August Theme of the Month

For the last two months if you have been here we have been focusing our class on toning and strengthening the arms and previous to that the core centre. Now we move to the areas of our legs. Not only is yoga very good for flexibility, we can also bring strength and power into our legs.

When we use poses and movements to tone and strengthen the legs we can help to improve our balance, coordination and our stability and can improve our range of movement. Working on our legs is just as important as working in any other part of the body. We will focus on the four key muscle groups of the legs as well as some of the main joints.

Yoga for our legs doesn’t just benefit the legs. Our legs and feet are the foundations of many of our yoga poses. When we feel the foundation of our legs become more toned and stronger we also feel stronger throughout our body.

Tone and Strengthen Your Legs

Week 1 - Feet, Ankles & Calves
Yoga can help to strengthen and mobilise our feet, ankle and calves, helping to reducing pain and improve our lower leg flexibility. Sometimes our feet and lower legs can get very tired and sore especially if we have been on them all day. These classes will be great to get some energy and movement back through these parts of the body.

Week 2 - Knees
Yoga poses can be very good for strengthening the muscles that support the knees and improve our alignment. Poses and movements may also help to relieve knee pain that contributes to our overall mobility and wellness. These classes will be good to soothe and strengthen our knees by stretching and strengthening the muscles around them.

Week 3 - Hamstrings & Hips
Tight hamstrings can be quite uncomfortable, and yoga is a great practice to stretch them out. Certain yoga poses and movements can be great to encourage the hips and hamstrings to let go and lengthen as well as building strength and muscle balance to relieve hip pain. Working around the hamstrings and hips can increase flexibility, reduce back pain and improve our balance and coordination.

Week 4 - Quads & Hip Flexors
If we are someone who sits a lot during the day we may experience aches and pains. Tight hips and quads can be recurring conditions that can lead to lower back pain. Yoga poses can counterpose the long periods of sitting that so many of us do. With quads being one of the most worked muscle groups, they need to be lengthened just as much as they need to be strengthened.

Week 5 - Glutes & Hips
Yoga pose can help to tone and strengthen your glutes and legs. Working with the glutes can help to improve your posture, reduce sciatica, strengthen our legs and protect our knees. the glutes are responsible for both strength and stability in our physical yoga practice and can help us create yoga postures with more ease.

This Month’s Music

Here’s the usual selection of music that Vicky has been listening to this month.