Gentle yoga is just the ticket if you enjoy thoughtful, slower pace movement, which allows you to pay attention not only to the physical body on the mat but to subtler sensations in the body, as well as such awareness to emotions and thoughts when off it.
It is a great antidote to a hectic, stress-filled lifestyle allowing you to take the foot off the pedal. Working at a soothing pace enables you to really reflect on how you are feeling as movements are executed in a slower way. By having the time and space to position yourself in correct alignment allows you to create good form and reduces the chances for injury.
Gentle yoga is extremely effective if you are looking to enhance your mood and boost immunity, which in turn, improves the capacity for healing and balancing.
It is ideal if you prefer a reflective pace, are feeling stiff or out of shape, perhaps you are recovering from illness or injury or great for those of you simply wish to stay mobile.
Benefits of Gentle Yoga
Lubricate joints, warm ligaments and tendons, loosen tight muscles, strengthen your neural signals
Build healthy tissues throughout the body
Improve lung capacity, strengthen breathing muscles
Restore resilience in muscles, emotions and thinking
Improve self-confidence
Increase overall physical function, digestion, circulation and immunity
Allows you a yoga practice with little risk of injury or strain
I teach gentle yoga in a thoughtful way; where we may still do forward bends, very gentle backbends, and other types of stretching, but the focus really is on accessibility, making modifications for those of you that need them.
For some people slow, or not moving much at all yoga styles are much more challenging mentally than faster paced yoga. Sometimes just focusing on your breath is enough. It is a case of finding what style or styles of yoga suits you and note that it is very beneficial to physical and mental health to mix and match to find balance.