Frequently Asked Questions

Is Yoga Fun?

When practiced well people enjoy their yoga practice immensely. People report discovering new strengths and insights as they deepen in practice. The time you reserve for daily yoga practice is a personally empowering time devoted both to your health and well-being and the well-being of all. For many practitioners, their Yoga practice creates an oasis in a stressful or hectic schedule, a time to focus on building reserves of peacefulness, balance and insight in an ocean of change. Vinyasa Yoga practice has wonderful side effects such as flexibility, stamina, mental focus, deep relaxation and enhanced well-being. Camaraderie, community and connection with like minded people all interested in their personal and each others well-being provides a wonderful space in which to reconnect to ones deeper sense of purpose and love of life. Classes with Radikal Freedom provide a friendly and focused space for developing your Vinyasa Yoga and Inner Yoga Practices.

Do I have to be in good shape and flexible to start practising Vinyasa Yoga?

No. Yoga helps you regain more of your youthfulness, reduces unneeded weight, repairs injuries to your body, and improves your balance, flexibility and muscle tone as well as developing peace and focus of mind. You don't need these things to begin, because these are the things you get back through attending class.

Do I have to be young?

Vinyasa Yoga can benefit all ages. Because it is gradual and progress is individualized, it can be started at any age. Students at Radikal Freedom have ranged from children to one student of 89 years of age.

What should I wear?

It is best to come in layers so that you can strip down to lightweight comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely and wont make you too hot. The class is held in a warm room that will support the body heat you will produce. You will get hot! You can then put on your warmer clothes to warm down in.

Can I eat before practice?

Unless you are diabetic, in which case follow your doctor’s recomendation’s, don't eat for 2 hours before practice. Best not to drink for the fifteen to thirty minutes before practice and best not to eat or drink for at least half an hour afterwards. This allows your digestive system to rest and means you will fully benefit from the practice.

How often should I practice?

Eventually this is a 6-day a week physical practice, with some quiet sitting on the seventh day. Practice involves keeping the appointment with yourself and getting on the mat, where the only person there is you. As a beginner this discipline may grow slowly and in this case it is best practice to integrate at least 3 practices per week into your life. If you do build up to a 6-day a week practice then you take 1 day off each week and full moon and new moon holidays as well. Women also take 3 days off over their moon (menstruation) time and during this time can do a deep and beautiful restorative asana and breath practice and quiet sitting.

What if I have health problems?

Having taken medical guidance as appropriate then it is best to discuss with Christopher or other teachers whether or not to try Vinyasa Yoga or take a more remedial style for a while.

Will it help reduce Stress?

Yes! That is pretty much assured.

What are the benefits?

Stress reduction, cardiovascular well-being, neuro-endocrine and respiratory well-being. Greater strength of the larger skeletal musculature, the finest intrinsic muscles within the body and much greater postural and core strength. Flexibility and openness though the whole structure giving structural fitness is also a benefit. Improved concentration, clarity of mind, enhanced sense of well-being are also key benefits. Many practitioners report retardation of the ageing process. Some people report a much greater sense of peace and a greater ability to be able to connect and engage more fully with other people and the world around them. The list goes on! These practices of Vinyasa Yoga and Inner Yoga can be highly transformational in the best possible way.

Will Yoga practice make me happier?

Yoga gives you the method, the tools, the space and the encouragement to become a better and happier person, but you have to do the work yourself. Practice!

What is the difference between traditional Yoga classes such Christopher’s style of Vinyasa Yoga and normal western style Yoga classes?

Traditional Ashtanga or Vinyasa Yoga is a very different endeavor than an aerobics or exercise class. Unlike western exercise which puts muscles and movement first, Yoga practice puts the key elements of our life force first. These key elements are Breath, our physical connection to gravity, the planet and kosmos and also our experience of pure awareness or consciousness. The will, the ego and the muscles then follow the essence of lifeforce rather than seek to dominate it.

Yoga classes which you might attend at your gym often fall short of real Yoga being just another sort of exercise fad.

Most yoga classes in the west are "led," by a teacher who stands up at the front of the room and calls out what to do like Simon says “put your hands on your head”.

Ashtanga or Vinyasa Yoga is traditionally taught one-on-one, with the student taking responsibility for learning the practice personally, and practicing from memory at his or her own pace with plenty of assistance from the instructor.

Traditional Yoga classes are rich with the sound of breathing and punctuated with quiet conversations between student and teacher when appropriate.

In many western style ‘exercise’ yoga classes, you drop in anytime for a single class and are led through a generalized and variable practice step by step.

In the Vinyasa or Ashtanga practice taught by Christopher Gladwell, you are expected to practice regularly and learn through practice and repetition a specific practice from memory, incrementally over time.

Students have the possibility of continually advancing to more adventurous material over the long term. This method yields safe, long-term results exceeding those of many other Yoga styles and it puts the practitioner in charge of his or her own practice. This traditional method is very satisfying and empowering over time. This traditional method of transmitting the practices of Yoga is called Self-Practice.

What is the relationship between religion and Yoga?

Yoga is the experiential awareness of truth, truth perceived from the inside out. Religion, is a belief system and if you have one, can be really enhanced by the inner realizations from the practice of Yoga. If you have no religion then Yoga as an experiential practice deepens your awareness of all of the aspects of who you are and your connection to everything that is. Yoga has sustained itself independently, alongside and also within the framework of Indian religions, it is however, in essence also completely free from these. Yoga is a method for cultivating awareness, improving mind, body and the whole of life. Yoga is a way of experiencing a deep sense of connection and integration with the whole Universe. Lots of religions use Yogic techniques as part of their religious practice, this is excellent as it can only help them cultivate deeper insight and awareness.