FIND YOUR INNER PEACE

Yoga with Matt

Hello and welcome to my world of yoga and meditation. I offer yoga and meditation in classes in Exeter, Devon. Please have a look around and register your interest to be informed about upcoming classes in Exter.

Matt

About Matt

Matt Ridley

Yoga teacher in training, 42.

I'm deeply passionate about guiding students through their yoga journey, helping them find balance, strength, and inner peace. My passion for self-care brought me to yoga and I have come to see that it is perhaps the single most beneficial activity you can do to support your well-being.

I started out as a counsellor 12 years ago and continue to run a sucessful private practice in Exeter. I hold a BA(Hons) degree in integrative Counselling and am accredited with the BACP (BACPAccred).

www.mattridleycounselling.co.uk

I began meditating in my teens, and started to practice yoga 14 years ago. I consider myself a spiritual person and have spent a lot of time in my life in deep reflection both of myself and the universe around me. I have come to see that being in the "now" and moving away from identification with the future as well as the conditioned concept we can hold of ourselves can lead to a far more peaceful existance, with much less stress and anxiety.

I am now about to embark on my second year of a comprehensive yoga course with the Devon School of Yoga. I have training in many differnent aspects of yoga, and consider my practice to be very holistic in my approach. My aim is to create a supportive and inclusive space for students of all levels and to develop a rich and rewarding yoga community. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced yogi, I'm here to support and empower you on your path.

Let's both cultivate a practice that nourishes both the body and the mind whilst I invite you to explore the transformative power of yoga with me.

More about my yoga classes

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Yoga

"Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind"
Patañjali

It's hard to measure the depth of profound benefit that yoga brings to my life. Like many others, I had many misconceptions about yoga, so I thought it might be helpful to dispell any myths and tell you a bit more about what I believe yoga to be.

What yoga is...

Yoga helps to keep your body supple, strong and healthy in the depest of ways.
It helps you to observe your thoughts and emotions, giving you more freedom over them.
It sooths the nervous system - the perfect antidote to a stressful life.
A healthy balance of relaxation and challenge.
It gives you a deeper, more loving relationship with your body.
Yoga keeps you feeling young.
It connects you to like minded people.
Yoga is for EVERYONE!

Yoga helps to keep your body supple, strong and healthy in the depest of ways.
It helps you to observe your thoughts and emotions, giving you more freedom over them.
It sooths the nervous system - the perfect antidote to a stressful life.
A healthy balance of relaxation and challenge.
It gives you a deeper, more loving relationship with your body.
Yoga keeps you feeling young.
It connects you to like minded people.
Yoga is for EVERYONE!

What yoga is not...

Yoga is not just for flexible people, it is for ALL body shapes and sizes.
A fitness class. You will not be pushed or forced in to anything that you don't want to do. Instead you will be encouraged to do what feels right for you.
It is not a competitive sport. Yoga works best when you meet yourself at your own edges.
All about the body. Yoga is as much about stillness of the mind as it is about physical postures.
Pushing yourself and causing injury. In yoga we learn to listen to our body and tune in to its needs on any given day.
Just for women. In the west women seem to gravitate more to yoga than men. But men have just as much, if not more, to benefit from yoga.

More about Yoga..

In the original yogic texts, there was only one physical position (asana) which was sitting comfortably with an upright spine. This is because yoga was about meditating and achieving stillness of the mind. Over the years, this has evolved into the yoga you and I know today which, in the west especially, has a lot to do with the physical postures we know and love.

My time providing talking therapy has shown me the importance of the relationship to one's own body and mastering this can have profound benefits to mental, emotional and physical health. Yoga stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which is essential for the body to be able to function at optimal efficiency (it also feels really nice). Once the PNS is stimulated, the body can enter homeostasis which is essential for relaxation but more importantly the body has a chance to mend itself, clean up free radicals and generally process things.

There are many different styles of yoga and I come under the category of Hatha yoga but consider my style to be very holistic. Yoga really is for everyone and I believe its good to be adaptable depending on who's in the room, and to have fun with it.

Below are the classes I will be putting on in the near future. Please click one or more to register you interest and I will be happy to let you know when classes are due to start.