Viniyoga

What type of yoga do you teach?

Many people quite naturally ask us this question. With so many styles and types of yoga around now, along with the multitude of fusion styles combining yoga with other things, it can be confusing, if not overwhelming. We have always believed that we just teach yoga, pure and simple, but, in reality, what we do does follow a particular teaching tradition and, indeed, does have some distinctive elements.

Viniyoga

This approach is commonly know as viniyoga. Viniyoga is a sanskrit word meaning “specific or individual application” and respects the fact that we are all individuals with differing abilities, interests and needs. Ideally our yoga practice should reflect this: not all practices of yoga are appropriate for all people, and this is why we offer individual tuition aimed at creating a bespoke practice for each person to practice regularly at home.

Our Group Classes

We do recognise that most people like to start with a group yoga class, and indeed this suits many people in the longer term also. Our group classes are opportunities to explore different practices involving the posture work, seated breathing exercises and some simple meditative exercises. We also tend to weave in some user-friendly theory about the practice or some elements of simple philosophy from the yoga tradition. We seek to make these practices accessible for most, and work with individuals in the class to modify or adapt anything which might be problematic for them.

The Distinctive Features of the Practice

The yoga that we teach reflects the method as taught by T. Krishnamacharya and his son, TKV Desikachar. In practise, this is a meditative approach to the practice that involves slow, smooth movement combined with long conscious breathing. We use traditional forms of the yoga postures, adapted where necessary to make them accessible, and generally include some time devoted to the seated breathing exercises or simple meditation.