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The Benefits of Small Yoga Classes

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Making yoga in Berlin more accesible

Small yoga classes in Berlin

Practicing yoga is a personal experience. We go deeper into ourselves to become more aware of how our bodies move, what our thoughts are, how we feel and what we need in the present moment.

Distractions while practicing yoga can pull us out of the moment, create negative thoughts or feelings, or cause us to injure ourselves. And while a meditation or yoga practice teaches us to become better at being present despite distractions, this may be difficult to do for beginners or experienced yogis alike.

A room packed full of people can easily create distractions. The proximity of others, their scents and sounds, or even our own minds making comparisons, can pull us out of our focus on the self. A private practice at home may seem like a solution, but listening to a teacher’s guiding voice helps to keep us present and less caught up in our own thoughts. It also helps us to relax and just follow.

In a practice room with less people, a yoga teacher is able to be aware of each student and give more attention where needed. They can see when you are doing something that could injure yourself and correct it or give individualized modifications. Often, in small studios, the teachers also get a chance to talk to students before the class to check how they’re feeling that day and if the student has injuries or issues to be aware of during certain exercises. At English Yoga Berlin, we also check in after the class to see how it went for the students, answer questions and gather any feedback for the next class.

At our yoga studio in Kreuzberg each student has about 3 meters square of space they can be in by themselves for their own practice. With this space, there’s no worry about hitting another student or falling into them if you lose balance. Yet students have commented on how intimate it feels and that there’s a sense of community at our space. With less people in the room, it’s much easier to recognize others, gain trust, and become aware of the interconnectedness between ourselves and others while sharing space as we move through our own individual yoga practices.

Often, small yoga classes are offered at higher rates than fuller classes, but at English Yoga Berlin all of our classes offered at regular rates (or sliding-scale rates for community classes) with a maximum of 10 students in the room. We offer Hatha yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Classical yoga and Restorative yoga classes in English at our collective studio in Berlin, Kreuzberg. Our teachers are injury conscious and will be happy to assist you before and throughout the class with tailored variations for your yoga poses. We believe that the increased awareness that we cultivate in our yoga classes together with the suggested variations for your unique body, make a difference both to practicing yoga in daily life and to the yoga benefits you take with you after class.

Pregnancy- A Time of Transition

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photo by Shaleah Dawnyel

photo by Shaleah Dawnyel

There is no doubt. Most people think that pregnancy is a magical moment. It’s the moment that a new human being is preparing their entry into the world. It’s a moment a new parent is getting born. It’s the moment that things get shifted in the psyche to make space for the new. Magical? That’s most probably an adequate word to describe this time. But don’t confuse “magical” as a synonym for smooth, easy, happy, light. It’s wonderful when these attributes can also describe your experience, but mostly pregnancy is a time of massive transition. And transition is usually difficult, exciting, full of challenges and uncertainty.

It’s important to acknowledge this other aspect of pregnancy too. It is not just your body that gets stretched to make room for this new human being. It is also your psyche and spirit. Space, both physical and energetic, becomes an issue in your life. Transition is often accompanied with uncertainty and worry. This is normal. This is how transition works. It’s ok to feel overwhelmed by it.

This is where prenatal yoga can help. Pregnancy yoga promotes mental and physical well being and balance which is vital during times of transition or uncertainty. Learning how to breathe during pregnancy will not only help during pregnancy but in the many moments of parenthood to come. Creating a sankalpa and returning to it again and again will help you focus in the positive change you wish for your life. Learning how to listen to your body will help you accept your body and its’ changes, and will be of great value during childbirth. Prenatal yoga visualization techniques will help bring serenity into your present life and serve as an anchor of focus during childbirth.

We will be offering a new English prenatal yoga class in Berlin starting September 2015. Pinelopi has taught Hatha Yoga in English for 8 years now and pregnancy yoga to private students at home. After having being pregnant in 2013, she is now ready to offer pregnancy yoga to a small group at our yoga studio in Kreuzberg.

What is Karma Yoga and How Can I Practice it?

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Karma is one of the most famous and, at the same time, misunderstood Sanskrit words. But its meaning is quite simple and unambiguous: Karma = To Do. All action is Karma. Of course, there is also the so-called Law of Karma, which is one of the most beautiful and universal laws, recognized both by science and metaphysics: Everything happens in pairs –cause and effect, action and reaction. And this is what people usually refer to when they use silly expressions like “Bad Karma”. Yet, in its widest sense, the word Karma means the sum aggregate of who we are; the result of all our actions, thoughts, and feelings. Swami Vivekananda compares each individual action (thoughts and feelings too) to a single blow of the sculptor on stone. Karma, in this sense, is the resulting sculpture: the sum of all the blows. Who we are.

“We are responsible for what we are; and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.”
(Swami Vivekananda)

marx engels

For the purposes of this post the word Karma takes is most basic meaning: Action. And so Karma Yoga is the yoga of action. Or the pursuit of self-knowledge by doing. And what is it that we should do? Anything that needs doing! Karma Yoga allows us to become more conscious by carrying-out our daily duties and tasks. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But it’s not that simple. Work or action doesn’t in itself lead to self-knowledge. Only work that is performed with awareness and detachment, qualifies as Karma Yoga. The work itself is not even that important; how we do it is what counts.

When we act in the attitude of Karma Yoga, we become conscious of our reactions, of the mental expressions of our work. Do we become frustrated with failure? Are we over-eager for the results? Do we manifest impatience, insecurity, carelessness? Through Karma Yoga we can access this knowledge about ourselves, while remaining centered. We don’t get swayed by what we discover, we simply experience. Through this practice we let go of expectations, mental or physical blockages and anything else that makes us dependent or repels us.

Do you want to try it? Next time you set down to do your work, remain present and aware, keep returning again and again to be fully in what you’re doing. Be conscious of all the tendencies of your mind (boredom, restlessness, etc.) and let them be — just do your work and be the witness of everything that happens around that.

Becoming a Karma Yogi doesn’t happen overnight. But if you’re sincere, and you stick to it, you will start noticing some very strong effects with only a few weeks of regular practice. Whether you do house-chores or sit at an office; whether you’re a volunteer, and intern or a high-flying executive; whether you’re happy with your work or not; Karma Yoga is a ready and useful tool to become more you than you are now.

DIY & Community Yoga

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What is DIY?

Photo by Fern

Photo by Fern

I call myself a DIY-practitioner, but the term “DIY” means different things to different people. The term is an acronym for “Do-It-Yourself” and can encompass many different tasks or fields in an approach of taking matters into one’s own hands. My dad is a DIY home repair kinda guy. This came from his rural immigrant background of a hard-working interconnected community without resources or proximity to hire professionals. If you needed your roof fixed, everyone in the community came together to help you do it and shared their skills. As an artist who grew up in a globalized metropolis, DIY means something different to me. I am influenced by self-published ‘zines, punk music and handmade films. More so than just because of economic necessity (but also that), this DIY approach is about autonomy – having my voice heard in a world that privileges the perspectives of white men and their so-called ‘universal truths.’ If I was to wait to produce films after gaining approval from the status quo, I’d be holding my breath until I die. I take matters into my own hands, and use what I have at hand, to create my own films on a significantly reduced budget, saying what I want and how I want. My films will not likely get screened at big festivals, as my production budgets are low, but getting my perspective out into the world can have an emancipatory effect on me and other people in similar situations. And like my father’s, my approach to DIY is also dependent on an interconnected community. I trade resources and skills within the various queer and film communities I am connected to, and organize screenings of others’ work as they do for mine, as well as often working collectively. I could not do what I do without a community. In this way, I think the term “DIY” is a misnomer, and others have felt this too, coming up with “DIO” (Do-It-Ourselves) and “DIT” (Do-It-Together). I stick with the term “DIY,” as it’s been with me for a long time.

Why Community Yoga in Berlin?

photo by Fern

photo by Fern

My approach to yoga feels similar to me. I began practicing yoga about 18 years ago now at bigger studios, but then eventually found that more ‘community-based’ yoga centres suited me better, like Open Door Yoga in Vancouver. I learned a lot there, and really thrived in the community feeling – cleaning and washing blankets in exchange for unlimited yoga classes. I joined the English Yoga Berlin collective in 2013. I enjoy the autonomy of running a collective consensus-based business with other like-minded yoga teachers. We offer small yoga classes (up to about 10 people) so that we can give more individualized attention, which reduces the likelihood of injuries from happening, and helps to support yoga students with chronic pain or other difficulties that might not get addressed in larger groups. We aim to create a community around our yoga classes, though each of us teachers are individuals and have different approaches to yoga – we come together with this concept. We also aim to keep our prices affordable, though even these might be out of range for some people, and during periods in my life I have definitely been in the same situation – and could be again. I would love to offer free yoga classes, and if I were independently wealthy I would. Teaching and sharing what we know about yoga to others takes our time, rent, administration costs, and expensive education, and though I have strong views about it and fight against it when I can, we live within a capitalist system where we are required to earn money to survive. My approach to counter capitalism and make yoga classes more accessible to people with low/no income is to offer sliding scale classes. Some of us earn less or have less/no savings, and this is a way to recognize that and support those who can’t afford to attend a regularly-priced yoga class. If you earn more or have savings, you can pay a bit more to help subsidize someone who pays less. These ‘community classes’ are offered with the same quality and attention as all of our classes, each ending with a guided relaxation using yoga nidra techniques. Because of my personal commitment to a DIY approach and creating interconnected communities, as of this month all of my English yoga classes in Kreuzberg will be offered as community classes. You are welcome to pay the regular prices if you choose – become a registered monthly student, use a 5er card, etc., but the sliding scale option is always open to anyone who attends.

Juli teaches Vinyasa Yoga and Hatha Flow Yoga in Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Jennifer Lung at English Yoga Berlin

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As we rework our schedule, we welcome Jennifer Lung to guide our last Community Yoga Class in Kreuzberg on the Friday 19:30 slot.

Jennifer Lung teaches at English Yoga BerlinJennifer is a 500-Hour ERYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher).  She has been teaching from Northern California to Berlin, since 2008 in a style that ranges from dynamic vinyasa flow to statically held postures and restorative. Her accessible classes are popular with all levels as she provides modifications and options throughout the session.

Jennifer is passionate about guiding students to discovering their own journey and tapping into their highest true potential. She is a lifetime student of yoga and also serves as a karma yogini at various yoga centers and ashrams. She also holds a certificate in Thai yoga therapy from Ritam Healing Arts and is a professional vegan chef with a self-published cookbook, The Bhakti Kitchen – A Yogic Way to Vegan Cooking.

When:  Friday 29th May, 19:30

Where:  English Yoga Berlin

We remind you that, although we are stopping this specific donation based yoga class, there are more donation based yoga classes that we offer at English Yoga Berlin.

A Tired Mama’s Yoga – Part II

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In the previous blog,  A tired mama’s yoga – Part I , I talked about the difficulties of practicing yoga while being the mother of a small child. In today’s blog, I d like to give an example of one of the multitasking practices of yoga and mommyhood. It’s this specific practice, I think, that has kept me the most in tune with yoga.

Photo by Fern

Photo by Fern

After not managing to practice yoga in the traditional way, I found I have to use whatever time I have to practice. Half a year ago I realized that sometimes I would spend over an hour putting the baby to bed at night. First I’d sing her lullabies, and then I would just stay there by her side making a wo wo wo sound for her to fall asleep. One day I thought, why not change this sound to my beloved Om and use this time to meditate? At the beginning of the meditation, I felt too tired to even sit up straight. Slowly the Om got more powerful, and my back started to straighten on the chair. At the end I was very surprised to feel so incredibly energized again – something had been able to break through to the new parent tiredness.

I started practicing every night again. I started liking the bed time ritual even more. Is it an uninterrupted practice? By no means. Sometimes I have to help the baby lie down again, or hold her because she is having a hard time… sometimes I have to sway her back and forth and continue with the Om standing up. Sometimes I finish the meditation and I realize that she is still awake, has been holding on to her sheet, and has been listening to her mama s om in absolute serenity for the past 20 minutes. Whichever way the meditation goes… I always feel I’ve benefited at the end of it.

I realize now, that we’ve created a mutual dependency. The baby needs the Om to fall asleep and I need the obligatory sit down time to meditate. If my internal mama duties didn’t oblige me to be by her side at bedtime, I would probably just lay down on the couch feeling too tired to do anything else that day. Fortunately she still needs me to fall asleep, and I benefit massively from this fact. Have I created a sleeping crutch for my child? Maybe. Lots of people say it s much better for children to learn to fall asleep alone. But, then again, what kind of a sleeping crutch is it? I’ve thought a lot about this. Is it such a bad thing to get her used to the Om before falling asleep? There are hundreds of documented benefits of meditation and the vibe that meditations creates for the people surrounding the medidators. I believe she is benefiting from this. Maybe through this practice I m even teaching her how to meditate before she falls asleep. That s a falling asleep habit that I am very happy to give her for her life. A habit that will strengthen her throughout.

 

A Tired Mama’s Yoga – Part I

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Yoga Mom

Yoga Mom

Since I became a mom last year, the ability to do yoga in a concentrated grounded way dissipated. You could say it’s the lack of space. The baby’s play area is where I previously would practice and now is covered with cute toys that make noise during my sun salutations. Or maybe it’s the absolute lack of time. Yes, I imagined how little time I’d have. But somehow, I always thought I would find that one hour for yoga. I was mistaken. Or maybe space and time are not nearly as important as fighting through the tiredness of those sleepless nights and lack of alone time. As soon as I would start on the relaxation, I’d fall asleep. Yes, there are many obstacles to yoga as a mom.

So how can yoga and mommyhood coexist?

Well yoga, for me, has had to transform. It’s traditional disciplined form that requires alone time and quietness is totally incompatible with my present life. It has had to become a playful, in-between tasks, light type of yoga. My new yoga practice includes things like observing myself wash plates in a non-judgmental way, meditating while putting the baby to sleep, teaching the body parts to my toddler while doing a sun salutation, learning the animal kingdom through asanas, and calming the mind down by pretending to be a bee.

Does this yoga give the same benefits to that of the grounded focused yoga? Probably not. The only way of getting that focused space now, is to physically remove myself from my home and attend a class. My yoga teacher used to say “an ounce of practice is worth more than tons of theory”. This light transformed yoga is the one that’s available to me now. This is my ounce of practice. If we all were to wait for the circumstances to be absolutely right in order to practice yoga, then we’d probably never get started!

Yoga is a life companion. As our lives change it’s practical application will also change with us. But yoga’s essence will remain stable, present, and loving – guiding us through the changes of our lives like a loving parent.

Pinelopi teaches Hatha yoga classes in English at our collective studio in Berlin, Kreuzberg. Our teachers are injury conscious and will be happy to assist you before and throughout the class with tailored variations for your yoga poses. We believe that the increased awareness that we cultivate in our yoga classes together with the suggested variations for your unique body, make a difference both to practicing yoga in daily life and to the yoga benefits you take with you after class.

Tips on Preventing Yoga Injuries (part 2)

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On the second part of our series about preventing yoga injuries, we give some tips for teachers, and on how to deal with common injury points.

7. For yoga teachers – pay attention to your own needs when demonstrating poses.
Believe it or not, most yoga injuries occur to teachers rather than students. As teachers, we often demonstrate a pose with our necks craned to the side to see what the students are doing, or we move out too quickly to assist a student. It’s a job that takes multi-tasking skills. While also being aware of what the students are doing, the teacher also has to be aware of their own movements and postures.
Some tips: Ground yourself before beginning the class. Warm up.  Prepare the class ahead of time, with ample time built into the plan to demonstrate exercises while also going around to assist the students. Don’t teach options for a pose that you yourself have not practiced many times, and use caution when demonstrating new or challenging poses.

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Practical Tips for common injury points:
In any pose where the body is being supported against gravity (i.e. standing), activating as many muscles in the body as possible makes the pose easier, and causes less stress on the body parts that are doing the main supporting. So, for example, even when standing, if you activate the thigh muscles (by pulling up the kneecaps), and activate the abdominal muscles (pull the navel up and back), then standing becomes easier and less stress occurs on the ankles and feet.

Wrists:
When the body’s weight is on the hands, such as in downward dog or plank, the shoulder blades should be flat to the back (this hooks the weight onto the upper back which is stronger than the wrists), the fingers spread wide, and the palms flat (this distributes the weight). Lifting a little at the wrist, and pulling the triceps up into the armpits also helps to alleviate pressure on the wrists. If you have an existing wrist injury, you can also roll up a towel, blanket or mat, and place it under the wrists, rolling the weight forward onto the fingers and taking a little more pressure off. Pressing the heels back and down sends more weight to the back of the body, and activating the abdominal muscles helps to keep the body supported in the centre.

Knees:
Whenever the knees are bent, such as in warrior 1 or 2, or chair pose, keep them directly above the ankles as much as possible, and bending in the direction of the feet. When the knees are bent too severely, or wing out to the side, stress is put on the knee. An already-aggravated knee will get worse in this situation. And if holding the pose is too difficult, then shorten your stance – bring the back foot closer and take less of a bend in the knee. Whenever the legs are straight, pull the kneecaps up and enact the thigh muscles, this takes weight off the underside of the knees and helps build muscle around them. It also avoids hyperextension if you are double-jointed. When sitting on the heels, take a blanket between the feet or a block on top of the heels to sit up a little higher. When kneeling, take a blanket or pillow under the knees. When moving into lotus or other sitting poses that require twisting the legs up, then move only into a position you can hold comfortably. If you it’s too difficult to get close, ask for a modification.

Lower back:
If you have an already existing injury in the lower back, it’s advisable that you make sure with a doctor that doing yoga is appropriate for you. Some injuries could get worse by practicing posture-based yoga.  If you are clear to go, then pay particular attention to what the rest of your body is doing as well as taking care of your back. Abdominal muscles are key to strengthening the lower back against further injury. If your back rounds as you lower down into a forward bend, then bends the knees until your back is straight (heart forward, shoulders back, bending from the hip sockets), and pull the belly in as you bend. If your back hurts too much to do back bends (bow, bridge, camel), then don’t do them. If you can, then move into the pose slowly, keep the legs active, pressing the pelvis and hips forward and tailbone towards the knees. Turning the toes and knees out a little bit can help alleviate some pressure in the lower back as well. Also follow back bends with gentle twists and/or a wide-kneed child’s pose, and avoid deep forward bends until the lower back has had some time to lengthen again.

Neck:
If you see the neck as an extension of the spine and it moves with it, then that helps to avoid most neck injuries. The problem is our necks get a major workout as we look this way and that, drop the head if it feels too heavy, etc. But dropping the head is exactly what can cause those injuries to begin with! Keeping the neck long helps make poses like push-up easier. In cobra or upward facing dog, lengthen rather than compress the back of the neck. You should feel no folds in the back of the neck, and the chin tucks slightly in towards the throat. In poses like camel, where the shoulder blades come together, you can let your head fall back only if it has somewhere to rest. And if the head is back, don’t yank the head up again when you come back out of the pose, keep it back until you are upright and can lift your head without straining the neck. In inverted poses (headstand, handstand, shoulderstand), keeping strong shoulders pulled up and away from the ears actually help to protect the neck, rather than the instinct to pull the shoulders close.  When your neck is already injured, avoid headstands and shoulderstands.

Throat:
Particular attention should be paid in bridge and shoulder stand to avoid harming the throat. As almost the whole body weight is being supported by this one area. The throat gets compressed and if the rest of the body is not compensating, damage to the vocal chords can occur. Squeezing the shoulder blades together and pressing them flat to the ground causes the spine to lift and gives the back of the neck more space to lay on the ground, allowing the front to be more open. And move slowly into a fully vertical shoulder stand, being aware of your neck and throat as you move.

We offer yoga in Berlin, Kreuzberg. Our teachers are injury conscious and will be happy to assist you before and throughout the class with tailored variations for your yoga poses. We believe that the increased awareness that we cultivate in our yoga classes together with the suggested variations for your unique body, make a difference both to practicing yoga in daily life and to the yoga benefits you take with you after class.

Flow into Spring – Bring a friend for free yoga to our new Hatha Yoga Flow class

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Spring offer for free yogaThroughout the month of April, English Yoga Berlin offers you the chance to bring someone new for free to our new Hatha-Flow yoga class, Fridays at 5:30pm.

What is Hatha-Flow?

Built on the principles of Hatha Yoga – learning to become aware of your body and its sensations through movement, breath, and relaxation – the Hatha-Flow class includes more dynamic movement / breath integration than the standard Hatha Yoga classes. It can also be a suitable step in beginner yoga for those who would like to move on later to the Vinyasa Yoga classes.

We offer English yoga in Berlin Kreuzberg. Our teachers are injury conscious and will be happy to assist you before and through-out the class with tailored variations for your yoga poses. We believe that the increased awareness that we cultivate in our yoga classes together with the suggested variations for your unique body, make a difference both to practicing yoga in daily life and to the yoga benefits you take with you after class.

Free Yoga Class to Welcome Back Pedro!

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Pedro teaches Classical Yoga at English Yoga in BerlinEnglish Yoga Berlin’s Classical yoga teacher, Pedro, has returned from his sabbatical and will give a free yoga class in welcome.

Please join us!

When: Sunday March 29 at 6pm (18h-19:45h)
Where: English Yoga Berlin’s Kreuzberg Yoga Studio