When someone gives you a ball, the first thing that comes into your mind is to drop kick it, or head it into a goal – it certainly isn’t to spend a Sunday afternoon rolling your body around it. “Breath into the ball” Nichi says pushing my hip down as the ball meets a deep hip flexer that feels like a cable and I groan in pain. The muscle releases and I feel a rush of relaxation speed through my body. If you look around the studio, you can see bodies draped over various sized balls all immersed in a sort of meditation.
Welcome to Yamuna Body rolling, a technique devised by Yamuna Zake. Yes, Cool name, and a cool New Yorker who started off doing 45 years of yoga and then came up with this unique system of using specialised balls to lengthen, tone and release muscles and tendons through the body in a systemized way. The result is that you can really get into muscle tissue and take out the niggles and knots by yourself. It is like yoga – and massage – rolled together on a ball! The final outcome is a deep sense of a release – and often a feeling of being stoned – all natural of course.
This Sunday, we had the pleasure of hosting Nichi Green owner of the Yoga Space in Leeds who has been trained in the Yamuna body rolling system. Nichi is a Yoga teacher and long-time practitioner of Ashtanga yoga so she knows her stuff and was able to transmit a great deal of info and technique to the students. Nichi will be returning every couple of months to offer body rolling to our students and to help us iron out, decompress and release our bodies in this amazing way. See dates for 2016 and more information – early booking recommended.
