Bucks &amp; Oxon

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/SARAHKASSAM.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-183835" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/SARAHKASSAM.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/SARAHKASSAM-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/SARAHKASSAM-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/SARAHKASSAM-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



January&#8217;s been and gone and with it your new year, new you resolutions (tell me it&#8217;s not just me). Time to address what&#8217;s really stopping you from getting on that yoga mat – so over to our local Bucks yogi Sarah Kassam, founder of Buckingham&#8217;s fab URBANOM studio, to debunk the three biggest yoga myths. Now off you go for some savasana and shaky warrior poses (we&#8217;ve all been there!). Namaste.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-myth-1-yoga-is-just-for-women">MYTH 1: YOGA IS JUST FOR WOMEN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGA.jpg" alt="person doing yoga" class="wp-image-178228" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGA.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGA-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGA-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGA-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



Men worry they&#8217;re not flexible enough and wonder &#8216;am I going to be the only guy in the room?&#8217;. In fact, if you&#8217;re not flexible enough, that&#8217;s the reason you should go for yoga! And as for being the only guy in the class, that will depend on what kind of studio you are&nbsp;attending. At URBANOM&nbsp;we have a variety of classes that include&nbsp;tougher classes like&nbsp;Heated Power II&nbsp;that tend to attract men who feel they want to build strength as well as stretch



Some studios focus heavily on branding that emphasises feminine nurturing and earthy elements, which may resonate more with women due to the softer energy this conveys. At URBANOM, our branding is more centred around practicality. We offer a dynamic, intense side of yoga, such as hot yoga, which tends to attract a more diverse range of individuals, including more men.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM1.jpg" alt="URBAN OM YOGA" class="wp-image-178222" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM1-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM1-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



Take Stuart, a former footballer who had recently been focusing on calisthenics and bodyweight training. Initially sceptical, he thought yoga wouldn’t align with his fitness goals. However, he quickly discovered that Power II was one of the most demanding disciplines he had ever encountered.



For the strength-building challenge that both men and women are often seeking, our Power II classes really deliver. Power II focuses on inversions, arm balances, and core engagement, all of which require significant strength and control. Through poses like crow, handstand, and side plank variations, Stu not only improved his balance and endurance but also gained a newfound respect for yoga as a powerful discipline.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-myth-2-yoga-is-too-slow">MYTH 2: YOGA IS TOO SLOW</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YOGAPOSE.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-183838" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YOGAPOSE.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YOGAPOSE-800x534.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YOGAPOSE-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



I have a client called Sarah, a high intensity fitness enthusiast, who believed yoga would be too slow for her. She craved intensity and didn’t think yoga could provide the challenge she needed. All that changed when she tried Hot Classic Yoga.



Unlike the slow, gentle flow she had imagined, Hot Classic Yoga follows a structured, methodical sequence designed to challenge strength, flexibility, and endurance. The heat adds an extra layer of intensity, making each movement more effective. Within weeks, Sarah noticed improvements in her posture, mobility, and mental clarity, helping to prevent injury and build resilience. Now, she considers it an essential part of her regime.



URBANOM&nbsp;offers a fusion of&nbsp;heated and holistic&nbsp;yoga classes&nbsp;because people need&nbsp;more&nbsp;balance&nbsp;in their fitness and wellness regimes. It seems a controversial statement to say power up&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;slow down, but there is a time for both. If your week has been so busy you need to relax and breathe, then choose a gentler class. If you need strengthening in your routine, then you want to take a more challenging class. The balance is what makes the transformation happen. We&#8217;re taking these opposites and putting them together –&nbsp;heated and cool classes such as power yoga or restorative yoga.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-myth-3-you-need-to-be-flexible-to-do-yoga">MYTH 3: YOU NEED TO BE FLEXIBLE TO DO YOGA</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM5.jpg" alt="URBAN OM YOGA" class="wp-image-178226" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM5.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM5-800x800.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM5-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/YOGAOM5-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



It&#8217;s easy to feel daunted about going to a studio full of flexible, strong people. The reality is that they got there because they did the work – and you can too. We&nbsp;intentionally&nbsp;offer&nbsp;levelled classes to provide opportunities to grow&nbsp;from Level 0 and Level 1 classes up to to retreats, training and Level 3 classes.&nbsp;Based on the range of classes we offer,&nbsp;we attract and welcome a mix of beginner to experienced yogis.



A focused yoga studio environment with a mix of classes and events&nbsp;builds community to commit and come regularly, and&nbsp;we are seeing&nbsp;a wellness culture&nbsp;growing. That might be off-putting for some people, but once you give it a go, you see it&#8217;s inspiring and welcoming.



We start to see we need yoga.&nbsp;The body&nbsp;tightens&nbsp;because of tension and poor&nbsp;posture by being&nbsp;desk- and screen-bound. We see&nbsp;women and men committing to the practice and it opens up&nbsp;their bodies. The great news is it&#8217;s not magical that this change is happening for them. They have simply committed&nbsp;and are seeing the results.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="668" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YGA-517-1-668x1000.jpeg" alt="Urban Om yoga" class="wp-image-183822" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YGA-517-1-668x1000.jpeg 668w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YGA-517-1-534x800.jpeg 534w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YGA-517-1-267x400.jpeg 267w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/02/YGA-517-1.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px" /></figure>



If you&#8217;re new to yoga, we&#8217;ve structured our classes and levels so they&#8217;re easy to understand.&nbsp;Level 0 is for all levels, Level 1 is for beginner students, Level 2 is aimed for practitioners at a 6+ months level, and Level 3 is aimed at practitioners at a 1 year+ level.&nbsp;We welcome&nbsp;beginners to our&nbsp;upper level&nbsp;power classes, but it&#8217;s probably best to&nbsp;start at Level 1 and work your way up.&nbsp;



A good example of giving it a go is Oliver, who first walked into our Stretch &amp; Restore class and couldn’t touch his toes. He thought he wasn’t good enough for yoga. But in our Yin and Restorative-based classes, he discovered a completely different approach.



Stretch &amp; Restore classes focus on deep connective tissue release, using passive postures held for extended periods to gradually improve flexibility. Without the pressure of fast-paced movement, Oliver learned to ease into stretches, allowing his body to open over time.



After months of consistent practice, he improved his flexibility and found relief from chronic stiffness that had plagued him for years, so he&#8217;s been able to start hiking and strength training. Flexibility is something yoga helps to build; it&#8217;s not a prerequisite to start.



Looks like you&#8217;re out of excuses! Check out what&#8217;s on offer at&nbsp;<a href="https://urbanomyoga.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buckingham&#8217;s URBANOM studio</a>. The studio is turning two on Sat 1 March, and it&#8217;s hosting a free 90-minute class to celebrate, with (healthy) refreshments afterwards and the chance to win some fab yoga prizes. Everyone&#8217;s invited, so book your free spot <a href="https://momence.com/Ali-Futrill/URBΔN-ŌM's-2nd-Birthday-Celebration/112313847?skipPreview=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.

Think yoga’s not for you? Why you should go with the flow

You may also like