A DENSHAW yoga teacher is encouraging all generations to take up the discipline to help ease the stress of daily life.
Marilyn Heginbotham, 65, said the gentle exercise uses relaxation and breathing techniques to calm the body and mind, and help relieve symptoms of stress such as anxiety and high blood pressure.
The routines also keep joints flexible and internal organs relaxed, helping the body to function more efficiently and leading to a healthier lifestyle, she added.
And with medical experts estimating 90per cent of disease is caused or complicated by stress, Marilyn urged people to take up the activity.
“It’s not just about the exercise, although that does help,” said Marilyn, who has been teaching yoga at Uppermill Civic Hall for more than 14 years.
“It’s about relaxing and using gentle movements to prevent your body from becoming stiff and finding a calm balance to ease a stressed head.
“Yoga is for everyone – old, young, fat, thin, bendy or stiff,” added Marilyn, who arranges her own routines for students ranging from 14 years of age to 83.
“People think they have to be able to put their leg around their head but that’s not the case,” she said.
“Yoga is about moving your body in the way in which it wants to go, and just as far as it wants to go.
“I have older people who come and sit on chairs to exercise, and also see young daughters coming with their mothers to relax together.”
Marilyn, who is also a reiki master, first tried yoga in the 1960s ‘when it was hippy’ and then took a teacher training course after enjoying classes on a holiday in Greece.
Ten years ago she spent five months living in an Ashram in India – the home country of yoga – to develop her understanding of the exercise.
She said: “I have received so many benefits myself and have been helped through so many ups and downs by doing yoga, and I want to give that to others too.”
Marilyn’s classes are held every Thursday at the Uppermill Civic Hall at 6.15pm and 8pm. Sessions last 90 minutes and cost £6. For more details about her classes and workshops, visit her website: http://www.marilynyoga.com
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