Our style of practice

  • This is yoga, shared from a humanist perspective. ​A gentle, meaningful, lifelong investigation into the human condition, using the body as a gateway. Humanism is a non-religious philosophy, based on liberal human values. 

  • You'll work with your posture, your sensory awareness and your breath. And you'll develop your ability to move the body, still the mind and relax. 

  • The slow and mindful style of movement we practice makes it highly accessible.

  • Variations are offered to give you more or less challenge, depending on your own unique strengths and limitations.

  • Each season we practice different sequences, offering a balance of repetition and variety - deepening and broadening your yoga experience over time.
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  • Weekly practice carries over into daily life. Regular yoga practice creates an anchor point that helps you to restore and renew your sense of calm and joie de vivre, with each week that passes.​​​

Yoga and Humanism

Yoga posture practice began as an element within Eastern philosophy and religion. Traditional yoga involves an exploration of the nature of consciousness and the self. It offers an ethical framework for living. And guidelines to cultivate a sense of healthy connection - to our native intelligence, to one another and to the world around us.

In its journey from East to West, yoga practice has been informed by multiple international influences - so like any culture, it's evolving over time. In the UK today we have access to many different styles of yoga practice. Some approaches strip yoga right down to posture practice as a form of gym exercise. Others fully embrace the ideas and beliefs of Hindu and Buddhist religion and philosophy.

As a Humanist now, I've been profoundly inspired and guided by the work of the teacher Peter Blackaby, whose writing resonates with my personal perspective on yoga as an art an a science. If you'd like to learn more about the seam of ideas that inform Lotus Leaf classes, I recommend Peter's book: Intelligent Yoga: Listening to the Body's Innate Wisdom (Peter Blackaby) available from Amazon.

Honouring the poetic grace of Eastern tradition, Lotus Leaf classes continue to offer an exploration of the nature of consciousness and the self. An ethical framework for living. And the cultivation of a sense of meaning. The difference is that we do this this from a contemporary Western humanist perspective.

If you would like to learn more about a humanist perspective, Stephen Fry gives a nice introduction here:
Lotus Leaf supports Humanists UK. They provide a wealth of information on their website. There's an enjoyable questionnaire you can take, that helps you to understand what the  humanist perspective is, exactly. And also figure out whether you may be a humanist too: How Humanist Are You?
I now guide practice from an agnostic humanist perspective. You're warmly invited to nest within your posture practice any ideas that are meaningful for you. It's your body, your yoga.
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Fran Keeley, Milton Keynes, June 2018