So many people take a deep breath and visibly relax as they step through the door of our yoga studio upstairs. ‘Wow’ is often the first response – yes, it’s a very restful room. It’s airy, it’s tranquil, it’s quiet, tucked away behind Lymington’s High Street.

Forget cavernous sports centre rooms and draughty village halls, this is a pleasant, soothing place to practise your yoga. Though The Hub is a clinic or centre for natural health, we wanted it not to look like a clinic – walls are painted restful grey and there’s beautiful art on the walls. It does help you lower those shoulders and breathe deeper.

Classes are small: eight maximum. So you get plenty of attention from the instructors. It’s OK to ask those questions you’d be embarrassed to put to the teacher in a bigger class. It’s easy to meet her eye and just get her to come over and tweak you into a better posture. Both Hannah and Shelley help everyone, beginners and pros alike, doing the rounds from time to time to push the advanced yogi and encourage the not so flexible or less confident. For the first time I’m coming close to mastering crow position (the one in the picture, where you poise – or teeter in my case! – crow-like on your hands with legs akimbo), and that’s a wonderful feeling.

Because the yoga classes are so small we all bond. Most have a time when there’s spontaneous laughter for some reason. There’s a communal feeling of achievement – and shedding the day’s debris at the door. People look altogether more peaceful as they leave.

And then there’s the personal touch, something I particularly cherish…

Hannah ends each class by going round the room when everyone is in shavassana (the lie-on-your-back with your eyes closed relaxation bit), willing you to relax fully by putting gentle pressure first to the legs, then the shoulders and arms, culminating in a brush across the midpoint of your forehead. This is the third eye, in the East thought to be the gate to higher consciousness, or enlightenment – and it certainly adds a deeper dimension to shavassana when Hannah does this. There’s definitely healing in those hands!

Shelley often incorporates Thai yoga massage into her classes. My favourite is the deliciously relaxing ‘elephant’s walk’ at the end. You lie on your front and she applies firm pressure (not exactly elephant’s strength, just reassuringly firm) up and down the legs, torso and arms, up and down and up and down. At first you feel terribly British and there’s a resistance, but very soon with that rhythmic action you sink into the floor – and into a deep meditative state of calm. Happy to have that elephant plodding over my back any time!

Heaven on a yoga mat…

Sue Leach, owner

Posted in Yoga