Iyengar yoga Archives - The YogaLondon Blog

November 26, 2019

Yogi’s Guide: Shoulderstand

I have said it before, and I say it again – shoulderstand is truly a thing of beauty. With the right combination of strength and flexibility, it can be elegance and grace personified. It is iconic and SO photogenic – a social media ‘go-to’ pose that all yogi’s want to be able to do from the moment they discover yoga. Nicknamed the ‘Queen of poses’ – shoulderstand is considered to be cooling; stimulates the calming (parasympathetic) side of the autonomic nervous system; and is reputed to assist in resolving a wide range of medical problems. It demands significant upper body and core strength plus beautifully open chest and shoulders – all wrapped up in a healthy dose of confidence in being upside down. So easy when you are a child – so much harder as an adult! (more…)

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Sally Schofield

July 22, 2019

RIP Maty Ezraty – a Force for Good in the Yoga World

Maty Ezraty, yoga teacher, co-founder of YogaWorks, and the creator of a rigorous teacher training programme that has trained tens of thousands of yoga teachers round the world, has died aged 55, while teaching in Tokyo, leaving many shocked and stunned at her loss.

Maty was an innovative teacher who combined the two main forms of yoga – Iyengar yoga and Ashtanga yoga – and merged them into a less dogmatic form that had a huge influence on the vinyasa flow-style yoga practiced throughout the world today. (more…)

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Poppy Pickles

June 11, 2019

London Summer Yoga Workshops 2019

How do you know you’re ready for a yoga workshop? And what are they? Workshops are usually longer than a regular yoga class and often have a specific focus, which allows you to work more deeply on your practice. If you’ve been attending classes regularly for around 6 months or have established a regular yoga practice and feel that you want to take things a step further, the best way to do this is to head to a yoga workshop. (more…)

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Poppy Pickles

June 6, 2019

The Importance of Finding the Right Yoga Teacher

What are the important relationships in our lives? Our other halves, our parents, our children, our besties – but what about the student-teacher relationship? How important is that? According to ancient Indian culture, the relationship between a Guru and a shishya (disciple) is a very special one, even transcending the bond between parent and child, or husband and wife. While that may be a bit extreme for our Western sensibilities, it’s undeniable that finding the right teacher is a crucial part of our yoga journey.

Yoga is a lifelong journey and the teacher that guides you on that journey is a key part of it. They will ask you to do things with your body that it’s never done before and you need to have absolute faith in them that they will teach you safely while challenging you to move beyond your comfort zone at the same time. Here is our take on how to find the right teacher for YOU. (more…)

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Poppy Pickles

May 17, 2019

London’s top 10 FREE Yoga Classes Near You

Are there any free yoga classes near me? Tucked away in various shops, community centres and parks throughout London, are wonderful places offering completely FREE yoga classes to those in the know.

We’ve put together TEN of the best free yoga classes in London so – just because you’re strapped for cash – you don’t have to be deprived of your weekly, or even daily yoga fix. (more…)

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