Report on CYTA Spring Festival March 14th 2026
Words: Judith Lynch. Pictures: Jackie Hudson
21 people attended this full day event held at Rixton with Glazebrook Village Hall.
In the morning Helen Conway led an enjoyable and informative session entitled “Yoga v Pilates”. She started with a history of Pilates, commenting that the founder, Joseph Pilates, seems to have taken good ideas from other older disciplines, including yoga, and built on them. The initial sequences changed over the years for safety reasons and to accommodate the needs of modern students.
Similarities with yoga include a focus on the breath and control. The original recommended Pilates breathing during exercises has changed quite a lot over the years. A big difference between Pilates and Yoga we discovered is the speed of movement. In yoga we tend to hold individual postures statically for some time; in Pilates there is greater speed in repetition of the same movement.
We began with a relaxing centring exercise lying on our backs, tuning into our breath and softening our bodies, observing “masses and spaces” where the back touched and didn’t touch the mat. Helen then discussed the importance of focussing on strength in balance. This is not normally a main focus in Pilates but she tends to do a lot of work on it nevertheless to help her students of all ages. We practised her recommended exercises for fall prevention and then standing firmly on our feet in a tadasana- type posture. Helen later reminded us that including disruptors for balance i.e. moving the head, leg, arms, closing eyes or lifting the heels is helpful to in our teaching and personal practice.
“ Enjoyed the class very much. Nice humour but also informative. Especially liked the balance talk because I started doing it with my class”
Helen also mentioned that she no longer teaches unsupported forward flexion (roll downs) to any students in case of oesteoporosis/osteopenia, diagnosed or undiagnosed. Food for thought I believe.
For the rest of the morning we compared and contrasted similar movements in Yoga and in Pilates and considered their relative merits. We practised squats, bridge and rotations, plus cobra and locust in yoga versus swimming and swan dive in Pilates, Tiger pose in both disciplines, alternatives in Pilates to the boat pose, the plank and a variation on the gate pose. Helen suggested there is more cognitive working in Pilates as there is a need to co-ordinate some movements at speed. Certain exercises in Pilates focus more on particular parts of the body eg Pilates bridge posture aims to offer more glutes/hamstring stretch than Yoga bridge and Pilates Tiger pose focuses more on load bearing on the wrists and shoulder stability compared with the similar Yoga posture which focuses more on hip and back flexibility and perhaps a bit more on balance.
A short relaxation took us back to observing our breathing, asking ourselves how things have changed and what we have learned.
Feedback on Helen’s workshop was highly positive; her experience, knowledge and delivery.
“Helen was fabulous, knowledgeable, practical and very funny. Come again!”
“Very clear demos and explanation of reasons”
“Interesting practice. Learnt about techniques for protecting the lower back useful. Alternative postures too”
In the afternoon the attendees were treated to a Sound Bath workshop, ably led by Dr Nicholas Peters. Nick introduced himself as a sound specialist, musician and composer. He showed us to his collection of instruments, especially demonstrating the characteristics and sounds of a wide range of metal singing bowls. He talked about sound as an important element in the creation of the world and how sound affects the human body. Natural sound instruments tend to remind us of both earth and water and thereby help us to feel comforted. Nick then introduced his sound bath – its holistic wellbeing modality, its structure and progression, including common experiences previous clients have shared with him after they have attended his group sound baths.
“Extremely interesting talk on the sound bowls and so relaxing. Recommend for the future.
An hour of sound bath followed, starting with a guided meditation to help us relax, followed by the main sounding of the instruments. The following feedback shows its impact on attendees:
“Gong bath was beautiful and I would like one every day please!”
“Sound Bath – discombobulating and fantastic. Very interesting talk and very informative”
“Very much enjoyed the sound bowls. Feeling calm and relaxed.”
“Dr Nick was amazing. His knowledge and his calm approach and his skills were fabulous – come again!”
For more information click on the link below:
Last, but by no means least, thanks a lot to both the tutors at the day workshop for their well-planned, informative and enjoyable sessions. Thank you to those of you who attended. Also thanks to CYTA for organising and running the day’s activities.
Let one of the attendees summarise the day.
“Fabulous day. Both morning and afternoon equally good. Sound Bath was cosmic!!”
