​What do I need to bring?

 

An empty stomach – allow at least three hours after a heavy meal and 1 ½ hours after a light meal. You can bring your own mat if you like but yoga material is provided with disinfectant to clean mat after class.

 

What do I wear?

 

Please wear comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely. Shorts or tights/leggings are recommended so that teachers can better observe your alignment. Bare feet allow better sensitivity to the floor and are best to ensure traction on the mat. Please refrain from wearing perfume, cologne, or any other strongly scented products as they can trigger headaches in others.

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I am not flexible, can I do yoga?

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Iyengar Yoga is accessible for all ages and all body types. It is known for its focus on precision and timing and the use of props, which were designed by Mr. Iyengar to help the practitioner to achieve perfection in any asana. Regular practice of Iyengar Yoga integrates the body, mind, and emotions.

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 Increased Flexibility -You don’t need to be able to touch your toes to do Iyengar, but if you stick to it that may be one side effect you notice.

 Toned Body In addition to stretching your muscles, the physical demand of holding each pose will help you build strength and tone your body. As Iyengar engages the whole body, the attention goes not just to the main muscle, but instructs the practitioner to think about where the muscles are connected to other body parts and engage them as well.

 Calmer Thoughts- Once you enter an asana, you are encouraged to focus on the alignment, disengage from other thoughts in your mind and be in the moment. You can think of it as a type of meditation, which, the more you practice it, the calmer your mind becomes — during and outside the session.

 Pain Relief-Studies have supported the practice of Iyengar relieves back and neck pain. When focusing on alignment, you start to notice the bad everyday postures such as slouching and hunching and with time you find correcting them comes easily and naturally

 Better Posture-Iyengar yoga helps you strengthen the muscles of the body responsible for posture, like the legs, back and core. With minor adjustments to improve alignment, the small muscles that are often ignored become stronger. The result is that you’ll find yourself sitting and standing straighter, which will give you more energy, less pain, and increased confidence.

  Protection from Disease   Iyengar yoga helps improve the overall functioning of the body—from the circulatory and lymphatic systems, to the nervous and digestive ones. When the body’s systems are doing their jobs, organs are working more efficiently.

 Quality Breathing While you hold your asana and consider your alignment, Iyengar also instructs you to focus on the breath. Many of us hold our breath during times of stress, often without realisation. The more you practice breathing, the less you’ll end up holding your breath unconsciously – the more oxygen gets to your brain, the better.

 

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