Lift Weights!
/Dear Yogis,
There is so much to love about the world of yoga, but I’ve never been a 100% purist. For me, yoga has always coexisted with cycling and running. I used to meet practitioners who believed in complete purity of practice, one style practiced every day except authorised days off. But as contemporary yoga culture evolves, that strict, exclusive mindset just doesn't hold up.
Run or walk! Add other movements! Lift weights!
Even David Williams, the man who brought Ashtanga from Mysore to America, famously advocated for daily swimming, yoga… and flossing. In Ashtanga’s history, from Krishnamacharya 1933-1950s, to Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois authorising a single-minded approach to Sharath Jois and his inclusive ‘Active Series’, Ashtanga has constantly evolved.
Any snobbery surrounding Yoga Sculpt overlooks a brilliant historical precedent. Yoga Sculpt is merely a high-energy hybrid of Vinyasa, injecting the fitness feel with strength training and cardiovascular work. Just like when B.K.S. Iyengar first brought his teachings to London after publishing Light on Yoga, he was asked to strip away the philosophy and religion. So he taught a practice so intensely challenging and physically precise that the workout itself became the path to enlightenment. Yoga Sculpt is doing the exact same thing for a different generation
Our bodies need it all. Muscle needs to pull on bone for skeletal health. We need cardio, and we need to safely push our limits. Join me on Sunday mornings for a class that bridges the gap between traditional Ashtanga and modern strength training. Come and try!
Classes
Mon, Tues & Wed evenings = Stretchy yoga at 7.00-8.00pm – this is the popular one with a bit of Yin.
Friday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30-9.30am – this is the more ‘dynamic’ one.
Friday evening = Yin and Restorative Yoga – 6.30-8.00pm – A proper unwind – fortnightly.
Saturday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30 – 10.00am – this is the longer ‘dynamic’ one.
Sunday morning = Yoga-For-Strength at 8.30 – 10.00am – this is Ashtanga with push-ups and weights.
And, by the way, you can post a google review of my classes here.
Yoga in the News
Hindustan Times has: Yoga is more than movement: The spiritual idea behind the practice you may be missing. ‘A recent article of The Atlantic looks at how yoga has changed in the US, from a practice linked with spirituality to a familiar part of the wellness world’.” The article quotes religious-studies professor Andrea R. Jain, who said some Americans who became interested in yoga during the late 1960s were “looking for something radically ‘other’” than the traditions they had grown up with. At the time, yoga could represent an alternative way of exploring spirituality and ideas about the self.”
The Natural History Museum has: Find your zen at the Natural History Museum with a unique yoga class hosted in collaboration with East of Eden. Rise and shine with an invigorating yoga class followed by a live gong bath and exclusive access to one of our galleries while it is closed to the public, including our Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep exhibition and our Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. Sunday 20th September, 08.00-09.15, £37
The Old Royal Naval College Greenwich has: Feel Good Friday. Yoga in the Painted Hall. Take part in one of our bespoke morning yoga classes in the serene and spectacular surroundings of the Painted Hall. Last Friday of the month. 8am–8.45am Tickets: £18.50 to £20.
