It was such a great experience to teach yoga to this group. They were an attentive and focused group of students who approached their yoga with a willingness to learn and refine the poses.
Milla took them through a 'dirty pour' and they produced some beautiful art works which you can see on the Facebook page
This group of students worked really consistently on the yoga mat with Sharon to explore yoga poses through a story. The poses were quite advanced and required the group to listen, watch demonstrations and then apply themselves to take the shape of each pose. They had to feel what was happening in their body to produce the interpretation of the pose that worked with their bodies. It required a lot of focus!
In the art room Kate worked with them to produce some spectacular artworks and colourful headdresses adorned with feathers. They were a pleasure to teach and expressed themselves enthusiastically and willingly.
The classe are filling up but if you would like to join us for some fun and creativity, please book online: www.orangeyogaroom.com.au.
3-6yrs 9.00am-11.15am
7-12yrs 10.15am-12.45pm
Adults (young and young at heart) 1.00pm-3.30pm
The young adults classes is open to adults of any age so if you would like to join in we are doing a one hour yoga session followed by an art session. The art session is a 'dirty pour', a scaled down version of a resin artwork which we will mix and pour onto a canvas. The result if unpredictable and abstract and it requires no 'artistic talent'. Just come along and have fun with it.
Coming onto the mat each day allows us the opportunity to put aside external concerns and be present in a much more significant way than coming to class once a week. Committing to classes is fantastic, but devoting time to attend the Intensive will take you deeper into your practice and present new opportunities for learning that only come from this extended format. I invite you to come along and commit to looking deeper at your practice, regardless of your class level or experience. Everyone is welcome.
| Wednesday 23 January | 6.30am-8.00am and 5.45pm-7.15pm |
| Thursday 24 January | 6.30am-8.00am and 5.45pm-7.15pm |
| Friday 25 January | 6.30am-8.00am and 5.45pm-7.15pm |
| Saturday 26 January |
8.30am-10.00am and 4.00pm-5.30pm |
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Cost for 8 sessions: |
$140 |
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Cost for 4 sessions: |
$85 |
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Cost for 2 sessions: |
$48 |
The New Year means a clean slate and an opportunity to reassess what's important in our lives. Begin 2019 by renewing your commitment to your yoga practice. Join us for the following classes, workshops and Intensive in the January break:
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Saturday 5 January 9.00am-12noon |
Creating Balance through Yoga and Ayurveda Workshop with Steph (booking essential). See separate blog post for details on what is Ayurveda. |
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Tuesday 8 January 6.00pm-7.30pm |
Restorative Casual Class with Steph |
| Thursday 10 January 9.30am-11.00am | General Casual Class with Steph |
| Tuesday 15 January 6.0pm-7.30pm | Restorative Casual Class with Steph |
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Wednesday 16 January 9.00am onwards |
Yogart Workshop for children 3-6yrs, 7-12yrs and 13yrs+. A yoga session followed by morning tea and an art session. |
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Wed 23-Sat 26 January |
Intensive with Tricia - morning asana holds emphasis on active asana and afternoons on restorative and pranayama (see flyer for specific times) |
Steph will teach a three hour workshop on this subject as part of the holiday programme. Flyers with information and the enrolment sheet are at The Yoga Room. To help you understand what Ayurveda is all about, Steph has put together the following information:
Ayurveda is an ancient medical tradition from India. The term is derived from the Sanskrit ayur, meaning "life" or "longevity," and veda, meaning "knowledge" or "science."
Ayurvedic medicine and yoga are closely associated. They both find their roots in the Vedas. Renowned Vedic scholar, David Frawley, teaches that yoga is the practical side of Vedic teachings and Ayurveda is the healing side. Ayurveda aims to keep the body and mind balanced so that the individual remains healthy, and Yoga is an art of body-mind coordination that ensures physical and mental fitness as well as enhances one's spirituality.
According to Ayurvedic science, the body is a combination of three doshas, or "energies." These doshas are Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Every individual has one dosha that is more dominant than the others, depending on the prakriti, or "natural constitution," of the person. Factors that influence the doshas include age, diet and climate.
Yoga practice can influence the balance of the three dosas. Choosing the right poses based on personal constitution can help practitioners maximize the health benefits of Yoga.
If you would like to join Steph, please pay your deposit and enrol before we close for Christmas.
At present in India, Centenary Celebrations are being held in honour of BKS Iyengar. In Australia we held our own Centenary Celebrations for BKS Iyengar in each capital city to mark 100 years since his birth. I attended the Sydney celebration at Opera Australia in Surry Hills on Sunday 11 November. The Sydney celebration started with a 2hr Led Practice led by a representative from Sydney and each regional area in NSW. I attended as the representative for the Central West and led the adjusted sequence for anyone who was pregnant, menstruating or had injuries. The atmosphere was friendly and the energy in the room was beautiful as we all practised together for the 2 hours, each individual adjusting their practice as needed.
After the Led Practice we had morning tea and talked to old friends, met new people and drank seriously good chai!
We then sat for an hour or so to listen to stories and perspectives from four Senior Iyengar Teachers who started travelling to Pune to learn from Mr Iyengar in the 1970s. They were among Iyengar's first students and most of them have travelled at least once a year to learn from Iyengar and his family every year since then. Their stories were full of funny anecdotes and reflections on their time in India. They all have enormous gratitude and respect for Iyengar's generosity to share his knowledge with a sense of humour, and his passion to bring yoga to the West so it was accessible to everyone.
Pooja was held in honour of Guruji where 100 candles were lit by almost 100 attendees to give thanks to Guruji and his life of teaching. It was a moving and joyous celebration and a reminder that yoga is a gift. If we treasure, nurture and put the time and effort into our practice, we will receive all it has to offer us.
Some poses come easily for some of us and other asanas are difficult. We all have poses that we think we will never be able to do in a million years!! However, I disagree with this thinking. The beauty of having a regular home practice means that you can 'study' the asana that is your most difficult, instead of avoiding it. Below is my example of breaking down and studying a difficult pose. This method can be applied to any pose.
Lolasana is a pose that has always eluded me. My issue was that I couldn't seem to get my brain around what was actually required. Because I couldn't understand Lolasana academically I didn't have a way of translating the 'thinking' of the pose to the 'doing' of the pose. I came across an excellent article by Richard Rosen which has allowed me to find a path to understand and practice the pose. At Teacher's Practice last Friday we followed his reasoning and we all commented on how useful this was. I hope the following will help you to understand Lolasana too, when you are ready to take it on.
Breaking down or deconstructing Lolasana, or any asana, is a great way to practice.
Strengthens wrists, tones arms, develops abdominal muscles and strengthens back muscles.
Wrist injuries, shoulder pain or serious neck issues.
Start on the hands and knees with your knees below the hips. Place your hands a few centimetres in front of your shoulders, spread your palms and press the mounds of your index fingers to the floor. On an exhalation press your tailbone down toward the floor and forward toward your pubic bone and round your back up toward the ceiling to create an arch. Let your head hang to release the back of your neck and lengthen as much as possible between the tip of your coccyx and the base of your skull.
Spread your shoulder blades as far away from your spine as possible, as if you're wrapping them around the sides of your torso. Counter this outward movement by hugging the outer arms inward, as if you were squeezing the arms together. Combining these two actions helps to round your back and strengthen your arms. Your back torso will form a lovely arch (in a perfect world)! In a perfect world the space between the shoulder blades should lift, instead of sinking to the floor.
As per the energy channels that yogis mapped out thousands of years ago, the outer arm channel runs from the shoulder to the little finger (down the outer arm), while the inner channel runs from the base of the index finger up to the shoulder (up the inner arm). On your hands and knees again, round your back by spreading the scapulas into the resistance of the outer arms from shoulder to floor. Then, the counter action is from the mound of the index finger to the shoulder. Feel how the outer arm channel anchors you to the floor (creating an earth element in the pose) and the inner arm channel lifts you toward the ceiling. Hold this circuit for a few breaths then release back to a neutral position. Repeat a few times.
The belly is the final part of the jigsaw. On your hands and knees again in a table top position, round your back again but now lift the navel towards your spine and reduce the space between your pubis and sternum. Counter the lift of your navel by pressing your index finger mounds into the floor. Hold for 15-30 seconds, then release and take a few breaths.
Use blocks under the hands (as per the image from our Friday Teachers' Practice). Kneel with your thighs and torso perpendicular to the floor and hands on blocks beside the hips. Cross your right ankle under your left, sit your buttocks back on your left heel - warming: this is not pleasant.
Press your hands to the blocks and on an inhalation, lengthen your front torso. On an exhalation, round up your torso, lift your knees away from the floor but keep your feet on the ground. Work on all of the points for the belly, arms, scapulas and hands. This is the first step. Hold for 15-30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
The next stage is to do what you just did but this time lift the shins away from the floor as your lift your knees on an exhalation. Lastly, with the right ankle below the left, lift your left knee off the floor, then when you exhale into your round ball, push that knee downward, using the right ankle as a fulcrum, and squeeze your right shin firmly up. The left leg will act like a lever to lift the ball of your body away from the floor. Hold for as long as you can then reverse and do on the other side. When finished, sit back on the heels with a straight spine for a few breaths.
As Richard Rosen quotes in his article on Lolasana, 'Remember what Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: On this path no effort is wasted, no gain is ever reversed'. Level 2 students will particularly appreciate that quote as they have been studying the Gita.