3pm-5pm, one Sunday a month, winter to summer 2022

Dates:
16/01/2022
20/02/2022
27/03/2022
24/04/2022
22/05/2022
19/06/2022

Are you wanting to explore your relationship to pleasure in a yoga practice, to try making this your main guide on the mat? Or are you curious about how poetry, song, music can weave into a movement practice, how you can let the two blend together and produce so much richness and ease? Or perhaps you’re keen to meet sacred and nourishing contexts to your yoga practice outside the standard (and often patriarchal, casteist) canon? Join Simran, a poet, yoga teacher, and translator, for this New Year, online co-practice series.

This series is an invitational, accessible space for exploring the lusher side of a yoga practice together: the territory of joy and pleasure in the body, expressive and creative approaches to asana and flows, and above all, movements emerging from your own live, resourcing, luscious experiences of sensation through the body. There’ll be space to reflect and share, and space to enjoy beautiful, hugely engaging sacred and popular music and poetry – the electrifying qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen, Kabir’s playful, confronting poetry, Nanak’s gorgeous, extraordinary lyrics, even soaring Sufi power ballads from the last decade of Bollywood, and much else.

We’ll use frameworks shaped by the widest range of contexts – prana and ‘desire-energy’ in 20th century Tibetan tantra, sacred medieval love poetry from Sufi and bhakti traditions in North India, the work of Audre Lorde, and even affect theory. We’ll hold space to cultivate, relish, explore and trust the sensations of pleasure and desire that can come through movement and the rest of a yoga practice; and we’ll see how poetry, song, music, and other artforms – sacred, popular, and both! – can support and expand across the board.

We’ll come together once a month over six months, for a practice led by Simran and a mellow, carefully facilitated space for reflecting on or sharing about how your practice has been feeling – in that session, over the course of the month, or more widely. Alongside this, each month you’ll receive a lovingly curated package of songs, poems, short readings and even videos of particularly iconic performances across artforms to enjoy however you like. These will come with lots of easy-reading resources – including new, radical and accessible translations not available elsewhere!

This course is open to everyone: there is no level of yoga experience required, but the course is intended to be a monthly top-up and check-in, supporting and resourcing your own movement and/or rest practices – whatever they might look like. Please reach out if you have any questions, and particularly to discuss any accessibility requirements – we look forward to hearing from you!


Pricing
We believe in the importance and value of this training, and would like to offer a scaled pricing system, which enables attendees to pay which tier feels most appropriate for them. Please note there are NO further discounts available (i.e. no student discounts, etc).

Community price £139
Standard price £169
Supporter price £199


About Simran
Simran Uppal (they/them) is a yoga teacher, writer and organiser based in East London. As a yoga teacher, Simran works predominantly as a faculty member for 200hr and advanced 300hr teacher trainings with Nourish, an inclusive and community-oriented teacher training company based in Oxford. They’ve also led a wide range of CPD and public workshops in the US, across the UK, and more widely. They focus on critical approaches to the philosophical and social contexts of modern yoga, experiential and embodied forms of education, and creative, expressive movement and rest practices rooted in their own experiences of devotion, bliss, and joy in the body.

WHAT TO EXPECT
In this class, we share practices that are empowering, grounding and gleeful with you, creating space for you to thrive and flourish. We can begin to see this practice as a vital movement which enables space, community and time to acknowledge your experiences, cultivating a deep awareness of yourself and your body.

Despite approximately 80% of yoga practitioners in the UK being female, contemporary yoga is largely built upon a foundation and understanding of anatomy and alignment for men, by men. This isn’t to say that we should leave behind our dynamic, strength & heat building practices. Instead, perhaps there is the opportunity to explore a complement that is more grounded in experiences of women and woman-aligned, appropriate for all stages and cycles of life.

In general, this is a slower, softer class, which combines meditation, pranayama (breath practices), yoga postures and gentle somatic movement to help you attune to your body, cultivating ease and space.

WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR
This class is for you if you identify as a woman or woman-aligned (this is intended to be language which includes trans women, genderqueer people and femmes), it is fully-accessible if you a pregnant or postpartum, are menstruating or experiencing endometriosis. This class does not include prone (front-lying) or supine (back-lying) positions.

WHAT YOU NEED
A yoga mat (maybe, a carpeted floor is also probably fine!), a strap/belt/scarf, a blanket, a yoga bolster or a large cushion, and a block are all nice to have, plus anything else you like to have for your yoga practise.

HOW MUCH
Single class – £8
5 Class Pass (Community Price) – £35
5 Class Pass (Standard Price) – £40
5 Class Pass (Supporter Price) – £45

WHAT TO EXPECT
Join Harriet for a 60 minute class, dedicated to rest, replenishing and grounding.

You can expect to rest in 3-4 postures each class, beginning with more upright/seated postures to help us unravel our days/bodies/minds, and ease into reclining postures, which a long savasana.

This class spends more time in postures (anywhere from 2-5 or 15-20 minutes) and also offers more silence from the teacher. We provide a playlist if you’d like to have background music playing.

WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR
Suitable for beginners through to experienced practitioners and yoga teachers. Something for everyone with opportunities to tone up or down depending on your mood, energy levels and needs. This class will involve some prone (i.e. front lying) postures, so modifications will be offered if you are pregnant. Feel free to contact us if you have a specific question or concern you’d like to chat through.

WHAT YOU NEED
All the comfy props! We’d recommend:

A yoga mat
2 bolsters (one round and one rectangular is ideal)
Alternative: sofa cushions have a good firmness
2-4 yoga bricks
Alternative: large heavy books
5-6 cotton or wool yoga blankets
Alternative: any thick blanket at home, or large towels
An eye pillow
Alternative: a light scarf to cover the head
A chair (any dining chair works, or foldable metal chair)
Alternative: a sofa, armchair or bed often works well
A yoga strap
Alternative: soft belt or scarf
The more, the better when it comes to props and restorative yoga.

HOW MUCH
Single class – £8
5 Class Pass (Community Price) – £35
5 Class Pass (Standard Price) – £40
5 Class Pass (Supporter Price) – £45

12 May - 9 June 2022
Thursday evenings 18:30-21:30

Overview

Join us for a five-week deep-dive into the anatomy of the upper body. Infused with Nourish’s signature approach of joyful, inclusive and person-centred practice, we’ll explore the anatomy of the spine, shoulders & arms.

Each week we’ll work with a different theme and section of the upper body, slowly building up a picture of the structures and how they move and work together in our asana practice.

Importantly, we will explore how our anatomy can vary and how this can impact our range of motion. It perhaps cannot be overstated enough: no two bodies are the same. This course will help to familiarise you with key anatomical features of the upper body and how this can impact your asana practice.

We will discuss common conditions and injuries, and how these can be accommodated for within our asana practice with pathologizing or propagating common myths and misconceptions.


Course Outline

Welcome, introductions, why anatomy? We’ll begin by considering the lenses and attitudes we bring to anatomy as yoga practitioners. How can we cultivate a welcoming and inclusive approach to anatomy and our bodies?
Sacrum & lower back. We’ll start in the belly of the body, considering the sacrum, sacroiliac joint, and lumbar spine.
Thoracic spine. We’ll recap the abdomen before moving into the thoracic spine and ribcage.
Neck. We’ll consider the structures of the neck and cervical spine/
Shoulders & arms: Lastly we come to the shoulders, arms & hands.

Each session includes a 75 minute asana practice, combined with lecture, discussion, and work in pairs/small groups. We’ll explore the musculoskeletal system, connective tissues and movement within asana practice. If you are taking this course as part of Nourish’s 300 hour program, you will be asked to submit a small piece of written work in order to receive your certificate.


Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for anyone interested in deepening their knowledge and understanding of the anatomy and movement of the upper body. We welcome interested students, teacher trainees, and yoga teachers.

This module is offered as part of Nourish’s 300 hour teacher training, but can be taken by any teacher wishing to improve their skills in this area as Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The module will run as five weekly sessions of three hours, and combine theory, practice and skills development.

Nourish Yoga Training's 300 hour Advanced Teacher Training is registered with Yoga Alliance (International), and is completed as a series of standalone modules which can be taken over 3 years. There are limited spaces available. If you are taking this course as CPD or part of our 300 hours, you are able to miss one session and a recorded session can be provided for the missed module only at no further cost.


Course Materials
You will be provided with notes and reading materials for each session.


Pricing
We believe in the importance and value of this training, and would like to offer a scaled pricing system, which enables attendees to pay which tier feels most appropriate for them. Please note there are NO further discounts available (i.e. no student discounts, etc).

CPD Community Price £169
CPD Standard Price £199
CPD Supporter Price £229

Breathing is something that we do continuously, but we can often forget how to do it fully. When practicing yoga we are encouraged to bring awareness to the breath, which may highlight irregular patterns and restrictions.

In this 90 mins workshop we will examine how the breath affects our wellbeing, and explore techniques that encourage us to breathe consciously. The majority of this session will be seated with option to modify any standing postures to sitting.

This workshop may cover:
- Brief anatomy of breathing
- How the breath can impact our physical, mental and spiritual body
- Movement practices to open up the body
- Simple breath-based techniques to integrate into your daily life

This workshop is being delivered as part of Nourish's Professional Development and Mentoring Program.