Nestled in the heart of our clinic, the yoga studio offers a serene escape where individuals can reconnect with their inner selves. Clients leave feeling rejuvenated, tranquil, and empowered, ready to face the world anew. Call 01472 722444 to book your class.
Meet Claire our Yoga Instructor
Welcome to The Yoga Studio Grimsby, I’m Claire Roach and have been teaching Yoga since my early twenties.
What drew me to Yoga?!! …. Honestly?!!
Whilst studying sports and exercise science I met a wonderful man in 1997 who blew my mind with his flare, beauty, grace and …. Humility! He was into rock climbing and used a book by B. K. S. Iyengar ‘Light on Yoga’ as a guide to stretching to help him be a better climber. I picked this book up and thought ‘I reckon I could do these stretches.’ I’d been a serious ballet dancer since I was 3 years old. At 19, confident and a show off this Yoga stuff seemed a piece of cake. Little did I know that this was the beginning of the very foundations of my life. That wonderful man is now my long serving husband of the last few decades and the father of my two beautiful girls.
I taught as a fitness instructor for many years before moving totally into becoming a Yoga teacher. I became a Yoga teacher because I have experienced the real change yoga can create. With yoga, I’m at home in my skin. Yoga has helped me to become more honest. It has helped me discover and love my body, and through it, my voice.
In the traditional yoga world, yogis were often put into little boxes and expected to be celibate, or cult members, or tree-hugging, granola-eating hippies, I’m here to tell you that a yogi can be anyone, even a hot-headed, party loving, extrovert like me.
I’ve taught yoga to hundreds of children, women, and men for over two decades. We are powerful and beautiful, and we are also in pain- physical, emotional, and psychological- We’re fearful about what the future may or may not bring. We all have our own personal issues! All these things create stagnation and tension in the body. Yoga gives us tools to overcome the obstacles that exist between us and freedom, joy, and gratitude.
It’s so incredibly rewarding to see daily people reclaiming something within themselves. It’s so inspiring to watch client’s gain a different perspective and fall in LOVE WITH THEMSELVES.
What are the main benefits of Yoga?
Yoga improves strength, balance, and flexibility.
Slow movements and deep breathing increases blood flow and warm up muscles, while holding a pose can build strength.
Yoga helps with back pain.
Basic stretching will ease and improve flexibility with lower back pain and is recommended as a first treatment for chronic low back pain.
Yoga can ease arthritis symptoms.
Gentle yoga has been shown to ease some of the discomfort of tender, swollen joints for people with arthritis.
Yoga benefits hearth health.
Regular yoga practice may reduce levels of stress and body-wide inflammation contributing to healthier hearts. Several of the factors contributing to heart disease, including high blood pressure and excessive weight, can also be addressed through yoga.
Yoga relaxes you, to help you sleep better.
Research shows that a consistent yoga routine can help you learn to get in the right mindset and prepare your body to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Yoga can give you more energy and brighter moods.
You will feel an increased mental and physical energy, a boost in alertness and enthusiasm, and fewer negative feelings after getting into a routine of practising yoga.
Yoga helps you manage stress.
According to the national institutes of health, scientific evidence shows that yoga supports stress management, mental health, mindfulness, healthy eating, weight loss and quality sleep.
Yoga connects you with a supportive community.
Participating in yoga classes can ease loneliness and provide an environment for group healing and support. Even during one-to-one sessions loneliness is reduced as one is acknowledged as a unique individual, being listened to and participating in the creation of a personalised yoga plan.
Yoga promotes better self-care.
FAQs
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Yoga is essentially a spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science, which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body. It is an art and science of healthy living. The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’ meaning ‘to join’ or ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’.
It began over 5000 years ago as a spiritual practice but has become popular as a way of promoting physical and mental well-being. Now allowing anyone to benefit from practicing. The emphasis is on the physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayamas), and meditation (dyana).
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If you are completely new to yoga, I recommend you begin your journey with Restorative Yoga.
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Restorative yoga is a style of yoga that encourages physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. Appropriate for all levels, restorative yoga is practiced at a slow pace, focusing on long holds, stillness, and deep breathing techniques.
Restorative yoga is designed with total beginners in mind, but benefits everyone, and for those practitioners suffering from injuries, ailments, stress, or recovering from illness. You’ll use blocks, blankets, bolsters to help relax the body, reducing stress and allowing the necessary stillness to learn essential breathing techniques.
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Beginning the journey of flowing one posture into another. This is a movement class designed for those who are able bodied. You’ll learn the yoga fundamentals; like core stability, improving your posture, safely stretching, and strengthening your muscles, and learning to improve your balance.
You’ll be taught how to use your breath whilst in and moving out of each pose, which is the foundation of learning a mind-body connection, giving you the opportunity to notice how you feel not just on your mat but within every moment of your life.
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Vinyasa is a term used to describe continuous or dynamic movements between yoga poses. This flow of movements is excellent for getting your heart rate going and working up a sweat. Vinyasa also helps increase flexibility, strength, stability, calmness, and focus.
This is an energetic class and is suitable for those who have learnt the fundamentals of yoga in beginner’s classes and are ready to further their yoga journey with more intensity.
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Themed Yoga classes are suitable for students who have attended beginner’s yoga and learnt the fundamentals necessary to take the next steps in developing their yoga practice.
Weekly themes are created to inspire students. As a former dancer and lover of choreography sequencing and theming keeps my classes fresh, fun, and interesting.
Themes allow there to be a focus, for example, using the four seasons, the phases of the moon, equinoxes, and solstices. Or following a traditional yoga style; vinyasa, power, or a leading teacher’s approach. Maybe a theme from yogic philosophy or using a breathwork (pranayama). Or choosing to focus on certain physical aspects like heart opening, core strengthening, hip- opening, balance and concentration. Or perhaps we’ll visit themes that draw to the spiritual and energetic aspects of yoga like chakra balancing, grounding, exploration or energising.
The possibilities are limitless, and the impact is students return to these classes year after year.
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Advanced Yoga is for clients who are ready to challenge themselves even further, with more skilled postures, like head stands, hand stands and other arm or leg balances.
The discipline already achieved whilst mastering key yoga postures is the foundation to learning to become more proficient in practicing these new postures, more strength, more flexibility, greater balance will be required.
This is a class for those interested in eventually kicking things up a notch and pushing yourself even further physically and mentally.
Here we acknowledge that yoga is not a competitive activity, not about being better or comparing yourself to anyone else. The beauty of yoga is that the only competition you have is with yourself.