Phoenix Yoga

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Phoenix Yoga

Practical Yoga practice planning skills for teachers & students rooted in Sūtra wisdom. Viniyoga approach based CEUs, 200-hour YTT & ongoing support.

Senior Yoga teachers. Teaching online & in person, 79110 SW France Phoenix Yoga teaches friendly, smaller yoga classes in 79110 area near Chef Boutonne, Deux Sèvres (79) and the surrounding areas (16, 17 and 86) of France as well as in the Cheltenham and Bishops Cleeve areas of Gloucestershire. We offer private classes to smaller groups or 1-2-1 sessions at a time and place to suit you. We also of

fer a variety of flexible, online options for anyone who’s not based locally but would still like to work with us. Our classes are run by two highly experienced, senior Yoga teachers (Viniyoga approach) and self confessed Yoga nerds who are fascinated by what a regular Yoga practice can achieve! If you have an idea of what a Yoga teacher should be, you'll probably find we don't conform to it! We come as we are and we will always encourage you to be as you are too! Our classes are fun and relaxed. If you can join us, you'll always be made to feel very welcome. Marc Plummer EI Siret: 842 760 159 00017
Kate Plummer EI Siret: 842 761 710 00016

31/05/2026

Most people who have done any yoga at all have heard it: yoga means union.

It doesn’t. It never did. The mistranslation is so embedded in modern yoga that questioning it feels almost impolite.

I’ve written about what yoga actually means, why the accurate translation changes everything about how you practise and teach, and why the wrong version stuck around so long.

Link in bio.

26/05/2026

Most yoga teachers I know have a complicated relationship with their own practice. Teaching takes over. Classes become the practice. Somewhere along the way the thing that drew you to yoga in the first place gets quietly crowded out.

I’ve written about what happens when that distinction disappears, and why it matters more than most teacher training ever acknowledges.

Link in bio.

19/05/2026

Almost twenty years of teaching yoga. Still don’t feel like I belong in yogaland.
Turns out I’m not alone in that.
I’ve just started writing about what yoga actually is, how it works, and why so much of what gets taught under that name has quietly lost the plot. Precise, evidenced, and occasionally blunt about it.
First piece is live. Link in bio if any of this sounds familiar.

15/05/2026

Most yoga teacher training gives you plenty of content and not nearly enough framework for knowing what you’re actually doing with it.

I’ve been teaching for fifteen years. I came to yoga as a sceptical accountant who needed to understand why it worked. This is the post where I explain what that led me to.

Link in bio.

01/05/2026

Simple Yoga is often harder than it looks!

Most people assume a better Yoga practice means adding more. Frequently, this looks like more postures, more variation and more to focus on.

Simple practice can look like a step backwards. Fewer movements, less change, nothing particularly impressive from the outside. It doesn’t seem like it should be as demanding.

In practice, it often is. Attention drifts sooner than expected, the breath is less steady than it first appeared, and there’s a noticeable urge to change something just to keep things interesting.

A busier practice can carry you along. There’s always something else coming next, so you move on before any of this becomes too obvious. When things are simpler, you don’t have that option in the same way.

That’s usually the point where practice starts to feel different.

I’ve written more about this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

29/04/2026

Does trying harder improve your Yoga practice?

When a Yoga practice does not seem to be working, the usual response is to try harder. Postures are taken further, movements become more deliberate, and breathing is controlled more strongly.

Sometimes this helps. At other times, it makes the effect of practice harder to recognise.

As effort increases, breathing often becomes less comfortable and attention narrows. The focus shifts from observing what is happening to managing the effort itself.

A practice can feel demanding without being especially useful.

When effort is more proportionate, breathing tends to settle and attention becomes easier to maintain. The effect of practice is often clearer, even when the experience is less intense.

I explore this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

23/04/2026

It is easy to assume that Yoga practice should produce a noticeable result. Breathing should feel easier, the body should feel more comfortable, or the mind should feel calmer than before.

Often this does happen. Some effects of practice are quite clear.

Other changes are quieter. Breathing may become slightly more comfortable over time. Effort may gradually reduce in familiar movements. Attention may settle more easily at the beginning of practice.

These shifts are easy to overlook when expectations are based on strong sensation or obvious change.

When many elements of practice change at once, it can become difficult to recognise what is actually improving. Practice may then be changed too quickly in search of something more noticeable.

Some of the most useful effects of practice develop gradually and become clearer through consistency.

I explore this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

19/04/2026

It is often suggested that a good Yoga practice should include variety. New postures and different sequences are usually taken as signs that practice is progressing.

Variation can be useful, particularly when it helps maintain interest or supports a specific aim. The difficulty is that when many things change at the same time, it becomes harder to recognise what is actually helping.

If the sequence, the breathing pattern, and the structure of practice are all different each time, the effects of practice can become more difficult to interpret.

When certain elements remain consistent for a period of time, small changes are often easier to notice. Breathing may become more comfortable, effort may reduce, and attention may settle more quickly.

This does not mean repeating the same practice indefinitely. It means allowing something to remain stable long enough for its effect to become clearer.

I explore this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

10/04/2026

Why do some Yoga practices leave you steady while others leave you tired?

It is often assumed that if a Yoga practice feels pleasant, it must also be helpful.

Feeling more relaxed after a session is usually taken as a sign that the practice has worked. Calm can be useful, particularly when life already feels busy or demanding.

Pleasant experience does not always tell us what effect a practice will have later in the day.

Some practices leave breathing easier and attention more stable. Others feel enjoyable at the time but make it harder to focus or sustain effort afterwards. The difference is not always obvious in the moment.

Traditional approaches suggest that practice influences how steady or changeable our energy feels, which in turn affects how easily we can respond to what is in front of us.

When this becomes clearer, practice often becomes easier to adapt without needing constant variation.

I explore this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

08/04/2026

Not all useful Yoga practices move in the same direction.

Some support steadiness. Others increase vitality. Some help reduce agitation. Others help reduce heaviness. Even when all of these are beneficial, their effects are not interchangeable.

Practice is often treated as generally helpful, as though any well-structured session will naturally produce the same kind of result. Over time, it becomes clear that this is not always the case. A practice that feels appropriate one day may feel less appropriate another, even when nothing appears obviously wrong.

When the direction of practice is not considered, choice easily becomes guided by preference, habit, or the desire for variation. When direction becomes clearer, the process of choosing what to practise often becomes simpler rather than more complicated.

I explore this in the latest Substack article.

Link in bio.

Address

79110

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 22:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 21:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 12:00
Thursday	09:00 - 21:00
Friday	09:00 - 12:00

Website

https://www.phoenixyogafrance.com/

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