Sankha Yoga

Sankha Yoga Yoga • Applied Neurology •Breath Science. Pilates •Somatics •Mobility •Gymnastics Yoga for all ages & levels.

The body often creates tension when it cannot create efficient stability.What if the problem isn’t that you’re tight?Wha...
30/05/2026

The body often creates tension when it cannot create efficient stability.

What if the problem isn’t that you’re tight?

What if your nervous system is trying to create support?

You can lift heavy.
Train hard.
Stretch constantly.
Have visibly strong muscles…

…and still feel:

• tight
• unstable
• braced
• exhausted

Like all your hard work is creating more tension instead of more support.

Why?
Because your core is not just abs.

Your core influences how you:
• breathe
• balance
• stabilise
• manage pressure
• respond to stress

💥 And your nervous system coordinates all of it.

The brain is constantly asking:

“Can I control this safely?”

If the answer is uncertain, the body often creates tension in an attempt to create stability.

Not because you are weak.

Not because you need more stretching.

Because your nervous system is trying to create support.

This June, we’re exploring exactly that in INTEGR8
a 4-week progressive breath-led core series combining:

• Yoga
• Breath Science
• Applied Neurology

Because yoga is not just stretch & relax.
It’s also about learning how to breathe, balance, adapt, recover & move with greater ease.

📍 Wednesdays 6:15pm (Mellow Flow)
📅 June 3 • 10 • 17 • 24

Book via the individual class dates in the “Book” tab.

30/05/2026

10 Levels of Bear Progressions
“Deep Core Stability”

WHY ?
Train body to create & maintain intraabdominl pressure , while breathing & resisting movement.

For every level:
- Maintain Diaphragmatic breathing
- 5 in- 5 out (potentially)
- 360° rib expansion
- Maintain intra-abdominal pressure
- Neutral pelvis & No rib flare
✓ Stable shoulders

The goal is NOT to muscle through.
It is to maintain:
- pressure
- alignment
- breathing
- stability.
BEFORE progressing.

>>Train the entire core “cylinder”

🐨 Koala - Not a bear at all.
✨ALIGN
Establish hip-rib stack & shoulder stability, with 360* breathing.
The foundation for every level that follows.

🐼 Panda Bear - Avoid changing colour
✨BASIC HOVER & BREATHE
2- 3 breaths (20-30sec)
Maintain pressure while the knees hover.

🧳 Paddington Bear- Hang out here a minute (6 slow breaths)
✨ENDURANCE
Maintain organization as fatigue starts to appear.

🍯 Pooh (Sun) Bear - Things start getting sticky.
✨SINGLE LEG SUPPORT
Hover one foot. Keep the torso level.

🦥 Sloth Bear- Slow & deliberate.
✨SHOULDER STABILITY
Tap opposite shoulder. Sssslowly!
Control the rotation.

⚫ Black Bear-Things start turning dark.
✨CROSS BODY INTEGRATION
Tap hand to opposite knee.
Maintain your centre.

🟤 Grizzly Bear-Feeling grumpy & highly defensive.
✨CROSS BODY REACH
Extend opposite arm & leg.
The body desperately wants to rotate.
Don’t let it.

🐻‍❄️Polar Bear - the quiet hunt
✨LOCOMOTION
Slow Bear Crawl. Smooth. Controlled.
Quiet.

🤍 Spirit Bear
✨VESTIBULAR CHALLENGE
You start wondering if your core has ghosted you.
Reduce base of support add Slow head turns. Maintain organization.

🏔️ Kodiak Bear- King of bears.
✨COGNITIVE SKILL
Reduce base of support & think hard about.. something ..

The challenge is not simply strength.
The challenge is organisation.

Can you maintain:
-pressure
-breathing
-alignment
-coordination
-attention
while the world presents you with more information ??

Same asana: “bear” (Rksasana)
So many options from beginner to those with greater awareness 🧸

🤳Its not perfect .. I did what I could for today ..

22/05/2026

HOW ORGANISED ARE YOU?

Not how strong. Not how flexible.

How organised is your nervous system?

While you can force your way through balance ..
Grip. Brace.

It is not efficient, & it costs a lot of energy.

Real-life balance is the ability to organise multiple systems at once:
• Vision
• Vestibular input
• Joint position sense
• Breath
• Timing & coordination
• Effort distribution
• Attention
• Prediction
• State regulation

If one system is delayed, you wobble.
If they integrate, you remain organised.

Instability doesn’t always look like shaking.

It can show up as:
• Over-efforting
• Excess tension
• Fatigue
• Hesitation

Force creates fatigue.
Organisation creates ease.

You don’t rise to the level of your strength.
You fall to the level of your organisation.

⚖️ STHIRA SUKHA ASANAM

The practice isn’t muscling through.
It’s finding steadiness WITH ease.

And that comes from the ability to organise sensory input as the body, environment, & life itself change.

TRY THIS:
Assume an accessible side plank.
a) knee down b) both feet down c) top leg elevated

👀 Turn your head & Look up.

This is what many people avoid
yet it tells us a lot about real-life stability.

• Your visual system shifts
• Your vestibular system recalculates
• Your cervical spine rotates

If your balance changes …
That’s not simply a strength problem.
That’s often an organisation problem.

Organisation is essential for real-life balance & stability.

❓Did looking up change your stability ?

Check both sides.
Your nervous system rarely organizes each side equally.

💭Identifying which system is holding you back is one of the most beneficial ways to create more ease on & off the mat.

MAY : MENTAL WELLNESS MONTH 🧠Most people are trying to change their thoughts…
without understanding the systems driving ...
20/05/2026

MAY : MENTAL WELLNESS MONTH 🧠

Most people are trying to change their thoughts…
without understanding the systems driving them.

This month I created a short podcast series exploring the hidden systems that influence:
• stress
• anxiety
• tension
• overwhelm
• focus
• emotional regulation
• nervous system state

Because mental health is not just “mind.”

It is deeply connected to:
how you breathe,
how you balance,
how you sense your body,
how your brain interprets the world around you,
& the signals constantly shaping your nervous system.

🎧 The Spotify series includes:
• Vision & Mental Health
• Vestibular System & Mental Health
• Proprioception & Mental Health
• Interoception & Mental Health
• Breath & Mental Health - 🗽Just released.

Bonus:
-Why Awareness Changes Everything
-Non Sleep Deep Rest

Episodes are under 10 minutes.

Short enough to listen on your daily walk.
Powerful enough to change how you see yourself. 

Because awareness changes behaviour.
& awareness changes possibility.

The more clearly you understand your nervous system…
the more capacity you often create for change.

Listen. Learn. Rewire.

Link in comments & bio

~ Shell
Sankha Yoga & Applied Neurology

————————————

🪩🪩🪩
The Spotify disco ball

People often don’t hate change itself.
They hate 👉 how change feels.

The nervous system prefers:
predictable. known. familiar.

Even when the change is tiny.

Awareness of this changes everything.

Because sometimes the discomfort isn’t:
“this is bad.”

It’s simply:
“this is different.”

You become what you repeat.And many of the patterns we repeat operate unconsciously.Not always because they are good for...
17/05/2026

You become what you repeat.

And many of the patterns we repeat operate unconsciously.

Not always because they are good for us.

But often because they are familiar, predictable, & efficient for the brain to return to.

Even when what is familiar is: stress, overthinking, avoidance, hyper-vigilance, or tension.

And avoidance?

It may feel like relief in the moment.

But over time, avoidance can reinforce the brain’s prediction that something is threatening or unsafe.

Stillness helps reveal the pattern.
Movement can help interrupt the loop.

🎙 Full podcast now loading on Spotify.

14/05/2026

And the only thing that moved… was their eyes.

Today we tested spinal movement,
performed a neuro-vision drill,
& retested.

The result?

100% of participants experienced:
• less tension
• more movement
• greater ease

❓WHY❓

Because your brain controls muscular tension.

If the brain senses uncertainty, instability, or threat

it often creates stiffness, bracing & tightness as protection.

Improve the quality of information the brain receive
& the body often changes
✨INSTANTLY✨

Tension is not always a tissue problem.
Often, it’s a nervous system output.

This is often why stretching “tight” tissues alone can rebound back afterwards

because if the brain still feels uncertain,
it often recreates the same tension patterns again.

Real lasting change comes from
working at this deeper level:

change the input
= change the output.

Address

Prince Street
Orange, NSW
2800

Website

http://www.sankhayoga.com/

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