About

In our fast-paced, ‘yang’ society, we often take our achievement attitudes to yoga, choosing dynamic classes which focus on dramatic-looking poses that stroke the ego and inadvertently and inappropriately encourage our competitiveness to achieve the ‘perfect pose’. Restorative yoga turns this on its head, encouraging one to go deeper into a pose by releasing any expectations that hinder our muscles and minds from relaxing into our practice.

Restorative Yoga alternately stimulates and soothes the organs with the different poses, restoring the balance of our feminine and masculine, ying and yang energies, leaving the student rested and alert.

Sally acknowledges the work of Judith Lasater (especially her book Relax and Renew), the research of Dr Herbert Benson (see the Relaxation Response), and the pioneering study by BKS Iyengar, whose illnesses are thought to have inspired the practice of Restorative Yoga.