Clara Lemon
Yoga is a way to revitalise and stabilise your body and your mind and to discover ease, wellbeing and reconnection with yourself.
I teach using movement, breath and meditative practices with a mindful and philosophically grounded approach. The movements are slow and flowing, closely linked to the breath, and adapted for the wide range of people that I teach. Everyone is welcome and we can discover modifications along the way to suit interests, aims, health conditions etc. as helpful. The group classes are themed to develop over the term where we explore different aspects of posture, breath and meditative focus. This familiarity over a period of time supports you to move beyond the introductory framework of new movements, to delve into your body, breath, mind and self. This developmental approach supports your physical, emotional and mental wellbeing, enables your personal practice skills to develop, your feeling of spaciousness and clarity increase, and the more subtle aspects of yoga can come to the forefront. At the end of each term a home practice handout is provided based on what we've explored to support you in establishing your own home yoga practice. I'm a huge advocate for learning how to practice effectively in the class so that you can start to develop your own yoga practice at home. My classes support this and I also meet 121 to help you tailor your practice and offer a more in-depth yoga journey through my home yoga practice course. |
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Yoga for every body
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Yoga is for everyone, no matter what your level of experience or fitness, mobility, size or shape. I apply the practices of yoga to suit your starting point. I have worked across the health spectrum from Olympic athletes to those with limited mobility and multiple health issues. Sometimes one-to-one yoga lessons are more appropriate than a group class if you do have health considerations that would benefit from more careful and selective work. Please do get in touch to find out more.
Viniyoga is the art of applying yoga to individuals and uses traditional breath-centred yoga postures, breathwork and meditative techniques, with time for modifications or developments where needed. The yoga classes welcome a wide range of ability and experience, and everything is taken step-by-step. I support practitioners to explore challenges and techniques to their own level, offering options and layers as you develop to ensure your practice is intelligent, engaging and effective. More in private lessons here >. See what others say about my teaching here> |
Have a listen to when I was a guest on Steve Yabsley's BBC Radio Bristol lunchtime show to discuss yoga and the benefits it can bring...
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Approach to yoga
Before deepening my focus within the viniyoga tradition (based in the teachings of Desikachar and Krishnamacharya), I practiced and studied different yoga traditions and methods including Iyengar yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, Hatha yoga and Scaravelli-inspired yoga. Viniyoga is a personalised, adaptive approach to yoga and is accessible to all levels of experience with layers of technique added as your practice and interest develops. The viniyoga approach is breath-centred in a deeper way than most contemporary styles of yoga practice and is generally slower paced to enable an appreciation and development for the more subtle aspects of practice. If you have practiced yoga in a class setting before, the postures and sequences may feel familiar, but your breath and meditative focus are more fully developed during practice. Beginners are very welcome and more experienced participants are supported to refine and develop their practice when they feel ready. This adaptive and individualised approach to yoga means class sizes are kept small and tailored to those in the group. |
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Yoga teacher training
I qualified to teach yoga and yoga therapy under the teaching of Paul Harvey who still continues to be my teacher through regular courses and guiding my personal home practice. The yoga teaching and therapy qualification was an extensive four year course (beyond the usual 6-month training that is the standard at the moment) which covered yoga practice, postures and embodied movement, breath and anatomy, meditative practices and chanting, yoga therapy for a wide range of health conditions, yoga philosophy, yoga psychology and Ayurveda. I have also taken specialist training in: - Therapeutic application of yoga - Home yoga practice - Pregnancy yoga and post-natal recovery - Yoga for children - Mindfulness & meditation - Yoga philosophy, esp. Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Ayurveda - Chanting - Alexander technique & yoga |
Training lineage
Krishnamacharya (Forefather of modern yoga. Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Hatha, Vinyasa Flow all emerged from his teachings) | | Desikachar (Son and long-time student of Krishnamacharya) | | Paul Harvey (Student of Desikachar for 23 years) | | Clara Lemon (Student of Paul Harvey since 2005) |
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Background
I founded the Bristol YogaSpace yoga studio in Bishopston and teach group classes and 121 sessions and in-depth trainings there. I originally established YogaSpace on Park Row in 2009 then moved to the Princes Place, Bishopston studio in September 2016 taking over the Yoganjali studio from my teacher, Paul Harvey. I started practicing yoga in 1998 while living in New York with a career that was busy and left me stressed and unfulfilled. The practices immediately gave me a calmer outlook and an increased sense of energy and wellbeing which over time enabled me to bring increased balance into my lifestyle. I continue with a dedicated daily personal yoga practice and ongoing yoga study which supports me in all aspects of my life, my teaching and also supports me in being a better adoptive mum to my two children. I'm a registered teaching member of the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) the UK Yoga teaching standards organisation accredited with Sport UK which seeks to maintain high quality training and safety standards. I'm also a teaching member of the Centre for Yoga Studies and the Association for Yoga Studies (AYS). I teach at national yoga conventions (AYS and BWY) and mentor yoga teachers in many aspects of practice and teaching. I am trained to the level required by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council and to Level 4 REPS (Register of Exercise Professionals). |
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