HamYoga

with Louise Footner

HamYoga

Think you’re not flexible enough for yoga?

‘I’ve always wanted to try yoga but I’m just not flexible enough…’ This is a comment I hear time and again. There’s a popular view that yoga is all about contorting the body into impossible shapes, and that to even walk through the door of a yoga class you need to be fit and flexible and glowing with inner health.

This view misses the point of yoga, and means that so many miss out on its myriad benefits. Real yoga is not about being a physical contortionist, and it doesn’t matter how fit or flexible you are. Real yoga is for everyone. Its about making the time and space to stop, relax, and connect with your self – using movement and breathwork to help you to go inside and find a place of calm. Yes, as part of that process, we stretch and strengthen the body – but yoga is about the process of movement not the end result. Its about the intention we bring to each movement, not the extent to which we can stretch or bend.

We can all – regardless of age, fitness, flexibility or strength – take something from yoga. Real yoga will leave even the stiffest of students feeling calmer, more positive, more grounded and – yes – stretched. And with time and repeated practice, as the body starts to open and release, some of those seemingly impossible postures won’t seem so impossible anymore…

If you would like a confidential discussion about whether yoga might be for you please get in touch.