Green Bean Yogi

Come and join me at Leeds Trinity Fitness on Wednesday evenings for an express Ashtanga Vinyasa inspired class! Attend as part of your membership or on a pay as you go basis 🌱

Tomorrow night we have a brand new class starting at 6pm. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga will be starting with Amy on a Wednesday evening 6pm until 6:45pm. If you want to give something new a try then head over to the MyWellness app or gives us a call on 0113 283 7155 to book your place.

Hello Yogis!
Online yoga is back after a much needed week away from the screen!
If you'd like to book any of the following classes, please send me a message so I can send you the zoom link:
-Tuesday 22nd 7:30pm 1hr Ashtanga
-Saturday 26th 9am 1hr 15mins Ashtanga
Classes are £5 as usual, if you'd like to make a block booking and save yourself a few pennies, DM me!
See you on your mats! 💜

🙃 Perspective 🙃

Pictured is a snapshot of a glorious sunny day at the beach, basking in the sunshine and playing about on the sand.

Not pictured? Spending most of the day stressing and worrying about work, life, everything, when I really should have made the most of a relaxing day off!

You can't always control the external stressors in life, there will always be challenges and hard times, but you can work on your resiliance and how you view these challenges. Clearly I have a lot of work to do!

In Patanjali's Sutra 2.33, he offers a solution: when negative thoughts arise, think of positive ones! Simple right? 😅 Not so easy when you're stressed and bogged down, but flipping your perspective can help you work through these challenges. Whether that be literally getting upside down on your mat, challenging your body and restoring your confidence in yourself and your strength or thinking of the bigger picture, and seeing these challenges as small hurdles rather than mountains.

The discipline of Yoga and the time spent on the mat, looking within and challenging the body can help you build that mental resiliance and give you more strength in these situations.

Practice makes.... Almost perfect! We're only human! 🙏

⚖️Balance and Yoga⚖️

When we think of yoga, it is perhaps obvious that a regular practice will help to improve your physical balance, but perhaps less obvious is the way in which your regular yoga practice and the skills you learn through it can spill off the mat and into your life at large! 🧘‍♀️

In the Yoga Sutra 2.46 written by Patanjali, it says about the physical practice of Yoga that: 'The Yoga postures should be steady and comfortable' ; easier said than done in a challenging Yoga class! However, when we start to look into the original wording of the text, the nuance of this phrase begins to come to light:

'Sthira-Sukham Asanam'

The word 'Sthira' can be understood to mean 'strength' or 'force' and 'Sukha'- 'ease' or 'grace'.

When we look at this interpretation in the context of our physical practice, we can see how we must balance or modulate the use of force and effort that is required to complete our daily practice: we must put in enough effort and exertion in order to complete the class and improve and develop our practice, but not so much that we cause injury or exhaustion. Somewhere between the two extremes we find the grace in the asana and thus; the balance.

If we look to apply this principle to our daily life off the mat, we can think in terms of energy. If, for example, we think of our energy as a finite resource, if we use all of our energy reserves on one aspect of our life such as work, we risk running out before we can harness that energy for the things we enjoy. I'm sure we've all experienced that burnout after a stressful week or month at work! Finding that 'Sukha', that ease and grace in life, relies on us using our energy wisely. Spending it where needed and reserving it where we can.

Yoga can be a powerful tool for introspection and understanding and recognising where your energy levels are at the present moment, and where your priorities lie. Using the knowledge of yourself you gain from your time on the mat, you can recognise when you start to feel drained and when you may need to reserve energy, likewise when you have much more to give!

If you made it to the end of this mini essay, you may enjoy one of my classes! 😁

**Classes available to book this weekend***

🌱 Saturday 9am-
An Ashtanga inspired energetic deep stretch wake up class including standing and seated poses and Sun Salutations from the Ashtanga Primary series.

🌱 Sunday 7:30pm-
An Ashtanga inspired stretch and unwind with an extended Pranayama and Savasana practice to help you reset and unwind, ready for the start of the week!

All classes are online currently, see the link in my bio or the eventbriteisting to book!

👀 Watch this space for in person classes soon! 👀

⚠️No Saturday morning class this week! ⚠️

Don't worry! Other chances to get your yoga on! 7:30pm Wednesday and Saturday! 👍

Don't forget!
🌟Downward Dog workshop this Saturday! 🌟

There are still some spaces on the Adho Mukha Svanasana worshop at 10:30 this saturday!

Join me for a deep dive into this ubiquitous pose, power up your Sun salutations and vinyasas.

Starting with an energising and warming flow, this workshop will explore the benefits, modifications and variations of downward facing dog.

Learn about the muscles and joints utilised in the pose and how to build strength and flexibility to get the most out of your practice!

Still spaces available for Wednesday evening's class! Get booked in via Eventbrite!

*Yoga Class* Ashtanga modified primary series A 1 hour Ashtanga Vinyasa class covering the modified primary series. Suitable for all levels.