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Jody Lawrance
Jody began practicing Ashtanga yoga in 1991 in East Grinstead with Raffi and started teaching locally in 1999, and yoga holidays every year in Greece since 2002. She considers herself very fortunate to have studied with many other wonderful Ashtanga teachers including Danny Paradise, Leno Miele, Mike Nevitt, John Scott, Sue Pennington, teacher training with David Swenson in Edinburgh, and 1 month in Mysore, India with BNS Iyengar. She also practices and teaches Hatha yoga, enjoying the variety that different schools of yoga offer, although with her Ashtanga background continues to teach a more physically challenging class than some types of Hatha yoga.
She has returned to India 3 times to study with her teachers, Venkatesha and Hema, who founded the Atma Vikasa school of yoga, with whom she found a new depth to her own practice, now focusing more on yogic philosophy and meditation. Her desire to access the stillness within led her to live in a Buddhist community in Brighton for 8 months until returning recently to East Grinstead to focus on YOGA AKASHA. Jody enjoys the harmony and balance that yoga brings to her daily life and believes yoga can help us all get closer to true contentment and inner peace.
Atma Vikasa begins with classical sun salutations to warm the whole body followed by a balanced sequence of standing postures, back bends, seated forward bends and twists, closing with a shoulder stand sequence and then relaxation. This is a strong class as postures are held for longer than some practices and it includes some challenging postures, although modifications are always available so it is suitable for a fairly wide range of abilities. Benefits include increased flexibility and muscle tone, improved concentration and balance plus a general sense of well being /peace of mind.