Barre & Yoga... What's that then?

Words: Paul Chapman

Images: Amy Gear chesterfield.barre.yoga.studio

Fancy getting fit, increasing flexibility, and building strength? Amy Gear at Chesterfield Barre & Yoga might just be able to help. I popped in for a chat at her new (ish) studio at 622 Chatsworth Road (the studio space above Londis) and to learn a bit about Barre & Yoga.

"Barre is a fun, full body workout suitable for all levels of ability and no dance experience is required!

"We use light weights mixed with high repitations to get our muscle to absolute fatigue and experience the much loved Barre Burn.

"Barre is dynamic, empowering, strong and low impact, meaning it's great for the hips, shoulders and spine.

"We work at our own pace and rest when we need to, gone are the days of boring, rigid, perfectionist, inaccessible workouts.

"Our yoga classes consist of either Vinyasa Yoga or Yin Yoga, again both suitable for all levels of ability depending on what you want to achieve out of your class.

"Vinyasa Yoga is an active style of yoga that matches movement and breath together. You'll work into standing and seated poses to challenge your strength, flexibility, mobility and balance. You'll also work towards a calmer state of mind.

"Yin Yoga is more of a slower practice but it can still be very intense, you'll use your own body weight and props to experience longer holds (3 to 5 minutes) in an all floor based sequence, applying a gentle pressure to the target areas, usually the hips and spine. This pressure will increase over time, it is when this pressure is released that the healing qualities of yin are absorbed into the body, shifting stuck, stagnant energy and working into the joints, ligaments and tendons making them stronger.

"This is a really great body maintenance practice." Amy runs classes seven days a week, check out her online timetable for details. Right now, she is offering 3 classes for £15 which allows you to book sessions for three weeks running to give it a go.

"Don’t worry if you’ve never done yoga before, we don’t expect people to be amazing from day one but are here to help you progress, to tailor things to your abilities and long term to see results in your flexibility and strength.

"If you’re interested to see what we do, book a session, come along, and give it a try. We’ll make you welcome and I’m sure we’ll see you back again."