Mindful Flow with Mercedes (Trauma Informed & Low Sensory Yoga)

Sign up ahead of time necessary at www.newtides.ca/classes - first time visiting our space for a yoga or expressive arts class is free!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed or overstimulated in a yoga class, or worried about even showing up in the first place? Or perhaps you were looking to connect a little more with yourself rather than feel like the focus is on exercising or pushing yourself to look a certain way?

A lot of us have had experiences of feeling out of place in yoga classes, or as if it didn’t wind up quite feeling like we were expecting it to!

As the teacher paces around behind, you glance at the person next to you, trying to figure out where your feet are supposed to go next - (what was it that the teacher just said?) while feeling hyper aware of the fact that no one else is in child’s pose, though that seems like a really nice place to be at the moment…. thinking “I don’t feel great in this position but don’t really know what else to do and even if I did, then I would be the odd one out…. I thought I came here to relax, but I can’t get out of my head….”

If ANY of this sounds familiar, we hope this will be the place for you to develop a different relationship with yoga, or expand the relationship you already have!

In a trauma-informed, low sensory hatha yoga class with Mercedes, you can expect to start with a grounding practice, shift into a gentle flow, and end with a breathing practice and savasana. There will be soft music playing, low lights, no scents or smells, and no hands-on assists. The class will always have an invitational nature to it - you can choose what forms you do, you might choose pause, or move a different way, and you’ll be offered lots of different options for forms and for movement or stillness.

You’ll be invited to slow down and get curious about how different forms and different types of movement feel in your body, and invited to check-in with your emotional and physical experiences throughout the class. Yoga’s roots will be named and acknowledged throughout the class. There will be room for moments of levity, joy, and laughter, as well as moments of stillness and calm.