Search Results for: meditation

Eight Steps of Classical Yoga Part 2

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strengthen your ability to concentrate at english yoga berlin

The different parts of the practice of yoga are indeed dynamic. As we discussed in Eight Steps of Classical Yoga Part 1, your yoga practice can adjust to your needs and your experience level. Each part is at your disposal whenever you need to manage your health, deal with some aspect of your daily-life, overcome some limitation, or go deeper in working with yourself. The following are steps 5-8 of a classical yoga practice.

 

Step 5: Develop a calmer attitude towards your outer and inner environments.

How can we become independent from mental disturbances? How can we learn to achieve a more tolerant outlook towards ourselves and others? How can we learn to accept that which we cannot change? Through Pratyahara, you discover that there are actual things you can do, systematic practices that offer you the possibility to act from your own center, even in adverse conditions. Based on a precise knowledge of how the mind works, these methods teach us to work with the mind, rather than fight it.

 

Step 6: Learn to return to the relaxed state throughout your daily life.

To be relaxed is not simply to be momentarily free from conscious worry. True relaxation requires something more than just flopping on a sofa and listening to chill-out music. It is a measurable state that has a profound healing and reinvigorating effect. The practice of Yoga Nidra, opens a door into deep states of relaxation that will benefit you long after you do it. And, perhaps more importantly, this guided method trains you to let go of tensions at will, whenever you need to, in the midst of daily activity.

 

Step 7: Strengthen your ability to concentrate.

Many people have already experienced that concentration is something that can be trained. After you have released tensions and become more calm and clear, concentration will be easier. But yoga also offers specific methods that enable us to strengthen this ability and to become concentrated whenever we need to be. Through the practice of intense concentration (Tratak), you learn that concentration involves no strain or effort, but that it is a relaxed state in which your attention remains easily fixed on an inner or outer object of your choice.

 

Step 8: Increase your awareness and get closer to yourself.

To be aware and present is to experience life fully. This becomes possible through your work with meditation. There are as many meditation methods as there are temperaments, and they are available for any degree of experience or personal preference. Many traditions use the breath or the body as meditation objects, others employ elaborate rituals to occupy the mind. One meditation technique doesn’t need to exclude another, but can be complementary to it. Through persistent practice, you become conscious of what hinders you, you become more fully yourself.

 

The only way to truly discover the methods of yoga, and their effects, is through their regular practice. Yoga touches you deeply, but it does so without rush. It follows the natural processes of your body and mind, so that all change is harmonious. By small measures, your practice prompts you to continue to use these methods according to your own situation and the way you live. Our yoga classes in Berlin are taught with the understanding that your exploration should always continue at our own personal pace.

Bhakti: The Dance of Love & Detachment

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“Your heart must become a sea of love. Your mind must become a river of detachment.”

Sri Chinmoy

 

It may seem somewhat counter intuitive that many spiritual practices believe that the only way to find deep love and connection is to practice detachment. Detachment or ‘non-attachment’ basically teaches us to free ourselves of any addict-like behavior. This behavior can come in the form of the consumption of material objects or the treatment of others as if they are objects to be consumed by our desires or to fulfill our needs. This type of self absorption can actually keep us from seeing things around us and appreciating them for their inherit value. By freeing ourselves from attachment to material objects or desires (practicing healthy detachment) we can actually open the way for deep attachment and interconnection to the rest of the world- the earth, other human beings, and animals.

Many spiritual practitioners call this recognition of the interconnectedness of all living things, seeing the “divine”. The practice of Bhakti helps us to see the ‘divine’ or the ‘beloved’ in every living thing and to honor it through devotion.

What is Bhakti?

The Sanksrit word ‘Bhakti’ encompasses a multi-layered meaning of Love. Bhakti is not just about ‘love,’ but Capital-L ‘Love’: faithfulness, devotion, zeal, sharing, caring, belonging, worship, homage, and faith. Bhakti means to give unconditional Love and servitude to the universe, to serve others compassionately, to give of oneself whole-heartedly, without expecting anything in return. Bhakti is an active practice because some kind of action is required for others to feel a sense of belonging and feel cared for. Action is needed to devote oneself to the betterment of human-kind.

How to Practice Bhakti

There are many ways to practice Bhakti: choosing veganism, caring for a small child, protesting for the rights of asylum seekers or smiling at a stranger because they look sad are just a few examples. And because it is an active practice, Bhakti has the potential to be revolutionary. It can affect the practitioner’s way of seeing other people and themselves, thereby shifting how they interact with everything in the world around them. Acts of kindness, caring, empathy, respect and service are the ways of showing devotion and deep Love towards the divine, or towards the interconnectedness between all living creatures. The practice of Bhakti requires intense focus on and concentration towards (giving space and listening to) other living creatures outside of the self. It requires examining how to serve them with honor and respect.

By utilizing aspects of Bhakti, it is possible to develop kindness and Love towards other living creatures.Heart-opening yoga postures (back bends, twists, reversed hand locks) and meditation on the heart chakra along with Anahata meditation, (chanting YAM while visualizing a 12-petaled green lotus), can assist in connecting with Bhakti, as well as asking oneself the simple question:

“What can I do to help others?”

 

Mastering the Monkey: Is Peace of Mind Impossible?

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“You don’t think thoughts but rather thoughts think you.”

The mind often creates a natural barrier to inner peace. If you were to sit down, right now, and say to yourself, “For the next 5 minutes I will only think of a star,” you would find it is impossible to do so. The nature of the mind is for it to wander, to work with associations and to jump from thought to thought. In some ways, that’s its job. And in others, it ends up keeping most people feeling restless.

 

The mind is often compared to a monkey- jumping from one branch to another with no control.

Let’s follow the “monkey” and use the example above of focusing on the star; soon, I realize that the star reminds me of all the falling stars I have seen in my life. This thought brings me onto all the wishes I have made on those stars. That, in turn, makes me think of unfulfilled wishes, which reminds me that I’m unhappy. When I think about being unhappy, that tenses up my chest. Feeling the tightness in my chest reminds me that I have to buy an inhaler for my asthma- and why am I unhappy anyway?…

This is how the mind works. Within just a minute or two of thoughts, I have not only had mental fluctuations but I also have had emotional reactions from serene to sad. Every emotional reaction has produced a physical reaction, in this example my chest tightening, which has taken me through so much in such a short period of time.

My yoga teacher used to say, “When the mind can be fixed on the same thing for 3 seconds- that is called attention. When the mind can be fixed on the same thing for 12 seconds- that is called concentration. If you can concentrate 12 times (12 sec x12=144 seconds) then THAT is called meditation.”

Photo by Rob from Cambridge MA

Practicing concentration techniques are very important for one to feel centered and grounded. Meditation is a great tool to make the most of the minds power by making sure it is not wasting it’s energy. In our berlin yoga classes, we practice these techniques by observing the body during the Asanas, by using the practice of Tratak and through Yoga Nidra. Because the mind is so important, it is vital to learn how best to use it. Once we have mastered these techniques, then we will be able to take the practice to a more advanced level in which we can find a way to master the monkey!

Yamas and Niyamas, Part 3

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Yoga in Berlin is about more than just physical exercise. It’s about the multitude of benefits you can receive from consistent practice. Although we never push doctrine on our students, our Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga classes do incorporate a traditional understanding and awareness about how yoga can really change people´s lives when they are off the mat.

In our last blog about the non-physical benefits of yoga, we talked about the pillars of wisdom or ethical guideposts set out by Patanjali as a foundation for practicing yoga (aka the Yoga Sutras). The first being the Yamas and the second being the Niyamas. The Yamas are ethical principles about attitudes and behaviors that cause suffering (greed, dishonesty, violence, etc). The Niyamas (the second limb) are the attitudes and behaviors that yogis can work towards.

Step One: stop the behaviors that cause you to suffer.

Step Two: cultivate ones that bring you peace and happiness.

Saucha

This Niyama is often translated into English as purity or cleanliness. Those words have a lot of judgmental, puritanical cultural baggage in the West, so the way we like to explain the concept of Saucha is ‘lucidity’ or ‘clarity’. In essence, cultivating Saucha means trying to keep your space, body, mind and spirit free of clutter and garbage so that you can perceive and act with the most clarity possible. Some yogis interpret this Niyama through strict dietary observances (no meat, no alcohol) or with spiritual rituals (dawn meditation, intensive asana practice every day etc.) In our English Yoga classes, we interpret it to be about maintaining a dialogue with yourself about how your surroundings/diet/thoughts are affecting you, and striving to maintain a feeling of openness and clarity.

Where could your life benefit from a good ‘spring cleaning’? What relationships, lifestyle habits, thoughts, choices make you feel icky? How could you begin to clean up these areas?

Samtosha
Samtosha means contentment or satisfaction. Again, this can be a difficult Niyama for Westerners to understand because it sounds very close to passivity or acquiescence. But it’s more subtle than those concepts. Samtosha is about cultivating an attitude of equanimity. Yogis who practice for a long time begin to realize that all of reality is fluid, linked, and unchangeable. Underlying life’s ebbs, flows, births and deaths is a basic, unchanging whole experience. This is also the basis of modern physics: energy moves but it cannot be created or destroyed. Cultivating Samtosha means cultivating an attitude of acceptance of constant transformation and contingency. In Asana, cultivating Samtosha means accepting your body for what it is or is not on every given day, and knowing that ”you” are indeed much more than ”your body”!

Can you think of a time in your life where a big change seemed like a total disaster- but you now see that it was for the best? What changes are you afraid of now? Can you imagine accepting those changes, and even welcoming them?

 

Types of Yoga we Teach

our English yoga studio in Kreuzberg Berlin

There are many, many different types of yoga and each teacher has their own style. All of us at English Yoga Berlin are guided by the basic principles of the Yoga Sutra, especially that of Ahimsa (non-violence): we respect our limits while gently opening our bodies and minds to new experiences and ways of seeing. We also include techniques from Yoga Nidra in all of our classes.You can see our class schedule here.

Here is what we offer:

Vinyasa Flow:

This Anusara-influenced Vinyasa Yoga class connects the breath with flowing, dynamic movement through sequences of traditional and contemporary Hatha yoga postures. A Vinyasa Flow class can be very different from another. The style of this specific class is slower than most, it focuses on techniques of Svastha Yogatherapy – strengthening the body to help heal from injuries, manage pain and chronic illness, and resting the mind to recover from stress and anxiety. Every class ends with a guided relaxation. It is open to both beginners and experienced students, as well as those with injuries, chronic pain or limited mobility, as options and modifications for poses are offered by the teacher. It is a queer and trans* positive space where gender binaries are viewed post-structurally and heteronormativity is challenged. Allies welcome.

Hatha Yoga:

This is a soft, balancing yoga.  It mainly consists of getting into a position and holding it while breathing deeply.  The students choose how hard they want to make it for themselves by choosing how many breaths they are able to do on that particular day. This class is taught in English and includes up to 70 minutes of positions and 20 minutes of relaxation and visualization, in which we introduce aspects of Yoga Nidra (conscious deep sleep).  

Yoga and the Alexander Technique course:

In this Yoga and the Alexander Technique course we will look at ways we enter yoga poses through the lens of the Alexander Technique, with the intention of uncovering deep habits. We carry our habits everywhere. If we tend to stress our neck before we lift our arm, we will do that regardless whether we are reaching for a box or bringing our arms up into the Warrior pose. The Alexander Technique looks into these deep habits and gives you small impulses that make a big difference in how to access a better coordination with your body as a whole. Click here for more info.

Meditation Course: learning how to meditate- 6 class hybrid course

Next course coming up: September 14th to 19th of October, 2023

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. To learn more click here.

Meditation Course: Exploring the Negativity Bias – 6 week hybrid course

Next course coming up: November 9th to December 14th, 2023

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. Click here to learn more.

Meditation Course: Mindful Care-Giving – 6 week course

When there is a minimum of 8 people interested, we will offer this course again. Write an email to Pinelopi to let us know.

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?  Click here to look at the details of previous courses.

Chakra Course:

Next course coming up:  Write an email to Pinelopi to express your interest. If there is enough interest this course will happen January 2024

In this course we will learn the symbolic language of the chakras and how human behaviors affect its vibrations. We use the chakras as a map to help us self explore certain concepts like our tribes (as an archetype), creativity, self esteem, forgiveness, surrender, love, detachment and connection to our spirits. The course will be a mix of meditations, visualizations, yoga poses, and inner-self exercises.

Restorative Yoga:

This a restful, gentle yoga practice that nourishes the parasympathetic nervous system, our body’s responses when rest or regeneration is required to counter stress, anxiety, insomnia, illness or injury. Poses are held for 5-20 minutes, supported by props, rolled-up blankets, blocks and chairs. In this specific class, a gentle flow warms up the body, before settling into longer poses, accompanied by some thai yoga massage to help deepen or relax the poses. At this time, there is no regular weekly course for restorative yoga. If you are interested in booking a private session, please contact Juli to arrange a date and time. Private sessions will be offered to Berlin-based Queer* and Trans* folks, and women with histories of trauma, including inter-generational, at a sliding scale rate of 25-60 euros. When booking a time with Juli, please be sure that this appointment works for you, as you will be charged a fee of half the agreed-upon rate if you cancel within 24 hours.

Private Yoga Lessons:

… for the really busy, for those with special needs, for the shy, or simply for those who want to get a personalized program and the undivided attention of the  teacher.  Private Yoga lessons are a sure way to address the little insecurities and questions you have about your practice, and to get advice on how to best use yoga and meditation for your specific life challenges.  Click here if you want to learn more.

Business Yoga:

Pinelopi offers a variety of services, including Hatha Yoga, Ergonomic Consultations, Alexander Technique and mindfulness courses, tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses in Berlin. Whether you prefer on-site classes at your workplace or in the conference room of the hotel where your workforce is staying, Pinelopi can deliver the services you need to promote wellness and increase productivity. Click here to find out more.

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All classes are taught in English.

Schedule

English Yoga Berlin Class Schedule

Next courses coming up:

  • Singing and the Alexander Technique Workshop – 18th of July, 2024 18.00
  • Cycling and the Alexander Technique Workshop – 25th of July, 2024 18.00
  • Yoga, Meditation and Alexander Technique Urban Retreat – 27th to 29th September, 2024

We offer both Hatha Yoga and Vinyasa yoga as hybrid classes.

English Yoga Schedule at our Kreuzberg Studio
photo by Fern

All our English yoga classes are suitable to first-timers as well as intermediate and advanced students, allowing them to enjoy the many yoga benefits available in this format.  You have your own experience. For hygiene reasons, please bring a clean towel to place over the studio mats or your own mat. Come early to secure your place and to settle-in before class.

Read our practical tips for better enjoying the class before your visit

See our Prices ; Find our Kreuzberg Studio; Contact us with your questions; Purchase a Gift Card; Check out our online relaxations; Book a Private Yoga Lesson

CLASS SCHEDULE

Filter by CATEGORIES to see classes by a specific teacher and TAGS  to see type of class.
HOVER over a class to see basic info. CLICK on the class to get detailed info, such as prices, length of class, etc.

About Us

We are two teachers working together, committed to providing accessible and high-quality yoga classes in several yoga styles, Alexander Technique and meditation courses, with a focus on community wellbeing and inclusivity. Pinelopi is employed by Smart-Eg and Juli is freelance. 

Pinelopi teaches Hatha Yoga, meditation, and Alexander Technique
Juli teaches Vinyasa Flow at English Yoga Berlin

 Our English yoga school in Berlin also offers private classes, in-company yoga, Alexander Technique and workshops.

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English Resources

Our yoga school in Berlin is a very international collective, as such we understand the challenge of navigating life in a place where you are not necessarily fluent in the language.   Because of this, we have compiled a list of English resources for personal development and wellness in Berlin. The following is a list of those people and practices that we recommend, and who speak English. Like us, these people would be pleased to aid you in your ongoing journey to health and well-being.

Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Shiatsu, Qi Gong

Shiatsu Plus Qi Gng (Weichselstr, Neukölln) — Bettie Höflich offers courses and individual treatments in Qi Gong and Shiatsu, as well as Bach flower remedies. Bettie’s website is in German, but she speaks fluent English.

Berlin Akupunktur (Bergmannstr, Kreuzberg) — Roland Biessel has opened the first Community Acupuncture clinic in Germany. Roland speaks excellent English and is a competent, experienced acupuncturist. Community Acupuncture (aka Working Class Acupuncture) is a movement to create affordable and equal access to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Acupuncture treatments are given, fully clothed, in a room with other people, and are offered on a sliding scale (17 to 35euro per session). This creates affordable acupuncture for patients and  a living wage for practitioners. We dig that!

Psychotherapy

The Primrose Practice (Prenzlauer Berg) is a discreet and confidential service set up by private practitioner Sophie Frost to provide expert advice, counselling and treatment options in English for those suffering from a range of mental health related issues.  Her website and blog is also an excellent resource for integrative self care information.  She offers a sliding scale for individual sessions.

Physiotherapy

Physio Bluecherstrasse (Sudstern) – Dörte etersen who works in this small physiotherapy praxis is highly competent, incredibly knowledgeable, emotionally sensitive, AND has very good instinct.  I recommend her to all my yoga students because her work is truly good. Please make sure to ask specifically for her when you call.

Centre for Sexual Health and Family Planning (Gesundheitsamt Friedrichshain Kreuzberg)
10euro for an appointment, no insurance required, Urbanstr 24

Personal & Business Development

Shaleah Dawynyel offers help for entrepreneurs by providing individual sessions for time management, organizational consulting and SEO for small business. Because of her uniquely intuitive and professional approach, she has been a huge help with our website and the development of our studios’ work in Berlin. Shaleah is our our golden edge!

AG Beratung is a group of experienced, capable folks who offer over 20 years of collective experience in leftwing organizing, alternative business models and general getting shit done. They offer consultations, on a sliding scale, to projects that need help sorting themselves out: whether it’s about explaining German regulations, building conflict resolution systems or fundraising, this group can offer a lot to small collectives. They did a very nice session for us in English. Highly recommended!

Yoga Resources

The Bausinger website is not only an online shop from where we acquired our soft fluffy mats, but also contains a lot of resources (in German) about yoga and other healing modalities.

Meditation Resources

Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world.  This website is an amazing resource that freely offers meditations and talks on themes such as the possibility of emotional healing and spiritual awakening through mindful, loving awareness as well as the alleviation of suffering in the larger world by practicing compassion in action.

What is Vinyasa Yoga: A History of “Flow”

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Like any other practice, yoga can be quite different depending on two main factors: who is teaching it, and what style is being taught. Of course you want to find a teacher that you like, one you connect to and feel comfortable with. But beyond that its also important to find the style of yoga that best fits your needs.

There are four original types of yoga. It is important to understand the background of the method of yoga you are practicing so that you can decide if it is the best one for you. Because each type of yoga has evolved out of different teaching lineages, the following is a bit of history of Vinyasa Flow Yoga, one of our newest class offerings at English Yoga Berlin.

Vinyasa Background

Vinyasa Flow Yoga was born out of the Ashtanga lineage. The Ashtanga school was developed by a yogi named Sri Krishnamacharya, who taught it to Patthabi Jois. Jois taught in Mysore, India in the first half of the 20th century. Ashtanga has since been popularized in the West by his students.

Ashtanga yoga was taught by Jois as moving meditation. He believed that the movements between each asana should be considered just as important as the postures themselves. The idea behind this is to deepen concentration and body consciousness through the entire practice. Rather than focusing on “getting into the posture” and then breathing, in Vinyasa, we try to keep the deep breathing and correct alignment consistent throughout all movement during the class.

Ashtanga Yoga prescribes a specific sequence of postures (known as the Primary Series), done in a very specific way – each posture is held for 5 complete breaths and the transition between postures should take no more than 1 breath.

You can practice Ashtanga anywhere and anytime, as long as you know this series. You can also join us for our new Vinyasa Flow Yoga class at 8pm on Thursdays at our new studio in Kreuzberg.

Mastering the Monkey: Is Peace of Mind Impossible?

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“You don’t think thoughts but rather thoughts think you.”

The mind often creates a natural barrier to inner peace. If you were to sit down, right now, and say to yourself, “For the next 5 minutes I will only think of a star,” you would find it is impossible to do so. The nature of the mind is for it to wander, to work with associations and to jump from thought to thought. In some ways, that’s its job. And in others, it ends up keeping most people feeling restless.

The mind is often compared to a monkey- jumping from one branch to another with no control.

Let’s follow the “monkey” and use the example above of focusing on the star; soon, I realize that the star reminds me of all the falling stars I have seen in my life. This thought brings me onto all the wishes I have made on those stars. That, in turn, makes me think of unfulfilled wishes, which reminds me that I’m unhappy. When I think about being unhappy, that tenses up my chest. Feeling the tightness in my chest reminds me that I have to buy an inhaler for my asthma- and why am I unhappy anyway?…

This is how the mind works. Within just a minute or two of thoughts, I have not only had mental fluctuations but I also have had emotional reactions from serene to sad. Every emotional reaction has produced a physical reaction, in this example my chest tightening, which has taken me through so much in such a short period of time.

My yoga teacher used to say, “When the mind can be fixed on the same thing for 3 seconds- that is called attention. When the mind can be fixed on the same thing for 12 seconds- that is called concentration. If you can concentrate 12 times (12 sec x12=144 seconds) then THAT is called meditation.”

Practicing concentration techniques are very important for one to feel centered and grounded. Meditation is a great tool to make the most of the minds power by making sure it is not wasting it’s energy. In our berlin yoga classes, we practice these techniques by observing the body during the Asanas, by using the practice of Tratak and through Yoga Nidra. Because the mind if so important, it is vital to learn how best to use it. Once we have mastered these techniques, then we will be able to take the practice to a more advanced level in which we can find a way to master the monkey!