Foundations of Yoga - an 8 week program with Charlotte Douglas at The Yoga Room
Build the foundations of a yoga practice by learning how to listen to your body & practice in way that honours your unique physical structure. learn to make wise decisions over when to adapt, modify or stay in a pose to suit your individual needs.
The intended outcome of this program is that you will be able to apply these skills into any asana class plus develop a solid foundation of self-knowledge that you can tap into throughout the lifetime of your yoga practice.
Anyone can gain benefit from this 8-part program, from the absolute beginner to those with an established practice.
Dates: 8 April - 27 May 2024
Time: 7:45 - 9:15pm
Fee: HK$2,500
Venue: The Yoga Room, Sheung Wan Hong Kong, 3rd Floor
This course is broken down into two parts.
PART 1 - Week 1 - 4 will teach you how to find stability and support within your body, covering the foundational postures and breathing techniques.
PART 2 - Week 5 - 8 will move into more complex & dynamic postures, covering backbends, twists and side bends
To help you deepen your understanding of the practice, you will receive resources, sequences and practices, that you may refer to in your own time.
Course Outline:
Week 1
Moving & Breathing with Ease
Learn how to move and breathe with ease. This class introduces simple yoga postures to release, lengthen and rebalance your whole body. It explores how to free tension in the hips and pelvis and find strength in the legs. It invites you to listen, slow down and rest. Class One offers you the gift of space, breath and inner calm. You will explore lying, kneeling and standing poses.
Week 2
Building Strength & Support
Learn how to build strength and support from the ground up. This class focuses on the connection between your feet, legs, pelvis and spine. It introduces the importance of good posture and how to find length and strength in your spine. You will investigate how to feel grounded, supported and stable in movement, and how the benefits of yoga cross over into real life. You will explore lying, kneeling and standing poses and a simple flow sequence.
Week 3
Aligning the Spine
Discover how your spine supports you. This class explores what makes you feel strong and stable in yoga postures. It investigates how to mobilize and stablize your spine and how amazing and unique your spine is. It explores how to create relaxation and vitality through your breath, and the relationship between breath, posture and movement. You will explore lying, kneeling and standing poses and a simple back bend.
Week 4
Moving from the Centre
This class focuses on how to move from a stable, yet fluid core. It examines the connection between your core and the rest of your body. It explores how to move freely in areas that feel tight, tense, stuck or painful. This class offers you an opportunity to experience how your breath moves your body and how alignment is always an inside job. You will refine your knowledge, explore a balance pose, and learn a longer sequence called a Sun Salutation.
Week 5
Making friends with backbends
This class focuses on dynamic strengthening practices that contribute to easeful, upright posture and movement. It takes the spine through a full range of motion to restore each part to optimum balance and combat the strain of prolonged desk work. Class Five continues to investigate how to breathe for optimum support as movement becomes more challenging. Learn how to be safe with yourself and practice with self- care and kindness as you progress your yoga practice. You will progress your Sun Salutation and learn another spine strengthening sequence.
Week 6
Unwinding with Twists and Spirals
Learn how to unwind your body. Twisting movements can be complex – especially if you have a current or past injury. This class explores how to move safely into twisting in a way that honours your unique anatomy and plays to your strengths. Discover how support precedes movement and find comfort and ease as you twist. You will explore Sun Salutations and a new standing pose, as well as seated poses in this class.
Week 7
Creating Space with Side Bends
Learn how to create space in your body and find length in your spine. This class refines your understanding of how to move from your centre in a balanced way. It explores how to move through areas of your spine that may feel stuck, stiff or rigid, and how to unlock new levels of freedom in your breath. You will learn a new breathing technique and refine your learning in lying, standing and seated poses.
Week 8
Coming Home to Yourself
This class explores how to gently release tension in the hip and pelvic region. Class Eight offers practices to lengthen the spine and deepen your connection to your breath. Move, breathe, rest and enjoy our newfound knowledge. You're not just practicing yoga - you're coming home to yourself.
About Charlotte Douglas:
Charlotte is an experienced yoga therapist; certified by the IAYT, and trained by the Wisdom Institute of Yoga who offer trauma informed, evidence based yoga therapy programmes.
Charlotte is originally from the UK but has lived in Hong Kong with her family for 13 years. She believes passionately that the practice of yoga is not just about physical well-being, but rather a much more holistic wellness approach. It’s about finding a sense of ease within the body. She offers a truly collaborative approach that is not bound to any one system or method of yoga. Instead, Charlotte brings together a unique combination of postural yoga, breath-work, somatics, meditation and mindfulness.
Charlotte believes that a practice of mindfulness is integral to developing a capacity to be aware of our internal state and therefore our ability to chose what to focus on. These tools range from simple and easy to do developmental movements to complex mobility tasks as a way to ‘wake up’ the brain without strain or injury. When incorporated into our lives, mindful movement can help us to build the tools and resources for greater levels of resilience.
Enquiry and Sign Up: Please drop us an email at info@yogaroomhk.com / call 2544-8398 / WhatsApp +852 6685 9097 (Click to start chat) for details