Wow, it is officially winter, although we are past the solstice, and the days are getting longer already. Still pretty chilly in the am I agree, though this has not hindered my amazing 6 & 7am crews. We will be starting class again in daylight soon.
Once again, lots happening in the world of Yoga Vida. This month please let me introduce Kerry Lyons and Hannah Andrews to the team. Kerry, hailing from Sydney, now resides in Malaney, and is teaching a gentle, relaxing, breath focused class, suitable for beginners and those looking to go deeper within. Join her Tuesdays at 9am to stretch your way to stress freedom. From the Gold Coast, Hannah has trained in a dynamic flow style of yoga, and will initially be starting with a Mums and Bubs class with her gorgeous daughter Adaya. This Wednesday 1.30pm-2.30pm class has already started to fill, so please tell your friends with babies, and Pre-natal girls that this class is for them. We will offer other classes when this one fills.
Suzanne Derok, our resident Jnana (Knowledge) yogi will also be introducing a yoga philosophy/meditation class on Fridays, from 5.30pm-6.30pm. For those interested in learning more about our life transforming discipline, please join her for different subjects each week, followed by guided meditation. Starting this week, are you ready to take yoga to a new level?
Yogi of the month is Richard McLeod. Congrats Richard, on your amazing consistency, which has helped you achieve some awesome results in your Asana practise. Richard has been a three time a week yogi for some time now, and for sure is feeling the results. Of course that’s when he is not galavanting the world on one of his frequent expeditions ;-) He wins a Yoga Vida singlet, and a gym package containing a $200 value Jett’s membership, and a free one on one PT session with Nick, from Play, Fun and Fitness, valued at $159. Just in case yoga was getting too easy.
Speaking of Play, Fun and Fitness,,,, we are teaming up to hold a health and fitness day on Alex Hill on the morning of July 17th. Keep an eye out on studio noticeboard for further info. Should be a great day featuring personal training, massage, healthy snacks, and of course a yoga class. I would love for as many yogis as possible to turn up for this free event, so you can also be teachers to all the newbies off the street.
Yoga Vida is also heading into the corporate world of late, with numerous weekend team building and group classes taking place. If you think this would be of interest to your business or company, please pick up a flyer next time at the studio. It’s an awesome way to introduce yoga to the greater community,,,,, and get some time off work ;-)
For those of you travelling against the masses, down to Melbourne, you now don’t have to live without your yoga. My good friends Gabor and Emma have opened a new studio in Essendon, called Yoga Flame. They trained under Jimmy Barkan too, and have an awesome hot yoga studio, with many class times. Please check www.yogaflame.com.au for more info. As homework, sign up for their newsletter to see posture of the month Pada Hastasana, one of my favourites.
In other news, I have had some requests for a one hour class. For now, I am going to trial my 1.30pm classes for a month to gauge the response. Maybe you could make it your lunch break. For those of you on a tight schedule, please also note, that it is possible to complete the standing sequence in any class, and then quietly leave as first savasana begins. This is approx around the 40-45 minute mark. Please prearrange with me if you intend to take this option. Some more morbid news involves Yoga Vida’s pricing. While maintaining the same prices for the last two years, I have to succumb a little to our economic plight and slightly raise prices. Casual class price will rise $2 to $18 a class, with our biggest package only rising $1 per class to $12 (25 class pass, $300). While I was going to coincide with the new financial year, I would like to offer an extra week at the old prices, to allow people to buy a package in advance. New prices start on July 5th.
Finally, today I would like to finish with a little yoga theory/philosophy, written by Suzanne. It has been a rather long letter so far, so well done, enjoy the rest of the winter, and see you on the mat soon.
Yoga Matters - A series of short articles on the History of Yoga
What is Yoga? In modern times Yoga has been attached to a number of approaches from physical exercises, spiritual practice, through to heart pumping gymnastics creating lean body machines. Others have embraced it to be a definitive life transformation practice to enhance emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well being. Yoga is a familiar word to just about everyone nowadays. Yoga has been finding itself among the fastest growing global trends in modern culture today and continues to extend into every facet of modern life.
Historically Yoga was a deeply introspective spiritual practice in ancient India. Traditionally its teachings were developed to attain spiritual goals and were only transmitted from teacher to student in a personal way. It remained in this relative state for centuries until several influential Indian masters began to appear and different systems of yoga began to emerge. As teachings of Yoga were systemised the focus shifted from individual spiritual practice to a philosophical system that prescribed a way of life. There were many such schools to emerge that played a role in the evolution of yoga.
An unprecedented rise in the shift of focus on yoga which emphasised simplicity,humility, and ethical restraints in favour of contemporary cultural shifts in the materialistic west have created a vast shaking up and mixing up of concepts. Thus it is important to identify the foundations upon which modern yoga systems are based. Three main philosophical traditions form an essential core within contemporary yoga. More of about those yoga philosophical traditions in our next newsletter.
Until next month, Namaste, Bryan and the Yoga Vida team
