Hamstrings & Adductors – Weekly Intermediate Class 134

As it ages, the human body tends to become increasingly restricted in movement and more prone to irregularity and asymmetry. Yoga poses can help to reintegrate the different compartments of the body. Seen from the outside this can appear to trim back its shape into more simple and straight lines. These simple lines refer not just to the limbs, but to how the whole body can extend itself in space.

When practicing yoga we quickly realise the distinction between the concept of “simple” and “easy”.

Although it is common for age and stiffness to distort the potential for the body to make clean, simple lines in yoga poses, this tendency can also arise in younger bodies where muscles and joints have an unusually large range of movement.

Yoga can help to find the right balance between improving flexibility in conjunction with improving strength and stability.

Each individual will experience the challenges and benefits of yoga in a unique way. This class will challenge different bodies in different ways. For some people it will be a sequence that highlights stiffness in the hamstrings and adductors. For others it will be more about holding back, and discerning between the parts of the body that are overworking, and the parts of the body that are underworking. Balance and simplicity will be the common denominator for everyone.