Yoga

Dance

Therapies & Massages

Vinyasa Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga, also known as "dance of the breath" is a fluid, dynamic and harmonious style that emphasises the coordination between breath and movement. The practitioner learns how to flow from one posture to another through dynamic transitions. Peculiarity of the style is the execution of sequences of postures that change every class, in order to focus on different aspects of the practice.
The postures are always linked each another by movement and are synchronised with the breath. In this way a continuous flow of asanas is created which allows the balanced alignment of all parts of the body and the achievement of a high degree of mental concentration.

Hatha Yoga
Hatha is a potent alignment-oriented practice that emphasises alignment and breath while entering, holding, and leaving the posture. It uses postures and stretches in combination with the breath while holding the poses to develop flexibility and relaxation.
This style encourages proper alignment of the body, often includes breathing and meditation techniques to bring balance, strength, and calmness to the practitioner.
Hatha yoga is excellent  for students who appreciate longer holds in individual postures and prefer a slower and more meditative approach to practice.

Mom & Baby Yoga
Join us in experiencing the joy of practicing yoga with your baby.  In this class, we will focus on calming the mind, releasing tension and toning the body.  Through gentle movements, breath work, stretching and strengthening, you will soon begin to feel stronger, more confident and a stronger connection between body and mind.  You and baby will both benefit from the bonding time together while connecting with other moms and babies in our community.  In this supportive environment, moms are free to tend to their babies needs.  This class is suitable for beginners and more advanced practitioners.
Please note: Moms can join once they’ve passed their post natal checkup and have their doctor’s clearance. ​

Ashtanga Yoga
In this class the teacher leads the students through part of the primary series of the astanga yoga system – attentively, slowly and with focus.
Students will practice a specific sequence of poses designed to stretch, strengthen and detoxify the body.  This classical form of yoga, helps build strength, flexibility, endurance, and stillness of the mind. As with all Ashtanga classes, Tristhāna (the three focal points) are emphasised throughout the practice, being - breath, bandha (internal locks) and dristi (gaze).

Breathe with me - Pranayama
It’s a restorative practice that focuses on controlled breathing techniques that cultivate stillness and quiet the mind. Yogic breathwork is a fundamental part of every yoga style and Pranayama is an excellent tool that will enhance your practice on every level.This class introduces breathing awareness techniques and gently guides students towards specific methods of regulating breathing. Join us for a class that is both calming and energising.

The Silent Hour
Silence allows us to get grounded, when too many things around us are moving constantly. It helps to calm the emotions down, detach from the situation and make wise decisions. Turn off the noise, sit quietly and listen to the Silence, all the time enjoying this hour-long respite from thinking, reviewing, planning, and imagining. Stay in the present moment. You can enter any time during the silent hour, and leave when you feel, the only requirement is that not a word is spoken inside.

Yoga Dance
Yoga Dance is for anyone who wants to have fun and find a creative way to experience themselves on and off the mat , in these classes we will utilise the wisdom of the yogic breathing and also the classical yogic asana to strengthen and open our body while playing with the postures and flows / choreography's and finding the dance within us as we play with improvisation and free form fun where each person will have the chance to explore themselves in an open space for freedom of expression.

Creative Dance for Ages 3-5
See your little one twirl and skip, beaming with joy, as he/she discovers a world of dance. How many ways can you jump, float, balance, swing, stick together, roll or glide?
Movement questions, challenges, use of imagery, stories and music to spark your child’s imagination and inspire him/her to explore the elements of dance in their many combinations.

Creative Dance for Ages 5-7 
Imagine your child's smile, as they balance, turn, move without stopping, roll and jump up, exploring the elements of dance. Happy eyes, dancing and inventing moves, inspired by our own world.
Sometimes we start with images, sometimes with props like feathers, welly boots, fabric, leaves – always coupled with movement questions: How does a propeller seed drift to the ground? Can you make this floating light, spiralling, movement with your foot, shoulder, or even nose?
We dance to stories, music, rhythms, sounds and silence. We explore basic modern dance movements in very short combinations, and enjoy the possibilities that arise as we change these and create our own dances in small teams.
We become aware of time, rhythm, tempo, space, direction, size, level.
All the while, we build awareness and control of movement, movement skills, rhythm, musicality, communication, respect and tolerance, courage to create, and self-expression in dance.
 
Creative & Contemporary Dance for Ages 8+
Watch your son or daughter beaming with pride, as they progress from exploring elements of dance in all their variety to mastering fundamentals of modern and contemporary dance.
Picture them learning short dynamic combinations, improvising to creative tasks, and finding the courage to include their own dance ideas and develop these into dances with their peers in group tasks.
We learn to share, observe & describe dance.  We melt improvisation, technical exercises and dynamic combinations with our own dance ideas into a dance story and share these in an open class at the end.
In this class we build awareness and control of movement, movement skills, rhythm, musicality, communication, respect and tolerance, the courage to create, and express ourselves in dance.

Contemporary Dance (Adults Beginners / Improvers)
Time to start breathing, moving, dancing!
If you would like to try the basics of contemporary dance, improve technically, get a feeling for flowing from balance to fall, from standing to rolling and coming up with ease, if you would like to learn short dynamic combinations, improvise and work in contact, and gain confidence to change and create your own twist on the material, then this is the class for you.
To me dancing feels like I am alive, flying and free. Find new ways to express yourself and move through space. Learn combinations and technical exercises, find your balance, off-balance, fall and recover, spiral, turn, jump and fly. What is it that moves us in life? Be encouraged to find your own movements, and change and develop a combination to make it your own. Together we improve our awareness, control, coordination, balance, strength, flexibility and creativity. Feel ready for almost anything!
My Contemporary Dance classes are open to men and women, Beginners/ Improvers Level

Dance Lab
If you like bending the rules, experimenting with movements, like contact, improvisation and modern/contemporary dance. If you are not afraid to venture into the unknown to create something new – then join my Dance Lab. It’s your chance to play with different ways to create, change and develop movement sequences to a theme and devise a short dance theatre sequence together.  
A mix of contemporary dance technique, Laban dance tasks and contact improvisation, and time to devise short pieces. 

Baby Sling Dance
Your tiny one cuddled close to your heart in a sling, wrap or carrier. A time to connect with your baby as you sway and move into a dance. At times soothing, At times awakening the senses.
Gentle, funny, and heart warming moves to music, dancing with and in the company of other parents.
This is a class that stresses baby’s and wearer’s safety with the main aim to share the joy in dancing together.
Babies and their moms and dads, grandparents, and minders are all welcome. 
Please note: Moms can join once they’ve passed their post natal checkup and have their doctor’s clearance. 

Somatic Movement Therapy and Individual therapy sessions with Laura O'Brien
Somatic  Movement Therapy recognizes that movement of the body, mind, thoughts,feelings and emotions are interconnected. Including aspects of both body and mind as relevant in the therapeutic space can give us a different perspective and support a deeper mind body connection which ultimately can support us in our everyday life and relationships.Unresolved issues, traumas, certain attitudes and conditions may create disconnection within and to ourselves; and also to others, our environment, spirit , soul etc. Through mindful and restorative movement, conscious witnessing and support, movement therapy creates a safe and embodied space from which to explore and heal these issue. Sessions are client led, and based on the clients needs. A therapy session may include talking, deep rest, guided or free movement, dance , somatic touch, sound and silence. Movement includes everyday movement, walking, sitting, lying etc and can be contemplative as well as more expressive.In movement therapy it's not always necessary to move in every session, we can move internally through feelings and emotions and words etc as long as we include the body as well.I am a trauma resourced therapist and am trained to work in the present. Resourcing skills such as mindfulness, breathing techniques, attunement etc to create a safe holding space for therapy to happen.I adhere to the I.S.M.E.T.A  professional code of ethics and practice.

Sessions take a minimum of one hour.