Class Schedule Term 1 of 2016

I’m delighted to (finally) have the schedule for Term 1 of this shiny new year ready for you. It’s been an uphill battle against technical gremlins but I have dug deep and have emerged as victorious winner!

Please note that there are a few changes, including a new addition of a regular beginners class and also a regular prenatal yoga / pregnancy yoga offering.

There is also regular kiddies’ yoga, so if you have or know of someone that has children and would like to give them the gift that keeps giving, Nia is the most fabulous teacher of yoga for children. She has a wealth of experience and we are extremely excited to have her adding this very valuable asset to our studio.

So many people have contacted me expressing how overwhelmed they feel at the prospect of starting yoga when it feels like everyone else is doing it, and doing it well – they feel threatened or intimidated by many teaching environments where they feel they are going to stick out like sore thumbs. It is with such compassion and pride that I welcome them to our beautiful studio – I know that the other teachers that I share my space with embody my belief that a yoga studio should be a safe, nurturing environment in which you are able to make yourself vulnerable, to let go of what you look like or what you are doing right or wrong, and to just be yourself without fear of criticism or exclusion.

I promise you, you are not alone if you feel that you need a private space in which to learn all the confusing names and poses so that you can confidently go and practice anywhere you fancy, and not be worried about making a fool of yourself. There are no mirrors on purpose, because it’s got sweet blow-all to do with what you look like, with what you wear, or with who else is there – it’s about you on your mat and THAT IS IT.

Our studio rocks because we are all shapes and sizes, ages, colours, genders, beliefs, stages of life, some of us are vegetarians and some aren’t, some believe in God and some believe in faeries, some like to chat and some don’t… some come to the studio to get a workout / head space / sanctuary / balance/whatever. Your reasons are your own, and there is zero judgement on any of these fronts. What we have in common is a respect for the silence that is held (mostly – we try) in the studio and the fact that we are all different. No right, no wrong (except for not pitching when you have booked – that is wrong. But more about that in another post).

So we look forward to welcoming you to the studio this year, or welcoming you back if you’re already a student at our beautiful little yoga studio in Die Laan. Please share this post and / or the schedule with your friends if the sound of our space resonates with you. And remember to book your spot in any class you wish to attend.

Let’s make this year the best one yet!

Love,

Nicci

The Glory of Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-The-Wall pose

We all need survival strategies to help us maneuver through life’s difficult days with some measure of sanity and grace. When the world threatens to overwhelm us, we need a way to hold ourselves together until the stormy weather passes—or perhaps simply a way to let everything fall apart without losing our faith completely.
Here’s my favorite survival strategy: I close the door, tune in to my favorite track on Savasana by Wah, hit the repeat button, and slide into Viparita Karani (Legs-up-the-Wall Pose). I drape a lavender-scented eye bag across my brow, exhale as soulfully as possible, and then invite the posture’s quiet softness to sink into every cell of my body.

I breathe. I surrender. I melt. As my legs drain, my mind empties and my belly warms and softens. I linger here for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, sometimes a half an hour or more, until the pose has drawn every last drop of angst and agitation from my soul. And when I can bear to pull myself back to reality, I roll over and slowly sit up, refreshed and renewed. Invariably, I feel better able to manage life’s challenges with clarity and balance.

I’d wager that Viparita Karani can do the same for you. This soothing, restorative posture calms the nervous system, eases muscle fatigue, and helps restore healthy, restful breathing. Many yoga instructors offer it as an antidote to exhaustion, illness, and weakened immunity. In addition, it invites us todrop beneath the surface of life into quieter and more introspective realms.

The Gentle Beauty of Yin Yoga – Love It Or Your Money Back!

Yin yoga was developed to penetrate deep into connective tissue expanding flexibility while invigorating the energy centers of the body (nadis) to release blockages and increase your energy flow.

Many people have asked me about Yin yoga after seeing it on our new October schedule – what it is, why they should try it and why it’s different to our usual flow classes. And since we aim to please at our little riverside yoga studio, here is some information that may help you to decide whether it’s something you want to add to your practice (the answer is yes, by the way):

A quiet, meditative yoga practice, also called taoist yoga, Yin focuses on lengthening connective tissues and is meant to complement yang yoga—your muscle-forming flow that is most often practiced in Western studios. Yin poses are passive, meaning you’re supposed to relax muscles and let gravity do the work. And they’re long—you’ll practice patience here too.

Yin Yoga uses gentle long held postures practiced with an attitude of compassionate acceptance to awaken the more Yin parts of our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. It is an amazing practice that is dominantly seated, that focuses on bringing health and vitality back to body/mind/spirit through the manipulation of the fascia (connective tissue), the energy body and all sensations and emotions that come along for the ride. Its a profound practice, very insightful and carries a wealth of healing knowledge that can be applied to anybody. A lot of yin is allowing yourselves to be tender and wise within our own forms.  There is so much wisdom in the water and tissues in the body, we simply must create a safe and relaxed setting for this wisdom and energy to flow. Yin helps to still the body, setting it shapes that allow us to target the areas where energy tends to get stuck.

Yin focuses on the hips, pelvis and spine mostly but because the body cannot be separated into parts and sides, yin yoga examines the body as a connected unit of tissues that communicate, contain or liberate other aspects of the body. We can all relate to that feeling stuck or out of place feeling in the body. We know what it needs to flow, with inside and out.

Yin has a few simple principles. Find the shape that works for you. Victoria will guide you into the pose but you may find that you need to adjust it slightly to suit your own body (as with ‘normal’ yang yoga) – until it feels right. Turn the muscles off, relax the body, deepen the breath, stay present and hold for time. Seems simple right? Looks like it from the external appearance,but on the inside we are looking for and hanging out in the places in the body where we tend to hold, resist and feel stuck in. It’s in the tension in the body that we can unlock the keys to healing, realigning and becoming stable in who we are. The long holds and focus on breath in Yin means that classes have this air of meditation and the same feeling of otherworldiness only long breathing sessions and moving of blockages can do. I recently did one of Victoria’s Yin classes and I felt like I was floating by the end of the class – even speaking felt like it was too loud and jarring after the peaceful atmosphere she created so masterfully. Her beautiful Norwegian accent and her ability to hold the silences without needing to fill them with words just helped to make it a truly magical experience.

I really, really, really recommend that everyone tries one of these classes at least once. See it as the biggest and kindest gift and token of self love that you could give yourself this month. You will not regret it. In fact, if you don’t like it, I will give you your money back. So please, go to one and feed back to me how it was, so I can put my money where my mouth is. No pressure, Vic!

I took a lot of this information from a lovely site called ‘Love Light Yoga’ – check them out if you want to show them some love.