SOFT FRONT, STRONG BACK, WILD HEART - Exploring a journey towards back bends.  

This Masterclass will take you through a sequence designed to let go of patterns, behaviour, stories and limitations when approaching our backbends. Often a source of frustration, fear or discomfort backbends can often feel “out of reach” for many people and for many reasons. So instead of focusing on the shape of bending backwards we’ll discover how we can find strength through the posterior chain or back line of the body.  Open the front line to find softness and pliability, becoming open to the sensations that arise.  And releasing the fears, tensions and the inner voice of doubt to hold space for our hearts to breathe.  A buddhist teaching: Soft Front, Strong Back, Wild Heart is the perfect metaphor for our approach to these poses and we’ll work through the entire body with ease and an internal awareness to find a deeper connection to all.    

Listening without judgement to what your body has to say, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Through repetitive sequences, Julie encourages students to find their own rhythm, fluidity and strength within a movement structure. She no longer asks people to get "into" a pose, but if stillness arises then space is given for you to pause, feel and sense. Moving on only when you are ready, moving with the body not against it.

Julie’s style of flow and curiosity, a practice for all those who are tired of showing up to merely make shapes.  Join the Intelligent Rebellion and allow yourself to find a practice that feels authentic to you and your own body.  

This class is open to all 

Julie Martin wants you to think outside the box, get off your mat, shake up the old dogmas and find the freedom to unfold into the beauty of a yoga practice that emerges from the inside. With over 25 years of experience and an international following of students and teachers alike, Julie’s greatest aim is to inspire. Her particular passion for human movement means continual investigation of new anatomical approaches, working with natural movement, range of motion, integrated stability and letting go of some of the old asana myths in order to move with the body and not against it. The practice is always an inquiry, a somatic exploration of sensation, movement, and stillness. 15 years ago Julie set up Brahmani Yoga in Goa, India after teaching in Brighton, UK for over 8 years. The largest motivation for the yoga centre was to create a community that could join together each winter season and practice without judgment, learn to let everything evolve and be totally inclusive to all yogis. What grew out of that is an international reputation especially in training teachers to challenge the “norms” of the yoga world when they no longer work for us. Julie’s work as a teacher trainer leaves students inspired and empowered. She encourages people to find their own pace, fluidity, and strength in a structure that is only a "suggestion". No longer asking people to get "into" a pose, but if stillness arises in a moment then space is given to pause, feel and sense.

“Coming from a dance background and starting an asana practice to save my knees (which it did) I was initially so thankful for the practice. But as I moved over into the deeper world of yoga and teaching it (25 years ago) I was soon riddled with injuries. I had to rethink how this method that had initially "saved" my body was now the source of pain and injury and why everyone in the midst of it was so intent on a "right way" to do the practice. So I stepped away from the strict methodology (which lost me students in some cases) and worked on combining information from modern anatomy and fascia research, including some of my dance knowledge, with natural movement and letting people find their own alignment instead of forcing ideas of what anything should look like. For me, it's about allowing students to find a somatic practice that nurtures and heals the body and mind.” Your yoga practice should invite you into a relationship with your self, your body, your mind, and emotions. This is not Instagram yoga or circus skills class. This is moving through layers, feeling, experiencing and observing the process, moving towards stillness, moving towards self.