Livin’ on the Hook. It’s great to be back and we are really looking forward to continue doing what we do here in Ireland with some really cool projects, workshops and retreats planned for the months ahead. This Autumn & Winter we plan to continue our beach yoga & breathwork classes here on the Hook as well as day retreats, workshops and a range of weekly online classes off the Hook as well.
We’ve had such a great summer of yoga on the beach here and have loved seeing new and familiar faces each class. We are absolutely beyond grateful to each and every one who has come down early in the morning to move and breathe with us on Baginbun. So many industries including the health & fitness sector has taken quite a hit this year so we are blessed to be able to come together to practise outdoors and we will continue beach classes and sea swims right through Autumn & Winter when the weather permits. Beach classes are weather dependant so the best way to stay up to date is to sign up to our email list here. We will try squeeze in a Saturday morning beach class too.
We all know how hit and miss the weather is here so we have scheduled lots of online classes from September onwards so whether you’re here on the Hook or livin’ off the Hook yourself you can still join our growing yoga community online from your own home. Actually our own yoga practises started at home. My very first real life yoga class was at the yoga school I trained in over in Spain almost two years ago. Although real life yoga classes are an absolutely wonderful experience, sometimes you can’t beat your own home practise. So join us online, subscribe or drop in, ignite your home practise with yoga, breath-work and mobility classes running throughout the week, mornings, lunch, evenings and maybe some weekends too. Have a look at the class schedule here.
That said, yoga at home can sometimes be a less than zen experience when you’re practising amongst family and a million and one things on your mind so to help you get going I suggest you try to find or create a quiet, uncluttered space in your home for your practice, and stock it with some props, a mat or carpet or blanket to practise on, a couple of cushions, a strap or scarf and a couple of yoga blocks or hardback books. Right now there is a lot of uncertainty and everything is up in the air so stay safe and comfortable by taking up the practise in your own home.
Not only that, I find a home practice can save time, energy, and money. You can roll out of bed and do it in your pj’s, take loo breaks if you need to, you can sit out a pose you don’t like and don’t feel under pressure to keep up. In fact you become more in tune and listen to what your body needs each day and develop intuition about what kinds of yoga you want and need to do most on any given day. If you are fatigued, you may want to do a more restoring yoga. If you’re feeling energetic, a more flowing, fast-paced yoga can help you channel that energy. Listening to what you need is more than a physical thing and I try to bring that thought into each class. And remember it is a practise, we practise yoga with an attitude of playfulness and acceptance rather than self-judgment or competitiveness allowing ourselves to be aware of whatever physical sensations, emotions and thoughts arise.
Classes are live on the zoom platform and you can decide to share your screen or not- whatever you feel more comfortable with. Somedays you might, others not. That’s ok. Here’s what you need to do to sign up.
- Download Zoom https://zoom.us/ to your phone, tablet or laptop.
- Sign up to receive the weekly schedule and in message include your full name, email address you want me to use, plus some personal info required in contact form if you have not practised yoga and breath-work with us before.
- Each week (sometime Sunday) you will receive the most up to date zoom and beach schedule and with the link ID and password that will work for all classes. Simply use this link to join any class for the duration of your subscription. There will be no reminders sent out before each class to protect people’s inboxes from being flooded so it might be a good idea to screenshot the schedule or print it out or simply use the email as a reference to get into classes.
- Try to have the following props available for yoga classes: a mat or blanket to practise on, a couple of pillows or cushions, two yoga blocks or some hard back books that could work like blocks, a yoga strap or a scarf/tie and although not necessary, a blanket and a covering for your eyes can be nice in Savasana.
Signing up for an online yoga practice is only half the battle, now all you have to roll out your mat and do it. See you on the mat soon!
I was going to insert a list of benefits to begin or continue yoga and breath-work but here’s some links to a couple of good articles for further reading on the benefits of both.
https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/count-yoga-38-ways-yoga-keeps-fit
https://www.frequencymind.com/blog/top-10-benefits-of-breathwork