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Monday 9am - 9pm Tuesday 9am - 9pm Wednesday 9am - 9pm Thursday 9am - 9pm Friday 9am - 9pm Saturday 9am - 9pm

Michelle Finlay Yoga

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Plymouth
Michelle Finlay Yoga

Yoga Teacher located in Plymouth, Devon. Your Yoga Your Way. Inviting you to engage with the philosophical teachings of Yoga though a physical practice.

23/03/2026

Peaky weekend in the spring sunshine with my favourite human. 💚 It would be great if 2026 brings more of this. 😍

Happy (proper) New Year Everyone. 🌱🌞

20/03/2026

If you put someone who had never taken a yoga class before into a room where these kinds of phrases are spoken, you'll likely observe blank stares and confusion.

If you're a yoga teacher saying these things in class, I'm not judging you. I've done it too. But I am asking you to pay attention to whether or not your language lands with your students.

Over the years I've had many students approach me at the end of class and ask "what did you mean when you said..." and I'd launch into an explanation.

It took years for the penny to drop that it wasn't the student not understanding that was the issue.

It was me saying the thing that was too fluffy to be understood.

Things that yoga teachers say usually come from somewhere.

Maybe they heard their teacher say it.

I'm not saying don't say these things.

Just perhaps think about whether your students will understand what you're trying to say and honestly ask yourself, do you understand the context or are you just repeating what someone else said because you liked the sound of it?

Let's chat, have you ever been confused by yoga-teacher-speak?

Or yoga teachers, do you catch yourself using phrases you think sound good, without really getting what they mean at depth?

No judgement here, just honest enquiry. 💚💜

16/03/2026

She thought it would be like any other activity day, she'd never really done anything like it before. She had no idea how much it would impact her.

She was aware that she hadn't been feeling like herself lately and had so much piling on top of her plate so the day was an opportunity to take some time for herself.

She was in that oh so common space of saying yes to all the things...

the demanding boss needing extra hours and effort

the kids school wanting help with activities

as well as trying to salvage some kind of social life with her friends

but she was finding that she wasn't really able to be fully present in any of these situations because she was constantly worrying about the next thing that would be demanding her time.

She felt distracted, overwhelmed and disconnected.

During the day retreat she describes feeling fully held and like she finally had permission to rest and be herself without anyone needing anything from her.

She thinks she may even have slept a little during one of the practices.

She describes this as being a bit of a lightbulb moment. She realised that she needed to make some much needed changes and couldn't go on like she had been.

The day retreat offered her the opportunity not only to relax but to learn some skills and access some useful resources that she could then implement at home as a way of creating more space for herself.

She described the day as a pivotal moment for her, at a time she needed it the most. She was able to take what she learnt and realised during the day to support herself, and feel more grounded, centred and capable during the inevitable busy times in her life.

True story from a participant on one of my previous day retreats. You don't need a whole weekend away in an exotic location to feel like you're able to come back to yourself and this is the proof of that pudding.

Booking is currently open for the next one happening in April. DM me or tap on my page.

15/03/2026

All the perfect yoga poses in the world miss the mark completely if you still end up losing your sh*t with your Uncle at your family's Easter get together........for the 12th year in a row... about the exact same thing...

Yoga has little to do with poses and really begins the moment you roll up your mat and move into your day.

Let’s look at some Yoga Philosophy...

The Kleshas appear in the Yoga Sutras.

If you want to understand your mind and why you react in certain ways, understanding these may just be the key.

Let’s bring it down to earth.

You’re hosting a party. You’ve spent hours making sure all the details are just perfect - the food, the table, the seating arrangement, the lighting, the music.

You’ve literally thought of EVERYTHING! You want so badly for it to be perfect.

But it doesn’t turn out like that.

That day there was a huge world news event. This dominated the evening. The conversation, the vibe. It was a total downer of an evening.

No one even noticed how much effort you’d put in. After everyone leaves, you sit down and cry.

Learning about yoga philosophy and in particular, the Kleshas can help you to see what’s going on here.

How attached you were to curating the perfect evening. How resistant to things not turning out as you had planned.

It isn’t bad to feel this way. You’re human.

But understanding attachments and aversions can help you to see where you’re grasping and holding on to things you can’t control.

When you know where these thoughts come from, you get to create some space between the thought and what you do with it. Whether to let it run the show or let it go.

And if you let it run the show, you might reflect on that after the event and forgive yourself, which may give you a better chance of choosing a different response next time.

Just like practicing poses, it's not about being perfect but this is yoga for your life.

13/03/2026

A seated yoga practice offers a wealth of benefits, especially when practiced regularly

- Improve flexibility and mobility
- Build strength and balance
- Reduce stress and tension
- Support joint health and circulation

All movements are carried out seated or using the chair for support, making yoga accessible, safe, and enjoyable for everyone.

Come along, give it a go, and leave feeling refreshed and re-energised! 💚

11/03/2026

You've been to different kinds of yoga classes with different teachers. Some are super alignment-focused, guiding you to practice in a specific way to stay "safe."

Maybe you've felt that doesn't always land.

Like being told to stand with your inner big toe mounds touching in mountain pose. It feels weird in your knees and lower back. You're much more at ease and stable (mountain like!) with your feet wider apart.

You leave class feeling like there's something wrong with you.

I get it.

I used to teach like that too until I started noticing that it doesn't work for everyone. In fact I now think this kind of rigidity goes against the heart of what yoga is really about.

When someone tells you exactly what to do with your body like to ensure sure your front knee stays stacked over your ankle in warrior 2 or a lunge it can feel like they have authority over your experience.

But the only person who knows what feels right in your body is you.

No one else can feel what's happening inside you.

A teacher can only see from the outside.

And when the focus shifts to how a pose looks it pulls you out of your own felt experience and into an external benchmark of getting it right.

Like when you line up your feet heel to arch in warrior 2 but feel wobbly AF. You stuck it out because you thought that was the point of the practice. Until you didn't.

When you're invited into a practice rather than instructed through it the entire experience shifts. It puts the power back where it belongs.

It encourages you to notice, to respond and make choices based on what's real for you that day and that builds something much deeper than physical alignment.

It builds trust in your body and it's capabilities. It teaches you that the little voice inside telling when something feels off is to be listened to.

It's this that ultimately serves you in times of uncertainty in your life when you need to make a decision that no one else can help you with.

04/03/2026

When you first started yoga did you think you needed to look the part? Have a certain mat, dress a certain way?

I did.

I thought that if I didn't look the part, other people would think I was a fraud.

But then slowly as time goes on you begin to realise that there's more to this. Or you may well have conquered a pose and not felt any different on the inside.

Wondering where all these benefits of a yoga practice are that people talk about so often? Feeling calmer, steadier focus, becoming less reactive.

So after scratching beneath the surface a little you begin to understand that you had it all wrong.

The pose was never the goal - the pose is a way to engage with yourself and watch what happens in the mind. And that's when things started to change.

So you let go of the external performance.

Release control of what it looks like.

You start to realise with a few ah-ha moments, it's this. It's the internal experience, the things you notice, and you start to cultivate more of a inclination to meet yourself where you're at in your practice and then you realise what the people were talking about when you start to feel calmer, steadier and less reactive.

Do you know what I'm talking about here?

How did your practice shift when you started to let go of the external expression to focus on the internal shifts?

Let's chat ⬇️

Address

Plymouth

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 9pm
Tuesday	9am - 9pm
Wednesday	9am - 9pm
Thursday	9am - 9pm
Friday	9am - 9pm
Saturday	9am - 9pm

Website

http://www.michellefinlayyoga.com/

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