Yoga with Ida

Yoga with Ida Strength & flexibility rooted in alignment and mindfulness.
30 years of practice • 15 years teaching. All levels welcome. By donation.

Saturdays 10:00-11:00am at James Bay United Church, Victoria. Daily classes include a variety of Hatha and Flow styles for all levels, Restorative, Yin, Meditation and Yoga Nidra in a safe and nurturing environment. We are also the only official yogahour® studio in Canada. Yogahour is a difficult but doable, alignment-based, expertly-taught 60-minute hatha flow class designed to make you as strong as you are flexible, as flexible as you are strong. It is affordable (only $10 drop-in) and accessible even to fit beginners who are injury-free. These classes are taught in a warm, not hot, classroom environment which promotes gentle release of muscle and fascia without compromising safety. High open ceilings, natural light, a peaceful atmosphere in the centre of downtown, highly-trained, knowledgeable, compassionate teachers and staff contribute to a nourishing experience for the body, breath, mind, and spirit.

09/25/2026

Tight hamstrings can limit the pelvis from tipping forward, causing us to compensate by rounding through the spine.

Bend your knees enough to hinge more freely from your hip joints while keeping your spine fairly long.

As your hamstrings become more flexible, you can gradually work toward straighter legs.

A deeper fold isn’t necessarily a better fold. Move from your hips, not your lower back.

09/18/2026

In Warrior 3, resist the temptation to lift the hip of your raised leg. Instead, keep both sides of your pelvis level and pointing toward the floor — even if that means lowering your back leg.

Why is this harder? Keeping the pelvis level requires the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, particularly in your standing leg, to work as important hip and pelvic stabilizers.

These muscles help keep your pelvis stable whenever you’re on one leg — which means they’re working every time you walk, climb stairs, run or balance. Strengthening them can improve balance and stability and help maintain good alignment through the hips and knees.

Top Tip: A lower back leg with level hips is more beneficial than a higher leg with an open, lifted hip.

Afterward, a nice figure-four stretch can feel wonderful through the glutes and outer hip you’ve just been working.

Strong hips = a steadier Warrior 3 — and a steadier you. 🧘‍♀️

09/12/2026

🦅 Eagle Pose

Keep your pelvis facing straight forward as you cross your thighs.

When you cross your left thigh over your right, for example, there’s a tendency for the pelvis to turn to the left with it. Instead, draw that left hip back so both hip points face forward. A square pelvis gives you a much steadier foundation and makes balancing easier — just like we talked about in Tree Pose last week.

And a little Eagle reminder: the opposite arm goes on top — left thigh over, right arm over (and vice versa).

Stable pelvis. Steadier Eagle. 🦅

09/04/2026

🌳 Tree Pose

When you bend your leg and open your knee to the side, keep your pelvis neutral and facing forward.

Your knee doesn’t need to point directly out to the side — how far it opens depends on the mobility of your hip. Avoid turning your whole pelvis just to get the knee farther back.

Keeping your pelvis neutral helps keep your centre of mass over your standing leg and allows the muscles around your standing hip to stabilize you, making it easier to balance.

Focus on opening from the hip while keeping your pelvis steady. 🌳

08/28/2026

Little Bridge Pose 🌉

There’s a lot I could say about Bridge, but start with these three things:

🦶 Feet: Use your hands to check your placement — outer heels about as wide as your outer hips, and close enough that your fingertips can just graze the backs of your heels.

💪 Shoulders: Tuck them underneath you and slightly toward your ears, rather than pulling them down toward your hips. This helps lift and open the chest.

🦵 Knees: They love to splay out. Press firmly through your inner heels to help keep your thighs and knees parallel.

Bridge strengthens the glutes, hamstrings and back body while opening the chest, shoulders and front of the hips.

Small adjustments. Completely different pose. 🧘‍♀️

08/21/2026

Chaturanga 💪

Keep your elbows over your wrists — which means you have to shift farther forward from plank than you probably think!

This alignment asks your triceps, chest (pectoralis major), shoulders and serratus to actually do the work. If your elbows drift way behind your wrists or flare out, you change how the load travels through the wrists, elbows and shoulders — something that matters even more when you’re repeating Chaturanga over and over.

It can be surprisingly hard to see your own alignment, so film yourself from the side or have someone check you.

Chaturanga is hard when you do it this way. That’s kind of the point. 😉

08/14/2026

Don’t lock your elbows! 💪

Keep your arms straight, but maintain a tiny softness through the elbows. When you lock or hyperextend them, it’s easy to rely on the joint itself to support your weight. Keeping the muscles active around the elbow and shoulder helps build strength and stability while supporting and protecting the joints.

And this isn’t just for Plank — think about it anytime you’re bearing weight through your arms: Down Dog, Side Plank, Tabletop and beyond.

✨ Use your muscles, not your joints.

08/07/2026

Half Moon is one of those poses that asks for a little bit of everything — balance, strength, mobility and focus.

Think of it almost like Triangle Pose tipped sideways onto one leg: the standing leg is strong (but doesn’t need to be locked straight), the lifted leg extends right out from the side body, and the whole pose gradually opens toward the side.

It’s fantastic for building strength through the legs, hips and core, while challenging your balance and body awareness. And like most balance poses, some days it feels effortless… and some days the floor seems to be moving. 😂

A few small alignment adjustments can make a BIG difference. My top tips are in the video. 🌙

07/31/2026

Warrior II isn’t about throwing your weight forward—it’s about finding balance.

One of the most common things I see is people leaning over the front leg. When you keep your torso stacked over your hips instead, you create a stronger, more stable pose and get a much better stretch through the front of the back hip and inner thigh.

Sometimes the smallest adjustment makes the biggest difference.

07/17/2026

Bakasana (Crane Pose) might look intimidating, but it’s actually one of the most approachable arm balances to learn.

It isn’t about brute strength. It’s about understanding where to place your body, creating the right points of contact, and trusting your foundation. Once those pieces come together, the pose often feels surprisingly achievable.

A great reminder that sometimes it’s less about effort, and more about alignment and awareness.

✨ Saturdays • 10–11 AM
James Bay United Church

Address

511 Michigan Street
Victoria, BC

Opening Hours

10am - 11am

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