Yoga and Somatics
Yoga & Somatics classes at the Lotus Loft in Exeter
Wednesday mornings
9.30 to 10.30 ~ Gentle Yoga & Somatics
10.45 to 11.45 ~ Women’s Gentle Yoga & Somatics
Wednesday afternoons
4.00 – 5.00 pm ~ Pregnancy yoga – classes suitable from 12 week scan
I’ve been to many yoga classes with different teachers over the past 50 odd years, and I’m sticking with this one. Roberta manages gently to help me focus on my internal experience – energy, connection with the world, relaxation – rather than just the external shapes of the poses. Though it’s called a ‘gentle yoga’ class (and it is), I know that I’ve learnt so much about how my body/mind works from the skillful way she talks us through exercises. She’s also wonderful at adapting poses for aging or painful bodies!
The Classes
Roberta’s classes are ideal for beginners as well as experienced yoga students who prefer to focus on exploring their internal experience of yoga, finding their alignment from within, and learning about how their own mind and body works. The classes are welcoming and poses can be adapted for aging or painful bodies. The women’s yoga class is also a gentle somatic yoga class, initially set up for the Women’s Network, but now providing a safe and supportive space for any women to practice yoga together.
Pregnancy Yoga Classes are suitable for any women, from your 12 week scan up until you give birth. You don’t need any prior experience of yoga to come along to these classes. Pregnancy Yoga is a wonderful way to take time out for yourself, to relax and restore energy, as well as connect with your baby and prepare for birth and life after birth! We will work to strengthen the body and help alleviate pregnancy issues like low back pain and difficulty sleeping. And we’ll certainly be bringing some focus to the pelvic floor! Stay healthy as you get used to your changing body. Take the time to connect with yourself, your baby and other Mums to be!
I teach gentle yoga & somatics. My yoga teaching is greatly influenced by my additional training in somatics, an interest in meditation and mindfulness practices from Buddhism and practicing a form of Tibetan yoga called Kum Nye. My classes are essentially a form of mindful movement focussing on an awareness of the breath and incorporating hatha yoga postures and somatics exercises.
Roberta’s Yoga Journey
I have been teaching yoga since 2011 and love extending my knowledge and practice by attending workshops and trainings with some inspiring teachers worldwide. My initial yoga teacher training was local with the Devon School of Yoga. I then went on to an Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Donna Farhi in New Zealand in 2015. I trained as a Somatic Exercise Coach with Lisa Petersen from Dublin in 2017 and have more recently qualified as a Pre- and Post-natal yoga teacher with Sally Parkes in Sussex. I am also trained to teach iRest Yoga Nidra and look forward to running some yoga nidra workshops.
My inspiration to become a Yoga Teacher
I began practicing yoga in 1997 and for many years attended a weekly class with a wonderful teacher. I thought at that time that I would like to be a yoga teacher but considered it out of the realms of possibility and decided to study massage and reflexology and then went off to University to study herbal medicine. I have been practicing as a Medical Herbalist since 2004 and a Human Givens Psychotherapist since 2019.