Men can't do yoga, because we're not flexible enough, right? Men can and should do Yoga, particularly if they're not flexible, as well as for many other reasons. As we 'mature', our bodies become less supple, our bones become less strong, our muscle mass can start to reduce, and body fat can start to build up in inconvenient places. Some may also start to suffer with cardio and or pulmonary conditions, and some may start to experience stress, anxiety, or even depression. Yoga can help towards addressing all of these issues - proven by scientific studies! Its also been proven to help with sleep issues, concentration and memory issues, tiredness and apathy, loss of sex drive, and erectile dysfunction! But, Yoga is all mysticism and chanting, praying and Ommmming, right? Well, it can be - but doesn't have to be. Yoga is thousands of years old, with its roots in ancient Indian culture, texts and philosophy around finding a path towards union between ourselves and the universe, and these ancient roots are still a large part of many of the huge variety of Yoga practices that exist, and are practiced today. However, to practice Yoga, and to benefit from it, we don't ever have to know, or even think about any of that - Yoga practice can start with just two aspects; the body and the breath. If we can start to use the breath to help find strength and ease in the body, then without knowing or thinking about it, we are tapping into those thousands of years of wisdom. One of the main things I like about Yoga is that word ease - it may push us to create some physical tension in our bodies, but ultimately so that we can find ease. Unlike many forms of exercise, physical Yoga practice encourages us to take ourselves up to our limit, but only if we feel its right at that time, and never beyond. So, what would Yoga look like with Stiff Cliff? Well, as my Yoga name suggests, i'm not a naturally flexible person! I'm not very strong or athletic, and I haven't been practising yoga that long - I realised a few years ago that I wasn't as young as I was, and that if I didn't start to use it, I was going to lose it, so I took up yoga to try to maintain what I still had, and gain back a bit of what I may have already lost. Now that I've reached a certain 'fine vintage' myself, I have qualified as a Yoga teacher to try and pass on the message to other people like me. I call my style 'OSB' Yoga - Yoga for the Old, Stiff and Beat-up! As such, my Yoga classes are geared to accommodate all sorts of bodies and abilities:- you probably can't touch your toes with straight legs, or even your knees; you may struggle to heave out a few push ups, or even one; you may find it difficult, painful, or impossible, to sit cross legged. You may have minor undiagnosed ailments such as occasional back pain, or a dodgy knee*. If you let me know what you're suffering with, we'll try and find a modification in everything we do, to try to accommodate it, to minimise the discomfort, and allow you to practice. And practice makes .... progress. No-one's looking for perfect here! We will use basic Yoga poses to work on strength, balance and flexibility, and we will use basic breath practices to ease the body deeper into some of those positions, and to try to focus our minds on what we are doing, and quieten the internal 'chatter'. We will push ourselves, in terms of strength / fatigue, and of flexibility / discomfort, but only up to (and never over) our limit, and we will rest at any time we need to, without any judgement. We will also take some time to find some ease and comfort, to let our bodies recover, and our nervous systems process what we've done. So, if this sounds like it might be right for you, and you're interested in giving it a try, message me to enquire about joining me for a class, or signing up for beginners course.
*NB: If you have any serious diagnosed physical or medical conditions, you should consult your doctor before entering any form of physical exercise practice, and establish if there are any specific actions which you should avoid.
