Pranayama is the Sanskrit word for Yoga Breathing.     And a whole branch of yoga focuses on the breath. There are eight branches or limbs of yoga according to the ancient texts from India.  And Breathing or Pranayama is one of those eight limbs. Not surprising those ancient yogis saw it as essential to learn about breathing.    Remember the rule of three for life?    A human can survive three weeks without food, three days without water and three minutes without air.   The aspect of yoga most of us in the west are familiar with is the third limb of yoga, the Asanas (postures).     The other limbs of yoga include meditation, concentration, morals, ethics and values and breathing. Pranayama (yoga breathing) is often taught within an asana or posture class.   However just like we have changed Asanas into a physical workout and think of yoga as a fitness routine, equating it to the gym, a lot of us appro...

Why is Yoga for everyone? In Brazil (where two of my teachers come from )  they have a T-Shirt that read: “Yoga pra todo mundo” which can be translated as  "yoga for everybody and every body " But is yoga truly for everyone?   Surely there are some people who can’t do yoga? Don’t you have to be a certain age?  super bendy?  Strong?  The answer quite simply is No!   Because if you approach Yoga not by thinking of stretching, but rather about accessing the JOINTS, then it is for everyone.  It’s quite possible that for some folk they have to do some postures in a modified way if they have a specific joint injury or issue. It’s quite possible that some people may need to use a chair or extra bolster (yoga prop).  It’s quite possible that some people will need to leave the posture early (as in this system for Joint Renewal(TM) we can stay in postures for quite a length of time).  But does any of that mean...

When you practice yoga you may think that it will benefit your physical body and that's where you reap the most rewards.  And one one level that's true. And,  yoga is part of a holistic body/mind system that was developed in the sub-continent of India over 5,000 years ago and the physical aspect is but one small part. Far more reaching can be seeing that yoga is a way of life, with deep and profound transformations,  and far more important for your overall  well-being are the emotional and mental health benefits of yoga. As well as teaching yoga, I'm a qualified Art Psychotherapist and a business coach and in my other work,  I get to learn and explore many aspects of mental and emotional well-being with my clients. I apply that therapeutic/coaching knowledge to the yoga mat and I see how yoga is a highly effective mindfulness tool, that engages the body to bring about powerful changes to the emotional and mental health of students. So here I've su...