Yoga in Holborn, Central London

How a Session Works

What a One to One Session Looks Like

Rather than following a fixed class sequence, your teacher works out what your body and breath are doing that day and adjusts the plan accordingly. This means a session can be more physically active on one visit and much gentler and more restorative on the next, depending on how you are feeling.

Bring loose, comfortable clothing you can move in. You do not need any existing flexibility or experience. Postures are demonstrated and can be modified, and props such as blocks or a strap are used where they help rather than being seen as a sign you are not doing it properly.

Postures, Breath and Stillness

Yoga postures, asana, build strength, flexibility and body awareness. Pranayama, the breathing practices, are taught alongside or sometimes as a separate focus, and many people continue a short breathing practice at home even without doing the full physical sequence. A closing period of stillness or relaxation settles the nervous system and is often the part people notice the benefit of most quickly.

There is no requirement to treat yoga as anything other than a physical and breathing practice. Some traditions frame it within a wider philosophy, and you are welcome to explore that if it interests you, but it is not necessary to get the physical and calming benefits.

What the Evidence Says

There is reasonable evidence that yoga can help with chronic low back pain, and NICE guidance on low back pain and sciatica mentions group exercise programmes, which yoga can form part of, as a first-line option. Evidence for yoga's effect on stress, anxiety and general wellbeing is more mixed but generally positive, particularly as a supportive practice alongside other care.

As with most exercise-based approaches, consistency matters more than any single session. We would rather you build a realistic weekly habit than an intensive practice you cannot sustain.

Safety and Who Should Take Care

Yoga is generally safe when taught by an experienced teacher and adapted to you individually, which is the main advantage of one to one sessions over a large group class. Tell your teacher about any injuries, surgeries, pregnancy, high or low blood pressure, or joint hypermobility, because postures and pacing will be adjusted.

Yoga teaching is not a statutorily regulated profession in the United Kingdom. Look for a teacher with genuine training and experience, and one willing to adapt the practice to you rather than expecting you to keep up with a standard sequence.

Pranayama, Taught Properly

Breathing practice is the part of yoga most often rushed in a busy class, and it is a particular focus for our teacher. Taught one to one, it starts with observing how you already breathe: whether the ribs move, whether the shoulders rise, whether you hold at the top or the bottom of the breath, and what happens to all of that when you are under pressure.

From there, specific practices are introduced gradually. Lengthening the out breath to settle, balancing breath between the nostrils, and simple ratio work are the common starting points. Each is practised while you are comfortable and unhurried, because a breathing technique learned only in a calm room rarely survives its first real test at a desk.

The advantage is portability. Once learned, a few minutes of breathing practice needs no mat, no space and no change of clothes, which is why many people keep it going long after the physical practice has come and gone with the seasons.

Building a Practice You Keep

• Short and regular beats long and rare. Ten to fifteen minutes on most days is a realistic target for most working weeks.
• Anchor it to something you already do, such as first thing in the morning or the point at which you close the laptop.
• Keep a small set you know well rather than a long sequence you need to look up each time.
• Take rest days and expect off days. A stiff, distracted practice still counts.
• Bring back what is not working. The sequence is meant to be revised as your body and your week change.

Yoga, Meditation or Breathwork?

• Choose yoga if you want to combine physical movement with breath and a settled mind.
• Choose meditation if you mainly want to work on attention and stillness, without the physical postures.
• Choose breathwork if you want a session built specifically around breathing technique.
• Many people combine yoga with a separate meditation or breathwork practice over time.

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