Yoga with Jo – Let’s Begin!

Yoga with Jo

Welcome to our new series of yoga videos.  The series is being created with the health and wellbeing of everyone of you.  Each week will see the release of a new yoga video.  Each video will have a different focus in order to cater to all needs and ability levels.  As they are videos you will be able to visit and revisit as often as you like and are able.  Yoga is many things to many people.

Some people engage in yoga for pain relief, stress and anxiety, flexibility, strength, balance, focus, and so much more.  At the start of each yoga video I will introduce the general focus of each video so you know what we are working on.

However, before we get in to it, I should share a little of myself and my journey:

I began my yoga journey after my doctor told me I needed to find something to calm me down and take time out.  I have ADHD, so tend to be one of those high energy people.   I also had a touch with cancer when I was 19 and had to undergo a lot of different treatments and surgery.  Unfortunately I had a scare last year and had to undergo major surgery.  On top of all that I have also had a fractured spine.  I feel I am one of those beautifully blessed and lucky people in life as I have continued to grow and develop and just be.

I am happy to share these things because everyone of you will have had different journeys in life, and it is important for you to know that as time progresses and I ask you to share your stories it is so that I can chose yoga poses and sequences that work for you.  And, whenever I don’t know something I research.  But back to me…I quickly became passionate about my practice after only a few yoga classes and joined yoga groups from around the world to learn more.  Eventually I decided, as a PT and school teacher, to not only participate with yoga but also teach and share it with others.  So, I undertook training in the Iyengar Approach, which is loosely based on the Hatha Approach to yoga.

Iyengar Yoga is very much based on healing and restoring the body.  We do use props and modifications with Iyengar so that everyone has success, and feels the benefits of the pose.

Something a little different you will notice with my style of yoga is that I talk (A LOT)…I do that naturally in the real world.  On a serious note, there is a reason I do it when I am working through a session with you, it is so you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, what you might expect to feel, the benefits of the pose and the lead in poses, and when not to do a pose and how to modify.

If my voice annoys you and you want to watch in silence, absolutely go for it – you’re in control of how you work through the videos.  But, something I will encourage is feedback.  It is important for me to know if you have questions, want more of something, or, if you have any health issues that I may be able to work with to assist you more.

Each week our blog will match our video to give you the opportunity to engage in dialogue.  At the end of every session I will close with Namaste.  It is a Sanskrit greeting, however, in yoga it basically means “the light of the universe shines in us together”.  I found this little quote from a yogi (that’s a person who “does” yoga), so officially you are all yogis now, but I would like to share this quote:

Namaste – my soul honours your soul.  I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides.  I honour the light, love, truth, beauty, and peace within you.  In sharing these things we are united, we are the same, we are one.

Namaste