Increase Your Flexibility, Balance and Happiness with Free Yoga Classes
You may think yoga is only for people who are super flexible, in great shape and bohemian. But yoga practice is really great for everyone! Yoga is an excellent way to increase your flexibility, balance and reduce stress. We make it easy to get started with free yoga classes – Children’s Yoga, Basic Yoga and Chair Yoga. Classes are online at the links below and you can join us Wednesday evenings in-person or online for Beginning Yoga. Check the calendar for room or Zoom link.
Yoga Info from the Experts
I talked with our instructors from Topeka Yoga Network Evelyn Spangler and Mary Boland. Here are my questions and their answers.
What are some of the benefits of yoga?
Doctors and scientists all agree that yoga and meditation can improve your quality of life. For children it means constructive play and expending energy. Adults and seniors who practice regularly can expect to gain physical strength and stability. Everyone can learn breathing techniques and other tools to help them deal with the stressors life brings.
In their years of practice, Spangler and Boland say they have seen multiple people with significant weight loss. In a class of students over 80 by the end of the year everyone was able to do standing yoga poses.
What does yoga class look like?
Our children’s yoga is engaging. You can’t bring a 3-year-old into a classroom and tell them to do poses. They will tire of this almost immediately. Our classes are successful because we use props, stories and even the child’s imagination to guide them through what seems like fun or playtime to them but is really a balanced children’s yoga class. Have fun with Children’s Yoga.
In a typical basic yoga class, practitioners can expect to work through poses that strengthen targeted muscle groups. They will also move and breathe to get their heart rate up a bit. Then stretch to calm the body and the mind after practice.
Try Beginner Yoga
Our chair yoga classes are balanced and benefit everyone. We work through a warmup process that starts from the top down. Then we teach yoga poses adapted to the chair to work on strengthening targeted muscle groups. Toward the end of class we guide those who would like through some gentle standing poses while also guiding those who chose to remain seated through the same pose.
