WORKSHOPS & SPECIAL EVENTS

ONLINE: YOGA UNWRAPPED©: OPENING THE HIPS FOR LOTUS POSE

With Heather Gregg

Saturday 15th August 2020 | 4pm – 6.15pm

The next Yoga Unwrapped© workshop in the Online Yoga Shala at Heather Yoga is a focus on unlocking tension, creating freedom, and improving mobility in the hips through a wide-range of postures, and helping guide you on a progressive & experimental journey towards Lotus Pose.
Padmasana (Lotus Pose) is a serene looking seated posture you might associate Yoga and Meditation with when you see it. However when it comes to approaching and moving towards the pose it can seem challenging, elusive & unattainable – and you may even have found yourself saying something like “There’s no way I can do that’ or “HA not in this lifetime”!

This workshop will help to demystify the pose and debunk your limiting stories around it, giving you confidence, clear understanding, both anatomically & structurally, and a knowing of how to address the tightness, explore hidden limitations & discover potential in the specific areas of your body to keep approaching & exploring this in a safe and enjoyable way.

Lotus pose encourages a profound opening physically & energetically in the lower body and creates the firm steady foundation of the pelvis & spine. Through a designed sequence we’ll emphasise the hips & legs to prepare them and learn how to correctly approach this asana with greater safety, comfort, compassion and skill. A blend of dynamic & restorative work will help your path towards it becomes clearer, more accessible and injury free.

Along with a deeper sense of understanding for Lotus pose, taking this time to work thoroughly into the hips will help to clear out the pent up tension & stress which is stored in this area so you will leave the session feeling like a mental weight has been lifted and you can move out into your weekend with spaciousness & freedom in the body and mind. This workshop is suitable for all levels pop practitioners, and your tight hips will thank you for it!

Early bird £20 – Full Price £25 after 2nd August 2020.

ONLINE: YOGA AND QIGONG FLOW POP UP

With Debs Grossman

Sunday 16th August 2020 | 7.30pm – 8.30pm

Yoga & Qigong Flow – a steady paced flow of yoga asana fused with qigong practices encouraging fluid, intentional and mindful movement and breathing to stabilise and strengthen the body and calm the mind.
Qigong means cultivating life energy; qi – life energy, gong – to cultivate with time and effort.

Qigong is a blend of active and dynamic movements, breathing, visualisation and meditation techniques aimed at cultivating healthy qi flow through the body. It has its roots in Daoism and Buddhism and is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Active movements in qigong help to loosen joints, strengthen tendons and muscles, improve circulation, and relax the nervous system. These, along with the breathing and intentions of qigong practices work to create greater balance and harmony, and an overall sense of health, vitality and wellbeing.

By practicing postures, movement and meridian stretches, we can influence our vital energy or emotional state. We hold emotional stress within our bodies; yoga, qigong and meditation helps to release tensions enabling you to feel lighter, and calmer, to a place of stillness and quiet.

Deborah’s class is inspired by her training in Seasonal Yoga and with Mimi Kuo-Deemer, integrating qigong practice with yoga practice.

£5

ONLINE: RACE, ETHNICITY AND YOGA

With James Chapman

Saturday 5th September 2020 | 10am – 1pm

Heather Yoga is pleased to bring London based yoga teacher & trauma expert James Chapman to the online yoga shala this September, delivering a very important conversation and half day online training ‘Race, Ethnicity & Yoga’ for yoga teachers, trainees and students.

Racism is defined as:

• Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
• The belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.

Racism affects every sphere of our society and has wide implications for the health and wellbeing of those who directly suffer it and also their descendants. People who suffer from racial discrimination are more susceptible to a wide range of mental & physical health conditions and as yoga teachers & therapists we should be aware of why this is and how we can help. Before we can do this we need to be fully able to recognise when we ourselves are holding unconscious bias because of someone’s race or ethnicity and have the competence to act on it to make positive change, not only within ourselves, but for the wider community.

The Aims Of This Training Are To:

• Increase awareness of and sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity in a modern yoga setting and the wider world.
• Explore how our unconscious and conscious beliefs may directly affect people’s experiences.
• Look at common racial stereotypes and understand the importance of the current flawed language we use around race, how one person’s accepted terminology may offend someone else of similar ethnicity.
• Understand the causes and implications on race based stress and trauma disorder (RBSTD) and what makes it different from PTSD.
• Discuss some facts on race and ethnicity and how they impact on access to healthcare and prevalence of physical and mental health conditions.
• Examine white fragility and privilege.
• Know the different types of racism (interpersonal, institutional and cultural) and their wider implications on health and wellbeing.

The outcomes Of This Are To Able You To:

• Identify and understand our own privileges.
• Become aware of and admit our own bias.
• Bring up the subject of race and possible trauma in a yoga therapy setting.
• Listen when it may be uncomfortable and adapt our own behaviour where necessary.
• Adapt the yoga practice where ethnic and race based stress and trauma might be present.

Within this incredibly thought provoking and powerful interactive workshop, we’ll include some asana, pranayama, nidra, restorative yoga, meditation, looking at yoga philosophy, and with time for discussion and self reflection.

About James:

I know well the transformational qualities of Yoga. My journey began after years suffering with a chronic back condition whilst working in the city as a senior IT analyst for a major law firm. I spent many years seeing specialists of all kinds including several Harley St consultants who told me that all I could do was manage the pain using pain killers and cortisol injections in the soft tissue around my spine. I decided that that was something I was not prepared to do and so sought further help.
I found Yoga and with some good massage, remedial gym exercises, swimming and chi gong within a short period of time I had completely changed my body. I quickly stopped using pain killers and all other forms of allopathic medicine and was soon pain free and healthy.

I began training as a Yoga teacher and also undertook various trainings in massage therapy and psychotherapy, initially as part of my personal development but soon realised I could really help people and have been working full time as a Yoga teacher and massage therapist since 2004.

£30

ONLINE: BATHING IN STILLNESS: YIN YOGA & YOGA NIDRA

With Laura D’Oca

Sunday 6th September 2020 | 5.45pm – 7.15pm

A special Sunday evening workshop to indulge in the quiet and gentle practice of Yin Yoga and soak up the transformative power of Yoga Nidra.
Yin Yoga is a healing practice of long-held poses where muscles completely relax & surrender to allow us to access the deeper layers of the body. It works on releasing constrictions in the connective tissue, ligaments, and tendons that support the hips, pelvis and lower spine. It also stimulates & opens the energy meridians of the subtle body, often described as a “needleless acupuncture session” for the body!
This nurturing workshop will take you through a specific series of seated & supine poses. Aimed at improving joint mobility, cultivating flexibility and help you heal yourself by releasing deep seated tension, breaking up blockages and thus encouraging easier flow of energy around the body, moving you out of negative emotions. You’ll discover balance and find a deep peace in your body & mind.
After the physical part of the practice you will release yourself totally with a Yoga Nidra Meditation. Yoga Nidra, or Yogic Sleep, takes you into a deep state of relaxation & ease which shifts the nervous system to a restorative and healing mode. It brings an incredible sense of calmness, quietness, and clarity.

Sooth, restore and relax deeply in this blissful bubbling workshop. All levels welcome. Come and enjoy!

If have any form of injury or serious illness, or if you are pregnant or have recently had a baby please do inform us before booking.This workshop will take place online through Zoom, please make sure you have set up an account before you book.

£15

ONLINE: FALL INTO YIN

With Freya Thomas

Sunday 27th September 2020 | 4pm – 5.30pm

Join Freya for this seasonal online Yin Yoga workshop as we find ourselves moving into Autumn. We will be looking into the world of Chinese medicine alongside our physical yin practice, exploring the meridian lines of the Lung and Large Intestine.

Chinese medicine takes a holistic approach to one’s health and much like a yin yoga practice, it promotes balance throughout the whole body. We will be exploring aspects of Chinese medicine by visualising and locating meridian lines, finding organs and acupressure points, as well as working through some specific breathing techniques to build on our lung capacity.
Autumn is linked to the element of Metal and the organs of the Lungs and Large Intestine. Our practice will follow the theory of Five elements to bring the body into ‘homeostatic balance’.

Yin yoga places mild to moderate stresses on our joints and connective tissues (fascia) and can help to improve blood flow and overall mobility in the body. This practice is suitable for all abilities and we will be using lots of props to help us along the way!

This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience.

Please make sure you have set up a Zoom account to join in

£15

ONLINE: AUTUMN FLOW AND DEEP RELAXATION

With Debs Grossman

Sunday 18th October 2020 | 4pm – 6pm

Autumn is a time to gather our energy inwards, slow down and adopt a gentler regime, physically, mentally and emotionally, preparing for the colder months ahead.

It is the time for letting go of things that do not serve us. By clearing away the old and stale, we make room for what we value and cherish; clearing our minds as well as our physical clutter. Our lungs enable us to breathe in new energy; encouraging movement and flow through our lung and intestine meridians which help to detoxify our system.

Our seasonal yoga practice incorporates qigong and breathing practices for the season of Autumn. We will focus on increasing our breathing capacity, coordinating breath and movement, focusing on the moment of change and pauses within our transitions and use opening and closing postures to stimulate lung ventilation; gathering energy to cleanse, stimulate and detoxify.

Yoga Nidra follows the practice, bringing about a deep conscious relaxation. It is said that one hour of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to four hours of sleep. It is performed in savasana (corpse pose) and can be hugely beneficial in aiding tension, stress and anxiety.

This workshop is suitable for all levels of practitioner. Please make sure you have set up a Zoom account to join in.

£15