Getting into balance

Rory O’Toole first got involved in Yoga when it was part of the training programme for a running club he used in the US.

But the sessions he conducts in Kilcullen Parish Centre are not the ‘power yoga’ used in that scenario. What he teaches here is the Hatha variant of the discipline, which he studied at Yoga Therapy Ireland when he came home from America.

Yoga is based on achieving a balance in life, using physical and breathing exercises to get as far as possible to a real equilibrium. It begins with breath work and then you move into postures and put them together to get ready for meditation.

Rory says that not everybody wants to go as far as meditation, but take the relaxation route. Most people taking up yoga are really there to use it to deal with the stresses of modern life

It takes time, and doesn’t work after just a couple of sessions. And Rory encourages people to find 20 minutes in the day to practice. The breathing exercises can be done anywhere, even in a few spare minutes at your desk, or even walking down the street.

Rory’s current seven-week session ends just before Christmas. Further information at 087 1270338.

Brian Byrne.