Hatha Yoga › Gabriella Espinosa
Hatha Yoga is the name given to all physical yoga postures and breathing techniques to prepare the body for meditation. However, hatha yoga is commonly known for yoga with an emphasis on steadiness, so expect more static poses and longer yoga pose holds. The slower pace of Hatha classes makes it suitable for beginners, however it also provides a focus for more advanced practitioners and the possibility to explore the merging of breath, mind and body. Hatha Yoga provides the basis for many other forms of yoga including ashtanga yoga, vinyasa yoga, power yoga, yin yoga and restorative yoga. You may wish to follow your practice with yoga nidra, meditation or relaxation.
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37:48Gentle stretching to cool and unwind
This gentle, all-levels hatha yoga class works with forward bends and pranayama (breath work) to cool the body and calm the busy mind. A perfect class to take as a middle of the day work-break, if the day is feeling overwhelming, or to gently calm at the end of the day. Gentle stretching is a wonderful way to destress and enhance feelings of safety in the body. Stretching triggers a host of physiological reactions including increased blood flow and oxygen to the muscles, hydrating surrounding connective tissue, releasing feel good chemicals such as endorphins and activating the parasympathetic nervous system - the rest and digest mode. Props needed: yoga mat, chair, blanket
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56:19Love Your Body: Affirmations, Breath and Flow
Connect to your body, gain more confidence with your body. In this class we work with the power of affirmations, breathwork and a gentle slow flow vinyasa yoga to learn to appreciate all the amazing things our bodies can do. Our bodies go through a lot of change during our lives and especially during menopause - so much so that you feel your body has let us down or betrayed. Yoga teaches us that our bodies are “sukrta” or well-made just the way they are. You might need a Journal, pen, yoga mat and bolster/cushion
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38:02Yoga to Rest & Digest: The Vagus Nerve
This yoga class uses simple practices to resource and reset the nervous system using breath, sound, gentle movement and massage to stimulate the vagus nerve and encourage deep relaxation. Either follow the class in full or learn the practices which resonate with you to be done in your own time. The vagus nerve acts as a “super information highway” communicating between the brain and our body’s systems regulating our mood, digestion, heart rate and hormones. The vagus nerve balances our nervous system by switching on our parasympathetic 'rest and digest' mode and influences how we connect and feel safe with others. You will need a bolster, blanket, tennis ball and/or soft pilates ball. Gabriella uses a Yoga Tune Up Coregeous Ball.
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31:08Gentle Movement for Better Balance
The sense of play, curiosity and wonder is such an important part of being human, and this sense of playfulness can continue to inform the way we interact with the world way into our midlife and into our senior years. This is a gentle movement class which invites you to play with sensory awareness of your body in space (proprioception), gentle movement and yoga postures to improve balance and stability for your yoga practice and everyday life. You will need a foam block, an eye pillow and a blanket (or alternatives).
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57:31Yoga for Healthy Bones and Stability
A steadily paced hatha yoga class focusing on balance as one of the key pillars of bone strength. This class is great for everybody, but is especially important for women to help protect against osteoporosis. This yoga class establishes a steady foundation through the pelvis, hands and feet to help feel more connected to the body and the surrounding world. Developing balance and stability helps build agility, equilibrium and mental focus. It also helps improve proprioception - your relationship with space and the environment around you and how you move within it. You will need 2 cork bricks, a blanket, two tennis balls and a chair (optional).
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01:13:18Yoga for Pelvic Floor Health
This yoga class brings awareness to the pelvic floor and lower body through breath, gentle movement and deep relaxation. Starting with a long relaxation, we then bring gentle movement to the body, practicing yoga poses to bring tone and range of movement to the pelvic floor. Class ends with a guided lower body relaxation. Pelvic Floor health is essential as we transition into Perimenopause and Menopause. As our levels of oestrogen begin to fluctuate, this can have an effect on the tone and elasticity of the pelvic floor. Increased levels of stress and anxiety during this time can also lead to hypertonic or overactive pelvic floor muscles caused from too much tension or tightening of the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor muscles can also be weak or hypotonic meaning the muscles are not providing enough support for the bowels, bladder, and uterus. You will need a bolster, blankets, two cork bricks (if you have them, or books), a belt, sandbag or weights (optional).
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08:04Three Yoga Poses to Support Digestion
It might not be easy to find time to move our bodies or practice a yoga flow in our busy lives, but it is important to aid our bodies and help support our digestive system throughout the day. In this quick yoga class, Gabriella will guide you through her top three poses which can help support our digestive systems along with a diaphragmatic breath technique to help create calm. These will only take a few minutes and can all be done at your desk!
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22:19Gentle Yoga for Gut Health: Aid Digestion
This gentle yoga class begins with slow moving twists, side stretches and poses all designed to gently help support your digestive system. The class finishes with a seated practice to encourage strong posture and uses breath awareness to support digestive balance. Props: one chair, one pillow or bolster.
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47:48Open to Your Heart’s Desire
This heart-centred gentle yoga class is designed to help you connect to your heart's desire, to your inner wisdom and to feel more love for oneself and one another. It includes opening to self love through embodied enquiry, gentle stretching and movement, finishing with yin postures and a guided visualisation to connect deeply to your heart’s desire and its expression in the world.
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16:16Gentle Yoga for Emotional Release
Life's journey can bring up a range of emotions from anger, rage, grief, loss and frustration. This gentle yoga class is an opportunity to move with your feelings; allowing them to arise, shift and release through somatic movement, gentle yoga postures and breath work. Welcome the full spectrum of your human experience. You will need a blanket.
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31:03Pelvic Floor Awareness Tutorial
Get to know your pelvic floor. What is it? Where is it? This yoga class is a guide to pelvic floor awareness through breath, visualisation, palpation and movement. The pelvic floor is the ground of our being, supports how we stand, walk, control elimination and experience pleasure. It is our entry into the world, the seat of our creative power and where we find home in our bodies. Stress and our busy lives disconnect us from this part of our bodies. We usually do not pay much attention to the pelvic floor until we experience pain, discomfort or symptoms such as incontinence. Cultivating awareness of your pelvic floor is essential for befriending this part of your body. You will need a bolster, 2 blankets, 2 cork bricks (or books, if you don't have them) and a belt.
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01:11:47Yoga for Strong Bones
This yoga class takes us through a series of poses which have been proven (in a seminal two-year pilot study of yoga and osteoporosis) to improve bone strength. This class builds strength and balance, but in a gentle, accessible way. The key pillars for sustaining bone strength include stimulating the bones through weight bearing movement, muscular engagement of the arms, legs, abdomen and glutes, and balance, which helps build agility and equilibrium. Maintaining our bone strength and density to prevent the risk of osteoporosis is hugely important as we journey into menopause and beyond. You will need 2 cork bricks (or books!) and a blanket.
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56:16Cooling & Calming Practice
This cooling and calming yoga class and breath practice soothes the nervous system and deeply relaxes the mind and body, suitable for anyone feeling overwhelm or the need to calm. But this class especially is a great menopause yoga class, providing relief to hot flushes, night sweats, irritability and sleeplessness. In addition to supported forward folds, gentle inversions and restorative poses, there is slow deep breathing and cooling pranayama practices. This sequence is recommended for anyone feeling overwhelmed or stressed, or anyone experiencing menopausal symptoms, especially if you are experiencing excessive heat in the body and to mitigate the effects of hot flushes, night sweats and irritability. A soothing practice to do in the evening before bed. You will need a chair, a bolster, two blankets and an eye pillow.
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