Namastaying At Home

Dear Yogis

Yoga at home is the new vogue. This is a great thing and a good opportunity for all of us whether teaching and learning. In any case, yoga is ultimately supposed to become a more reclusive activity. And anything that gets you to roll out a mat at home is good. So, while you’re Namastaying at home I’ll be Namastreaming from my Home Studio.

Here are some tips to taking a class with me or any other teacher online in the coming weeks. Sign up early! Don’t wait to the last minute! Platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams...) might behave like teenagers: download, initialize, launch, freeze, slam out, start again... You might be nicely stressed by the time you reach your first Downward Facing Dog. Check your internet speed and call your provider for some more!

And then you’ll need to figure out where to put your camera (if you want to be visible). From my experience you either cut off your head, cut off the legs, or have the laptop/built-in camera so far away that you can’t see and your glasses will be oscillating from your nose! You might find it less distracting if your camera is turned off. If you are visible, I can give tips and prompts; if you’re not, it’s absolutely fine. Ideally, you’d have the camera on but treat the class as a listening experience. I’ll do my best to describe postures as Simple Simon as I can. You can mute the sound. If you leave the sound on, everyone will hear the noises in your home. In the classes I’ve done this week, some have the sound muted and some didn’t. Un-mute if you have a question to ask, of course.

Have props! I’m going to shamelessly promote Decathlon stuff because I like it, it’s great quality and the Ealing store hosted my charity class last year. I suggest a yoga belt at the very least. I’ve mentioned their mats before but their shelves were cleared of mats this week. You’ll have more luck buying toilet roll. (I have mats you can buy!) If you are joining a stretchy class you might want a yoga bolster or a couple of yoga blocks. Otherwise, you could use a bath robe belt for a yoga belt, a couple of plump cushions for a bolster and books of various thicknesses and size for blocks. (From novel to dictionary to atlas!)

Home Studio

I will be teaching free evening classes for the time being, instead of my usual evening timetable. For the sake of consistency, all classes will be at 7.00-8.00pm – just one class per evening given that I don’t have a restriction on numbers.  I’ll have to invite you so please write back and tell me which class you want to do. Write and tell me if you want Monday or Tuesday (easy, stretchy classes) or Wednesday and Thursday (Ashtanga-based classes). I’ll write back with logging on information. I’m really looking forward to people joining from all over the world, to meeting your partners, family and pets, and to teaching people who wouldn’t dream of taking yoga... so far!

Yoga in the news

Evening Standard has: How London's top fitness studios are responding to the coronavirus crisis with digital workouts. “Here are some of the top studios and fitness experts as well as apps which are using innovative ways to deliver at-home workouts”.

The London Free Press has: Indian guru's tips to ward off coronavirus anger health professionals. Baba Ramdev "said he has found an ayurvedic remedy that would help ward off coronavirus". Worse... “In a series of tweets, Ramdev also urged Indians to take up yoga to boost immunity, using the hashtag #YogaForCorona”.

More Enlightened news

I love all the stories of companies helping others: The Spirit Business tells us that many distilleries are making hand sanitiser to combat coronavirus. Perfume houses, too, like Louis Vuitton. Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville’s two Manchester hotels will be closed to the public, freeing 176 beds for NHS and other medical staff. And here are 50 US companies acting well in response to these tumbling times.

Stay well and safe. Stay in touch.