Kildare yoga studio hosts open day 

ARE you scared of getting on a stepladder? If you have a fall at home, do you know how to get yourself up from the floor safely? Are you recovering from an injury that has reduced your mobility? Or do you simply want an easy way to get back into exercise after an absence? Any or all of the above can be helped by taking up chair yoga. 

It’s a regime that can have a much wider application than many people think.

“It’s absolutely for everybody,” says Katie Fisk, a tutor at the Mountain Flow Yoga Studio in Kilcullen, recently launched by fitness coach Beata Zielinska. “People have a perception that it’s for older people, but it can also be a bridge for others, people who may not have the confidence to start a mat yoga class, for instance. Or people who have had an injury or surgery and can’t yet bear full weight. We predominantly use it for people who come to increase their mobility — maybe they've become a bit stiff, or they find they can't do what they used to be able to do."

Katie references people who have regained enough confidence to do jobs like painting their homes because they can get on and off a ladder safely again. 

"The big benefit is gaining confidence in yourself and in your body, and being able to do things that you didn't realise you could. That's a really empowering thing. Week on week, increasing your strength and seeing the benefits, I think, is probably what the students would say they could get from it."

Katie, originally from Prosperous, now living in Cut Bush, took a chair yoga course while training at a yoga academy. 

"I didn't really use it until I was asked by the Naas Men's Shed to provide yoga classes in the library, and I included chair yoga for seniors." 

Key benefits include increased strength, mobility, flexibility, and confidence, but Katie realised that many people were not accessing the benefits yoga can offer. She spoke to the owner of Warrior Wellness in Kilcullen and established a regular chair yoga class there.

The chair yoga modules run in five-week blocks, and each module is suitable for beginners and for people who have already been doing them. 

"It's a progressive class, but progressive at your own pace, no matter what stage you're at. That's really important to me: the part where everyone is listening to their own bodies and only doing what suits them, because every single body is different, and everyone is dealing with different mobility issues and challenges. Nobody is going to take the same class and have the same experience."

Beata Zielinska recently acquired the Kilcullen studio from Kilcullen resident Stephen Bunney, who set up Warrior Wellness several years ago but wanted to take a break for family and work reasons. 

"We both happened to be attending the same weekend course in Galway," Beata said. "And we got chatting, sharing a laugh about the fact that of the 30 participants, two were from Kilcullen." 

Stephen mentioned that he was selling the business, and Beata — co-founder of the gym-based No1 Fitness in Kilcullen a decade ago — took up the opportunity. A qualified yoga teacher, she had incorporated it into the gym's schedule for members, but she had a long-term ambition to set up a dedicated studio. 

"For several days, I talked about it with my husband, Michael. I won't lie, I was scared. It wasn't something we had planned, but then, after a few days, I woke up with the decision made: I will do this. This is my future."

A recent, very well-supported open day launched the Mountain Flow venture. The programmes established by Stephen Bunney remain, along with almost all of their tutors. 

"It's important to maintain the energy established by Stephen," Beata said. "Of course, there will be my own energy, different as a female, but I'm not going to change anything except external things. It's a lovely team here, and I'll be the coordinator as well as teaching myself."

The current programmes include mixed-level dynamic Vinyasa, restorative yoga, chair yoga, Hatha, mindful Yin, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Vinyasa flow, yoga for strength and stability, and Pilates. 

Events and workshops are also planned, led by both in-house and guest teachers, and there will be opportunities for yoga retreats and hiking. Further information can be obtained at 087 3631154 or by email at hello@mountainflow.ie.