A typical Hatha Yoga class consists of breathing exercises, warming-up, yoga postures and relaxation.

We cannot live without breathing - every cell of the human body needs the oxygen this provides and it is why we breathe consciously in yoga. Another important reason has to do with change as we do yoga because we want to change: we want to become more flexible, less stressed, healthier, stronger, energised, more balanced. Yoga postures enable this and if there is any discomfort we understand this is part of changing our body and try to be comfortable in the discomfort. This doesn’t come naturally in the beginning, but when we focus on our breath (and not on the discomfort) we relax and the change will come.

Warming-up raises the body temperature and there are two reasons for this. The first is to prepare the body to perform physical tasks with a minimal risk of injury and the second is to prepare the mind to be centred, calm and focused.

The yoga postures are performed in a sequence developed by Arhanta Yoga. This structured approach creates confident yoga practitioners with an increasing ability to establish union of body and mind. The sequence works top down and stimulates all major glands (and chakras) in the body. This results in some unexpected results with students saying, ’I sleep a lot better’, ‘I lose weight’, ‘little bodily inconveniences have disappeared’, ‘I’m less angry’. In addition, of course you will gain increased flexibility, strength and calm.

Initial relaxation, relaxation in between postures and deep final relaxation are vital elements of a Hatha Yoga class. Initial relaxation brings a focus on the present moment and relaxing In between postures is done for two reasons: often the beneficial effects of a yoga pose only occur after getting out of the pose so would be missed if we continued to the next one straight away and it also gives your muscles the opportunity to get rid of lactic acid which is the cause of sore muscles. In the deep final relaxation it’s possible to fall asleep, the best relaxation possible. Waking up after this you will feel utterly calm and energised at the same time.