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4Beat Yoga

@4beatyoga

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It’s a matter of life and breath
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Yoga on a four-count, to music that’s doing a job rather than sitting in the background.

Our 4BEAT PDF intro guide has the rest. Where it came from, why the beat works as something to hold your attention, and the whole of Sequence #1: Base, drawn out pose by pose. Four Sun Salutation A, four B, then we flow. Roll out a mat, put a mix on, practise straight off the page.

Comment GUIDE and I’ll send you the link. by @4beatyoga

There’s a state where effort dissolves into ease.
Where breath, movement, and mind sync so seamlessly that time itself seems to collapse.

Psychologists call it flow.
And in yoga, it closely resembles laya — the softening of the ego into pure presence.

4 BEAT is my way there.
Breath and music in rhythm, movement following both.
An experience that is ecstatic, yet grounding.

If you’ve never felt a whole room breathing and moving as one — this is your sign.

To read the full thing, check out my Substack. Link in bio by @4beatyoga

@4beatyoga Fam is growing ••••
Class of 25 September grads passed with flying colours. Coming to a studio near you.
••••
🎥 @shisodelicious by @4beatyoga

Winter is here. Keep moving, stay active and stay warm at Mission 👊 by @4beatyoga

New 4 BEAT classes in Palma starting next week at @unitymovementmallorca
Tuesday & Thursdays 10:00 & 19:00
Powerful dynamic classes with a focus on handstands and arm balances.
Looking forward to see you on the mat. by @4beatyoga

I’m 55, and I took my first yoga class way back in 1992. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in those 34 years, it’s that despite the regular trials and tribulations, yoga isn’t going anywhere.

I was there for the New York City yoga explosion of the 90s. Jivamukti, Cyndi Lee, Beryl Bender Birch. Packed studios, celebrity teachers, yoga suddenly everywhere.

I’ve watched styles rise and then start to fall, gurus put on pedestals and then knocked off. The sex scandals, the abuses of power, the #MeToo reckoning. The conversations about cultural appropriation, race and representation.

Each time, it was the yoga industry, its institutions and the people claiming to represent the practice that came under scrutiny. Each time, there were questions about whether the damage was permanent, whether the “industry” had lost its way and whether the people would ever practice it again.

Then COVID arrived. Studios closed, everything went online, and we wondered whether anything would be left when we came back.

And now, as Yogi Berra famously said, it’s déjà vu all over again. Another round of hand-wringing about yoga’s future, and whether it has one. Roundtable discussions, more predictions, more declarations of crisis and yoga studios frantically pivoting.

I’ve questioned things myself because there are real issues worth discussing. But I do think we need to stop confusing the yoga industry with yoga itself.

This morning I practised Mysore in a room with 50 people. 4BEAT routinely runs waitlists. Dharma at 13:45 on a weekday is packed. Despite what social media says, students are showing up, practising, breathing, learning and coming back.

The personalities change. The fashions change. Studios open and close. The business models evolve. The arguments come and go.

But the practice remains. It always has.

I’m now of the view that we should spend a little less time talking about whether yoga will survive and a little more time actually doing it.

Less talking. More practising. by @4beatyoga

The four-count is not a breathing exercise. It’s the thing everything else hangs on.

In - two, three, four. Out - two, three, four.

Constant, whatever shapes we’re doing. To be applied in all locations (sunny mountains to rainy day London studio).

Other breathing practices are exercises or tools (pranayama), and Ruki delves deep into the reasons for fast breathing, slow breathing and even no breathing, on the 50hr 4BEAT trainings (the next one is Base, 1 to 6 February, @mission.e1)

Before that, the teacher’s call this Sunday, 10.15am, online. Free the first time. Whether you’ve done the training or want to.

Link in bio 🧡
••••
@yogabyruki
* Founder, KALKI Institute
* MSc Neuroscience & Neuroimaging, King’s College London
* Certified Oxygen Advantage®️ Instructor
* Breath Resilience Instructor, School of Breath Science
* 2,500+ hours of yoga teacher training, including specialisations in Yoga Therapy, Yoga Psychology, and Ayurveda
••••
🎥 by @shisodelicious on the Axis 50hr @mission.e1
🎧 by @goodlordveda by @4beatyoga

Here’s 4BEAT teacher Ruki, on why fast breathing practices exist. This answer is older than anything in your medicine cabinet...

Longer answer coming in Part Two.

Teacher’s call this Sunday, 10.15am, online. Free the first time, for everybody.

Link in bio 🧡

🎥 @yogabyruki by @shisodelicious filmed on the last 50hr training @mission.e1 by @4beatyoga

In my younger days, I used music with lyrics in class. Two voices in the room - mine and the singer’s - and the singer was always more talented.

Instrumental tracks (seamlessly mixed together) fixed this, faster than learning to project ever could. Nothing competing for the same ears: the only language in the room is the yoga cue. The beat keeps time, the teacher speaks their cues, and the students can both hear the detail, and be in the flow.

Teachers, if you’re not already, try it in one of your classes this week. Same sequence, but music without lyrics. Feel free to use one of my mixes from Soundcloud.

This is the kind of thing we might discuss on this Sunday’s inaugural teacher’s Zoom call. Or maybe we’ll just chat about how much fun it is messing around with video effects. Join me, this Sunday 25th Oct, 10.15am on my Zoom. For all teachers or aspiring teachers, 4BEAT focus. Free the first time, for everybody. Live online class beforehand at 9am too, if you fancy a bit of method acting.

Link in bio 🧡 by @4beatyoga

Thank you @deadyogissociety @cyro @theninorusso @zo.rahm @goodlordveda @4beatyoga for creating such a wonderful event, for creating a community that is more like a family, full of connection, beauty and love.
#•••• by @4beatyoga

Part 2. Yesterday was the count. Today it's the sound.

Ujjayi is a slight narrowing at the back of the throat that makes your breath audible. Mouth closed - in and out through the nose. Quickest way in: open your mouth and sigh a long haaaa, like fogging up a window. Keep that exact sensation, close your mouth, carry on.

Then it starts doing a job. Loud enough for you to hear. Not loud enough for the person next to you. 🧡

Part 1 has more about the count if you missed it.

Link in bio to receive the 4BEAT intro PDF, explaining the rest of the method. by @4beatyoga

The four-count is the engine of the 4BEAT method: breathe in for four, out for four, movement locked to the beat on top. Get the count right (in your head) and the rest takes care of itself.

Try it now, sitting down, to the beat in this video (or a track of your choice - approx 60bpm). Instant Calmer.

In - two, three, four. Out - two, three, four.

Part 2 coming tomorrow: Ujjayi pranayama, the oceanic sound we set sail upon. Follow if you want it. 🧡
#Instantcalmer by @4beatyoga