Slow yoga · Kyoto

Less, taught more slowly

For most of my twenties I taught fast, hot classes set to music. People loved them and left exhausted, which I mistook for a job well done.

A shoulder injury stopped me practising for eight months. All I could do was breathe and hold a few simple shapes. That became the practice I teach now.

Wakabasa is a quiet room in Kyoto. A handful of shapes, held long enough to matter, paced by the breath. Nobody counts repetitions.

It works best for people worn out by doing more — who suspect the answer might be doing less, better.

Rei TakedaSlow yoga teacher