Sitting with their eyes closed and hands on their knees, the students breathe deeply as they try to be completely out of touch with the outside. Then lying on their backs in a circle, each happiness seeker made a big laugh over problems of stress, fear, pessimism and timidity.

    “I have difficulties in breaking the ice first and keeping in touch with the others because of my shyness which made my life hard and meaningless,” said a student who gave her name as Amel.

    “Thanks to laughter yoga sessions, I feel better and more self-confident. They taught me how to accept myself as I am and to see the best side of the life. Otherwise we’re doomed to die,” Amel said wearing a big smile.

After a while, repeated words became real laughs. Each woman roared with laughs in attempts to forget bad thoughts and try to see beyond her problems.

    “Laugh is necessary to resolve any problem. If you’re seeking for happiness, you’d better to look inside you. Happiness exists within you, in your thoughts and never comes from the outside,” Dalila Ghariani, laughter yoga teacher, told her students. Read the rest of this entry »

Pinch A what?? I was showing the pose to Morgane and that’s what she asked. She’s definitely got pinching on the brain lately, and I unfortunately have been on the receiving end of this quite a bit (we’re working on it). I told her to call it “pinch a peacock”, which I think is a fun blend of Sanskrit and English. Here’s me doing my best pinch a peacock under the Big Sky.

I woke up on the uninspired side of the bed, and wondered how I was going to plow through a morning full of activity, including teaching my weekly yoga class at Be The Change. However, I’ve been in this position many a time before when having to teach, and it forces me to be present and open to the energy exchange between student and teacher.

On a day like today, I look to receive energy from my students if possible. And the universe presented me with a lovely, lively group of women this morning. I felt SO good after class, re-energized and inspired. We had so much fun breaking down pincha mayurasana, feathered peacock pose, or more simply, forearm stand.

Anahata Yoga literally is ‘yoga from the heart’. We go beyond offering just yoga courses and provide our students with personal attention from our instructors who possess a strong lineage in yoga. Small class sizes in our luxurious surroundings, located in the upscale Lan Kwai Fong Hotel in the heart of Central, means that students feel special while they practice one of the best known forms of exercise and well-being.

From December 2008, enthusiasts of yoga can take Hong Kong’s first, fully accredited Teacher Training course, offered by Anahata Yoga. Partnering with M.S. University in Chennai India, one of the first Indian universities to offer yoga teacher training in their curriculum, Anahata Yoga will provide a 200-hour Teacher Training course, the most comprehensive and authentic in Hong Kong.

While many yoga centres in Hong Kong offer teacher training courses, Anahata Yoga’s is a cut above the others in that it offers accreditation from a respected university in India. It is the only such course of its type outside of India. Read the rest of this entry »

The fit looking Maher, who doesn’t look 70, has been doing yoga off and on for 25 years. She has tried aerobics and other popular fitness programs but has always returned to yoga mat.

“It fills my mind and soul with joyfulness and vanishes all the clouds away,” said Maher. The yoga class on Tuesdays is her favourite day of the week.

“I desperately need that quiet time,” said Maher.

When she first discovered yoga in 1978, Brennan said she was only looking for a good physical fitness workout. But over the years her reasons for continuing changed.

The 70-year-old suspects her devotion to regular yoga classes may be the secret.

Maher is one of the 15 students, most of them 50 and older, in a yoga class called Ageing Gracefully. The Tuesday morning class is taught by Irene Brennan, a student of yoga for 30 years.

The class takes place in a new studio, the Satori Centre for Well Being on King Street. It is owned by Stephanie Calhoun. The room itself, with a wood floor, brick walls, subtle colours and candles all around, sets the mood for the practise of this quiet but effective ancient discipline.

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Hip-Hop Yoga is an incredible yoga experience led by instructors Sara Schwarz and Angie Lo and driven by the super beats of DJ Roofeo (a.k.a. Mark Mendioro). It is exactly what it sounds like: a comfortably warm and semi-lit room with a live DJ laying down stupefying tracks as two stoked instructors lead an enthusiastic yoga crowd through a challenging and progressive yoga class.

There is a real energy and vibe going on with people singing, snapping their fingers and making their yoga movements trance-like and dance-like. The juxtaposition of rhythm on a normally meditative practice has a surprising charge. Hip-Hop Yoga is exercise disguised as fun. Even as I grooved along, I was sweating like a madman.

Whether it’s a book, movie or music, I love those art forms that bring culture into my life. I am moved by things that are created by people so committed to their idea that they do it, whether or not anyone else is doing it.

I am not a yoga guy, but it didn’t matter. I was old enough to be the father of everyone in the room, but that didn’t matter. And my faltering attempts at postures above and beyond my capability prompted no audible giggles. This class is way too cool.

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“A lot of people were interested and it just took off from there. People really responded to it,” Perkins said.

Junior Carolina Sanz went to the classes last year and continued this year because she enjoys going. “First of all it is a good work out, but it also relaxes me and helps me to not think about any of the other stress from the week,” said Sanz.

Classes began last year mid-spring semester and were widely unknown on campus except to those that attended. However, this year is different.

“Now we planned from the get-go, there have been a lot of advertisements around campus,” said Dr. Jay Friedenberg, the teacher of the Thursday evening yoga class with yoga mats. A similar situation exists with Tuesday afternoon classes, taught by the on-campus nurse practitioner.

In fact, last year the free yoga class started as just a onetime RA program by seniors Damien Germino and Danielle Perkins.

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The times for the class are as follows:
Age Group:
3 and 4 years old: 5:30-6:15 p.m.
5 to 7 years old: 6:30-7:15 p.m.

For more information, please call Lydia Hamilton at 303-238-7803 Ext. 28.

 We will be offering the yoga class in 4-week sessions. Possible scholarships are available if needed. The first yoga session kicks off on Wed., Oct. 15. The fee for the 4-week session is $20.

The first session runs Oct. 15 through Nov. 5. All are Wednesday evenings.
The classes will be held at the recreation room located on 5845 W 25th Ave., Edgewater.

Edgewater Parks & Recreation is now offering kid’ yoga class! Yoga for kids emphasizes movement and play. We keep it simple. More than learning the poses, the yoga experience will encourage kids to explore the unfamiliar with open minds and be comfortable in their bodies. It will also give them a much needed physical outlet in a noncompetitive environment.

Dispassion. At the time, this was my notion of dispassion: a letting go of extremes to maintain balance. It wasn’t until this recent Yoga Teacher Training program, I came to see how dispassion could be so much more.It’s a word we’d been hearing for days now, and, at the slightest mention, made some of us cringe. For many, the word presented one of the few gripes about Yogic philosophy, implying a nonchalant attitude that leads to a passionless life and loveless friendships.

How could the Yoga way without yoga mats, so intriguing for its sense of compassion, now neglect love and passion on its way to “higher realms”? Dispassion is defined as “the state or quality of being unemotional or emotionally uninvolved.” No — something about it didn’t stick. I had, myself, some vague notion of understanding; having gone through a radical teenage phase in which I was prepared to eat only fruit that fell from trees, and disown my lovely family for buying Crest instead of the cruelty-free, eco-alternative. In this instance, dispassion could have been useful, creating space to care less for extreme values and accept one’s own and other’s shortcomings.

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Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a highly effective method of Asana practice, which quickly builds strength, increases flexibility and clears toxins out of the body. This method includes hundreds of Asanas(yoga postures), which are connected by Vinyasa (fluid movements, which are initiated by either the inhaling or exhaling breath). The practice of Asana with Vinyasa stimulates the cardiovascular system and creates heat in the body on a yoga mat, which eases the body into the Asanas. The Ashtanga Vinyasa practice removes impurities and strengthens the functions of the body and mind.

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Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a highly effective method of Asana practice, which quickly builds strength, increases flexibility and clears toxins out of the body. This method includes numerous sequences of Asanas(yoga postures). Vinyasa (fluid movements, which are initiated by either the inhaling or exhaling breath) link one posture to another. The practice of Asana with Vinyasa stimulates the cardiovascular system and creates heat in the body, which eases the body into the Asanas. The Ashtanga Vinyasa practice removes impurities and strengthens the functions of the body and mind.

Pahoa, HI, October 02, 2008 — Announcing the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Retreat at an exquisite seaside resort in Hawaii from March 26th to April 22nd, 2009. Immerse in the Ashtanga Yoga practice in this 200 hour Yoga Certification course with Ashtanga Yoga Instructor, Caroline Klebl.

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