A warm welcome to Yoga with Bijam, dedicated with gratitude to my  tutors in Yoga Scotland with whom I did my first yoga teacher training and to the many other teachers, especially from the Bihar (Satyananda Yoga) tradition, who have helped, and continue to help me along the path.  I hope you’ll enjoy exploring this website. 

What is yoga?

The word Yoga can be translated literally as union, a coming together of body, mind and spirit.  When we are “doing” Yoga we are actually going on an inward journey, practising techniques to bring us to this state of union, often described as bringing stillness, peace, harmony and awareness of our own inner radiance.  Most people in our modern society  experience almost the exact opposite -  imbalances and stress factors such as too much to do, too little time to do it, competing demands, exhaustion.  

Many find that using a variety of the tools in the yoga toolbox - asana, breathing, rest and relaxation, meditation, study of texts and so on  - so much more than postures (asana) only - can help them to become more at ease, calmer and at peace with themselves and better able to cope, not to mention usually sleeping better.  What it doesn't mean, in my classes anyway, is tying your body in knots. 

In the past few years I've had personal reminders that yoga is for every body, including mine. I received a diagnosis of osteoporosis in 2018 and had a benign brain tumour removed in 2019.  The common accompaniments of ageing are also making an appearance, especially arthritis - sometimes I feel as if my springs have gone!  So I feel blessed that I can still be supported by my own yoga practice and now have direct experience of the importance of practising safely.  I qualified as an Accessible Yoga teacher in November 2019, after completing a course run by the founder of Accessible Yoga, Jivana Heyman.  He wrote this in a blog: yoga is about coming home to yourself, and  yoga is a practice for everyone.