Are you looking for some calm in your life? Do you ever feel too busy, stressed or anxious? Do you have tightness or tension in your body? Would you like to improve your flexibility, balance and strength without breaking into a sweat? Through a focus on gentle, mindful yoga, these classes will encourage you to breathe more deeply and improve your flexibility, balance and strength. Importantly, the physical benefits are just side effects. The essence of these classes is calming the mind and reducing the chatter in our heads. Each week, the class includes mindful yoga poses, use of the breath plus either a mindfulness practice, relaxation or yoga nidra (deeply relaxing yogic sleep). The class is suitable for beginners of all ages and you do not need to be flexible, strong or fit! As the class includes seated and lying down poses, you do need to be able to sit and lie down on a mat. Mindful Yoga is currently being taught online as part of the online classes timetable. Visit the bookings page for your Unlimited Online Class Pass.

yoga for mental health Archives - Carolyn Smith Yoga

Q: Zoom Yoga for Stress Course

The next course is taking place online on 5 consecutive Thursdays starting on 5 November from 18.30 to 19.45. Are you experiencing stress or burnout? Exhausted with little else to give but find it difficult to relax? This 5 week course will encourage you to create space for yourself, decompress and rebalance the nervous system. Each session includes a gentle yoga practice to calm and soothe body and mind and the practice of yoga nidra. For the yoga nidra, you will wrap yourself in a warm blanket ready to be guided towards deep rest and relaxation. You will also learn about the stress response, why it is so difficult to relax and let go when experiencing stress, and what works to reduce the symptoms of stress. No experience of yoga is needed for this course and you do not need to be flexible! The yoga sequences are suitable for total beginners and are sequenced to provide a sense of safety, space and release. Recordings of sessions will be available for one week after each session so you can revisit the content and continue with the practices between sessions. The course will take place on Zoom. Instructions on how to use Zoom will be provided prior to the course. The cost of the course is £49.99. Places are limited so early booking is recommended. Click here to book your place.

Q: How do you calm the mind in 3 minutes?

How do you calm the mind if you only have 3 minutes? One of the questions I was asked on BBC Radio Wales after being invited to speak about yoga and healthcare on 19 February. There is a growing evidence-base for the physical and mental health benefits of yoga. NICE Guidelines even suggest yoga for lower back pain. However, many people who could benefit are unable to access yoga due to the cost of classes. New funding is now being made available for yoga classes under the NHS Long Term Plan. It is great that yoga is starting to appear on the NHS agenda but, as always, the funding needs to get to the right places and not at the expense of other key areas including social care. If you'd like to listen to what I say about yoga and healthcare, go to just after 57 minutes on the link below. The recording will only be available for a month. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0002m65