"Yoga is an effortless dance with breath and gravity."
Vanda Scaravelli
Hello and welcome, nice you're here! My name is Sandra Woods. I'm a yoga instructor and somatic movement educator based in São Paulo, Brazil. I teach individuals and small group classes and also host the occasional workshop in different locations around town. Nowadays you can find me mostly online, offering regular zoom classes and weekend intensives. I offer Scaravelli inspired Hatha Yoga, Pre- and Postnatal Somatic Movement and gentle Flow classes.
The practice is an investigation into the parts of the body and how they relate to each other. It's an investigation into our movements and our breath as we become aware of and release ever deeper layers of long hold tension. Our bodies free themselves as the mind learns to relax through the simple, yet demanding, practice of attention to movement and what actually happens in our bodies when practicing yoga asana. It is demanding to refrain from trying to "get into the posture" and, instead, only getting the circumstances right for the body to become free, the spine to awaken and healthy movement to happen...
Moving in harmony with our female cycles is of great importance and great use to health and long-lasting well-being. A guiding principle of yoga is the idea that everything that is necessary for our systems to function properly is already here within us. Accordingly, the task of yoga is to release blockages that hinder the free flow of these natural forces. The freedom that such an approach can bring is based on the conscious recognition of the specifically feminine processes and experiences within and around our cycles...
"Elongation and extension can only occur when the pulling and pushing have come to an end; this is the revolution."
Vanda Scaravelli