Creative and purposeful Vinyasa and Pre-Post Natal Yoga

Grace Sisto Yoga

These are a collection of Vinyasa classes you can practice in the comfort of your home (or wherever really!).  They are all open level and like in all of my classes you will be guided through breath, anatomy, functional movements and creative sequencing.

Vinyasa classes

Ladder flows are fun and challenging.  It is a form of moving meditation as your body flows in and out of next pose led by the breath.  You will break a sweat and really feel the energy shift.

Creative ladder flow

This practice is about coming home, stripping our practice back to basics.  What often people think, is that when something is simple it means easy - simple is the new skilful.  We practice familiar poses that your body know and recognises but we challenge them.  We explore active vs passive range which is a common thread in my classes.

Back to basics flow

In yoga we are aiming to always create a balance, a harmony between the elements of our practice and this is class we are focusing on the posterior chain of our body or more simply on the back of our body (i.e. back muscles, glutes, hamstrings).  We spend lots of time stretching forwards in yoga and not enough time strengthening those areas we so eagerly try to become more flexible in.  Creating strength doesn't compromise your flexibility on the contrary, it allows you to explore spaces in your body with more skill and more safely.

Posterior chain - strength and stretch

I love to incorporate elements from other movement practices and disciplines.  It's the best way to keep your body guessing and introducing new patterns and challenges.  We often get fixated with nailing an arm balance or an inverted pose in our yoga practice but we might struggle with something as simple as getting ourselves up and down from a still sat down position.  In this class we are going to move and lubricate all our joints so that you can feel more supple and unblock stale energy in the body.

Mobility flow

This series of classes, is designed to accompany you, your baby and bump throughout your pregnancy journey. 
There are classes to address all needs: promoting strength and openness in the body, helping with the common changes and ailments experienced during pregnancy,  learning breathing and relaxation techniques which nurture the mind and our emotional sphere. 
You will feel like you are given a toolkit and the confidence to make your pregnancy a positive and empowering journey.

Expectant Mama Yoga series

This is going to be gentle and sweet introduction to your yoga journey for pregnancy.

There is always a first - Prenatal Yoga beginners

The Dynamic Pregnancy Yoga classes are more vigorous yoga flows which are still entirely safe throughout all trimesters as long as you are feeling energetic and movements are not limited due to any discomfort or ailment (e.g. Pelvic Girdle Pain).  You will feel strong and energised.

Dynamic Pregnancy Yoga 1

The Dynamic Pregnancy Yoga classes are more vigorous yoga flows which are still entirely safe throughout all trimesters as long as you are feeling energetic and movements are not limited due to any discomfort or ailment (e.g. Pelvic Girdle Pain). You will feel strong and energised.

Dynamic Pregnancy Yoga 2

This class will help us build awareness of our upper body which is going through big transformations.  As bump grows, we adopt a slightly increased S shape in our spine, meaning the upper back is more hunched/curved whilst we tilt our pelvis forwards due to the increased anterior weight.  Focusing on movement, alignment and strength in the upper body can help prevent or manage back pain,  it can promote better breathing and musculoskeletal balance.

Upper Body Care

Shoulders and arms are usually a little neglected in a woman's body, let alone during pregnancy.  This class will challenge them and will help you to keep them strong.  Once baby is born, you will need strong arms and shoulders to hold bubba (and the million other things you carry when you have a baby) and avoid straining your back.

Strong Shoulders and Arms

Hips don't lie - especially when we are pregnant!  They are one of the body parts that suffer the most whilst we are expecting.  We move less, we side lie on our left when sleeping and at the same time the hips are stretching to accommodate the changes in our body.
We generally store a lot of tension in the hips so in this class we are going to give them all the attention, moving freely and stretching into areas of tightness.

Happy Hips

I am sure you have been told countless times not too spend too much time seating without taking breaks whilst pregnant. In this class we are going to use a chair to help us move with comfort but also as support for some juicy stretches.  Some of the poses we do, can be a good way to break prolonged stretches of time in which you are sitting. Enjoy!

Have a seat - baby on board

This class will be all about the back. Our backs during pregnancy need extra TLC but also a lot of strengthening in order to support the growing bump and/or if you have other small children already.

I have your back - Pregnancy yoga for back care

Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) or pubis symphysis dysfunction (PSD) troubles 1 in 5 pregnant women and it can be very uncomfortable.  This class will address some of the things to avoid but will also help you stay mobile and strong without aggravating any of the symptoms.

Yoga with Pelvic Girdle Pain

Whether you call it birthing ball, exercise ball or Swiss ball, in this class we are going to use as a prop to move our hips, as a support for our stretches but also to strengthen the legs, glutes, core and arms.  We will explore useful movements and positions with the ball whilst you are in labour as well.  Have fun and use the ball safely.

Prenatal yoga with birthing ball

This is a class that you can keep coming back to anytime you need a bit of downtime to do exactly what it says on the tin: rest and restore.  I guide you through some of my favourite restorative poses to do throughout your pregnancy.  You can spend anything between 5 to 10 minutes in each of these poses.  You can use things you have around the house to make yourself comfy: pillows, cushions, blankets, towels, a chair.  Enjoy your relaxing time!

Rest and Restore with Bump

In this class, I will guide you through some breathing techniques that will come in handy in preparation for birth and during labour.  You don't have to do them all at once, you can practice them so they become familiar to you and then use them when you feel like you need them.

Breathing for Pregnancy and Birth

If you are new to meditation and wonder whether it is for you or not, there is no better way to try it out whilst we are expecting.  Know that anyone can meditate, we just sit and observe our thoughts.  Meditation helps us promote focus, presence and we learn how to manage our thoughts.  These are all invaluable tools to prepare for birth and during childbirth itself.

Introduction to Meditation

Preparing for birth is not only a physical journey.  This has to be accompanied first and foremost by a mental preparation.  Visualisations can be a great way to calm and focus the mind during the 9 months but also at the moment of birth.  The practice of visualisation is often used by professional athletes to have better results in their performance, they imagine the track they are going to run or themselves crossing the finish line for example.

Meditation using Visualisations

When we find out we are expecting, specially the first time, we are often overcome with self-doubt, fear, anxious feelings and worries.  This meditation can really help us in those moments when we need that extra confidence in ourselves and the feeling of power.  I learned this beautiful technique when we did our  KG Hypnobirthing birth preparation.

Meditation for Confidence

Whether you are a new mom or a mom of toddler(s), this class will be all about switching off from mommy duties for a blissfully relaxing 90 minutes.  Don’t we all need a bit of head and body space to unwind, settle and feel restored, particularly after such an intense year.

The Tired Mama recharge

We start with a blog written by clinical psychologist Tanya Cotler, "Mother Matters".
We worked on breath and movement as well as restorative poses and a simple meditation to finish the class.  This 75 mins session will make you feel completely relaxed and will give you an opportunity to recharge your batteries.

The Tired Mama recharge (Class 2)

In our first Tired Mama Recharge class we focus on CHANGE.  We will explore breathing techniques to help slow down, to increase energy and calm our nervous system.  A small section of self-massage will lead us into our slow and relaxing yoga flow.  We will end with some restful, restorative poses and I will guide you through a Loving Kindness meditation.

The Tired Mama recharge (Class 1)

We will retrain your breathing and standing patterns, work on strengthening the body around any symptoms or weakness you may be experiencing. We reconnect with the true core to make sure we are "knitting" everything back in an optimal and functional way.  Babies welcome, however this is more of a session for yourself and your body more than a traditional Mom and Baby yoga class.

Yoga for New Mamas (4 full length classes + 1 intro)

This an all rounder class to target all the body parts which need detailed attention post-partum. 
As usual, we work with breath to activate our core muscles and work on strengthening all the peripheral muscles (hips, glutes).

Yoga for New Mamas class 5

Starting to challenge our body in a gentle dynamic way.  Core is always the "core" of class but we are focusing on keeping the periphery strong and how to apply what we practice in our day to day life.

Yoga for New Mamas - class 4

The motto is: slow and controlled movements.  After we have our babies, many women feel the pressure of returning back to their normal physical activities which is absolutely understandable but everything has to be gradual and done with mindfulness.  Some other women have not done much physical activity pre-baby and all of a sudden they start bootcamps and high-intensity workouts without fully understanding the core activation and the recovery process.  In this class we start to introduce safe, strengthening elements whilst keeping the body mobile and functional.

Yoga for New Mamas

Introducing the concept of true core so we can really understand how diaphragm, pelvic floor, transvers abs, obliques and multifidi work together.  The breath is the foundations of all we start doing in our postnatal journey.  Slow and steady movements with good core control.

Yoga for New Mamas - class 1

Being a new mom or mom of a toddler or more is one of the biggest joys and challenges at the same time.  We often feel guilty taking time away from our family and children but we don't realise how important it is that we also find time for ourselves.  Give yourself a chance to refuel, to move and have some headspace but also to take care of your body which often is put in the back burner, living us achey, stiff and also unhappy.

Intro to Yoga for New Mamas

Our practices in these series (4 classes total) will focus on the journey towards different arm balances.  We skilfully break them down to make them more accessible and in the process we get our body strong and functional and our mind focused.

Vinyasa - Arm balances (4 full length classes)

We conclude our arm balancing series with a forearm balance/inversion. The great thing of Pincha is that you can spend so much time strengthening upper body, prepping the shoulders in many other poses and drills that when you get to practising the actual arm balance, it feels a little easier.  A block would be very helpful for this class.

Journey to Pincha Mayurasana

A lot of our arm balancing journey starts with crow, bakasana.  In this class we are creating bakasana-like poses and preps and having fun with some of its variations.  It's not an advanced pose as such but you can really spend a lot of time in your practice exploring all the elements of it.  Baby Crow and Parsva Bakasana will make an appearance too!

Crow family

This pose requires a lot of preparation; hip opening, twisting, adductors strength and of course upper body and core strength.  We will break it all down and explore this fun and challenging pose.

Journey to Ashtavakrasana - 8 angle pose

Lot of hip opening, upper body strengthening, core activation and building confidence with balancing on our arms.