What is slow yoga?

Slow yoga is a deep, mindful practice offering the opportunity to rest in simple, accessible postures for an extended period of time (up to five minutes). This enables a meditative awareness and a long, slow extension of the body, unwinding compacted fascia, unknotting matted muscle fibres and stretching deeply into areas that may not be accessible through more dynamic forms of yoga. While slow yoga invites intense physical opening, the focus is always on exploration and self-reflection rather than how far you can stretch. You are invited to witness as fully as possible what happens – physically, emotionally, mentally and energetically – as you move your body into different positions, the intention being to cultivate increasing sensitivity to the subtleties of your own experience. Slow yoga is relaxing and renewing, and is equally beneficial for beginners and experienced yogis.



Where does it come from?

Slow yoga started life as my own approach to yin yoga as taught by Paul Grilley, and it continues to incorporate many aspects of this style of yoga. Also central to slow yoga are bodymind principles from Phoenix Rising yoga therapy and from somatic movement practices, so there is an emphasis on looking inwards and fostering awareness of what’s happening in the whole person through the body. Slow yoga is also informed by restorative yoga, in which the parasympathetic nervous system is accessed and profound physical and emotional healing may occur.

What students say about slow yoga

“I love the slow yoga classes. I experience really deep healing from these sessions. My back pain reduces or goes all together. I find that mental knots let go of me. I feel a deep spiritual connection too.”—Tinsel

“I didn’t know about slow yoga’s reputed effects until I had done a few classes ... At first I just felt like crying all the time(!), but as time has gone by a deep feeling of peace and calm has taken its place – so it definitely works!”—Belinda

“In many aspects of my life I am fast. However, when it comes to asana practice my body (breath, mind and spirit) intuitively shift into to slow. This in no way reflects a dulling of the mind – the opposite occurs. I am able to sense the transformations occuring at many levels throughout my being, taking me to a cellular level that, for me, an astanga or vinyasa class speeds through and misses ... Therefore finding Jess’s slow class was a joy; a coming home. To find a teacher who cradled me in a vocabulary that resonated with my own was synchronisitis. To be able to turn away from my mind and be led from asana to asana within an atmosphere of a moving and breathing meditation, not to have to decide myself what pose to do next, and for that guiding to make absolute sense to my body and breath is a rare delight.”—Jane

FAQS

• Is slow yoga suitable for someone who is unfit?

Slow yoga is mostly physically passive, so it demands little energy and can be a good way of re-starting physical activity if you have been ill or out of action for a long time. In the longer term, if you’re looking to gain stamina and aerobic fitness, you will need to combine slow yoga with a more dynamic form (see the astanga vinyasa and vinyasa flow pages for two possibilities).

• Is slow yoga suitable for someone who is not very flexible?

Most of the postures I teach in slow yoga classes are simple and accessible, and they can usually be modified, so there will generally be a variation for you whatever your level of flexibility (or not!).

• Is slow yoga suitable during pregnancy?

If you are pregnant and new to yoga, you will probably find a class geared specifically to pregant women most appropriate. However, if you have an existing yoga practice and no medical complications, slow yoga is usually beneficial while you are pregnant. The main precaution is the potential for over-stretching connective tissue during pregnancy, when it is more elastic and more prone to damage than usual. However, if you modify postures appropriately, using props and shortening hold times and staying aware of your edge, this should not be a problem. The emphasis in slow yoga is, in any case, always on mindful opening rather than maximum stretch.

• Is slow yoga suitable for someone with chronic fatigue or ME?

Slow yoga is a mostly passive form, so it doesn’t require a lot of energy. It involves focusing inwards and cultivating awareness of your experience, so enabling you to judge more skilfully what your body needs both on and off the mat. It can therefore be helpful in bringing increased mindfulness to issues of activity, energy and tiredness in your life, and can offer a gentle stimulus to healing.

• I’m hypermobile – will slow yoga overstretch my ligaments?

In my experience, it depends on how you practise it. In hypermobility, areas of over-used and over-stretched muscle and connective tissue often compensate for under-used and contracted areas. If approached with awareness, deep slow stretching can be focused on contracted areas so that your body gradually becomes more balanced. As with any yoga practice, the key is awareness – of your own edge and of what you, and you uniquely, are really experiencing. You can over-do slow yoga, just as you can over-do dynamic forms of yoga, causing yourself all sorts of damage, so foster steadiness in your approach. In general, be mindful of how long you hold the postures. While average connective tissue may need a five-minute hold in order to stretch optimally, one or two minutes may be sufficient in a hypermobile body. Also be aware that the stretch receptors may function differently in hypermobile bodies; this means that a hypermobile person doesn’t necessarily receive the usual signals of over-stretching until it’s too late – so err on the side of caution. Although I don’t know of any scientific evidence for this, my hunch is that inflammatory processes may be hyper-sensitised in hypermobile bodies, especially where fibromyalgia is present. The increased capacity for mindful witnessing and for recognising authentic edge that slow yoga offers may help to regulate the neurological and other processes involved in pain and inflammation (whereas aggressive practice – of any form of yoga – is likely to hyper-stimulate them). Bear in mind that we’re all different and that what is helpful to one may be harmful to another. Above all, trust your own experience.