There are many reasons public yoga classes are inaccessible for people - remote locations, caring roles, financial and physical barriers or if you just prefer the comfort of your own space. For these reasons I have free audio classes below for those that feel like a stretch.
I’ve had a few questions about paying for these classes. It was always my intention for these classes to be free for anyone to use and I intend to keep it that way. However, if you feel more comfortable paying (you really don’t need to) you can pay as you feel here. Or for non-Indigenous people perhaps you could consider ‘paying the rent’ as a contribution instead. These classes are recorded - and I benefit from living and working - on/in the unceded lands of the Kulin Nations. If you are listening to these classes in ‘Australia’ or another colonised country it is likely you are in a similar situation. A few options are Grandmothers Against Removal, Seed Mob, IndigenousX, Dhadjowa Foundation and Wurundjeri Land Council I hope you enjoy the classes.
Audio Class 30: Centring
60 minute class that hopefully creates a greater sense of stability, clarity and feeling centred. Or perhaps just some nice shapes for your body.
Two blocks or books might be helpful for this class and perhaps a pillow, towel or bolster nearby. This class also has no music, you could always put some on in the background if you like.
Audio Class 29: Moment by Moment
A 60 minute class with lots of cat/cows, wrist stretches, planks, dolphin, lunges, Warrior 2 > extended side angle flow, pigeon and more. Like usual, a slow and strong class.
Audio Class 28: 60 minute class
A 60 minute class with lunges, triangle pose, shoulder stand and a focus on slowing down the breath.
I cut off the first 15 seconds of this class - The class starts in any comfortable position; sitting, lying down, with or without props, any comfortable position.
Audio Class 27: 20 minute Sun Salutations
A class for when you want a quick break just to move. As the title says, just 20 minutes of Sun Salutations.
Audio Class 26: Yoga at Home
A new audio class for everyone at home practicing physical distancing.
I’m not sure there’s anything else I can/need to add to what’s already being said in regard to Coronavirus and all it’s repercussions, and I’m sure people are experiencing everything from devastation to hope, fear, grief and excitement.
I also imagine there are a myriad of reasons you might like a stretch; exercise, boredom, soothe uncomfortable emotions, time alone, and while I know this won’t and can’t alleviate larger issues like lost wages, I hope this simple class can be of some use.
Audio Class 25: A class for difficult times
A 30 minute class to create a little more space in order to create a little more ease when experiencing uncomfortable sensations, emotions, moods, etc.
I recorded this outside, apologies for the extra noise.
Audio Class 24: Taking Up Some Space
This class starts with about 4 minutes of relaxation/mindfulness so if you’d prefer to get straight into movement, you could start at the 5 minute mark, lying on your back, knees drawn into your chest.
Just a class (similar to the other classes on here) to create some time to spread out, notice how you’re feeling, relax and feel strong.
Audio Class 24: Soft and Strong
Audio Class 23: Spread Out
A simple twenty minute class.
Audio Class 22: Softness
Somewhat ironically, a slightly stronger class.
Audio Class 21: Some Space
Just a little bit of space to move, breath, have a think, whatever you’d like.
Audio Class 20: Simple.
I’ve been thinking about whether or not I can call this yoga.
To me what I facilitate is a session/class/time where participants exercise, breath and spend some time noticing themselves, their state, their emotions, their thoughts. Perhaps a more appropriate name is: body centred mindfulness with psychological techniques and yogic philosophies as tools to observe and manage thoughts, emotions and sensations.
I’m not sure about removing the word yoga totally as I think that doesn’t acknowledge some of the influences that are present. But I’m starting to think for me maybe less is more. Maybe the benefits, the enjoyable parts of yoga are the more simple (and secular) parts, without the adornment of hindu gods and chakras. I’m not sure.
Audio Class 19: Notice where you are. Notice how you are.
A Hatha/vinyasa class.
Audio Class 18: Exactly as you are.
Exactly as you are.
Notice that.
Not changing a thing.
Breathing, thinking, sensations, changing,
And still,
Not changing a thing.
Notice that
Exactly as you are.
Audio Class 17: Just a stretch.
The recording was interrupted so it's in 2 halves sorry.
Also - my recording mic is experiencing technical difficulties, or probably more accurately I'm experiencing technical difficulties. I’ll have more, better recordings up soon.
This one's best listened to with speakers.
Audio class 16: home coming : going home
A poem by Lauren Gower.
last summer, i went home. it’s the first summer i’ve spent at home, where i grew up, in over ten years.
i grew up, mostly, on the side of a hill in the north of tasmania. close to the coast. in tarleton, to be precise.
sometimes i wonder if i keep on leaving so i can keep on going back.
i’ve been years and years coming back to this river. coming home. i’m only just realising i left. i’m sitting on the railway bridge, looking out at the sea, and realising i haven’t come back this way, this way, since i left. i’m leaving all over again and coming back, all at once. and still, the river’s here. the river i’m come back to.
home. where everything flows from. where everything flows to. the mountain; the river; the sea. singing the same songs, over and over. i’ve returned in the meantime, of course. over and over. but i’m come back now. it’s not the same thing.
https://herebeinghome.wordpress.com/page/2/
Audio Class 15: Self-compassion.
The assumption is often made that we act with rational self-interest. However, a psychologist recently pointed out that there are a number of reasons why this often isn’t the case. To act with rational self-interest requires many criterias to be met before we may act in that way. This is a class about that. About meeting those assumptions so that we can act with a little more self-compassion if that is something you feel like you would like.
Also, I don't think this is a case of either/or. I don’t think it’s yourself over others. I think it’s compassion for yourself AND others.
Audio Class 14: Movement For Movement's Sake
Nothing but movement. A short class for if you just feel like a stretch. This class has no music and is really stripped back to just movement. If you want to add music, movements, time - obviously feel free.
Audio Class 13: Rhythms
I don't think I need to say more. The class hopefully explains itself.
Audio Class 12: Compassionate Mindfulness
“Mindfulness is only useful when accompanied by self-compassion”. Bessel Van Der Kolk said this at a conference I was at recently and it captured something I have been thinking for a while.
I have always thought that self awareness, self-obsession, negative self thoughts, self concisouness, ect are all scarily close. Negative self rumination is a common symptom of depression, so what happens when people experiencing low mood (perhaps depression) are in a class and are asked to reflect on themselves? That may not be a comfortable or safe space. When we ask people (and ourselves) to be self-aware - that isn’t necessarily a useful or pleasant experience depending on the state of mind and the relationship to self in that moment.
This class is about that - about creating a compassionate state first before practicing self-awareness.
Audio Class 11: Inquire Into Yoga
“Nobody has the truth. Truth is the product of sharing what seems to be true. We all inquire into yoga”. - Matthew Remski.
“Yoga is like an ancient river with countless rapids, eddies, loops, tributaries, and backwaters, extending over a vast, colourful terrain of many different habitats. So, when we speak of Yoga, we speak of a multitude of paths and orientations with contrasting theoretical frameworks and occasionally incompatible goals”. - Georg Feuerstein
Audio class 10: The gift of being. Your gift in being.
The title is a bit corny. It's described more in the class.
I had this class start on a bolster. So if you have one it might be nice to use it under your spine. Or a pillow or rolled up towel.
Audio Class 9: Morning class
A 20 minute morning class to set a state of being before relating with other people and things.
Audio Class 8: The space outside of binaries.
I think the title says it all.
Audio Class 7: Ways of knowing
I went to a lecture today on Decolonising Psychology and it made me reflect on how we make sense of the world and the different knowledge systems that exist. It also reminded me of this class I recorded a while ago.
Better quality audio coming soon!
Audio Class 6: Atheist's Prayer
Prayer. It has such religious connotations and therefore, I haven’t given it much thought or have never been drawn to it. But I did a class by Elena Brower where she used the phrase “You are the one who prays, the prayer and the one who answers”. At first it didn’t sit well for me. But then I was listening to a beautiful podcast with Pádraig Ó Tuama and he mentions that praying to him (in my interpretation of what he said) is an opportunity to reflect on what has been, what is, to ask for what he needs and be grateful for what he has. And I thought this is exactly what yoga is for me. Elena’s “You are the prayer, the one who prays and the one who answers” started to make sense to me. Prayer, A place of discipline, devotion (to whatever you would like), reflection, gratitude, thinking and planning. To yourself, for yourself.
A Morning Prayer, Padraig O’Tuama
Neither I nor the poets I love have found the keys to the kingdom of prayer and we cannot force God to stumble over us where we sit. But I know that it's a good idea to sit anyway. So every morning, I kneel, waiting, making friends with the habit of listening, hoping that I'm being listened to. There, I greet God in my own disorder. I say hello to my chaos, my unmade decisions, my unmade bed, my desire and my trouble. I say hello to distraction and privilege, I greet the day and I greet my beloved and bewildering Jesus. I recognise and greet my burdens, my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story. I greet my untold stories, my unfolding story, my unloved body, my own body. I greet the things I think will happen and I say hello to everything I do not know about the day. I greet my own small world and I hope that I can meet the bigger world that day. I greet my story and hope that I can forget my story during the day, and hope that I can hear some stories, and greet some surprising stories during the long day ahead. I greet God, and I greet the God who is more God than the God I greet.
Hello to you all, I say, as the sun rises above the chimneys of North Belfast.
Hello.
Audio Class 5: Spaciousness in Slowness
When I was teaching at The Yoga Lab we got to name our own classes. It took me about a week to distill want I wanted to communicate down to three words. Strong, slow, spacious. Here is a simple class to find that space. Enjoy.
Audio Class 4: Gift of your own attention
Elena Brower used the phrase “Gift of your own attention” in a class. I really like it. The phrase highlights the limited nature of our attention, and where and how your attention is placed changes your experience.
When you choose to place your own awareness on yourself it takes you into a different state, a different experience. And it’s really nice to occasionally bathe in your own awareness. Let yourself be heard, felt, experienced, nurtured.
And if this sounds selfish, isn’t it also selfless? When you nurture yourself you don’t need to lean on others as much. When you reflect on your thoughts and behaviours you notice what is helpful for yourself and others and what isn’t..
Audio Class 3: Yoga is art.
This class was inspired by my friend’s article exploring what constitutes ‘art’, and whether art could be seen as a way of life rather than an outcome.
Art is a way of being. Not a thing you do. Yoga is a way of being. Not a thing you do.
And there are a lot of similarities between being yogic and artistic ways of being. They are both intentional. They both require care and attention. They’re both mindful - sensory inputs and outputs are “mediated through awareness”. This intentionality creates a richness, a depth, a beauty and grace. Watching asana can be beautiful. Not because of the shape someone is making but because of the awareness and care that is put into it.
Yoga is the tool - like a paintbrush - it mediates your way of being and your way of experiencing.“Yoga is a way of being and a map of becoming”. Art, like yoga is in the “wholeness of attention we bring to the world”.
Audio Class 2: "Collective rather than Individual".
The first 5-10 minutes of this class are quiet so just get comfy and contemplate this:
How we make sense of the world - Our way of knowing and making meaning.
This article highlights how so many things influence how we see, understand and act in the world.
For me, this raises an interesting question with yoga. A traditionally ‘Eastern’** practice in a Western context.
So often in yoga I think we focus on freedom, personal growth, expanding our capabilities. But what if we saw everything as relational. My strength, ease, possibilities depends on those around me. Less time on “self work” more time on “how am I relating to others?”. Relating within our bodies. Relating with animals, relating with plants, weather, place. Collective instead of individualistic?
Can we practice this way of being/thinking? Eg, In an asana (posture) can we make a pose/shape with our entire body? Can we do Warrior 3 with not just our back leg but with our ears, breath, shoulder blades, feet, etc. In the same way, in a community, rather than just one person thriving can everyone thrive? And is there more ease and strength in this collective, relational approach to moving and being?
**This article is also good at highlighting a more nuanced distinction between knowledge systems. There’s a bit more grey than East vs West.
Audio class 1: Desire
Follow this link to find a class on 'desire'. The start is quite quiet so I have attached my notes below to give some context.