When attending yoga, you might choose to go to a class in a yoga studio, a gym, or a community-driven class in a church hall or similar. But what if you’re finding a particular pose hard, and you can’t catch the teacher afterwards, or you’re not getting what you need from those gym classes, you might like to consider hitting someone you like up for a private sesh. What’s the difference between a 1:1 and a group class? In a group class, there are a bunch of you (as you might expect). You’ll usually be led through a pre-planned or improvised practice by the teacher. Because there’s a number of ..read more

When practicing yoga, you may have been guided to micro-bend your knees or elbows, in order to avoid hyper-extending (or ‘locking’) into the joint. But what does this actually mean? What is hypermobility? Hypermobility is a complex beast. You might have it in a couple of your joints (e.g. the hips or the knees), but it can also be a proper, diagnosable syndrome. The NHS defines this as “when you have very flexible joints and it causes you pain (you may think of yourself as being double-jointed)”, and you’d need to experience hypermobility in many places throughout your body (or be diagnosed w ..read more

Where does knee pain come from? Knee pain is a common complaint in yoga classes and beyond, but you might be surprised to discover that quite often, the culprit is, in fact, not the knees at all, but instead, your hips and your bum. Everyone’s anatomy and physiology is individual, so while a lucky few will never have any problems at all, the vast majority of us will experience differing levels of support from our hip abductors (gluteus medius), the tensor fascia latae, and the better known gluteus maximus (your bum muscles). So how does this happen? It’s all to do with how you move, sometimes ..read more

When you start practicing yoga, props aren't usually top of the list. Instead, you'll probably be thinking about comfortable, stretchy clothing, enough space in your living room (if practicing at home) or how bendy you aren’t. But props are really a key part of maintaining a yoga practice, and this is why. For sitting on Blocks | blankets | bolsters A combination of anterior pelvic tilt, where your pelvis tilts forward, sitting in a chair all day and living our modern sedentary lifestyle can often contribute towards sitting down on the floor not quite feeling right. Our hip flexor muscles att ..read more

I just wanted to talk a bit about downward-facing dog, because, well, it's a really hard yoga pose, and one of the most well-known out there. If I had a pound for every time someone told me they couldn't stay in it, or that they'd left a yoga class after the teacher harassed them for not being able to do so, I'd be... well, not rich, but I could buy a Nandos? Anyway. Downward-facing dog, or adho mukhva svanasana. Let’s start off with something helpful: props. Useful props Some people like to have their hands on yoga bricks instead of the ground/mat - especially if you're coming into this fr ..read more

If I had a pound for every time someone told me they couldn't touch their toes, I'd be a rich yoga teacher. It seems that there's a big problem in society – bending over! The bend and snap has become the 'ooh, argh, my back'. How many people do you know who can't do this seemingly simple move without it becoming a drama, a literal pain or a very curvy situation? Listen, it's really common, and a good yoga teacher will try to help: it is totally possible to progress this. Why so hard? Short or tight hamstrings: as we move to fold over, our pelvis tilts forward, and then our hamstrings kick i ..read more

If you enjoyed this and you’d like to read more, please join me on my Patreon for exclusive curated on demand content. When it comes to being kinky, you’d be surprised how many of us are, from just a bit to a whole lot. Whether you’re into the occasional spank, dressing up, or something much more intense, that's all part of it. Of course, like anything, there's having fun at home, and there's a whole sub-culture too (the kink 'scene'). But what is a discussion about this doing on a yoga blog? It's here because I came upon a discussion in yoga Facebook groups a while back which sparked my inte ..read more

I’m totally stealing this from the lovely Kirsty Marrins! Here are my 10 happy things for February 2020: Moved into my own home After a long, long period of saving and working on it, I finally purchased my first flat in December 2019. It required (and still does) quite a bit of work, so I ended up moving in in the first week of February. It was a very tiring and overwhelming week but worth it to have some personal space and my own pad. Walked from Putney to Waterloo with my friend Rosie My friend Rosie and I have been friends for quite a few years, ever since she was my editor at Whatsonstage ..read more

I first came across Harriet McAtee, Lead Trainer at Yoga Quota, online. We slowly connected over a shared understanding of the work that needs to be done in the yoga world to move things forward towards a more inclusive, consent-driven idea of what yoga means. Harriet has been heavily involved with this kind of work - she runs Inclusive Yoga Training, Decolonising Yoga workshops at YQ headquarters, and of course has numerous Yoga Quota badgeholders around the UK, who work with charities to bring yoga to underserved populations. Please tell me about yourself and your background with yoga, and a ..read more

The incredible Eunice Laurel is a movement practitioner who founded Movement for Healing, an amazing organisation which provides access to yoga and other healing arts tools to women impacted by sexual and domestic violence. She was also on the faculty during my yoga teacher training at Yogacampus. She is currently studying for a MA in movement psychotherapy. Here, she talks about her background, intersectionality, her experiences with consent within yoga practice, and how teacher trainings need to change moving forward. Please tell me about yourself and your background with yoga, and about the ..read more