Corporate Wellbeing - Yoga at Work

Join me for a, one off, 'Men only Yoga session' at Nuffield Health Wokingham, this Sunday 10:00
Open all blokes, this is an opportunity to try a yoga class and learn the true essence of yoga and why it is so good for men. No experience required.
All men should be reaping the benefits of Yoga, both mentally and physically, but it can be particularly great for men looking to enhance performance in sports such as cycling, running, weight training, swimming and golf..
Please email me with any questions and book onto the class via Nuffield Health Wokingham, spaces limited. Richard.

[email protected]

Tuesday evening is yoga night, Finchampstead. This is a physically engaging class, like Pilates, but better 😏 There's no gongs, incense or woo woo nonsense, just physical movement to focus the mind and body. Whatever your perspective, I invite you to try this class. Thank you.
https://www.richardsyoga.org/myclasses

I am looking forward to getting back to my classes this week 😀🧘🙏
Tuesday evening yoga flow in Finchampstead, beginners welcome, and my lovely community of chair yogis, Wednesday morning in Wokingham town centre.
Come along if you are interested, have some fun with movement, help your well being and meet some lovely people 😀
See website for details.
https://www.richardsyoga.org/myclasses

In a world that often equates youth with vitality, the notion of starting or maintaining a yoga practice past the age of 50 might seem daunting to some. However, the truth is, yoga knows no age limits. In fact, it's precisely as we journey through the years that the benefits of yoga become even more profound and necessary. Here’s why everyone, especially those over 50, should consider embracing yoga as a vital component of their wellness routine.

First and foremost, yoga is a holistic practice that nurtures the mind, body, and spirit. As we age, maintaining flexibility, strength, and balance becomes increasingly important in preventing injuries and maintaining overall health. Yoga postures, or asanas, gently stretch and strengthen muscles, lubricate joints, and improve posture, all of which are essential for staying active and mobile well into our later years.

Beyond the physical benefits, yoga offers a sanctuary for mental well-being. Life after 50 often brings with it a myriad of transitions – retirement, empty nesting, perhaps even the loss of loved ones. Yoga provides a safe space to navigate these changes with grace and resilience. Through mindful breathing and meditation practices, individuals can cultivate a sense of inner peace, reduce stress and anxiety, and enhance their overall quality of life.

Moreover, yoga is a practice of self-discovery and acceptance. As we age, our bodies inevitably change, and with those changes may come a sense of disconnect or dissatisfaction. Yoga encourages us to meet ourselves exactly where we are, without judgment or comparison. By embracing our bodies with compassion and gratitude, we can foster a deep sense of self-love and acceptance that transcends age.

Additionally, yoga offers a sense of community and belonging, which becomes increasingly important as we age. Attending classes or joining yoga groups provides opportunities for social interaction and connection with like-minded individuals. These communities not only offer support and encouragement but also create a sense of camaraderie and belonging that is invaluable, especially in later stages of life.

Furthermore, yoga is a practice that can be tailored to individual needs and abilities. Whether you're a seasoned yogi or a complete beginner, there is a style of yoga and a level of intensity that is suitable for you. Gentle or restorative yoga classes offer a nurturing environment for those with physical limitations or health concerns, while more dynamic styles such as vinyasa or power yoga provide opportunities for challenge and growth.

Importantly, yoga is a practice that is accessible to everyone, regardless of age, fitness level, or physical ability. With the guidance of a knowledgeable instructor, modifications can be made to accommodate individual needs and ensure a safe and enjoyable practice. Whether practiced in a studio, gym, or the comfort of your own home, yoga can be easily integrated into daily life, making it a sustainable and lifelong pursuit.

In conclusion, yoga is not just for the young and agile; it is a practice that is especially beneficial for those over 50. By incorporating yoga into our lives, we can nurture our bodies, calm our minds, and nourish our spirits, allowing us to age gracefully and embrace the fullness of life's journey. So, whether you're 50, 60, or beyond, roll out your mat, take a deep breath, and discover the transformative power of yoga.

Yoga can be highly beneficial for individuals with bad backs in several ways:
• Strengthening Core Muscles: Many yoga poses focus on building strength in the core muscles, including those that support the spine. Strengthening these muscles can help improve posture and alleviate strain on the back.
• Improving Flexibility: Yoga involves a variety of stretching exercises that can increase flexibility and range of motion in the spine and surrounding muscles. This increased flexibility can help relieve tension and reduce the risk of injury.
• Promoting Proper Alignment: Yoga encourages awareness of body alignment and posture, which can help individuals with bad backs learn how to move and hold their bodies in ways that minimize strain on the spine.
• Reducing Stress: Chronic stress can exacerbate back pain by causing muscle tension and inflammation. Yoga incorporates breathing exercises and mindfulness techniques that promote relaxation, reduce stress, and alleviate tension in the body.
• Enhancing Circulation: Yoga poses often involve gentle twisting and bending movements that can improve blood circulation throughout the body, including the spine. Better circulation can help deliver essential nutrients to the spine and promote healing.
• Providing Pain Relief: Many individuals with back pain find relief from practicing yoga regularly. Certain poses may help stretch and release tight muscles, alleviate discomfort, and improve overall well-being.
Free, no obligation, one to one chat about how a yoga practice might bring your back, back.

Happy Easter everyone! I will be having a week off over Easter, so no drop in classes, between 1st to the 5th April.

You don't need 'the force' to try one of my yoga classes, the biggest challenge is actually turning up, and then it just flows and you will surprise yourself 🧘🙏😀
Morning and evening drop in classes for all levels.
https://www.richardsyoga.org/myclasses

Free, on demand videos for home practice
https://www.youtube.com/

One to one instruction, or small groups on request
[email protected]

This Sunday, Wokingham Community Yoga
**Time - 9.30-10.30am
**Location - Floreat Montague Park School, William Heelas Way, Wokingham, RG40 1BG
**BYO mat. You might also like to bring a cushion or blanket to help you get comfy in some of the poses.
**Cost - pay-as-you-can - our aim is to offer everybody the opportunity to experience and enjoy a regular yoga practice, therefore there is no set price for this class. Instead we ask that you pay what you can to help us cover the costs of the class and ensure we can keep the sessions running. Any additional profit raised will be donated to local charities.
**Advance booking required - https://www.jillelliotyoga.co.uk/.../wokingham-community...

In today's fast-paced world, where stress and sedentary lifestyles are prevalent, chair yoga stands as a beacon of hope, offering a sanctuary of healing and renewal. Its gentle yet profound practices empower individuals to embark on a journey of self-discovery, embracing wellness in mind, body, and spirit. With chair yoga, everyone can find a seat at the table of well-being, embracing a path of vitality, joy, and wholeness.
I hadn’t really considered teaching chair yoga when I qualified as a yoga teacher and happened to teach a class by pure circumstance. It transpired that, despite, the dozen or so ‘power yoga’ classes I taught every week, the experience of teaching a chair class really resonated with me.

Most of the people that attend the classes have never tried yoga, so it is an opportunity to teach, educate and pass on the really wonderful benefits our holistic practice offers. I find that everyday teaching chair is a learning day as well for me, understanding the many physical constraints and how to navigate the class to maintain safety and inclusivity. We are not trying to shoehorn yoga postures into the chair, or shouldn’t be, instead, are trying to determine how to develop the posture to achieve the same intention and objective.
I hold a regular weekly chair yoga class in Wokingham, Wednesday 11:00. If you are interested or know someone that might benefit from joining our community, please get in touch.
Or if you are interested in teaching chair and would like some guidance, mentoring and support, I would be happy to help 🙏😀

Yoga in Finchampstead tomorrow evening is still on 🙏🧘😀
(assuming you can navigate the chaos around Finchampstead 😭 please check your route first....)
https://www.richardsyoga.org/myclasses

Using a smartphone extensively can have a significant impact on your posture, leading to various musculoskeletal issues, we're not going to stop using our devices but a yoga practice will help to address postural issues. Yoga teaches us about our ranges of movement in the joints and how we can take steps to maintain and recover good posture.
https://www.richardsyoga.org/blog
Come along to my classes and discover yourself.
https://www.richardsyoga.org/myclasses

Morning and evening drop in classes, 60+ free videos on my YouTube channel, beginners online guides, free 30 minute consultations, breath coaching, flexibility assessments and personal practice planning, small group instruction. Everything YOGA.
www.richardsyoga.org

Dive into the transformative world of Vinyasa Yoga with our invigorating classes!🧘 Seamlessly flow through dynamic sequences 🤸 syncing breath with movement with a focus on strength-building and cardiovascular fitness 💪 Each pose gracefully transitions into the next, allowing you to move with purpose and grace 🙏😇
Why Vinyasa?
Dynamic Fluidity: Experience the beauty of continuous motion as you gracefully flow from one pose to another, connecting mind and body.
Stress Release: Let go of tension and stress as you synchronize your breath with movement, fostering a sense of peace and mental clarity.
Strength and Flexibility: Vinyasa Yoga builds both physical and mental strength, enhancing flexibility and toning muscles for a balanced and harmonious body.
Mindful Presence: Immerse yourself in the present moment, leaving behind the chaos of daily life and embracing the serenity that comes with mindful movement.
Whether you're a seasoned yogi or just starting, our class offers guidance and modifications for everyone.
Tuesday morning 10:00am Woodley
Tuesday evening 7:15pm Finchamptead
Sunday morning Floreat Montague Park school, Wokingham: 9:30am
Spaces available, for info contact Richard [email protected] or PM me. Thank you!

Happy New Year!
My Tuesday and Wednesday yoga classes restart next week on the 9th Jan 🙏🧘😀
Woodley 10:00 am
Finchampstead 7:15pm
Wednesday Chair Wokingham 11:00am

A BIG thank you to everyone that has joined me in some yoga through 2023 🙏🧘, either Park Yoga Wokingham 🌳🌤, Wokingham Community Yoga 😄any of my public an private classes. Have a great Christmas and New Year 🥳, hope you continue your yoga journey and perhaps I will see you in 2024 🙏😀
Richard.
Classes normal this week and resume early January, check website for details, or try some of my online stuff)
(If you want to try some yoga for the first time, please get in touch)
www.richardsyoga.org

Create a home practice with my videos, accessible from my website:

The power of a home practice.. If, and when I roll out my yoga mat in the morning, or at any time when the mood takes me… I look down at it and think…. It’s the same mat I the same place on the floor, but I never know where the next minutes will take me. My body will probably be tight, aching from the events the day before,...

I work with organisations, teaching yoga and breathing technique. References available on request.
www richardsyoga.org

The Benefits of Yoga for Employees Discover the numerous benefits of yoga for employees, from stress reduction and improved mental well-being to enhanced physical fitness and increased energy. Incorporating yoga into corporate wellness programs can create a healthier and more productive workforce. Yoga for employees, benefits of yoga...

FREE OUTDOOR YOGA every week with Park Yoga Wokingham. Come along and see why we are attracting over 150 people every Sunday to this wonderful event, especially if you've never tried yoga!😀

Here at Park Yoga, we strongly believe that FREE Yoga sessions shouldn't mean that our experienced instructors should teach for free! That's why our charity ensures that every instructor is paid a fair wage for their fantastic classes! 🧘‍♀️

Your donations help us achieve this goal! If you can, we greatly appreciate any donations! you can donate via contactless at selected venues or simply visit www.parkyoga.co/donate

Yoga techniques teach us how to strengthen the diaphragm and retrain our breath. The breath is the one function of the autonomic nervous system that is controlled and controllable and given that the breath can control our nervous system, it makes sense to become breath aware as it’s with us for life and we owe it to ourselves to get it right.
I am a breath coach and I teach techniques to empower people to breathe better, it sounds obvious but, through life, we have been gradually, unknowingly developing the wrong way to breathe.

A few weeks of this practice will open your eyes to the breath and open the right pars of your body too!
[email protected]

Walking and yoga ‘can cut risk of cancer spreading or returning’ Three studies add weight to growing evidence that physical activity can help patients who have the disease

Breath your way to a better day….
We would all agree that managing our stress levels and the state of our nervous system is important for our health and wellbeing.
So how could we go about this? Well, the most accessible and pill free technique is to control our breathing.
Our autonomic nervous system regulates the involuntary bodily processes, including heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal.
Consider the 2 main parts of this system, Sympathetic, which activates body processes when we are perceived to be in danger and the Parasympathetic, which, in simple terms is the opposite and relaxes the body after periods of stress or danger.
Perhaps, through work life, family life, trauma or simply the challenge of getting through the day, we carry a degree of stress around? Our body remains, for the most part, under sympathetic nervous system control.
The consequence is an accelerated heart rate, breath rate increases and becomes shallow, constricted blood vessels, decreased movement of the large intestine and digestion. Perspiration and raised blood pressure. Fine if we need to quickly remove ourselves from danger but not so good if we remain in this state for much of the time.
Conscious, controlled breathing can ‘hack’ or flip our nervous system back to parasympathetic nervous control by slowing the breath rate, extending our exhalations, breathing through the nose and slightly closing the windpipe, this yoga ‘ocean breath’, one of many yoga breath practices now being regularly practiced through breath training.
Furthermore, yoga breathing practices enable us to manage the CO2 levels in the body. With a controlled breath practice the levels of CO2 rise which helps our body to absorb the oxygen we breathe. There is an excellent best selling book by Janes Nestor ‘Breath, New Science of a Lost Art’ which is a comprehensive examination of the breath and a real eye opener to what goes on in our body with the breath.
An easy technique to practice is a balanced breath practice that can both lift you up a little if you’re down or bring you down a little if you’re a bit wired. It is simply controlling the inhale and exhale to the same duration, something which is comfortable for you to breathe.
When we practice any breath technique it is important to sit with the body upright, ideally breathe in and out through your nose, mouth shut, and when you breathe, slightly tighten the windpipe, which generates a gently sigh in the back of the throat. Send the breath deep into the lungs, allowing the tummy to push out a little and remember the count with each cycle, keeping it balanced and smooth.
Practice for 5 or even 10 minutes, particularly if you are a little stressed, or even as you read this article, and see how you feel afterwards.
There’s lots going on here, which would be best explained by a breath coach or yoga teacher who will be able to also guide you through the practice in much more detail.
Practice, as with anything, is the key and there are many types of breathing techniques that will help to reduce the levels of stress we carry around. Breath practice has also helped people with asthma, sleep apnoea, even snoring and once you have explored the power of the breath, you will realise that this natural aid has been right under our nose all the time.

Really excited about my impending launch of
"Get Fitwith richard's yoga".
I will post more info in the coming weeks but this is going to be my yoga 101 site with new weekly classes, 'how to' videos, livestream classes, videos of sport yoga and yoga for body constraints etc etc. It will be a subscription channel, but less than the price of a weekly latte. 😀