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Social yoga session: Matakana

Another magical morning of yoga and breakfast, organised by Yoga & Social! This social yoga session was held at Brick & Vines cafe in Matakana. A yoga practice amongst the trees is idyllic to quieten the mind and invigorate the body.

Yoga with friends or team members is great fun, so it’s is a wonderful way to connect for a social occasion. Organise a wellness weekend, birthday, or hens party. Get team members together for a warm-down after a fitness event. Your mind and body will love the attention!

Classes are accessible to all levels, so can be tailored to all ages, gender and fitness levels, including alternative options for pregnancy. Because yoga can be practised in any space or location, it can work for any event. Whether it’s indoor or outdoor, get your friends together for a fun and nourishing session!

If you’re interested in a social yoga session of your own, please contact Alissa at Wonder Yoga.

Photo cred Amber Wijnstok and Yoga & Social

More benefits of social yoga

Yoga creates a strong connection between mind and body, so having a healthy body can improve your mood. It also helps people to relax and increases endorphin levels. When people are anxious, they try to avoid the things that trigger that anxiety. Inversely, that can make the anxiety worse. Yoga can help to break that cycle.

A study in 2014 reports that exercise and relaxation activities like yoga can positively impact people with social anxiety disorders. The study found that exercise and relaxation activities literally change the way people perceive the world, altering their perception so that they view the environment in a less threatening, less negative way. For people with mood and anxiety disorders, this is an important breakthrough.

“We wanted to examine whether people would perceive their environment as less threatening after engaging in physical exercise or after doing a relaxation technique that is similar to the breathing exercises in yoga (called progressive muscle relaxation),” Mr. Heenan explains. “We found that people who either walked or jogged on a treadmill for 10 minutes perceived these ambiguous figures as facing towards them (the observer) less often than those who simply stood on the treadmill. The same was true when people performed progressive muscle relaxation.”

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