a little bit of heaven in the west

Where: The Life Centre
When: every damn Saturday!
Time: 5-6:30

I have started to look at the class I regularly drop into on a Saturday as a little bit of medicine, not least because it ends unlike most classes with a simple observation meditation, which never fails to take me to a peaceful stupor, one I have been in need of for quite some time.
The class starts with somewhat more of a bang, focusing on a semi-dynamic practice which suits the vata type, as it slows down the breath and the asana simultaneously and all postures are driven by a need to ground in the present moment. The teacher sets the tone with an angelic tone of voice and a soft and rhythmic pace, allowing to find space on the mat and allowing for breath to smoothen and mind to still. It seems like all the postures lead to one thing here: stillness. Ironically, I don't feel this about most classes but maybe this is down to the psychological factor and the knowledge that there is a big, vacuous, stretch of time at the end where I can just be.  And I need to be here, now because the outside Saturday mayhem of Notting Hill needs a rest and I hope to infuse shoppers and urbanites all around me as soon as I leave!

I wholeheartedly recommend this for stress management and this class is really the hidden key to dampening anxiety, ridding the body and mind of phobias and gaining much-needed balance.

Kumare- an exercise in truth finding

This film trailer could open all our yogi obsessed eyes and minds to the idea that what we are all following is just within us but we cheat ourselves with the need to look externally.
I am boycotting the guru from now on.

Anna joins the Fierce Grace

 

When: Fri 31 Jan 14, h 19 - 20.30

Where: Fierce Grace North, NW5

How much: Drop in 16 GBP

 

The Fierce Grace North studio is not that easy to find, hidden on the second floor of a shabby building, above a Pound Store and a deli in NW5. Frankly, though, the darkness and the pouring rain do not help my cause. Anyway, I made it: this evening Michele Pernetta - Fierce yoga’s founder - is teaching and I look forward to the class. 

Fierce Grace ( integration of male and female forces giving rise to vibrant health, emotional balance, and mental clarity) is a new yoga system, based on classical Hatha yoga, Bikram, Ashtanga and Power Yoga. Michele, I learn from their website, is the one who brought Bikram Yoga to London in 1994. After about 20 years she has recently decided to spin off and create a new brand, her own, for the 4 studios she manages in London. Their offering is more varied than Bikram and includes five types of classes - Core, Classic, Fierce Grace, Fierce (aka The Beast) and The Fix - designed to give students different options to suit their experience, schedule and mood, but based on the same core poses and principles (and yes, in a hot room). 

As I get to the reception area, I instantly know I am in the right place: friendly faces, nice vibe, tons of mats, towels and water. My class (90m) is described as the 49 steps to peak fitness and health. A challenging but user-friendly general level class, with hip openers, upper body strength, bum toners and core stability for a fully rounded workout. The room, a bit scruffy, is full, about three dozen of people, most over 35 years old I’d say - and quite surprisingly no less than 40% are men! And they all seem regular. I am not a big fan of hot yoga, but I confess it is so cold and wet outside that I do not mind at all the 38 degrees of the hot studio (if only there was not carpet on the floor, Om om om). The class flows slowly, it is indeed quite balanced and approachable by all levels. Michele guides from pose to pose with grace and authority but I wish I could get more alignment cues and breath calls. And I wait and wait for any hint at yoga philosophy, but in vain. As the class ends, Michele invites everyone to extend the savasana or meditate after class for as long as we want.  Briefly after, in the changing rooms, Michele and I are queuing to get a shower - so I chat her up and ask her why she departed from Bikram. ’20 years are long, and I felt I wanted to do something more complete. Bikram does not let you do anything else but his sequences. There is an advanced, and also an intermediate series but we cannot teach it. And if you do not like his way of doing things, then it is divorce’. Michele is not only friendly, she has the ‘yogi aura’ (if this makes any sense to you...). Both her and the senior teachers at Fierce Grace can design their own classes, while junior teachers follow set sequences, that are anyway revised from time to time. And sometimes they play music too. It all seems very nice but I am not entirely satisfied, as if something is missing….Is this one of those cases when the idea is better than the real thing? Hats off anyway, they are definitely great in P.R. - I like their ironic website, their manifesto and their video is hilarious (http://www.fiercegrace.com/our-story) - a good lesson for those who are taking yoga too seriously.

are we barking up the wrong tree of intentions?

An aim that guides an action is an intention. To do something intentionally is to act on purpose. To act on purpose means that you act consciously. To pay attention is to act consciously, to act deliberately—to aim towards a goal. It is said that those who believe in coincidence aren’t paying attention. Practicing yoga with a high intention is very important because what determines the outcome of any action is the underlying intention. Practicing asana with an elevated intention could make the difference between achieving mere gymnastic strength and flexibility or enlightenment.

 

I was just reading an online article about the growing popularity of yoga in America. It stated that 22 million people are practicing yoga! The top six reasons why people practice yoga according to the statistics are: to gain flexibility, to lose weight, to increase muscle tone, to relieve back pain, to look younger and to reduce stress. In all the millions of statistics gathered, no spiritual intention seems to have emerged.  People weren’t citing as their reason to practice yoga the goal to become enlightened or to get closer to God or to better contribute to the happiness and freedom of others.

 

http://www.jivamuktiyogalondon.co.uk/focus-of-the-month/

Write up: Anna gets (Anti)Social

 

Social Yoga

When: Tue 4 Feb, h 19.30-21

Where: The Albany Club, NW1

How much: 10 £

 

The more I study and practice yoga, the more of “a private affair” it becomes. I wonder if this happens to others and whether I should do something about it….Then one day I read on one of weekly London mangazines about Creative Yoga London (http://www.creativeyogalondon.co.uk/) and Richard Brook. Richard describes himself as “a true Holistic Health expert and also designs bespoke wellness programmes which also incorporate acupuncture, meditation, yoga and movement practices”. Social Yoga and Singles Yoga are two of his initiatives which are stitting up quite a lot of interest in London. How come? “People are obviously interested in finding more conscious ways to connect with others – even if it challenges some of their preconceived ideas. And i mean this in respect of people at both ends of the spectrum of the demographics who attend my class’. His idea behind this is that after class one feels positive and refreshed and integrated in body, mind and spirit – hence more receptive and more prone to connect with people.

 

The thought of Social Yoga does not exactly thrill me, but that of Singles Yoga totally terrifies me. So, I opted to experiment the former, I am too faint hearted for the latter. And I would have kept on finding excuses not to go, unless I had persuaded my friend Luca to come along. I am a woman of honour, no chickening out.

The classes are held in a gym, located in a former church a short walk from Great Portland Street tube station. Tonight tube strikes will commence, so there are only 14 people attending – I am told the typical audience is more than double this number. Even split between men and women, from early thirties to late forties, I would say.

Richard tries to offset the pumping techno in the background with some brit pop and starts the class with some ice-breaking coordination exercises. We are all running in a big circle, three balls floating around, depending on the ball you get, you need to say out loud either a type of food you like, or something you want to achieve in 2014, or a place you want to travel to. Where am I? After 5m of this, we all sit down in a circle for introduction time. What follows next is an accessible variation of a chakra meditation, some basic yoga sequences including a few partner yoga exercises, two rounds of kapalabhati and yoga nidra. By then the rest of the gym is empty so no background music – and within minutes a few people get pretty relaxed, I mean, snoring kind of relaxed….whatever works.

What usually follows, I am told, is a drink at the pub next door but this evening everybody is rushing due to the tube strike.

 

What can I say…this is not for me and it has not made me any more social. But people seemed to enjoy it, the atmosphere was indeed very friendly, and the intention is good…so who am I to judge it? 

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...