Yoga classes in Exeter
Yoga & Somatics classes on Zoom or at the Lotus Loft Yoga Studio in Exeter
Wednesday mornings
9.20 to 10.20 ~ Gentle Yoga & Somatics – on Zoom
10.45 to 11.45 ~ Gentle Yoga & Somatics – at the Lotus Loft
Both 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.
Get in touch if you’d like to join me at the Lotus loft or for online yoga – either live on Zoom or by catching up using the recordings in your own time.
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!
What is Somatics?
Somatics ~ gentle movement with your awareness focused inwards ~ creating well-being in body, mind and soul.
Somatics is a practice that uses the mind-body connection to help you observe your internal experience. Somatics brings your awareness to parts of your body that are experiencing pain, tension or discomfort and then uses a combination of relaxation and small, slow and gentle movements to help to re-educate the brain so that it can relax and move these muscles more functionally. This practice can help you cultivate long term change in the patterns that have been held in the body. As well as teaching your muscles to relax and stay relaxed, somatics can repattern ease into your body, mind and life.
There are many practices that come under the somatics umbrella such as Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Body-Mind Centering, Tai Chi and other body-mind and meditation practices. The term comes from ‘soma’ referring to the ‘body-mind’ and somatics practices are those approaches where the body is experienced from within.
Roberta is trained in Somatic Movement Education (SME)/Hanna Somatics and has been taught by yoga teachers including Donna Farhi, Lisa Petersen and Aki Omori who also bring Body-Mind centering into their training. SME unites modern neuroscience with ancient yogic wisdom.
“… if you can sense it and feel it, you can change it…” (Thomas Hanna)
“…Somatics offers the gift of empowerment, awareness and freedom. Cultivating somatics within Yoga asana leads to flexibility, strength and long-term change…” (Lisa Petersen)
Roberta is an excellent yoga teacher, clear and concise in her guidance and sympathetic to each individual’s capabilities. Doing yoga with Roberta has made me fitter and far less stressed in my life. I always feel a valued member of her class.
The Classes
Roberta’s classes combine a gentle yoga practice with somatics and are suitable for any level of experience. You are encouraged to practice listening very carefully to your body and the poses can be adapted for painful or aging bodies. In the Lotus Loft we practice in a small group with numbers limited to give you plenty of space. Roberta’s studio and online yoga groups are both warm and welcoming.
We practice gentle movement with your attention focused inwards as we move towards a place of greater ease and comfort in the body and mind. These classes are ideal for anyone who would like to focus on exploring their internal experience, finding their alignment from within and learning about how their own mind and body work.
You are welcome to attend in person at the lovely Lotus Loft yoga studio in Exeter or live on Zoom with access to the class recordings after class.
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 subsequently qualified as a Pre- and Post-natal yoga teacher with Sally Parkes in Sussex. I am also trained to teach iRest Yoga Nidra and enjoy teaching this as part of my yoga workshops.
As someone of mature years, I would thoroughly recommend Roberta’s gentle yoga classes. She has expanded my yoga experience from being largely one of physical poses to one where I am now far more able to focus on breath awareness and the workings of my mind and hence to combine these elements for a deeper and more satisfying experience. Flexibility, balance, stretching, mindfulness and relaxation are essential in maintaining well-being as the years mount up. All this is to be found in Roberta’s classes which she conducts in a calm, thoughtful and highly accessible way.
