You could have walked anywhere within the field, but if you are like me, you choose the easiest path. Your body does the same. 

Now, think of putting your coat on! Your shoulder most likely follows the same pattern each time. Chances are you have no idea you do this. BUT what if you were to discover your shoulder can move in all manner of ways, it can move in and out, up and down, and in circles. Imagine both the freedom and the reduced strain you would experience.

In somatic yoga we learn to notice our patterns, we allow the body to go into pattern and from there we gently begin to unravel pattern through “small” movements. I use air quotes as initially the movements may feel small, however the impact is huge. 

This is truly something to experience for yourself. 12pm Talamh Tent with Laura