Breathe In, Breathe Out 'Asana is that perfect moment when the body is utterly still, effortless; sensation and breathing suspend themselves so that time comes to a halt.
Then: happiness in a moment of infinity.'
Patanjali, Yoga Sutras II, 47
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (Penguin Classics)
Pregnancy Yoga
Untitled Document
CLIFTON HAMPDEN
Tune in with your own body, enjoy a special time with your baby.
Beginners/confirmed practitioners: all welcome!
Group/one to one sessions available on request.
- Breathing awareness and techniques can help you during labour and delivery.
- Regular practice helps with concentration and relaxation.
- Simple stretching exercises relieves backache and make you stronger physically and emotionally.
Please contact Laurence on
01865 407 661 or 075 546 35 112
yogin67@gmail.com.
Come enjoy our friendly sessions.
Tariffs CLIFTON HAMPDEN
Drop in: £9 each session (90 mins)
Four classes card: £32 (to be used within five weeks)
Four Pregnancy classes: £40
Ten classes card: £80 (to be used within eleven weeks. If used within 10 weeks, eleventh class is FREE)
Group and One to One sessions also available. £25/ one to one. £36 / one to two. Milage not included.
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By Laurence Nagy, on 13 February 2011
I practiced the “no blinking” exercise with two students the other night. The idea is to fix you attention on a small object or here on the top of a candle flame and try not to blink for a few breaths, getting the mind completely involved in the small flame. When you are about to blink again, close your eyes and watch for the light to reappear in the dark
Process
Sit down and place a lighted candle about two feet in front of you with the flame at eye level. Gaze at the middle of the flame until your eyes water, internal Trataka can then be performed, by closing the eyes and allowing the image of the flame to appear. Try to keep the image clear and unwavering. Repeat the process until you can hold the image externally without blinking as well as internally, without wavering.
Possible benefits
Physiologically, Trataka “cures” diseases of the eye such as eyestrain, headache, astigmatism, and myopia. The eyes become clear and bright and able to see the reality beyond external appearances.
Psychologically, Trataka develops clairvoyance, telepathy, and telekinesis as well as strong will power and ekagrata, meaning single pointedness, without which concentration and meditation are not possible.
The Hatha Yoga practitioner uses the purified and tuned instrument of the body in order to gain true perception of reality. Swami Muktibodhananda writes in the Bihar School commentary on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika* that vision depends not only on the organs of the eyes, which are lenses or mediums for external perception but on the entire optic tracks. When you look at something, an image is projected onto the retina via the eyes, which stimulates the retina to fire impulses back to the visual cortex of the brain where an inner image is mapped out. When the image of the external object is stabilized on the retina, and held there for some time, without wavering, then the image will completely disappear and along with it a suspension of normal mental processes; in other words the mind will be turned off. More info here
By Laurence Nagy, on 1 February 2010
When you come to Yoga, please feel free to feel tired , even exhausted, even achy. Yoga is there to sort you out.
BUT, if you have your period, PLEASE let the teacher know. Some postures are better for you, some are not advisable (inverted postures, strong twists).
If you have a bad back, bad foot, a stiff neck ,
never mind. Do come and ask the teacher to find for you a nice relaxing pose. A lot of discomforts can be relieved through relaxation.
Please, do speak to the teacher, either before or after the class. It’s very pleasant to know how you feel and if the class has been beneficial.
If you really need special attention, then please ask for a one to one session.
By Laurence Nagy, on 20 January 2010
I’ve just read some of Ganga White’s Yoga Beyond Belief and was intrigued by the chapter called “Pain is your friend”.
Some teachers pretend Yoga presents no risk. In fact things can go wrong, according to White who first welcomed big names like Patthabi Joïs and B.K.S. Iyengar to Los Angeles in the 1970′s.
Ganga explains how he started practicing Yoga without paying much “attention to sequencing, structural dynamics, alignment and physiological principles of kinesiology”. He was more or less told to achieve the postures.
“Soon I started developing back pain.” He finally had to stay in bed for a month. But when he started to feel better, he also started practicing again, finding new ways of practicing. Finding awareness. ” Initially, the pain limited me to only the simplest of poses and I could not bend much at all.”
Ganga realised that pain was “a language”, the “voices of body intelligence”. “Pain is necessary and defines the limits and the edges of strain and injury.”
 Ganga White and Peter Sellers He kept exploring new ways of practicing, learnt the “inner process” of Yoga. The inner voice of Yoga.
“Sharp pain can mean “Stop!” Dull pain can mean to go slowly and breathe as we move energy into new areas.” … He “began to see how these inner messages literally guided [him] to adjust [his] movements’s subtlety and showed [him] the way to heal [himself].”
“There is no magical technique or practice that will keep us free from harm, injury or physical problems… It is staying constantly alert and vigilant that will guide us in the right direction.”
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Biography Laurence qualified in Vinyasa Yoga with Gérard Arnaud, Paris, in 2008 after 12 years of regular practice in the UK, Japan and France. She also qualified in Pregnancy Yoga with the British Wheel of Yoga in 2011. For her own practice, Laurence regularly attends workshops at the Iyengar Institute in London and in Oxford.
Opened to various styles, Laurence has a preference for Vinyasa sequences which involve connecting postures with breath-synchronised movements. As a teacher, Laurence is aware that Vinyasa can be too strong for complete beginners or students with a medical condition. Her close experience with Hatha Yoga and Iyengar "styles" allows her to adapt her practice to mixed abilities. Her classes are up and running in South Oxfordshire, where she lives with her husband and three children. She loves teaching and hopes to share all the benefits she gets from yoga with her students.
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