IN a four-limbed staff pose, Leigh-Ann Muller – a 34-year-old yoga practitioner from Jeffreys Bay – is leading a class of about fifty yoga aficionados for 45 minutes of stretching and relaxation.
But for the first time as an instructor, she is not in a studio or at someone’s house for a private lesson. Instead Muller is live-streaming via Facebook and her ‘students’ are participating in their own homes. Young and old – from all over South Africa.
Within the first few days, around 14 Facebook viewers joined in “live” on one of her classes – following her detailed instructions step by step. One of her videos, available online, has been viewed over 17 000 times to date.
According to her, people watch the different yoga videos when they have time – not everyone necessarily joins in at 10:00.
But where did it start?
With the worldwide outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent national 21-day lockdown – forcing residents to stay indoors and limit social contact to the minimum, if not completely – Muller’s passion for yoga has reignited. She has presented yoga classes since the end of 2018.
“Since my stay at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas in 2011 and 2012, I have practised Karma Yoga – one of the spiritual pathways of Hinduism,” says Muller who studied Sivananda yoga and boasts an Ashtanga/ Vinyasa RYS (200 hours) qualification, as well as a Bikram/ Hot 60 YACEP (36 hours) qualification. “The essence of Karma Yoga is to work or contribute without the expectation of receiving anything in return.
“When it was announced that South Africa would go into lockdown, I saw it as an ideal opportunity to dedicate 45 minutes of my day to contribute towards the greater good of the situation we are faced with.
“Furthermore, yoga has a variety of effects physically, mentally and spiritually. While engaging in a physical workout, it also has a calming effect on the mind – something we all need during this uncertain and stressful time.”
Her ultimate objective: not to go “viral”, but to create a yoga community platform where people can practise with her and gain something out of the class.
How does it work?
Every morning at 10:00, Muller streams a live class of about 40 to 45 minutes from her Facebook Page Yoga with Leigh-Ann Muller.
Interested parties can either follow the live feed or watch the video at a later stage.
According to Muller, the classes start with the standard Ashtanga warm up (Surya Namaskara A and B), followed by a free flow vinyasa – focusing on arm, core and leg strength – before ending with a five- to ten-minute relaxation exercise and a gratitude prayer.
Her favourite pose: Savasana (the corpse pose), used as the final pose of a yoga sequence as a time for relaxation and recovery. During this pose, focus is placed on breathing and the release of tension from the body.
“The online classes – focusing on the physical well-being of the body, as well as the calming of the nervous system and mental body – are very basic and simplistic, thus easy for anyone to follow,” says Muller. “If you have previous yoga experience, you can modify it to adjust the intensity le-vel.”
According to Muller, who enjoys the calmness yoga provides for her overall being, the benefits of yoga are vast: it neutralises the sanskrit (energy) in the body, assists in alleviating pain symptoms, helps with certain disorders (anxiety, insomnia, depression and IBS) and elevates energy le-vels.
After lockdown
According to Muller, she is still unsure whether she will continue with the free online classes after the lockdown period.
“I always wanted to open my own yoga studio in Jeffreys Bay,” she says. “Maybe the online classes will provide me with a platform to realise my dream or create the opportunity to pursue such a venture.
“I am also completing my clinical nutrition thesis, which I have to dedicate my time to once everything goes back to normal.”
Join Muller (Yoga with Leigh-Ann Muller) at 10:00 daily for an online yoga class.
