Sally Parkes's Yoga Classes

Sally Parkes

Welcome to the Yoga for Back Care. This is an introduction to the course, and may help you to use the classes. If you are currently feeling real back pain, wait until that settles before starting the course and see your health practitioner for their guidance. This introduction helps us to understand the anatomy of the spine, and how our spine works, so that when we practice our classes, we know how we're keeping the spine healthy, the impact our movements have on the sprine, and how we can increase our spinal health, care for our backs better, and reduce back pain.

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Sally Parkes

The first in the yoga for back care series, this back care class is a gentle introduction to the larger muscles that make up your back, filled with gentle stretches and mobilizing your back. This class is mostly seated and suitable for most mobility levels. Although if you are currently experiencing back pain, do ask your health care practitioner before practicing.

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Sally Parkes

This yoga for back care class is increasingly tougher, building up core strength! This class focuses on building up internal strength and activating the back muscles. This class builds on the back care classes deep core introduction class, the focus on this class is on increasing range of movement whilst activating the outer core, and why being able to activate the core is important for stabilisation of the spine and pelvis. You will need a chair.

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Sally Parkes

The yoga for back care class is mostly either seated, on the back or on all fours and includes gentle, supported and floor-based movements to mobilise the shoulders, spine and pelvis. Combine mobilisation with conscious breathing and gentle stretching to release stiffness and increase the feeling of embodiment, really inhabiting and saying 'yes' to your body. Bring awareness to the entire body via the breath before bringing attention to the psoas, lower abdominal area and pelvic floor to practice how to activate and release these muscles, the deep core, in equal measures.

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Sally Parkes

This Yoga class is perfect for back care, keeping your back strong and mobile. Class focuses on building core strength and mobility for the spine and hips - essential for back care. This really lovely Yoga for back care class focuses mostly on symmetrical standing movements as standing poses can help to build strength through the body, avoiding unnecessary stress on the back, particularly on the lower back area. chair and wall for support at various points too. This class is mostly standing poses. You will need a yoga block, or a book.

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Sally Parkes

This Yoga for Back Care class focuses on strenthening the muscles which will help to keep your back strong. This class is stronger, suitable for intermediate yogis, moving more towards free standing movements now now to apply the principles learned in previous classes. This back care class is more fiesty, demanding a greater physical fitness and mobility, but with a focus on alignment and listening to the body and the information it feedbacks to us, should we choose to listen. You will need a yoga block, or book. And a sense of humility - if the posisitons in this class are too much, do go back to the other back care classes.

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Sally Parkes

Feel energised and reinvigorated with this simple but well-rounded yoga class of mostly standing postures. After a gentle warm-up, expect a simple series of grounding, standing postures to bring strength and energy to the whole body. The class is specifically sequenced to re-energise women, but everyone can benefit. The movements work with the spirals of the female form so the body is encouraged to feel at ease. This sequence of flowing and predominantly standing Hatha Yoga postures is linked with thoughtful transitions and breath work, to help release such tensions and manifest our full awareness of our physical and energetic being.

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Sally Parkes

A back strengthening Pilates-based sequence; starting with gentle spine mobilisation then moving into spinal strength exercises. Pilates based movements are fantastic at creating postural balance and strength by working the entire body synergistically. This sequence works through the entire spine with a combination of flowing movements paired with strength exercises. You will need a block.

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Sally Parkes

A gentle yoga class of floor based movements for when we're low on energy and needing a gentle boost. Keeping low to the ground, and with few poses which use wrists, this yoga class uses gravity to unwind the spine, open the chest and shoulder area, helping our heart centred energy to flow more freely. A perfect class if you're suffering from PMT or you're on your period. Many of our day to day movement patterns can create a rigidness to the spine and rib cage that negatively affects our respiration and levels of tension throughout the chest, shoulder and neck area. But by moving in a flowing and ‘softer’ way, working with gravity as opposed to against it, we can begin to release these areas of tightness to become more free in our body. This sequence of predominantly floor based Hatha Yoga asana will work to unravel the upper body, especially the chest area, to create increased synchronicity between the upper skeletal system, breath and ultimately the heart space. You may need a block and bolster.

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Sally Parkes

A strong, flowing Pilates class to work the core. Pilates is an effective way to strengthen the core in a functional way, in that it works to strengthen the muscles of the lower back in particular, as well as the abdominal area. This sequence uses core focused Pilates exercises for deep internal strength of the entire core and finishes with stretching on the lower back, hips and abdomen to minimise muscle soreness. You will need a block.

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Sally Parkes

A wonderful, gentle pregnancy yoga class suitable for all trimesters which is designed to stretch out the shoulders and lower back. Expect a selection of simple poses which will help to open up the chest, shoulders and the back of the body. This is a short sequence you can do anytime when you feel you need to stretch out and release these areas of the body. You will need a wall and a chair.

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Sally Parkes

A simple hatha yoga class to create stability and flexibility in the hips. The hips are weight bearing joints that are made up of the pelvis, sacrum, femurs and coccyx as well as the surrounding muscles and connective tissue. In order for the hips to be functional and healthy we need to work all these areas with a combination of strength and flexibility. This class combines Hatha based yoga movements with strengthening workout moves to strengthen the hip joints whilst the yoga based hip openers work to unwind the hips, allowing you to move more freely whilst feeling strong in your pelvic area. You will need a block.

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Sally Parkes

A yoga class to release and strengthen the back, with a focus on the lower back. Lower back pain and discomfort is common in today’s society and the reasons for this vary, but can include a lack of regular stretching, too much of the same kind of strength work or too much flexibility (Hypermobility). Whatever the reason, Pilates inspired movements can assist with regaining balance of this sometimes vulnerable are. This sequence is packed full of small stabilising movements which give a sense of strength throughout the entire core area and is also punctuated with gentle stretches to unwind and release the entire spine.

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Sally Parkes

Pelvic pain and aches are very common during pregnancy. This class discusses why the pain may occur and gives exercises to combat the pain. These exercises are suitable for during the second and third trimester. You’ll need a block and a chair handy.

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Sally Parkes

The final class in Sally's Pilates Series will challenge even regular practitioners! This class is the strongest of this progressive series. Enjoy increased strength and tone, a more stable and stronger core and longer abdominal muscles with this fabulous finale of our Pilates series.

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Sally Parkes

The fourth class in our Pilates series, a stronger intermediate Pilates class building up abdominal strengh.

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Sally Parkes

The third in our Pilates series, this is an intermediate Pilates class building your abdominal strength.

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Sally Parkes

The second in our Pilates challenge series. Today's class is a slightly tougher Pilates class, building on the same moves you found in Step 1 class with some more intermediate variations.

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