Space to Breathe are offering free group sessions of a regular deep rest class for women who face mental health & wellbeing challenges linked to rest, lack of sleep, stress or a struggle to relax. The weekly classes will start in January and will also be free to attend.
Restorative Yoga is a wonderful branch of yoga where you don’t need to be bendy to participate! Please read on for more details.
Why rest?
Relaxation can be defined as “the state of being free from tension and anxiety”. Restorative yoga is a type of yoga which specialises in creating the conditions for people to experience this state & its profoundly healing effects on our physical, emotional and mental health. During rest, our bodies repair and renew all the way down to the cellular level. We enter a state which optimises health, growth and restoration across all functions and systems of the body. In particular, your blood pressure goes down, digestion gets better, muscles hurt less & your immune system works better. You also have better blood sugar control & sleep better. Each of us have within us this capacity to heal – we just need the conditions to be right for us to access it!
What is Restorative yoga?
This is where restorative yoga can help. Restorative yoga is practiced lying down using props such as bolsters, cushions and blankets to support the body in positions of comfort and ease. You do not need to be bendy or physically active to participate, only able to get up and down from the floor and be comfortable covering your eyes. It does not require any movement; in fact the aim is to become so comfortable that you have no desire or need to move. Once the body is supported in this way, you will students are able to experience the healing effects of this gentle yet powerful practice.
As a result, you may find yourself able to sleep better at night and experience less frequent physical and emotional stress reactions in your everyday life. You might also find you have less aches and pains and experience a background calmness & connectedness in life & in your interactions with others.
What happens in a session?
Arriving practice: We start off with a gentle sequence to ground and 'shake off' any tension that you may be carrying, ready to start class.
Restorative Set Up: We then spend time setting up our individual ‘nests’ ready for the restorative relaxation, with help and support from your teacher.
Guided Relaxation: Once everyone is comfortable your teacher will lead the class in a guided relaxation known as Yoga Nidra (or yogic sleep). Yoga Nidra is a practice of placing our attention in a particular manner and can involve concentrating on different places in the body, on visualisations, words or phrases without too much effort so that the whole system can rest. This part of class will also include periods of silence to allow for uninterrupted deep rest in the pose.
Closing: Your teacher will bring the practice to a close by guiding participants out of the restorative poses in a gentle way before ending the class.
Below are some examples of restorative ‘nest’ set ups:
What Should I wear?
Please wear whatever you feel most comfortable in e.g. tracksuit bottoms, baggy t-shirts or cosy jumpers. It’s a good idea to bring multiple layers and thick socks.
Your teacher
Fran Saint is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with a passion for making yoga classes more accessible to people struggling with their mental health. She has experienced the transformative healing that engaging with life through yoga can bring and draws on her personal experience of anxiety disorders in her teaching. She is a certified Relax & Renew® yoga teacher having trained with Judith Hansen Lasater, and has completed foundational training in Trauma Informed Yoga developed by David Emerson and Bessel Van de Kolk. She believes in the empowering nature of individualised yoga practice, and draws influence and inspiration from the teachings of TKV Desikachar and the world of Polyvagal Theory. Fran feels incredibly privileged and honoured to create safe spaces in her classes in which people can just 'be', taking steps at their own pace to regulate their nervous system and care for their whole being.
To book in, just use the form below or email Fran@spacetobreatheuk.com