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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.
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.
“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!
In our last blog about the definition of Drishti,we talked about using this “gaze” as an anatomical tool to self-correct your posture while practicing yoga. But we also highlighted it as a useful implement to quiet the mind and increase relaxation while avoiding obsessive thoughts. But the benefits of this aspect of yoga can go beyond simply a place to look during Downward Dog.
Another important subtlety in the concept of Drishti is in the different ways of gazing. This is a vari
ation on the practice of detachment but specifically, a Drishti can be described as ´soft´, ´pointed´, ´wide´, ´gentle´, etc. Again, there are very practical reasons for this. Even though Patanjali never gazed at a computer screen, he could imagine what hours of single distance, harsh gazing can do to your eyes. Varied distances of Drishti, as well as varying degrees of hardness or staring in the postures, helps to exercise the optical nerves and reduce the strain that can produce tension headaches.
Early yogis and yoginis realized that the quality with which you observe something radiates through your body. Your body naturally becomes more tense and rigid, or soft and relaxed, depending on how you are looking at something. A soft Dristhi promotes internal reflection, relaxation, meditation. A harder one pushes the focus externally. Both can be useful, but the eyes should never strain.
So, the next time you find your eyes wandering, watch your mind and body, and see if you can notice how your Dristhi affects you. And next time you practice yoga, play with your gaze point and see how it affects your practice and your life.
For more information about our new schedule for Yoga in Kreuzberg check out our English Yoga classes.
If you have practiced any kind of yoga before, you are probably familiar with the Sun Salutation sequence. Many teachers begin their classes with a series of sun salutations, so it is one of the first things that most students learn.
But, what is a Sun Salutation?
Here is a bit of information about the history and practice of the Sun Salutation:
photo by Fern
The Sun Salutation (in Sanskrit, the Surya Namaskara–literally, the salute to the sun) is composed of 8 different asana, and 12 posture changes. Some asana are repeated in the sequence. The postures are performed with specific breath sequencing, which gives the sequence a rhythmic and meditative quality. In some traditions, students pause to chant a mantra in between Sun Salutations. The amount of Sun Salutations in a yoga class varies from teacher to teacher, but, for some, the ´daily limit´ is 108! In the Ashtanga tradition, solstices and equinoxes are celebrated with 108 Sun Salutations.
It is said that the sun salutations sequence was incorporated into yoga by yogis who were distressed by how their bodies atrophied during hours and hours of meditation. The Sun Salutation was discovered as an extremely efficient and meditative way of keeping the physical body healthy, which would allow the yogi to meditate with ease. This is because the sequence hits all of the major muscle groups in the body, stretching and strengthening the upper and lower body while simultaneously lengthening the spine.
If you are new to yoga in Berlin, or anywhere else for that matter, the sun salutation is a great asana sequence to begin practising at home. If you start performing three or four of them each morning, first thing after you get out of bed, you will see your flexibility improve significantly. This is also a great way to start the day quietly and touch base with your body and emotions. You can make the practice more challenging for yourself by slowing down your breathing and your movement. As always in yoga, practising with concentration and intention is the most important piece–try to keep your senses ´in ´ your body and you will be amazed at what benefits you feel from this ancient practice.
Many people wonder, “Why should I do yoga?” And while this is an individual question, I think it’s important to understand what the point of the practice is before deciding to make it a part of your life.
In my last blog about Hatha yoga in Berlin, I talked a bit about the current “trendy nature” of yoga and why there seem to be so many yoga styles on offer. But the true goal of Yoga is to bring the practitioner into a state of perfect peace with themself and with the world. This cannot be achieved overnight. And so, to approach this goal, one spends a lifetime practicing this discipline. Although perfect peace is the most difficult state to attain, it is said that everyone can approach it through a sincere practice of yoga.
As mentioned in my previous blog, originally there were four different types of yoga created. These different types were created so that people were able to practice the kind of yoga that best fits them as an individual. The four original yogas are: Njana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga.
The Njana yoga practitioners use the intellect to attain a state of inner peace. Their whole practice is about analyzing the world around them, and distinguishing what is real from illusion. This yoga is the best kind for people who have a need to intellectualize everything about the world.
The Karma Yoga practitioners strive to attain the inner peace state through action (Karma being the Sanskrit word for “action” or “to do”). Their practice is based on taking positive action without being attached to the fruits of one’s deeds. This kind of yoga is best for those who need to live an active life and keep themselves constantly busy.
The Bhakti Yoga practitioners use their emotions in order to attain their yogic goal. Bhakti is the yoga of devotion. This kind of yoga is said to be the best for people who are of an emotional nature and need to sublimate their emotions in order to attain inner peace. This yoga would concentrate on rituals, symbols, chanting. It is said that by doing so the practitioners channel their emotions to a higher state of being.
Raja yoga practitioners try to attain peace through meditation. But in order to sit down and meditate one must not only learn how to control the mental fluctuations but also to have a fit body that can manage to sit motionless with no pain for an hour. To be able to do the latter Hatha Yoga was created. This is the only type of yoga from the original ones that focuses on the physical body. I teach this kind of yoga because it addresses the body, mind and energy levels of the practitioner throughout his/her self-exploration towards inner peace.
Today it is very common to hear about many different kinds of yoga in Berlin. And with so many variations to choose from, it can get rather confusing. In truth, there were originally only 4 types of yoga: Njana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga. These yogas were created so that people could practice the kind of yoga that was most attune to their own character.
My Hatha yoga in English classes stem from the original Raja Yoga style. Raja yoga focuses on controlling the waves of thought by turning our mental and physical energy into spiritual energy. The purpose of Raja Yoga is to attain inner peace through meditation. In order to do this one must gain control over the physical body and prana (or vital energy), so that meditation can happen naturally. Raja Yoga consists of eight steps. The third step (Asanas) and the fourth step (Pranayama) is what makes up Hatha Yoga. This is the only kind of yoga that actually deals with the body and the one that most westerners think of when the word yoga is mentioned.
All of the yoga styles that have to do with physical and mental control stem from Hatha Yoga. The kinds of yoga we hear about today in the Berlin studios around us have much more to do with marketing then with providing separate types of yoga. These types and names are more of a description of the teaching method. For example a Vinyasa flow class will concentrate more on teaching the asanas with a flow rather than remaining static in them. Power yoga teaching will work to make you sweat. Hot yoga will teach yoga in a (very!) hot room. And the list continues with no end. Last year, I even heard of bicycle yoga! After trying to figure out how such yoga would work and picturing headstands being performed on the saddle of a bike, I discovered that it was about riding bikes out to different places, getting off the bike and then practicing yoga. I must say that I was relieved!
Whether you are looking for yoga for beginners, community-focused yoga, or simply a community of like-minded people in Berlin, we invite you to get in touch!Each of us at English Yoga Berlin offer you something unique and different. If you are still unsure of who to write to after reading about each one of us and our different styles of yoga, you can write to one of us and we will make sure it goes to the right place.
Contact Pinelopi offers gentle, injury-conscious Hatha Yoga to all levels, including yoga for beginners, Alexander Technique classes, Meditation classes and yoga courses, workshops and retreats.
Juli if you’re interested in community yoga, vinyasa flow yoga, restorative yoga, or queer* yoga.
For any additional questions, please check out our FAQ page, your question may be answered there.
