Most yoga classes can come under the heading of Hatha yoga. This can be translated as ‘Ha’ = sun (masculine, active) and ‘tha’ = moon (feminine,receptive), uniting the opposites within us all, bringing balance. In our physical bodies we develop a balance between strength and flexibility. We also learn to balance effort and surrender in each pose.

Many styles of yoga fall under this heading – Ashtanga, Iyengar, Synergy, Vinyasa, Power, Yin and soon. They all incorporate three things: asana (the physical practice), pranayama (breath control) and some form of meditation.

Yoga has been adapted by teachers to incorporate bits and pieces of various styles. In this ever-expanding array of yoga classes, you can pick from a dizzying array of techniques. They are creating yoga that works for them and adapting the practice to make it accessible to all.

This famous anecdote ‘What did the Buddha say when the musician asked him how to tune his stringed instrument? Not too tight and not too loose’ shows us the importance of staying on the ‘middle path’. This guideline also holds true when it comes to yoga practice. There’s a common misconception that yoga is just about becoming flexible. But if all we did was get looser and looser we run the risk of becoming out of tune, just like the musician’s instrument. Strength and discipline are needed to help us hit the right notes.

Yoga practice shows us that true flexibility is as much about an adaptable mind as it is an open body. This very definition suggests that our practice is based on the notion of connection. This connection leads to balance. We can set up certain positions in our body, use props to support ourselves, and order our movements in logical sequences that will prepare the body for opening. But a flexible mind is what allows us to adapt, modify and explore our individual situation intelligently.

When practicing more difficult poses, it’s wise to be strategic – emphasise preparation and technique and break down the posture into small, accessible components. One benefit of this process is that it provides you with aspects of every pose that you can work on even if you can’t do the pose in its entirety.

As a teacher of yoga, Jolie invites her students to be curious about all aspects of the practice: physical, mental and spiritual.  In this way, even beginner students can learn more about their strengths, limitations and attitudes. Fostering an inclusive atmosphere in class, whilst acknowledging individuality, is key. Approaches like this can be taken off the mat to encourage an acceptance of diversity in the world.

Yoga teaches you to tune out from the self-critic, which gives you a refreshed sense of clarity to look at yourself honestly.  Getting to know and accept our strengths and weaknesses gives us a sort of inner power and equips us with a code for living.

Yoga is not a competition – it’s about learning how to honour the needs of your body which may change from day to day. It is important to connect to our body’s innate wisdom and listen to it.

Yoga offers dancers the opportunity to connect with what is appropriate in each moment – releasing the expectations of ‘performance’ and instead be in a process driven discipline. It’s liberating to engage and give dancers the opportunity of being in their bodies physically – aware of their physical form,breath and mental chatter.

To realise they are not the thoughts of their mind, they are the ones who are listening.

When you link breath to movement, movement becomes easier.It allows you to harness energy and to do more with less effort.

Yoga can help dancers maintain their flexibility and balance, keeping their body open and muscles engaged.

The benefits include:

• elongating, aligning the body with strength,stability and symmetry
• physically conditioning the body to continue to gain strength, stamina and efficiency whilst keeping at bay imbalances and injury
• increasing confidence and clarity of mind,reducing stress to re calibrate brainwaves to a more relaxed state.

Yoga has a lot to offer – for everybody and any body.

To begin, all we need is a body, mind and a bit of curiosity!

Barefoot is best.

Comfortable clothing.

A yoga mat. You may start without one of course, but if aiming to do a regular practice then a mat will provide traction to move in postures in a supported manner. A mat also provides support when laying on the floor.

In yoga, we twist from side to side, bend forwards, bend backwards and turn upside down. If you have just eaten, these movements won’t be so comfortable to make. A light snack 30 minutes prior to class is fine.

Focusing throughout the practice allows you to check in with yourself physically and mentally – to follow how you feel in each moment so that it truly serves your body and your needs on any particular day.

As long as the form is maintained/modified then over time depth will be achieved.

Yoga is not a competition.

No grades are given.

No one wins or loses.

We practice progress, not perfection.

It’s an outlet to exist as you are.

This is a sequence to balance poses that strengthen and stretch the quadriceps and psoas muscles. We use props in this sequence: a wall, yoga blocks, and an extra rolled up yoga mat for knee support.

The quadriceps are the group of four muscles that make up the front part of your thigh. These muscles tend to be tight in athletes and dancers.

The psoas is a bilateral deep core muscle that connects each leg to the torso. This muscle can become tight when we spend a lot of time sitting.

This is a sequence to stretch the calf muscles through passive means such as myofascial release and deep tissue work. We use a rolled up yoga mat and the pressure of our own limbs to encourage a letting go and release of these muscles.

The calf muscles are a powerful part of our body as they walk us through life. They consist of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles which insert into the heel bone via the Achilles tendon. Our calves are some of the strongest muscles of our body and because of their everyday activity, can become quite short and tight, limiting the range of motion of the ankle. Calf muscles that are tight can also affect your hamstrings and restrict the range of motion in your legs. This in turn can affect your hip flexors and cause undue stress on the lower back. Addressing tight calf muscles is very important for the smooth functioning of the joints both above and below them.

This is a short sequence to encourage the shoulders to open and soften, whilst the chest expands and stretches. We use props for this session to enhance the openings: the wall and yoga blocks.

Poor posture from sitting at a desk all day can make the chest tighten, pulling the shoulders forward. This concaved position affects the capacity of the lungs, shortening the breath (shortened breath can be a trigger for anxiety). The upper back in turn becomes weak and the neck can be tense.

Our shoulders have a lot of moving parts. Each shoulder has four joints plus layers of soft tissue that includes muscles, tendons and ligaments. When you consider the physical demands that the shoulders undergo daily with the complexity of that region of the body, you wind up with an area that benefits tremendously when targeted for opening.

This is a sequence focusing on some of the fundamentals of a yoga practice whilst using the wall to assist with balance and to provide support during poses.

The wall offers a myriad of benefits to all students. It helps you understand the correct ‘action’ of an asana. Rather than simply forming the shape of the pose with the body, the practitioner is made more aware of how it should really feel. This helps to create stability and tranquillity in the pose.

If a student’s muscles are tight, their needs will be met sitting upright whilst being supported by a block. If you were to lie a person on their back who has tight quadriceps, they would have an enormous arch in their back and the focus would be taken away from the target area.

Whilst curvature in the spine is natural, this might be exaggerated through an excessive tilting backwards of the pelvis. Instructing the student to slightly draw under the sitting bone of the leg that’s up the wall may help, as would an instruction of feeling like the student is pushing the front foot forward. In some instances where students are tight in the leg and muscles across the front of the hips, their backs will be nowhere near the wall and nor do they need to be for the position to be effective.

Our fascial system surrounds, connects and supports all of the structures of our body.  It can become affected by postural habits, stress and be bound and blocked.  By using these releasing techniques, the muscles can function to their fullest potential from its release as it is incredibly malleable.

Difficult or long-held positions may generate strong sensations that may cause discomfort and an urge to escape the pose. If this sensation is paid attention to, it will most likely intensify. It’s a bit of an analogy for life: when things arise that we don’t like, there’s not always the opportunity to disappear. However, if we are aware of our reaction, the sensations may pass and the need to escape diminishes.

In these positions it’s important to be very subtle in the movements. Nerves do not stretch, they glide, so the action of lifting the fingers will encourage that. The term ‘stretch’ is commonly used but you’re not actually stretching the nerves, you are activating them to glide so they remain healthy.

People with restricted hamstring length may consequently have a more posteriorly tilted pelvis in this position. By being able to tilt their pelvis more anteriorly, the student will be able to lengthen their lower back more and ‘untuck’ their pelvis.