Family Yoga Centers: Bringing Yoga Classes to Kids in Northampton

4worldlovers: "The self is like a powerful magnet hidden within us. It draws us gradually to itself... the truth is that we are like iron filings. The process of finding the self is a kind of divine magnetism." ~ Ramana Maharshi

Connection has a profound effect on the quality of our lives....

My Yoga journey began in 1995 with Yoga teacher Mary Davis. After attending many weekly classes over 4 years I began to rediscover the enjoyment of movement, ease and fluidity in my body. You could say a seed of self love was planted within me after Mary's teachings, which became rather a mission into finding more meaning to life.

Wishing to pursue more knowledge in the deeper teachings of yoga Mary recommended a yoga course over 2/3 years with FRYOG (Friends of Yoga). This Hatha yoga course lead me to the dynamic team Brian and Gail Cosserat.

The course was a real pleasure but most importantly gave me encouragement and a great understanding towards the goal of becoming a yoga teacher. A new world was arising in me through the yoga teaching course. I was most certainly becoming physically stronger and more upright in posture. Yoga philosophy was gradually growing inside of me, and in ways of renewed feeling, presence, and more ease I was achieving a deeper understanding into day to day life.

​In 2000 I found myself in Bedfordshire UK attending a weekend of Mantra teachings with Muz Murray. It was a revelation to work with the unique way of sounding the Sanskrit alphabet with Muz. Radical change was happening in an unspoken way; so many of my old ways of behaving and habits began to simply fall away. I hold a deep special place for the miracle of mantra in my heart as it changed so much within me.

In 2002 I took a profound course named The Quest in France with Muz and Willow which initiated the birth and vision of the OM Studio. I had a clear vision of creating a safe space for bringing souls together to work on letting go of past hurts. I envisioned creating a space for the heart to rest and feel safe for self enquiry into the NOW moment.

In 2006 I found myself at the foot of the divine Arunarchala mountain in India which re-opened within me the joy of sound, dance and music. Unknown to me it had been buried and forgotten, however the mantra was now fully bringing this remembrance back to life.

I am so thankful for mantra, India, Muz, Mary, Gail, Brian, and not forgetting my stiff shoulder that took me to Yoga in the first place. Born is the Om Studio.

4worldlovers: Yoga is a method, an art and the science developed around 3000 BC that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. The main components of yoga are postures (a series of movements designed to increase strength and flexibility) and breathing.

In the yoga class you will be moving from posture to postures using your breath. You will encouraged to keep your awareness of breath while performing yoga asanas (postures), as doing so your mind gradually will be connecting to your body.

Dozens of scientific trials of varying quality have been published on yoga.

While there's scope for more rigorous studies on its health benefits, most studies suggest yoga is a safe and effective way to increase physical activity, especially strength, flexibility and balance.

There's some evidence that regular yoga practice is beneficial for people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains – including lower back pain – depression and stress.

Any exercise will help relieve stress by keeping the body healthy and releasing endorphins, natural hormones that make you feel better. Yoga also relieves stress through stretching andd diverting the mind on observing breath and transitioning into postures. When we are stressed, tension is stored in our body making us feel tight and causing pain or body discomfort. Getting on the yoga mat and working for an hour releases this muscle tightness and using our mind on observing our breath and body movement steadies our mind. Having come to the class after the busy day when your mind is still reeling, mulling over tasks to complete and we are still pretty much in our heads by the end of the class we are sure to observe a huge transformation.

In a typical yoga class you will be invited into moving your body from one yoga posture to another holding them for some time. In each yoga posture the lengthening in one muscle group will be achieved by a corresponding compression in another muscle group. In each posture we will aim at achieving the balance between the lenghtening and compression as when done it makes us feel specifically good and at one with our body and mind! Working into a yoga posture allows to restore the elasticity in our soft tissues such as muscles, ligaments and tendons, thus increasing the range of motion in case of tight tissues and strengthening with hypermobility issues. Moving from one pose to another will allow to engage different areas and tone overall body mucles. The toned muscles will be able to store more energy making us feel energised as whenever our body needs the energy it gets it from our muscles.

4worldlovers:
Northampton Fitness & Wellbeing Gym is located on Walter Tull Way, Sixfields Leisure, Northampton, NN5 5QL. You can find us just off the A4500 at the Sixfields Stadium turn off. We're located a 6-minute drive and 32-minute walk from Northampton Station.