Hey Yogis,

It’s nearly time to set our clocks an hour forward as we move into longer days and all the promise that comes with British Summertime!

I was inspired recently when listening to a really interesting podcast, by the Happy Pear – an episode named “The Science behind cold and hot exposure with Dr Susanna Soberg”  – she openly chats about her own exploration in taking up cold water swimming as well as it’s benefits alongside exposure to higher heat temperatures such as sauna’s, ideally set to an optimum temperature, as well as other outlets including poignantly hot yoga practice.  From experience, you too may have experienced the weight of your inhibitions dissipate during and especially after being submerged in any form of a hot or cold therapy -the laughing chatter of cold water swimmers or the bonding, interactions that are struck up with often total strangers in a sauna!

Latest research has proven that we can activate a lot of feel-good hormones including oxyctocin, norepinephrine and serotonin to name a few.  We are also stimulating our brown fat within our body matter which improves healthy fats,  hormones, brain receptors, metabolism, and our glucose uptake all on a cellular level.

The theme and ethos, therefore, behind HAY yoga classes is to incorporate and bring the experience of hot therapy to your yoga practice which in turn allows the body and muscles to become more malleable and effective in safely stretching in the yoga practice as well as utilising the heat to provide a safe space to bond and release emotionally overall. As the class winds down we move into the cooler side of the practice as we allow the body to hold poses for longer and feel into the stress of the colder yin side allowing the temperature to cool us both internally and externally.

HAY Updates

I will be away with this weekend, so no Friday yoga class, attending a three day breath work course and certification as an Oxygen Advantage Coach hopefully incorporating the teachings to retrain the breath for optimal health.  This coaching works well alongside hot and cold therapy practices as well as yoga and other physical practices.  More details on teaching updates from this to follow in due course.

• there is small pricing increase on drop in and vouchers for the Spring season to cover increases in venue costs and on the basis prices have not altered since 2015.
• private and corporate yoga sessions continue to be booked as well as any bespoke requests at Fennel Studio – email here.
• Finally,  we are excited to be hosting our third HermYoga Retreat 2023 on the 17-19th November.  Please note that bookings will go live on the 1st April, with deposit only to secure a space.   We hope to bring more of the same as well as some new offerings see the Herm Retreat page for more.

In the meantime, we hope to see or hear from you soon.

Stay Bendy

Vanessa x