Courses at Yoga Place

Courses do need to be paid for in advance to reserve your place and we recommend you book early to avoid disappointment.

Please contact Yoga Place reception to request a booking form to reserve your place on info@yogaplace.co.uk or you can call us on 020 7739 5195 to book & pay over phone.

Beginners Yoga Course

With Emily Hayward

Mondays 20th September to 25th October / 6.45pm to 7.45pm / £60 for the complete 6 weeks.

This six week course will introduce beginners to the basic principles of yoga from a philosophical point of view, referencing the seminal yogic text THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI. It will also give you grounding in some of the key yoga postures and help you to understand alignment, benefits and contraindications. We will look at breathing practices (pranayama) and discover their numerous benefits. We will explore how meditation can help you to connect deeply with the breath and calm the mind, enhancing your yoga practice.

Schedule may be subject to change.

Week one:

• What is Yoga? Reference to the Yoga Sutras and introduction to the Yamas and Niyamas – Yogic living
• Breath work: yogic breathing and ujjayi breath
• Warm ups: How to release old tensions from the body and free the joints in preparation for posture work (asana)
• Posture:
  • Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward dog)

Week two:

• The importance of alignment and Stira (Stability) and Sukha (Ease) in your practice
• Sun salutations: with variations and alignment. What is their purpose?
• Why do standing postures? What are their benefits?
• Postures: -
  • Warrior series (Virabhadrasana)
  • Triangles (Trikonasana)
  • Tree Pose (Vrksana)

 Week Three:

• The importance of seated postures and twists. What are the benefits?
• Postures: -
  • Dandasana (Staff Pose)
  • Paschimottanasana (Seated forward bend pose)
  • Janu Sirsana (Head to  knee forward bend pose)
  • Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half lord of the fishes pose)
  • Meditation (Dhyana): various techniques for stilling the mind  

 Week Four:

• Philosophy: how to apply yogic principles to your daily life: -
• Yamas and Niyamas in detail
• Developing a personal practice

Week Five:

• Backbends. What are their benefits?
• Postures: -  
  • Setu Bandha
  • Ustrasana
  • Pranayama (and bandha):-   
  • What are the benefits of pranayama
  • Nadi Shadhona
  • Kapalabati
  • Bastrika
  • Moolar Bandha

Week Six:

• A full yoga practice covering elements of breath work, asana and philosophy

This course is ideal for complete beginners, yoga students with less than a years yoga practice and for those more practiced yogis who wish to deepen and further understand specific aspects of Yoga.

Emily teaches the Hatha All Levels class on Saturday mornings (but is currently on maternity leave).

Ashtanga Yoga Level 2 - Exploring the Primary Series

with Michael

Dates: Saturdays 18th, 25th September & 9th, 16th October / Time: 2.30pm-4pm / Cost: £40 for the complete 4 week course

This course is designed for students either who have already completed a beginners course or who have taken beginners classes and would like to deepen their practice.

The aim of this course is to show students postures that rarely are covered in a beginners class, looking at Marichyasana A,B,C and D! further exploring the second half of the primary series beyond Navasana including the finishing sequence. This is going to be a fun and challenging workshop, so come prepared to work and sweat, breath, jump back and jump through!

The first 3 classes we will take time to explore, ask questions, build up the flowing aspect of the practice, leading us to the last class, which will be a counted through the entire primary series as done in Mysore, India.

This course will prepare you to take the intermediate to advanced Ashtanga classes or join the morning Mysore self practice classes offered at Yoga Place.

Not suitable for complete beginners.

Michael has been practicing yoga since 1999 and Ashtanga Yoga since 2003 and he made his first trip to India in 2005 to study with Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath, since then he has made many visits to Mysore, receiving his authorization to teach in 2009.

Michael teaches the 1pm lunch time Ashtanga classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

Level 2. Yoga Course

with Emily Hayward (Teacher of the highly successful Beginners Yoga Course at Yoga Place)

Mondays 1^st November to Monday 6^th December / 6.45pm – 7.45pm / £60 when booking the complete 6 weeks.

This 6 week course is a great progression on from the beginners course and for those who have practiced yoga before and wish to deepen their knowledge of yoga.

We will look at a range of yoga asana (postures) to include: standing, seated, twists, backbends and inversions exploring the alignment, benefits and variations.

We will learn various pranayama (breathing practices), relaxation and meditation techniques and their effects on the mind.

We will also look at yoga philosophy from the perspective of the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali and how this can be applied to your yoga practice and daily life.

There will be a strong focus on developing your personal home practice and you will be given guidelines to help with this.