To be safe in your daily life and in your intermediate class, it is important that you:

• stretch a minimum of 5-10 minutes six days per week (roll out of bed & stretch!)

• attend  the yoga class consistently

• strengthen your core: 10 – 15  minutes of abdominal strengthening, back and buttock strengthening minimum twice per week. Strong abdominals and  buttocks help to stabilize & support the lower spine making your lower back less prone to strain & injury.  Strong core muscles help your joints stretch with less strain

• walk and move – be active in your daily life

• hydrate yourself well – 2 litres of water every day or 9 8-oz. glasses per day – drinking this amount is important because when well-hydrated, our tissues stretch better and muscle cramps are reduced or eliminated. The bladder soon stretches to accommodate this increase in volume.

Note: the minimal activity described above is essential for any students over 60.

To be limber for life and even safer from injury:

• practise 5-10 minutes of stretching every day and  30 minutes three times per week (only twice if also attending a weekly class)

Making Up Missed Classes

THIS IS HOW SPACE-SHARING WORKS AND IT WORKS WELL!

It is possible to make up missed classes provided there is space. Availability of open spaces is dependent on people letting me know when they will be away.

• if you are going to miss a class, & if it doesn’t create stress for you, let me know as far in advance as possible.  This allows someone else to use your space & make up a class.

• if you know in advance that you will be away (e.g. a trip) you are welcome to make up missed classes  ahead of time.

Class Etiquette

• Turn off your cell phone.

• Please refrain from wearing any perfumes, scented creams or perfumed clothes on yoga days.  Even day-old perfume can interfere with some people’s breathing or cause headaches.

• Please don’t smoke before a yoga class – the smell clings.

• Please plan to arrive early to give yourself time to settle in and so we can start on time.

• Although everyone may have a favourite “place” in the class, please practise non-attachment and trust if someone else happens to be there.  There are no nameplates on the mats; we need to practise flexibility in our minds as well as our bodies.

All Students

DEEP RELAXATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE CLASS!!!; THIS IS THE TIME WHEN YOUR BODY INTEGRATES THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRACTICE! If  you need to leave early, please inform me at the beginning of the class, sit near the door if possible, leave very quietly before deep relaxation without putting your mat away.

• Daytime students – If you arrive late, with the outside door still unlocked but centering has begun and the classroom door is closed, please wait outside the classroom until the instructor welcomes you in (centering finished). If the outside door is locked, please accept that you have missed the class.

• Evening Class at Church – if you arrive late, church locked but within 15 minutes of the class beginning, ring doorbell once and wait until someone answers door (it may take until 20 after for the centering to be finished). If arriving later than 15 minutes, please accept that you’ve missed the class.

Thank you for respecting everyone’s yoga experience.