Yoga June

Kathryn Cullen

Kathryn Cullen was born in California and has lived in the UK for the past 25 years. She has studied yoga for over 20 years and is a Master Trainer in Body Balance who travels the world facilitating instructor workshops.

She has studied various schools of yoga including, Viniyoga, the teachings of Vanda Scaravelli and Iyengar, and integrates these disciplines in all her general classes. Kathryn is fully qualified by the British Wheel of Yoga and Yoga Alliance in Hatha Yoga practices. With her great interest in Yoga and a degree from the University of California at Davis in Exercise Physiology and Pharmacology, Kathryn quickly built a career within the UK Health and Fitness/Yoga community. She also regularly tours the UK presenting further education to instructors and has produced many popular DVDs associated with these tours including the very successful ‘Yoga on the Ball'.

When Kathryn was confronted with cancer some years ago, yoga helped to bring balance back into her life and was very instrumental in the healing process. Now in good health, she has qualified to teach Restorative Yoga to people in similar situations, helping to renew physical, mental and emotional wellbeing in their lives.

Kathryn's general yoga classes are suitable for all levels, ages and abilities. Her classes are an eclectic blend of disciplines including Yoga, Pilates, Body Balance and Fitness training. All of the practices she teaches focus on the essential element of breath awareness, posture, safe and effective body alignment and include the extremely important elements of relaxation and meditation.

Kathryn's number one aspiration is to encourage her students to incorporate the sense of balance, stability and harmony they learn through these classes into their daily life. She considers yoga a lifelong pursuit and believes she will be a student for the rest of her life and beyond.

 

Kathryn's Yoga Master Classes include:

  • Basically Yoga - A great place to start! Explore the basics of Hatha yoga; good posture, correct alignment in simple poses and proper breathing techniques to enhance your yoga experience.

 

  • Straight to the CORE - Cultivate inner strength through a creative and challenging blend of Yoga, Pilates and resistance work designed to strengthen, tone and stabilize the abdominals, back and pelvic regions.

 

  • Just Breathe - Our breathing patterns affect our nervous system, and through it, our emotions and state of mind. We can use our breath to help let go of tension, anxiety and stress. In this session you will be guided through a series of breathing exercises that will improve your breath awareness and restore calm and balance to your life.

 

  • Open Your Heart - Create freedom and strength in the upper back, shoulders and neck. Learn to safely unlock these habitual tension spots through focused breath work and asana that will help to strengthen, lengthen and liberate the muscles in these areas of the body.

 

  • Forward Bending and Inward Looking - Forward bends offer a great opportunity to settle down and free the mind, but not if your hamstrings are tight and screaming. This class will take you through a sequence of moves to release the back of your body so you can take full advantage of these calming postures.

 

  • Postures to Build Strength - In this practice we will focus on basic yoga postures that help to build strength, flexibility and concentration in the mind and body, emphasising the Core through extension and integration from the pelvic floor all the way up the spine.

 

  • Unlock Your Hips - When hips are tight the surrounding joints such as knees and lower back, are at risk of discomfort and sometimes injury. In this session we will utilize a dynamic sequence of standing, seated and supine poses to open our hips in a variety of directions.

 

  • Body Balance - A unique blend of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates set to inspirational music. This program is designed to make you strong, long, focused and centred.

 

  • Fitness Yoga - Prepare your body for the wear and tear caused by intense weekend activity! Here you will be guided through an all level yoga fitness class using stability balls and other equipment to help build strength, flexibility, balance and concentration, enabling you to perform better and recover faster.

 

  • Yoga Nidra - Yoga Nidra is often referred to as psychic sleep or deep relaxation with inner awareness.  It is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Yoga Nidra brings body and mind to a deeply relaxed state through the gentle practice of awareness. It takes us to the level of pratyahara, in which we are introverted but not asleep, on the edge of waking and sleeping. Our body is relaxed, the mind and senses grow quiet, and the consciousness is alert, undisturbed by what goes on around us. Heart rate, breathing metabolism, and mental activities slow down; and the two hemispheres of the brain come into better balance.

Availability

June 9th to July 1st, 2011