With Karen James Yoga
It all started with a casual conversation about wrist-free yoga on instagram between Karen James and myself… on her birthday!
Karen was doing a fabulous job of explaining that our role as yoga teachers is to simply facilitate the practice of yoga. With the right attitude and language we can encourage students to work in a way that suits their bodies and their abilities. To encourage moving dynamically, in-out of the pose, as this in itself is more beneficial:
- Provides a space of exploration
- Breath led movement, which sits in the heart of yoga.
- Provides the opportunity to layer in other elements of the yoga practice, such as chanting and affirmation
- Keep joints supple through movement
- Provides an element of repetition
- Through repetition it allows for your nervous system to calm down and ease into larger range of motion.
- It help people establish a functional range of motion.
Everyone is made so differently, while age, disease and injury add layers on our body that make it even more unique… as unique as our faces and wrinkles.
As a practitioner of yoga it is therefore our responsibility to be an agent for our own body in teacher-led classes. Be an advocate for our own needs, no one else knows our body better.
Just like Karen says… “just be you”.
Listen to the podcast here:
