Sophie Oliver Yoga

Sophie Oliver Yoga Sophie Oliver is a yoga teacher based in the heart of Wormingford, a village on the Essex/Suffolk border in the Stour Valley.

Cording (axillary web syndrome) can happen weeks or months after any type of breast surgery. It is caused by hardened ly...
22/03/2023

Cording (axillary web syndrome) can happen weeks or months after any type of breast surgery. It is caused by hardened lymph vessels and feels like a tight cord running from your armpit down the inner arm, sometimes to the palm of your hand.
Yoga can help alleviate the discomfort of cording. Uttitha Balasana (extended child’s pose) just being one example.
To find out more check out Durga yoga; classes to help breast cancer warriors.
Starting April 20th with a taster class…come and join us, all ages and abilities welcome 🙏🏼

🗓️ Thursday 20th April
🕰️ 11am
🧘‍♀️
📧 sophieoliveryoga@gmail.com
www.sophieoliveryoga.com

💚

Did you know that there is a relationship between pranayama and breast health? Studies have found that yoga and breath w...
15/03/2023

Did you know that there is a relationship between pranayama and breast health? Studies have found that yoga and breath work lead to a significant increase in oxygen saturation.

To find out more, join me for my taster Durga yoga, a class aimed at women going through breast cancer.
All ages and abilities welcome 🤗

🧘‍♀️
🗓️ Thursday, 20th April
🕰️ 11am-12.15pm
💲 free
📧 sophieoliveryoga@gmail.com

Durga Yoga - classes for breast cancer warriorsFree taster class: April 20th @ 11am Email me to book your spot ...
08/03/2023

Durga Yoga - classes for breast cancer warriors
Free taster class: April 20th @ 11am
Email me to book your spot

Durga Yoga: Breast Cancer yoga classes - helping to regain mobility, range of movement, strength and a sense of communit...
07/03/2023

Durga Yoga: Breast Cancer yoga classes - helping to regain mobility, range of movement, strength and a sense of community…coming April 20th 2023 taking place
Check out my website for more details

Can’t wait to get started....
28/10/2020

Can’t wait to get started....

From this...to this 🥰Where does the time go?Happy 12th birthday to our gorgeous Fred Love ya 😘
28/10/2020

From this...to this 🥰
Where does the time go?
Happy 12th birthday to our gorgeous Fred Love ya 😘

30/09/2020

Playing with strength and balance:
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana


28/09/2020

Just me and my dawg....

🙏

To end the week of Autumn Equinox grounding poses, here’s Friday’s addition: Setu Bandhasana - bridge pose. And because ...
25/09/2020

To end the week of Autumn Equinox grounding poses, here’s Friday’s addition: Setu Bandhasana - bridge pose. And because it’s Friday, and we’ve all probably had a busy week, I’m offering up a supported version (using a block or a bolster).
This can also be taken into a supported shoulder stand - which has to be one of my favourite restorative poses. Why? Because read the benefits of both below:

Stretches the chest, neck, and spine
Calms the brain and helps alleviate stress and mild depression
Stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, and thyroid
Rejuvenates tired legs
Improves digestion
Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
Relieves menstrual discomfort when done supported
Reduces anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache, and insomnia
Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and sinusitis

Come to lie on your back.
Bring feet towards sit bones, knees bent and aligned with hips.
Arms by your side, palms facing down
Inhale to lift the pelvis.
Root down through all 4 corners of the feet.
Press in and out on the balls of the feet to align leg bones in the pelvis.
Inner thighs in and wide to stabilise and open sacrum/lumbar spine.
Keep knees tracking over ankles.
Bring the shoulders underneath you as much as you can.
Come up onto the tiptoes and bring a block to rest in a comfortable supported way under the sacrum.
Lower feet to mat and arms to side.
Knit ribs in and down.
Press into the back of the head, neck spine long.
Stay here and breathe, or if you feel supported, raise right leg and maybe left leg.
Breathe and stay here as long as feels comfortable!

Thursday’s pose to honour the autumn equinox is the mighty Bakasana, Crow Pose.Mighty, because it requires strength, foc...
24/09/2020

Thursday’s pose to honour the autumn equinox is the mighty Bakasana, Crow Pose.

Mighty, because it requires strength, focus, concentration and patience.
It doesn’t take brute force to achieve this pose. The right alignment allows you to reach your goal without being physically tired or breathless.

What does Bakasana do?
It Improves focus
Stretches your buttocks, front of thighs (quadriceps), and the palm side of your wrist
Strengthens your core, upper back, chest, front of your hips (hip flexors), back of thighs (hamstrings), arms, shoulders, forearms, and back of wrists (wrist extensors)

Come into squat, placing hands in front of the body, shoulder width apart
Plant the hands firmly, drawing finger pads together to create a firm base
Elbows draw towards each other, allowing shoulders to wrap around the back
Lift pelvis high so that the knees come to rest in the crux of the upper arm
Tailbone draws under (navel to spine)
Press up firmly through shoulders so that ribs press back towards the spine and the chest hollows - giving extra support to upper body, chest and core
Gently lower the chest forwards, leading with the heart, so that (maybe) one toe, one foot (or both feet) lift from the ground.
Gaze forwards
Breathe

Wednesday’s autumn equinox celebratory pose is Uttitha Hasta Padangustasana - extended hand to big toe pose.The epitome ...
23/09/2020

Wednesday’s autumn equinox celebratory pose is Uttitha Hasta Padangustasana - extended hand to big toe pose.
The epitome of balance and grounding (can also be done with knee bent or with strap around foot)

It’s benefits are plentiful:
It strengthens the legs and ankles
Stretches the backs of the legs
Improves sense of balance
Brings us grounding and calm in the mind

Root firmly through standing leg
Raise left knee in line with hip
Left hand on hip, right arm to sky
Bring the left index, middle finger and thumb to curl around left big toe
Start to straighten left leg
(Be mindful of the hamstrings and calf here - use strap or keep knee bent if they are tight)
Draw navel to spine and left sitting bone under to keep pelvis aligned and spine long
Shoulders press back in space to allow length in upper back
Ribs in and down
Lift tall through crown of head, rooting firmly down through standing foot
Breathe

When you mastered this pose, try extending the left leg out to the side for a variation (Uttitha Hasta Padangustasana II)

New online live class coming soon: ‘Breathe with me’30min evening restorative class based around pranayama, breath workM...
22/09/2020

New online live class coming soon:

‘Breathe with me’

30min evening restorative class based around pranayama, breath work

More details to follow soon....

Address

Wormingford
CO63AX

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9:15am - 10:15am
Thursday 9:15am - 10:15am

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Sophie Oliver Yoga

Welcome to Sophie Oliver Yoga. On here you will find no pictures of me in awe-inspiring artistic arm balances or inversions. I can do them, honest (if the wind blows in the right direction) but I’d rather leave them to the privacy of a class or a studio. Nobody wants to see me in an uncompromising position - really you don’t. I will leave them to the glamazons of social media to perfect.

You need to know that I am a mum of two boys, that my life is as chaotic as the next person and that I am a very respectable (tall in my dreams) 5ft 2” and I am getting on in life….a yogi never reveals her age, but believe you me, I am now ticking the “scary age” boxes on all the forms.

You also need to know that I LOVE yoga. It has changed my life in a way I never thought possible. It allows me to live the life I want to without self combusting half way through the week. It allows me to look in the mirror and like what I see. It allows me to appreciate my friends and family each and every day. What is more, I absolutely love teaching yoga. I love how it unites all ages and all body shapes. I love to see faces soften after practice, to notice how skin glows more radiant, how shoulders drop and eyes brighten. I love to watch how people open up more after class, chat to each other. Listen, laugh and communicate. Even if it’s for a fleeting moment, it matters all the same.

“Yoga is not just standing on your head...but learning to stand on your own two feet” Swami Satchidananda.