10-Minute Yoga Workouts: Power Tone Your Body From Top To Toe

I’ll never forget my first yoga class. It was one grey dreary Monday morning that I ventured inside a hall on the outskirts of Glasgow, and enrolled for yoga lessons. At that time I felt tired, stiff, out of shape and frazzled, due to having just moved house with two children under the age of 3. I had only a vague idea about yoga but thought that it might help me reshape my body after the birth of my children, and also help me to get to know my new neighbours.

It was an incredibly humbling experience, I couldn’t believe how stiff and uncoordinated I was, I was only 29 but people twice my age were in much better shape and much more flexible than me. My biggest shock was seeing my teacher, then in her late fifties, move effortlessly into seemingly impossible positions with the agility of a child. Her body was fantastic – she was slim and perfectly toned – but it wasn’t just this that amazed me; it was something much, much more. She had an energy that literally radiated from her, lighting up the room.

I left the class feeling so much better, my tiredness had gone, I felt calmer and more in control. I was walking taller and felt uplifted by the experience. One thing was certain – yoga was definitely for me. As I continued with the classes, I was thrilled by the progress I was making, my body had become firmer, my flexibility had improved and my energy level was getting better and better.

Eventually I decided to take a three-year teacher training course and this gave me a fantastic understanding of yoga, its history, philosophy and many uses. Over the years I have continued to study and teach yoga at my yoga school in Surrey and I have taught literally thousands of pupils. I have now perfected my own method of teaching which, I feel relates this brilliant 5,000-year-old system to the needs of people living today.

I am delighted to have this wonderful opportunity of sharing it with you. I do hope you will enjoy it and will benefit tremendously from its age-old secrets.

The word yoga means union of body, mind and spirit with the universal spirit. The yogis of ancient India realized that for perfect health and inner peace, both body and mind must work together in perfect harmony. Yoga’s combination of intricate physical postures, deep breathing exercises, balances, relaxation and meditation are the perfect discipline to relieve stress, calm the mind and tone the entire body, both inside and out.

In his quest to earn more, do more and have more, modern man subjects himself to increased physical and mental stress. The pace of life is now so fast that few of us have time to enjoy the present moment and just be.

Continued stress on both body and mind increases our vulnerability to disease. Unfortunately, although medicine has made many amazing breakthroughs in the West over the last hundred years, the focus continues to be on treating diseases and not their causes. This is where yoga can help us all so much. Stress or tension literally strangles our bodies, inhibiting blood flow to our tissues. Yoga’s beautiful physical movements, combined with deep breathing exercises, will carefully rid the body of tension and stimulate oxygen-rich blood to our cells, so providing them with the nutrients that they require. As well as toning all our muscles, the physical exercises will also strengthen our bones and keep our spine and joints flexible. The lymphatic system, which fights infection and carries away toxins, is inhibited during times of stress, but as yoga carefully smoothes away the tension, it can resume its natural functions.