Too Stiff For Yoga? Half Price 10 Classes, Darwin & Online

Too stiff for yoga? That is the reason to come, not the reason to stay away

Almost everyone who walks into their first class at Flametree says some version of the same sentence. I am not flexible. I am the stiffest person you will ever teach. I should have done this years ago.

This is a half price pass for twelve classes for exactly those people. Ten at half price, plus two free.

You already know the feeling

See how many of these you recognise. You do not need all of them. Two is enough.

• You put your shoes on sitting down now, and you are not sure when that started.
• You check whether there is something to hold before you kneel.
• You turn your whole body to reverse the car, because your neck does not go that far any more.
• You have stopped sitting on the floor, because getting up is the awkward bit.
• You get out of the car after a long drive in stages.
• Somebody has told you that you should do yoga, and you have been putting it off for about three years.

Here is the part nobody tells you

Flexibility is what comes out of a yoga class. It is not what gets you in the door. Turning up flexible would be like turning up to a swimming lesson already able to swim.

Gary came to Flametree as a former elite athlete with a degree in physical education, and he had still put it off for years. In his own words: “As I got older and less flexible, my resistance may have been more about fear of failure, than the idea that yoga was a luxury I didn’t need.”

Sam P. described his own starting point better than any brochure could: “No matter how damn hard I tried, I couldn’t bend forward without feeling my concrete hamstrings, and that was that.” Eighteen months later he wrote, “Now that I can touch my toes, there’s no stopping me.”

What actually happens, class by class

1. Your first class. You turn up in comfortable clothes. Mats, blocks, belts, blankets and chairs are already there. You will be shown where to stand and what to do, and you will be given a prop the moment a pose is out of reach. Nobody will ask you to touch your toes.
2. By class three. You stop bracing. This is the big one, and it happens sooner than people expect. You learn the difference between a body that is working and a body that is straining, and you stop doing the second one.
3. By class six. Something ordinary gets easier and you notice it outside the studio. Reaching the top shelf. Doing up a bra strap. Getting off the floor without planning it.
4. By class ten. The poses you could not get near in week one are now poses you do with a block under your hand. That is not a smaller version of the pose. That is the pose.

Your pass also covers Gentle Yoga, Restorative Yoga, meditation and Yoga for Backs, all at no extra cost.

Three reasons stiff people do well here

Props, used properly. Gary again, after years of scepticism: “I once thought they were a crutch for those not capable of completing a move. I was wrong.” A block under your hand in a standing pose is not a shortcut. It is what lets you do the pose correctly instead of distorting yourself to reach the floor.

Slow, and held. Nothing is flowing past you. Poses are held long enough that you can be told what to change, and change it.

A teacher who can see you. Not a video, and not a room of forty. Somebody who will notice your shoulder creeping up and tell you about it.

What students say

“Great teachers Iyengar style and good for all bodies no matter how stiff.”
Jill, in a review on our Google listing

“Love Flametree yoga. The teachers take time with you and make sure you do poses correctly so as not to injure the body. Wished I’d started a lot earlier.”
Fiona, in a review on our Google listing

“I like Flametree because it’s an inclusive yoga school. It caters for all kinds of bodies.”
Salome, who was a student when she said this and is now a certified Flametree teacher

What you get for $59.50

• 10 classes at HALF price, plus 2 extra classes FREE, so 12 classes in total
• Use the same pass in the studio, LIVE online, or any mix of the two, so a wet afternoon never costs you a class
• Woolner and Coolalinga / Palmerston studios, plus LIVE online, covering the Greater Darwin region including Casuarina and the northern suburbs
• Gentle Yoga, Restorative Yoga, meditation and Yoga for Backs all included, at no extra cost
• Props and mats supplied free at every studio, so you turn up with nothing but comfortable clothes
• Taught by Chris Lalor, Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, and teachers she trained herself, so you are not being taught by somebody who did a short course
• A choice of many class times each week, so it fits around shift work and school pick-up
• Valid for 6 months from your first class, which is plenty of time to build the habit
• Money back guarantee on your first class, so trying it costs you nothing but an hour
• Option to add 5 more half price classes as you add to cart, if you already know you want more

Why the Iyengar way suits a stiff body

Props are the whole difference. Blocks, belts, blankets, chairs and the wall are used so the pose is adjusted to your body today, rather than you being adjusted to the pose.

Gary put the mechanics of it better than we could: “Without the props, my old and stiff body would distort and curl in an attempt to reach the unreachable. With the appropriate prop, I can maintain the correct yoga posture.”

The teaching is slow and precise, the sequencing is built for real bodies including stiff, older and injured ones, and there is no heat, no music and nobody competing with you.

What changes if you come

Six weeks from now you will either have done this and know what your body can actually do, or it will be six weeks later and the same shoulder will still be the same shoulder.

That is genuinely the whole choice. It costs $59.50 and your first class is refundable.

Questions people ask before they start

Can I come and watch what it is like before I buy anything?

Better than watch. Your first class is free if you are new to Flametree and you have been in the Territory three months or more, and for online newcomers as well. There is nothing you have to arrange. It does help if you let us know you are coming, because then your details are already in the system and you can walk straight into the class instead of filling anything in at the door.

I am seriously stiff. Like, more than you are imagining.

You are not. Every teacher here has taught people who could not sit on the floor at all, and the classes are built for that. If a pose is not available to you today, you will be given a chair or a wall and you will do it there.

Will I be the worst person in the room?

The morning classes are mostly women in their fifties and sixties, and a good number of them started exactly where you are. Nobody is watching you. Everyone is busy with their own feet.

Can I do this online, and how would I know if I am doing it right?

Yes, on the same pass, and it is a fair question. Go to the timetable, click the class time you want, and we email you the link to join. Set your camera wide so the teacher can see your whole body, because that is what lets her correct you by name during the class. Students who do that get much the same guidance online as they do in the room.

What if I have to stop in the middle?

Then you stop. Sit down, or lie down, or take a pose out. Nobody comments and nobody keeps score.

Is this right for everyone?

No. If you have had surgery in the last six weeks, or you are in acute pain right now, this is not the right starting point. Email us first and we will suggest something better. And if you want a fast, sweaty, music-driven class, this is honestly not that. It is slower, more precise and more individual.

Ready to start

Start with your first twelve classes at half price. Add To Cart above.

Coming to a Darwin studio? Just come along. There is nothing to fill in and nothing to arrange. Joining online? Click the class time you want and we email you the link.

Other options

• See the class timetable
• Get your link to join an online class
• Not a beginner? See the NON-beginner half price deals: regular studio & online $104.50, concession studio & online $84.50, regular online only $74.50, concession online only $59.50
• Want more classes? See the 20 pass at half price, plus 2 free
• Practising at home? See the props packs, with free shipping