Yoga with Estella Alvares
Estella has a strong belief that everyone is able to experience the myriad benefits of yoga & movement practices, no matter your starting point, and that these practices are so much more than achieving a physical ideal or a complicated yoga pose. For her, yoga & movement are about finding a way of being which is gracious and less reactive – achieving an internal balance & harmony which allow us to live an ease-ful life on and off the yoga mat.
Our entryway to this graciousness starts with the physical body; during your practice bringing yourself to focus away from distractions like the wandering mind, and so allowing yourself to make conscious positive choices that support what works for your own unique body, learning to let go of expecting your body to behave in certain ways and instead, taking a delight in what your body can do when you let it be. This ‘letting go’ and conscious choosing is what brings us to finding balance and ease in ourselves on and off the yoga mat.
Her classes are a blended style of Hatha Yoga and elements from the flowing meditative movements of Qigong. She encourages her students to join in an exploration of a slow thoughtful practice – this way of practising allows her students to focus on breath & movement, enjoying the inter-relatedness & beautiful harmony of these working together. She also teaches classes of Meditation and Restorative Yoga – these are subtle yet powerful practices, and elements of these are often incorporated into her more general classes.
Estella has been practising yoga for 30 years and trained as a yoga teacher with Triyoga in London, completing over 500 hours of teacher training through these programmes. She is registered with The British Wheel of Yoga & accredited by Yoga Alliance. She has also completed therapeutic yoga trainings for Cancer, Parkinsons, Chronic Fatigue/ME, Long Covid & Yoga for the Physically Disabled, and offers these practices to her students. She has established herself a full-time yoga teacher, having previously had a career as a Producer in the busy world of TV & Radio advertising.
She teaches private and public group classes, as well as private one-to-one sessions, in person in London & online, and appreciating well the freedom and benefits these different ways of joining together in practice bring to all students of yoga & movement. If you choose to practice with her, you’ll find classes during which you’ll move at the pace of your body rather than the pace of your mind, classes which are light-hearted and have a simplicity which cultivates an attitude to yourself of celebrating your wonderful humanity with all its imperfections and at the end returning you to your daily life in a renewed state.
Estella holds deep gratitude to all her teachers, who have generously shared their wisdom and love of the practices which she in turn shares with her students. She continues to practice and study with many of them – Judith Hanson Lasater, Donna Farhi, Anna Ashby, Jean Hall, Mimi Kuo Deemer, Jivana Heyman, Fiona Agombar, Jenni Stone, Vicky Fox, Gary Carter to name a few.
She acknowledges deep gratitude also to all her students for their enthusiasm and enquiring minds & bodies, for their insights and compassionate presences on the mat.
www.yogawithestella.com