July 2017 newsletter

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Welcome to our July newsletter.

We hope that those of you who attended our International Yoga Day on the 21st June enjoyed your class. Phew that was a hot day!

The centre will quieten down as we approach the summer, a time to be outdoors doing your yoga! Plenty of weekly classes but not so many weekend workshops. Please do send us any photos of your yoga practice in unusual places to share in our September newsletter.

This newsletter will cover July and August and so the next newsletter will be for September.

Please check the calendar for teachers’ holidays, and maybe try a different class if your teacher is away. You can drop in to any class.

Have a fabulous summer from all the teachers and therapists at DYTC


In our last three newsletters we have looked at three of Patanjali’s eight steps or ‘limbs’ of yoga.

  1. Yamas: the attitude we have towards things and people around us
  2. Niyamas: how we relate to ourselves inwardly
  3. Asana: yoga postures

The fourth step is Pranayama.

This is composed from two Sanskrit words:

  • Prana: meaning life force (noted particularly as the breath), and
  • either ayama: to restrain or control the prana (implying a set of breathing techniques where the breath is intentionally altered in order to produce specific results)
  • or ayāma: meaning to extend or draw out (as in extension of the life force)

Generally translated as breath control, Prana is the life force or energy that exists everywhere and flows through each of us through the breath. The basic movements of Pranayama are inhalation, retention of breath, and exhalation.

“The yogi’s life is not measured by the number of days but by the number of his breaths… ” says Iyengar, “… Therefore, he follows the proper rhythmic patterns of slow, deep breathing.”

There are many yogic breathing practices, some very complicated and best learnt with a teacher, but the simple art of breathing in and breathing out in a slow, controlled and mindful way is accessible to all and is extremely effective at relaxing the body and calming the mind.

“yogah citta vrtti nirodhah,”
(Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.2)
Yoga stills the fluctuations and distractions of the mind.

By identifying with the fluctuations of the mind, life can feel like a roller coaster ride of madness. When we identify so deeply with our mind states, we can end up acting out these thoughts through our behaviours. When we do yoga, stretch, breathe and sit in stillness we become the witness to these fluctuations, rather than identifying  with them.

By cultivating this awareness of them, we are less likely to believe our thoughts and more likely to see them as what they are; ever-changing, fleeting and transient in nature.

In other words, they are not really true.

These first four stages of Patanjali’s astanga yoga concentrate on refining our personalities, gaining mastery over the body, and developing an energetic awareness of ourselves, all of which prepares us for the second half of this journey, which deals with the senses, the mind, and attaining a higher state of consciousness. We will look at this part of the journey in future newsletters.

Events in July and August
~ July ~

Yin Fascial Yoga Workshop with Dominique Preston

Sound Meditation Workshop with Jez Culley and Chrissie Foster

Breathing and Yoga Nidra with Sharon Cox-button

Baby Massage Drop-In with Sharon Cox-Button

Mindfulness Drop-In with Jem Shackleford

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Sarah Ryan

Summer Yoga

Massage Training Institute “Centering and Hips”

Free Ninjutsu Class and Fundraiser for Breast Cancer with Bruce Westgate

Reiki Share with Karen Giles

Alignment Flow with Victoria Boast

~ August ~

Mindfulness Drop-In with Jem Shackleford

Breathing and Yoga Nidra with Sharon Cox-Button

Alignment Flow with Victoria Boast

Six week IAIM Baby Massage Course with Sharon Cox-Button

~ Looking ahead to Autumn ~

Early Morning Meditation with Marj Snape of Fordington Yoga

  • First class
  • Wednesday 20th September 7:00 – 7:45am

8 week Mindfulness course with new teacher Beatrice Brooke

Mindfulness taster session with Beatrice Brooke

First of 8 monthly classes looking at the Chakras with Sarah Ryan

  • Sunday 8th October 10:00 – 12:30pm

Yoga and Herbs for the menopause workshop with Sharon Cox-Button and Sarah Burt

  • Sunday 22nd October 10:00am – 4:00pm

Details for the above to follow, keep a look out on the website!