Magic of Restorative Yoga - Interview with Beverley Nolan

CY: Hi Beverley, I think most of our clients know you very well by now but in case someone new is reading this article could you tell us something little about yourself?

Beverley: OK, I am a mum to a gorgeous 12 year-old daughter and we share our house with a crazy Kerry Blue Terrier and three goldfish who always seem hungry. Either that, or they are trying to tell me something! I grew up in Essex, and spent a lot of my life working in the travel industry and marketing. I came to Cambridge after a spell teaching business English in Paris, back in 89.

CY: Can you tell us how did you come across yoga and what prompted you to teach?

Beverley: I had been aware of it since my childhood when there used to be a show on the TV when I got home from school, but I started proper I suppose in the 80s when I had the good fortune to chance on an Iyengar teacher from Australia who was studying in the UK. It wasn’t long before I was doing several classes a week with her and on the workshop trail in the UK and US. I’d already planned to go to Australia on a working holiday in 86 but this shape-shifted into a teacher training in Sydney. I’ve never stopped since then, although initially I had a ‘proper’ job in the daytime and taught in Adult Education in the evenings - career yogis were few and far between then.

CY: Aside from doing our regular Open Level and Basic Yoga classes you also teach Restorative Yoga on Fridays. Can you tell us what sort of class is that? What can people expect to do?

Beverley: Actually, ‘do’ is what we don’t do! We practice a sequence of supported postures  using bolsters, blankets and cushions so that the body can safely and gradually release layers of tension.The whole concept of the practice is to rest the doing, goal-oriented aspects of our nervous system that is served by regular asana practice, and to tap into the being, process-oriented aspects where things just take the time they need as a way of restoring physical, mental and emotional balance.

CY: So, would you say that anyone can join Restorative Yoga?

Beverley: Yes, definitely, but some practices have the usual precautions and prohibitions for example in the case of pregnancy.

CY: And what are the benefits of Restorative Yoga?

Beverley: An incredible lightness of being, when the practice goes well! It invites relaxation from the surface muscles to the deep tissues of the body. It gives you time to experience a posture from the inside-out, to really know what it feels like to rotate the spine for example, and to track the currents of the breath. It also develops the discipline of sensitivity, quietness and steadiness required of the more contemplative practices including pranayama, yoga nidra and meditation.

CY: That sounds great, thank you Beverley. Is there anything you would like to add?

Beverley: Yes, just to say that we will be offering a training in Restorative Yoga and another in Yoga Therapeutics next year, so if anyone had any questions about that, I’d be happy to talk to them. I use these and other associated skills in my movement therapy practice to create a container for individual healing, and it is beautiful work with many positive outcomes.

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Come along to one of our Restorative Yoga or Meditation classes to relax and get rid of your stress of everyday life.

Restorative Yoga - Every Friday 11.30-12.45pm

Meditation class - Every Sunday 17.30-18.30pm