Search Results for: meditation

6 week hybrid Meditation Course in Berlin

Meditation course in Berlin

We all need to find ways to touch base with our Self regularly. In this six week course we will look at different aspects of meditation and learn how to create our own practice.

How does the Berlin Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday and online for the whole weekend. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Berlin Meditation Course Topics:

  • Lesson One: Realizing we are Lost in Thought -Finding Our Anchor
  • Lesson Two: Detaching without Repressing
  • Lesson Three: Use the Door that is Here: Introducing RAIN
  • Lesson Four: Sticky Thoughts- what lies underneath?
  • Lesson Five: Identifying deep held beliefs and understanding their power
  • Lesson Six: What is the Here and Now.

For Whom?

This meditation course is open to everybody, from complete beginners to advanced students.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

When?

September 14th to 19th of October, 2023

Thursdays starting 8pm.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on the weekends (from Friday evening to Sunday night) The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole week.

Price

65 EUR incl. 19% VAT for the 6 classes

Where?

English Yoga Berlin Görlitzerstr. 39 – Berlin

How to Sign up?

Write an email to pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

About the Teacher:

Beginning her yoga journey in 1999, Pinelopi completed a 600 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher and Vedantic Philosophy Training course over a period of two years in Valencia, Spain.  For the last decade, she has worked as a full-time yoga teacher in Spain and in 2010 she founded English Yoga Berlin. Currently she is deepening her knowledge through Leslie Kaminoff’s Yoga Anatomy Course,  David Moore’s “Injury-free yoga” applying the Alexander Technique postural alignment to all yoga poses. She is now an Alexander Technique teacher and is studied with Jorg Asshof in Berlin.  Her workshops and retreats are inspired by Tara Brach‘s teachings.

Meditation Course: Mindful Care-giving

How can we bring mindfulness in our care-giving with children? In what ways can we help children through difficult emotions even when we are going through difficult times ourselves? How can we create more presence in such a high speed world? Let’s explore all these questions together in this six week course on Mindful Care-giving.

How does the “Mindful Care-giving” Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday at the studio and online for the whole of Saturday and Sunday. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Meditation course topics:

In this course we will explore:

  • the RAIN meditation and how to apply it to ourselves
  • share stories on how we can guide children through RAIN
  • practice bringing awareness to the beliefs that could be fueling certain reactions in us
  • learning to wonder about what the child is believing and how that is fueling their reactions
  • ways for all of us to slow down in our interactions and allow for spontaneous connection

For Whom?

This meditation course on mindful care-giving is open to everybody who has a relationship to children and teenagers. This can be parents, teachers, kindergarten teachers, grandparents, aunties, uncles and auncles, health practitioners, and grown-up friends of children and teenagers.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

When?

Every Thursday 8pm starting on January 12th to February 16th, 2023.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on Saturdays and Sundays. The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole course.

Price

55 euro for the 6 classes

Where?

English Yoga Berlin Görlitzerstr. 39 – Berlin

How to Sign up?

Write an email to pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

Meditation course: Mindful care-giving

How can we bring mindfulness in our care-giving with children? In what ways can we help children through difficult emotions even when we are going through difficult times ourselves? How can we create more presence in such a high speed world? Let’s explore all these questions together in this six week course on Mindful Care-giving.

How does the “Mindful Care-giving” Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday at the studio and online for the whole of Saturday and Sunday. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Meditation course topics:

In this course we will explore:

  • the RAIN meditation and how to apply it to ourselves
  • share stories on how we can guide children through RAIN
  • practice bringing awareness to the beliefs that could be fueling certain reactions in us
  • learning to wonder about what the child is believing and how that is fueling their reactions
  • ways for all of us to slow down in our interactions and allow for spontaneous connection

For Whom?

This meditation course on mindful care-giving is open to everybody who has a relationship to children and teenagers. This can be parents, teachers, kindergarten teachers, grandparents, aunties, uncles and auncles, health practitioners, and grown-up friends of children and teenagers.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

When?

Every Thursday 8pm starting on January 12th to February 16th, 2023.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on Saturdays and Sundays. The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole course.

Price

55 euro for the 6 classes

To book the whole course or a class, please click here.

Meditation course: the negativity bias

Meditation Course: Exploring the negativity bias

meditation course on the negativity bias

We all have an active negativity bias inside of us. In this six week course we will look at several aspects of meditation that can help make this bias lighter.

 

How does “Exploring the Negativity Bias” Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday and online for the whole of Saturday. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Berlin Meditation Negativity Bias Course Topics:

We will explore how the negativity bias came to be and how strong it is within us, using the following meditation practices:

  • gratitude
  • inner love strengthening
  • loving kindness
  • savoring
  • community building

We will also explore misunderstandings that can be tightly winded with these practices in order to decouple gratitude from guilt and understand the difference between forced toxic positivity versus a healthy positive outlook.

For Whom?

This meditation course on exploring the negativity bias is open to everybody, from complete beginners to advanced students.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

When?

Every Thursday 8pm starting on November 9th to December 14th, 2023.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on Saturdays and Sundays. The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole week.

Price

65 euro for the 6 classes – VAT included

Where?

English Yoga Berlin Görlitzerstr. 39 – Berlin

How to Sign up?

Write an email to pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

Meditation Course: Exploring the negativity bias

meditation course on the negativity bias

We all have an active negativity bias inside of us. In this six week course we will look at several aspects of meditation that can help make this bias lighter.

How does “Exploring the Negativity Bias” Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday at the studio and online for the whole of Saturday and Sunday. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Berlin Meditation Negativity Bias Course Topics:

We will explore how the negativity bias came to be and how strong it is within us, using the following meditation practices:

  • gratitude
  • inner love strengthening
  • loving kindness
  • savoring
  • community building

We will also explore misunderstandings that can be tightly winded with these practices in order to decouple gratitude from guilt and understand the difference between forced toxic positivity versus a healthy positive outlook.

For Whom?

This meditation course on exploring the negativity bias is open to everybody, from complete beginners to advanced students.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

When?

The next course will be from 9th of November till 14th of December, 2023. Please write an email to express your interest or book the course directly through momoyoga.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on Saturdays and Sundays. The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole course.

Price

65 EUR incl. 19% VAT for the 6 classes

Where?

English Yoga Berlin Görlitzerstr. 39 – Berlin

How to Sign up?

Write an email to pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

About the Teacher:

Pinelopi teaches workshops on "How to Set up an Ergonomic Home Office" to businesses and the general public.

Beginning her yoga journey in 1999, Pinelopi completed a 600 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher and Vedantic Philosophy Training course over a period of two years in Valencia, Spain.  For the last decade, she has worked as a full-time yoga teacher in Spain and in 2010 she founded English Yoga Berlin. She studied Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff, and “Injury-free yoga” applying the Alexander Technique postural alignment to all yoga poses with  David Moore.  She has now completed a three year training with Jorg Asshof and is an Alexander Technique teacher.  Her workshops and retreats are inspired by Tara Brach‘s teachings.

Meditation Course Berlin

meditation course berlin

We all need to find ways to touch base with our Self regularly. In this six week course we will look at different aspects of meditation and learn how to create our own practice.

How does the Berlin Meditation Course work?

Each class will consist of:

  • an introduction explaining the aspect of the meditation we will look at that day
  • short stretching session to move the body before we sit in stillness
  • 20 minute guided meditation on the topic
  • space for questions and comments (optional)
  • this class is both live on a Thursday and online for the whole of Saturday. The 20 minute meditation remains online till the following Saturday so that you can practice it daily throughout that week.

Berlin Meditation Course Topics:

  • Lesson One: Realizing we are Lost in Thought
  • Lesson Two: Detaching without Repressing
  • Lesson Three: Use the Door that is Here: Introducing RAIN
  • Lesson Four: Sticky Thoughts- what lies underneath?
  • Lesson Five: Identifying deep held beliefs and understanding their power
  • Lesson Six: What is the Here and Now.

For Whom?

This meditation course is open to everybody, from complete beginners to advanced students.

What to bring?

Mats, blankets and chairs are provided at the studio. If you use a meditation cushion or bench when you meditate, then please bring that with you.

Sitting in stillness can be taxing on the body. Check out our “Designing your own meditation posture” workshop where we spend two hours explaining what small tweaks you can make to your posture so that the posture fits your specific needs.

When?

Every Thursday 8pm starting on September 14th to October 20th, 2023.

Duration: 45 – 60 minutes.

The recorded version of this class will get streamed on Saturdays. The 20 minute meditation will stay available online for the whole week.

Price

65 euro for the 6 classes, VAT included

Although, it is preferable to book the whole course so that you can build your practice block by block, you can also book a single class here.

Where?

English Yoga Berlin Görlitzerstr. 39 – Berlin

How to Sign up?

Write an email to pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

Finding your meditation posture workshop

How to find a meditation posture with less tension through the help of the Alexander Technique

Is your back in pain when you meditate? Do your legs go numb within the first minutes or get ankle pain? Do your shoulders tense up and affect the back of your neck? Have you had a meditation teacher tell you to simply sit through the discomfort without giving you individual support for your posture?

All these things are habitual when sitting in meditation, but are they actually necessary? Freeing the mind of thoughts is difficult enough, so why not spending some time understanding how to make the posture more suitable to your individual needs?

We all have different types of flexibility, postural habits and body structures. Suggesting a one-solution fits all is not helpful in the long run. This is why we thought of creating a workshop where we can give both general and personalized tips on how to make the posture work for your specific body by applying Alexander Technique principles to your meditation posture.

To find out more please click here: https://www.englishyogaberlin.com/meditation-posture-with-alexander-technique

Or book your space directly here: https://www.picktime.com/englishyogaberlinhatha

Design the meditation Posture that fits your specific body

How to find a meditation posture with less tension through the help of the Alexander Technique

Is your back in pain when you meditate? Do your legs go numb within the first minutes or get ankle pain? Do your shoulders tense up and affect the back of your neck? Have you had a meditation teacher tell you to simply sit through the discomfort without giving you individual support for your posture?

All these things are habitual when sitting in meditation, but are they actually necessary? Freeing the mind of thoughts is difficult enough, so why not spending some time understanding how to make the posture more suitable to your individual needs?

We all have different types of flexibility, postural habits and body structures. Suggesting a one-solution fits all is not helpful in the long run. This is why we created a workshop to give both general and personalized tips on how to make the posture work for your specific body by applying Alexander Technique principles to your meditation posture.

This workshop includes:

  • Looking at the postural habits that bring about pain.
  • Understanding how to engage the feet while meditating.
  • Finding your personal meditation posture in sitting and in walking with the help of an experienced Alexander Technique teacher plus an experienced yoga teacher
  • 20 minute meditation session where you can try-out your new found knowledge

When?

Sunday October 16th, 2022 – 11.00 -13.00

For whom?

This is for anyone who would like to reach a position more at ease while meditating. You do not have to be an experienced meditator to join… to be curious is enough!

Maximum 12 participants

Where?

English Yoga Berlin – Görlitzerstr. 39. 10967 Berlin

Price: 45 Euro

Early registration discount: 10 € discount if you register before September 20th, 2022. The workshop is refundable unless cancellation occurs later that October 4th, 2022, after which 50% refund. After October 4th, 2022, no more refunds are possible. Please register before the spots fill up!

What to bring:

Materials will be provided at the studio. However, you are also welcomed to bring your own cushion or meditation bench.

How to sign up:

Please write an email to:

pinelopi (at) englishyogaberlin (dot) com

or

book directly your place here.

About the Teachers:

Joerg Aßhoff –  is an experienced Alexander Technique Teacher with a 30 year working experience. He is now the director of the Alexander-Technik-Schule in Berlin, teaching the next generation of Alexander Technique teachers. His expertise includes teaching at the University of Performing Arts, Community schools, and speech therapy schools. He practices Zen meditation since 1990 and studied with a Japanese Zen master for a long period of time.

Pinelopi Sioni is in her third year of the Alexander Technique teacher training course, studying with Jörg Aßhoff in Berlin. She completed a 600 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher and Vedantic Philosophy Training course over a period of two years in Valencia, Spain. For over a decade, she has worked as a full-time yoga teacher in Spain and in 2010 she founded English Yoga Berlin. She then studied Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff;“Injury-free yoga” applying the Alexander Technique postural alignment to all yoga poses with David Moore. Her workshops and retreats are inspired by Tara Brach‘s teachings.

RAIN Meditation on TV Addiction – Part 2

A personal story – The RAIN meditation on wanting

In Part 1 of this blog I introduced Tara Brach’s RAIN meditation and how it can be used on the deep rooted feeling of wanting and addiction. As I started to deepen my thoughts around the subject, I realized that I have never once simply sat with the feeling of wanting TV. I always either react quickly by giving in to the feeling (turning on Netflix) or by coming down very harshly on myself for wanting this (not allowing the feeling to be here and pushing it out with harsh words). Therefore, I took the decision to practice RAIN the next time the feeling arises!

Resistance to bringing the RAIN meditation on wanting

The first thing I noticed when the feeling next arose was that I definitely did not want to practice the RAIN meditation on wanting! The feeling itself was strong and pulling towards action and was refusing to be the object of quiet observation. I had to make a deal with myself in order to practice. Much like I talk to my daughter, my mother voice came in my thoughts and said to the feeling, “Hey, listen I am not saying no to watching TV. I am saying we will observe the feeling for a while, practice RAIN and then if we still want to, we will watch TV. We will just have done it consciously. That’s all.” Just like a small child, the feeling answered, “Do you promise?!! This is not some trick to take me away from the well deserved rest we need?”. The more conscious part of me was able to respond quietly, “Yes, I promise. I am happy to watch TV if we have made a conscious kind decision about it.” Reluctantly, the feeling agreed to being observed.

Recognize is the R in RAIN

I started by giving a name to this feeling. I called it “wanting”. The first step is to name it. As you name it, you also shape it. It becomes an entity that has a bit more well-defined boundaries. This helps take it out from a nebulous kind of feeling that oozes everywhere in my subconscious to something more concrete that I can open myself up to.

Allow is the A in RAIN

The second step was to allow it to be here exactly as it is. This was incredibly difficult. Realizing how much resistance I carry towards this feeling was mind blowing. It was eye opening to realize that I never even considered allowing to be an option before now. As I formulated the words in my mind “I allow the Wanting to be here” , things started to move in my body and I was able to see the true power this feeling holds over me.

Investigate is the I in RAIN

The third step of RAIN is Investigate. Where is this feeling in the body and how does it manifest? The trick here is to stay focused on the body, not on the mind and its millions of thoughts and analyses. As I came to this step, the first thing I realized is that this feeling is very alive in my body. It is mostly in my chest and it is very strong. It has a one-pointed quality to it that is intensely forward looking. I stayed for two minutes in this step simply naming the experience: chest clenched; pointy – pushing outward; rush; pinch in the back of my neck; eyebrow center scrunched; belly empty; chest clenched; strong flow of direction forward; pulling; skin prickly; chest clenched.

It has a one-pointed quality to it that is intensely forward looking…

Photo by Fabio Ballasina on Unsplash

Nurture is the N in RAIN

As I came to the N of RAIN, I was called to nurture the feeling. There was, by now, no doubt in my mind that this feeling was much stronger than I ever gave it credit for. I started by asking the feeling of wanting, what do you need? The answer was immediate, “I am tired! So so tired! I just want to relax and disconnect. I am running all day long juggling five different roles and I am truly tired. Let me disconnect”.

So I placed my hand on my heart and with compassion responded with what the feeling needed. “I see how tired you are”, I told myself with love. “I am here for you. In this moment here we are disconnecting from the running machine of life. In this moment now we are disconnecting and re-connecting. I see you and I am here for you. I see you and I am here for you.” I kept on telling myself these words on repeat. As I did this, my compassion for myself started to grow. As it grew, everything in me started to soften. Everything started to feel less immediate, less pointy, less intense.

After The RAIN meditation

Tara Brach often gives the example of the ocean and the wave as a practice one can do after the practice of RAIN. This image has become one of the strongest guides in my life in the past years. Think of this feeling you are now experiencing as one wave in an ocean. The wave belongs to the ocean just as this feeling belongs to you. But the whole ocean can not possibly enter in a single wave. You are the ocean, not the wave. When I can finally connect to my “Oceanness” is when I enter the sweetest meditation space I know. There is no denying that this wanting feeling is very strong. It is a big wave. Nonetheless, I have been reducing my whole Self to a wave whenever I experience it, thinking it defines me. I am much more than that, I am the whole Ocean itself. I stayed meditating on the sweetness of my “Oceanness” for a while and it was touching.

Funnily enough, when I came out of the meditation, I was inspired to jot down ideas for this blog, looked up articles on the addictive power of TV to reference, listened to music and……I sincerely forgot to watch TV! I simply forgot. Later my partner came in the living room and we had a sweet moment of connection that I would have missed out on had I not paused to do RAIN and had I been immersed in the TV world.

RAIN meditation on wanting was definitely an exploration worth doing!

About the author:

Pinelopi specializes in Hatha Yoga. Her yoga Kreuzberg Berlin classes are open for and welcoming to beginners. She offers Berlin business yogaprivate yoga classes for people struggling with chronic pain, yoga courses, retreats and workshops.  She is currently deepening her knowledge through Leslie  Kaminoff’s Yoga Anatomy course and training to become an Alexander Technique teacher.

RAIN Meditation on TV addiction – Part 1

A personal story on wanting – meditation on addiction

Four years ago I discovered Tara Brach’s RAIN meditation. It is not an exaggeration to say that it changed my life. Since then, I have read all of her books; have listened to hundreds of her podcasts; practiced daily; presented the meditation to my yoga students in Berlin and applied it to better understanding my daughter’s emotional world.

RAIN is a meditation that guides you through an emotion rather than around an emotion. RAIN is an acronym and each letter stands for a step to follow as you meditate:

  • R is for Recognize what you are feeling.
  • A is for Allow the feeling to be here as it is.
  • I is for Investigate where the feeling is in your body (this is not a mental investigation as to why this feeling is here).
  • N is for Nurture the hurting place.

If you want to get to know this meditation I highly recommend that you check out Tara Brach’s RAIN resource page.

What are my addictions?

When I was reading Tara’s Radical Acceptance I stumbled upon a chapter called “RAIN on Wanting”. This chapter was dedicated to how to use RAIN meditation on addiction and addictive behaviors. It got me thinking about if I have any addictive behaviors myself. The only thing I came up with that may be problematic was that I go through periods of time where I get totally wrapped in watching a series on Netflix. This is not constant and I still go to work and parent lovingly so I have never considered it to be an addiction. On the other hand, when I go through this it sometimes feel like I can not break the spell.

Can series watching be an addiction? How to bring meditation on addiction.

… when I go through this it sometimes feels like I can not break the spell.

Can series watching be an addiction?

Is this really a problem? Could it be an addiction? I sway between two poles when I think of this. On the one hand, I believe in the power of stories. It can be an art form of both entertainment but also (when watching something of quality) self discovery and empathy. Being put into another person’s shoes, living through the lens of their eyes, and opening yourself to other point of views carries beautiful transformative power. On the other hand, series watching also has an addictive sort of power to it. I feel that there are so many other things I could do in the evenings. Things that I equally love, such as listening to or playing music, drawing, singing or talking to a friend on the phone. Unfortunately, I often feel too tired to do any of these at the end of the day and turn to TV as a passive form of entertainment ending up to be my default choice.

Have you ever meditated on the feeling of wanting?

One thing that I realized as I pondered on these thoughts, was that I never ever have simply sat with the feeling of “wanting tv”. When this feeling of wanting arises there are two possible extremes that I react with. I either give in to it (turn on Netflix) or I come down very strongly on myself for having it (no! You have to work in the morning! And one episode will lead to another! And no, this is just not an option right now so stop feeling it!). Both the meditation world, as much as the psychological world, say that sitting with a feeling is important. This is something that I definitely practice a lot with other feelings in my life through RAIN and other techniques. So it was a big surprise for me to realize that there is one feeling – the feeling of wanting TV- that I have not sat with. I always react swiftly to it and never allow it to be. I either immediately act on it or push it away. What would bringing the RAIN meditation on addiction be like?

So I thought that next time the feeling arises I will pause and practice RAIN on wanting. I was curious to see if this would be helpful or give me new insights on the way I approach the subject. On Part 2 of this blog I will outline what happened during the meditation session. But till then, maybe some readers want to try out RAIN on Wanting on their own?

I am very interested to hear your experience.

About the author:

Pinelopi specializes in Hatha Yoga. Her yoga Kreuzberg Berlin classes are open for and welcoming to beginners. She offers Berlin business yogaprivate yoga classes for people struggling with chronic pain, yoga courses, retreats and workshops.  She is currently deepening her knowledge through Leslie  Kaminoff’s Yoga Anatomy course and training to become an Alexander Technique teacher.