Community Yoga

Community Yoga

It’s only 3 weeks since Christmas, but already we can sense spring energy, ready to emerge! Now is a good time to invest in experiences that will help support your growth in the coming year.

In past decades of research into the benefits of yoga, academics were often frustrated that they couldn’t separate the positive effects of physical poses and breathing practices, from the general social benefits of people meeting and forming supportive communities. 

My sense is that both are equally important; when women meet in circles, the trust hormone, oxytocin is released. Meeting in circles is part of an ancient process of bonding. 

Equally, the need for positive voice, touch and movement when raising children is irrefutable. 

Bringing into this context yogic practices which are beneficial for women, babies, children and teenagers at particular gateways in their lives (for example as a baby, then a child, becoming a teen, or for a woman recovering postnatally, stabilising hormonally, or entering the long journey of peri/menopause) is an absolute no-brainer.

As a community yoga teacher, I respond to need. From working in children’s homes with looked after children with special needs, to supporting mums on the day their baby is born and helping women recover after surgery, the practices we teach and sessions we run aim to knit together an inter-generational community of shared experience, where we value each other more, and see possibilities in bringing about the changes we wish to see in our own and others’ lives.

In truth, we were never meant to do it alone.