Gracing post

 

Where: Dynamic Level 2, Sadhaka Yoga Centre, NW1

When: 26 Jan 2014, h 10-11.30

How much: £ 16, but they also do introductory offer (10 days for £ 20)

 

 

It is raining again….After all, this is London and this is winter. So why do I keep on scheduling on my agenda early morning Sunday classes?

Anyway, calling out every single Pitta cell in me I manage to get out of bed & get to the Stables Market in Camden by 9.30am. The Stables are unexpectedly quiet at that time -  accomplice the light rain - and I easily find my way to the Sadhaka Yoga Centre, up the stairs in the heart of the market. I quickly sign up as a new student in the reception and head to the studio area. There is none in yet, which makes my first time there even more exciting. I had read this is the place where Alchemy, one of the most popular London yoga outposts, was located before it unexpectedly closed down a few months ago. Mollie McClelland Morris managed to rescue the place and get it back on the London yoga map. The space is truly amazing: two great studios, a great social area (the soul café), spacious changing rooms and a few therapy rooms. They offer an enticing variety of classes in different styles (Ashtanga, Dharma Mittra, Vinyasa Flow, Kundalini, Scaravelli and Yin yoga) as well as meditation and teacher trainings. But I am here for Mollie today, one of my favourite teachers in London. Her vinyasa classes are truly unique, full of depth and content, flowy yet grounding, incredibly gracious and well rounded. No class is equal to the other: Mollie has always a theme or a source of inspiration, from which she unfolds her creative and heartfelt sequences. We are less than a dozen in class this morning, all regulars. ‘If you see me wobbling today that’s because I cut my foot. This reminded me how important our feet are’…here we go, that’s today’s theme. For the next 90 minutes I enjoyed the most thoughtful class, rich of subtleties and expressions: I feel safe when I practice with Mollie, and I always discover something new about a pose, or myself – or both. Fast forward 90 minutes and you find me in the deepest of savasanas and with every part of my boasting a big smile. And yes, I feel a bit more gracious, a little softer – that’s the ‘Mollie effect’. To be honest, I am in bliss and I do not even care about the background yelling from very keen kick boxers (which whom I had a quite embarrassing close encounter in the shower room, but that’s a different story….) in the studios next door.

 

Will I go back? No doubt, but that I knew from the start.

YoGA JaM

http://yogajam.co.uk/

This event caught our eye and the yoga fusion looks fun...

Why asana?

'May we all strive to pop the bubble' is what a student writes on this Toronto-based teacher's blog. In this extremely relevant piece about the real consequences of yoga and the myriad of bad teaching, Mathew Wremski discusses what it is we really want from our Asana practice, which I think, at times, not even the teachers themselves know.


http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/update-what-are-we-actually-doing-in-asana/

A real yogi

An emotionally charged charcoal drawing by an artist who wants to 'match her heartbeat to the universe' Is this what we all look for in a class? Is this what we really get?

The yoga of words

"The art of awareness is the art of learning how to wake up to the eternal miracle of life with its limitless possibilities."

                                                                    ~ Wilfred Peterson

A class like no other

Where: The Life Centre
When:  Tuesday evenings

As a regular urban yogini, sometimes it is really hard to find your yogi fix and you end up wandering the streets of this town looking for inspiration and a moment in savasana. More recently, I went back to my roots and a teacher I have known for some time at The Life Centre in Notting Hill. For one reason or another, getting to her class has been a feat near to impossible of late but with the new year firming my resolve, I went back.
And there are no regrets... sometimes with all this chasing our own coccyx, we don't realise what is under our noses the whole time. I went to class one version of a fried Isabell and came out a slightly different version of a much less fried Isabell and what happened in between was a mixture of softness, encouragement, life and creative movement that lifted my being.
It occurred to me during class that there are not many teachers able to define yoga by not uttering a word about it, by not preaching to the clearly converted, by just being present. There are not many who, with the grace of their own bodies and the stillness of their mind, can incite the same in a whole group of others and there are not many, who can leave me at some great distance from the cynicism that I so often feel in these situations. Her voice, her insights and her practice leaves me almost shouting Namaste from the rooftops (except that I can't even get to one in the pricey Notting Hill area) and my faith in London yoga is restored. For now...

Anna gets hot, Part I

 

Where: Pop up Hotpod Yoga in W9

When: h 14 - 15, 14 Dec 13

How: Booked on line, have received, receipt, relevant instructions (towel, water, recommended to get onsite 15m before), and friendly reminder the day before

 

Having practised hot yoga before I was not at all worried by the prospect of yoga at 37 degrees.

I took me a while to find the place, though. I was looking for a studio, instead a few lads from a nearby pub told me that the class was probably at the Paddington Arts Centre, a pretty decadent building, no info of any sorts, none at the reception.

As I go up the stairs, I meet Nick Higgins, one of the two founders of hot pod yoga. He is very friendly and welcomes me with smiley eyes to this inflatable pop up hot yoga pod, asking if I am familiar with yoga at all. He seems so young - def in his 20ies.  I have practiced some - I say. You will be fine, he mentions, my classes are flow  - just slow down if the heat bugs you.

I enter a parquet floored room where there this this massive inflatable tent (so it seems). Nick tells me it takes him 10 minutes to get it set up and roughly the same to get the pod to 37 degrees.

I chat in the kind of changing room with two girls, Americans, telling me that the class I am going to have is going to be awesome, so much fun. Ok then, I am ready.

There are 18 mats laid in this dark violet pod, no props, lights are down, nice and cosy atmosphere - if only I did not have the fan heater next to my mat.

The class comprises 50m of flow and 10 min of savasana. The sequence being quite balanced in fact, open level with good variety and a few challenges. My class mates are all girls expect a guy, the majority in their twenties. Americans and French dominate. How do I know? Well, it seems they had to talk during the entire class...not cool. Nick managed the class well, but it felt a little shallow to me. No philosophy, little more than a hot aerobics class I am afraid. But my class mates seemed to have loved it. I asked a few after call if this is what they expect from yoga. I got a unison yes - they like it hot, and they prefer this to Bikram as more personal. Indeed, Nick provided individual attention, he told me he changes his sequences - and he genuinely seemed a nice guy, happy to be there and teach.

He trained at Yoga Haven and set up this company with a friend of his, newer to yoga. They started this pop up last Jan, but they are getting a 'permanent' hot pod place in Portobello and another one in Hackney from Jan 14. Maybe more. They also have a number of corporate and school clients - where they hold classes regularly, every time bringing all the equipment, pod, mats, heating system, music etc. Nick and Max (Henderson, his business partner) are serious about hot yoga. They have created the designs of various pods – in essence pop-up, heated studios - and they have even got a patent pending on the concept.

Prices vary from 10 pounds (the 1h class I attended) to 35 per class (their boutique classes), and there are of course various carnet on offer.

They managed to transform a good idea into a promising business which is taking off: pop up and not, corporate clients. franchising: hats off.  
Having sad that, I wished the class was a little deeper.

From their website (www.hotpodyoga.com):

'We make hot yoga accessible – that’s the real raison d’etre of the business. Accessible to all types and accessible at any location. We passionately believe in the good that hot yoga can do, and want to get as many people involved as we can. We want to get it into offices, into halls, into gyms and into schools. Everywhere! We also want to give the entrepreneurial yogis amongst us the chance to have their own hot yoga business in a really accessible way – through our franchising operation'. 

Better late than never, Anna goes Jiva

 

 

Where: JIvamukti Yoga London in W10

When: h 9 - 10.30, 19 Jan 14

How: Registered as new student 10m before class (1 page questionnaire), GBP 16 for 90m class but they also have carnet available.

 

I have been practising with Jivamukti certified teachers for some time know, but I admit this was my first ‘official’ Jivamukti class. Fighting the temptation to stay on bed on a rainy Sunday morning, I let Otto (my vespone) lead me to Jivamukti Yoga London in W10. The studio is in a modern block, on the first floor, within a typical corporate / office space setting. However, as you step in, you find yourself in a welcoming and friendly environment: spacious but not huge, well designed but not over the top. As soon as I declared my status of a newcomer, the receptionist quickly handed me over a questionnaire asking just to put name and contact number - I would complete the form after class. They offer open level classes (90m), spiritual warrior classes (60m, ‘condensed’ sessions for busy people) and basic classes for beginners, as well as periodic seminars from resident teachers or guest teachers within the Jivamukti lineage.

The Sunday morning the 90m open level class is held by Adrian Squirrel in the main studio. The class was full, about 25 people, but I easily accommodated some place to lay my mat. All the students were awaiting into some form of savasana, enjoying the ambient music playing in the background.

From the beginning, starting in Balasana, the class flew at a steady pace: the sequence was well thought, accessible to all - still challenging. After class, I have asked the teacher if there is a recommended sequence and whether he follows some kind of a script. ‘I like to change it every time’, Adrian says. While today the class did not cover much in terms of philosophy, it was indeed very well constructed: from warm up to a strong vinyasa section, to then slowing down and emphasis on grounding. I would have loved even a few minutes in pure stillness though. However, during the week, Adrian offers 15m meditation classes after a 60m asana session.

Overall it was a solid, well run class. There was also a good level of individual attention, especially given this was a busy class: and I loved yogi perks such as china gel on lower back and shoulders at the start of the class, a couple of hands on adjustments and a great massage in savasana. I infer Adrian must have remarkable taste in music, based on the selection he played - although in my practice I would tend to opt for predominantly instrumental music. I am notoriously a music geek and I found myself focussing on the lyrics rather than on my breath at least a couple of times. Still, is that really more vritti (bad, bad…) or does that lead you into some form of absorption into a point, anyway?

At the end of the class, I tried to introduce myself to Adrian and have a quick chat - as I actually had a question on a specific pose. He was friendly but given the queue of students willing to talk to him we had to quickly wrap up. Besides, I noticed many students were chatting to each other, leading me to think that this is more than an established studio - it is a small yoga community.

This is good news: while a big brand and a successful commercial operation, Jivamukti Yoga London to date seems to maintain its authenticity and its strong connection to the yoga tradition, filtered through the lenses of Sharon Gannon and David Life. I will go back to check out whether my first impression is right and hope not to be disappointed.

 

http://www.jivamuktiyogalondon.co.uk

Detox season trappings

http://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2014/jan/13/demystifying-detox-can-yoga-really-cleanse-the-liver

This article is useful when it comes to bringing awareness to the all important bodily organs that are responsible for detoxifying the body. Unfortunately, for various reasons, yoga has been closely aligned with the fictional idea of detoxing the body and mind. However, anyone with just a little medical facts under their yoga belt, will know that twisting postures and other challenging asanas, although brilliant for various muscular/ spinal releases, are not directly able to have an impact on the workings of the liver or otherwise. Beware of teachers who lay claim to these, as it is simply not possible to massage any organ through a posture. A little science goes a long way in understanding what is best for our bodies and what all these ancient practices are really about.

New Year, new Yoga

The new year more often than not has us thinking about our pending achievements and hobbies and as yoga classes around London cram to full at this time of year, I am often impressed with the sheer resolve that we have. People are generally intent to let yoga into their lives to sort out the niggles and the querks but what is even harder than the backbends and inversions they can face in the hour and a half of asana, is finding the right teacher for them. In the city, there are swarms of them all persuasive enough to get you onto your shiny new mat. Read the following link if you want to get it right this year...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-brown/yoga-teacher_b_2404749.html

URBANANDA

Urbananda Yoga is a community project launched in January 2013 as a no-profit studio which utilises vacant spaces in London, bringing them to life with yoga.

They are currently located in Kensal Rise (NW10) and the centre is donation based only. At the beginning of class, as you sign you in, you can give any donation you wish to make. The funds raised support the provision of yoga therapy for adults and children with special needs (Special Yoga).

All yoga teachers are volunteers and passionately teach with the objective to make yoga more accessible in the community, as well as support the selected charities and causes. They schedule include quite a comprehensive offering in terms of styles and levels and they seem to be in expansion.

There is such a good vibe in this place. It is very spacious and well organised. As I check in for my first time, a lovely girl at the reception welcomes me and guides me through the basics. My class today is held in the main of three studios, a wonderful room with wooden floors and high ceilings and plenty of mats and props.

As I make my way in, James Giuseppe, the teacher, smiles and introduces himself. After a few years living abroad, he recently came back to the UK and got involved with this project. I ask him about his background: Iyengar, Sivananda, Vinyasa, Astanga. 'But you should know what I think about the physical practice', he says. 'This is only a mean to aptly prepare for meditation'. I am so pleased to hear it that I cannot resist but comment 'Well, guess we come from the same school'. 

The class is 1h 45m long and is a solid, well rounded and heartfelt practice which encompasses meditation, asana and relaxation. He is a very experienced teacher, and this becomes evident from the very beginning of the class. His sequence is well designed and balanced, his instructions are very precise, his cues extremely accurate, his philosophy and anatomy references clear and accessible. There is only 7 of us, a mix of regulars and newcomers, and James treat all of us equally, proposing variations and providing adjustments to all - and yes, he remembers all of our names!

This is not fast food yoga, this is not a fashionably labelled session: this is just a great yoga class for everyone.

I am glad I have found Urbanananda: unpretentious, genuine, authentic: this is a great home to practice yoga and the kind of place I would love to go back to. I only wonder whether there are more places like  Urbananda and why it took me so long to get there. 

Anna on guard

Where: Angel Fitness First (Other studios Sweaty Beatty, H2, Crouch End) www.boxingyoga.com
When: Wed 18 dec, 20h-21h

The boxing club in Crouch End is apparently the place where it all started: Matt Garcia, a senior coach, started wondering why yoga was so unpopular with boxers. Determined to change this, he created the very first boxing yoga series, utilising his boxing knowledge in combination with professional dancer (and daughter of an Astanga’s teacher) Kajza's yoga experience, to develop a yoga work-out that specifically addressess the needs of boxers.

I am lucky enough to get a very special treat. 'Everyone seems to be already on holiday', Kikki, my teacher says. She is lovely, very friendly. I ask her about her background: 'Martial arts', she answers, but she has practised Astanga and hot yoga too. She completed her boxing yoga TT last October and is one of only five qualified teachers. 'But they are planning to do more TT to get more teachers on the ground, we have so many requests for classes'. I am told boxing yoga classes are equally popular across gender and that at last 'guys have a class that is strong enough for them, to make it accessible to men'. We agree that yoga can be very physically challenging nevertheless, and that there is more to it than fitness. With such a premise I got a bit intimidated, especially given I was the only student so there was nowhere to hide...still, we get going.
The series comprises a number of set modules and lasts 60m. I am told there is an advanced series too, but not currently taught yet. Postures are repeated twice, echoing Bikram's approach, and no props are used.
We start standing. No sanskrit, no breath calls. It gets better: in boxing yoga, clenched fists in guard is the new Anjali mudra. the class kind of flows in an unusual way, and admittedly, a couple of modules are very gracious: from standing to floor to standing to floor to balancing on one leg to floor again. It is actually seriously hard, full on core stuff (an insane number of plank and side plank in a number of variations), heavy on twists, good hip and spine alignment, no jumping, no inversions other than downward dog. I have had a lot of attention from my teacher, which probably resulted in quite an intense class. I am sure she is following the script, but hers seems just a series of instructions. And I appreciated her focus and effort but her spotting is quite destabilising. Anyway, the class is very dense, probably as there is no proper winding down here...to give you an idea, the last posture is warrior 3, practiced twice. Before a 60 second savana I only get a very short finishing sequence comprising hamstring strech followed by spinal twist and hip strech. 'It is so nice to teach to someone who practices yoga and have such a lovely downward dog', lovely Kikki comments at the end. 'And you are quite strong, too'. Good to know.