du Bernard Yoga

General information

Soft tissue therapy (STT) is the manipulation of the soft tissues of the body i.e. muscles, connective tissue/fascia, tendons, ligaments and joints. STT helps alleviate discomfort associated with everyday and occupational stresses, muscular over-use and many chronic pain conditions. If employed early enough after trauma and/or injury, STT can greatly improve the healing process and reduce the development of painful muscular patterning.

Sports Massage, or performance soft tissue therapy, is the application of soft tissue therapy techniques for the specific purpose of improving sports performance which may include preparing the body for performance, enhancing recovery quality and duration after performance, enhancing injury resistance, improving range of movement (by helping reset loss of range) and ensuring recovery from injury, if it does occur, is optimal.

Anyone can benefit from regular massage. Your body is made up of 70% soft tissue and every day activities can cause emotional and postural stresses that produce many similar characteristics to sporting injuries. Soft tissue therapy can both maintain and develop your bodies performance whether that be for everyday activities or for competition (at any level).

Yoga is simply the science of the individuals study of body and mind! An ancient practice with a very modern day application. Practiced regularly it will improve our body’s strength and flexibility, help redress the physical imbalances that our lives create and calm our minds leaving us energised and ready to take on the world (or maybe just the household chores :o))

My teaching is grounded and based around dynamic alignment and movement efficiency in which we explore principles and techniques to improve strength, stability and fluidity to guide us towards precise, clear alignment.

Sports Yoga addresses the unique demands of a sport matched with the individual requirements of the athlete for the purpose of improving performance, reducing injury risk and optimizing training and racing by expediting the bodies move into recovery. Whether you are an elite athlete looking for that elusive competitive edge or an enthusiastic amateur simply looking to increase your enjoyment of your chosen activity, the thoughtful integration of yoga can help.

Sports Yoga can benefit your training by building a stronger, sharper, more fluid and balanced body by
• maximizing aerobic capacity and endurance
• improving movement efficiency
• maximizing structural stability strength and power
• minimizing injury risk
• expediting recovery
• and fitting around your life and training schedule with the minimal of time commitment!
For more details on both soft tissue therapy and go to my website at unstoppablerhythms.com or call me on 07763 292 050

My personal story into soft tissue therapy and yoga began a very long time ago! Already a keen dancer, I remember doing yoga with my Dad on a Sunday morning at the tender age of 5! That morning planted the seed of interest that has grown into my Yoga practice today! But that was just part of the story.

I’m a passionate amateur sportswoman, again part of the heritage of my family, and I've enjoyed an eclectic mix of activities over the years from classical ballet (a 5 year scholarship with the Royal Academy of Ballet), endurance running, rugby (union with a dabble into league), both track and endurance motocross (2 national championships), adventure racing, mountain biking and my current passion, road cycling. Yoga and meditation have formed the backbone of all of these activities and have helped to balance me physically and mentally, playing a key role in optimising my body for the sports and activities I have been/am involved with.

The personal experience of the benefits and positive impact that yoga has had on my life is what lead me to my first yoga teacher training course with Ruth White, a 500 hour Karuna programme taking nearly 3 years. It was an amazing experience that deepened my own practice and started my journey into sharing what I've learnt about movement and the way our mind and bodies work with others.

There was still a hunger there though, to understand how to share what yoga offers the active body to those not interested in the way yoga is delivered here in the West. Yoga is, fundamentally, simply the science of exploring the body and mind. How we move and function! So I went on to study with the Institute of Yoga Sports Science to qualify as a Yoga Sports Coach. This provided me with a much more in depth understanding of the physiological and anatomical benefits of yoga.

My passion for understanding how to optimise our performance (daily life or sport) and therefore our experience of life lead me to study Sports and Remedial Massage/Soft Tissue Therapy with the OSSM (Oxford School of Sports Massage). I'm not sure I expected to enjoy helping people with the hands on practice so much, but I do and I've found the balance of couch and mat work bring immense and often extremely rapid improvements to individuals.

I'm currently based in Theale, Berkshire and offer Soft Tissue Therapy and Yoga (performance targeted for life or your sport) on a group or individual basis. All soft tissue treatments will include, if appropriate, a clear programme of exercises to follow at home to maximise the benefits of the treatment session.

If you want to understand more about the benefits of soft tissue therapy, yoga or the combination of both, then please feel free to message me, call me on 07763 292 050 or visit my website www.unstoppablerhythms.com for more information or pricing.