Tag: Classical Yoga

Shiatsu for Yoga and Self-Massage

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Shiatsu (which means, literally, ‘finger pressure’) is a Japanese preventative manual therapy technique. In Shiatsu massage, vertical pressure (usually from the fingertips or palms) is applied to various points on the body—found using both anatomical knowledge and meridian knowledge—to produce wellness and ‘flow’ within the body’s energy systems. Pressure is usually applied, in order to guide energy through the body and clear blocked channels.

Many of us use these points unconsciously: when people feel pain in their bodies, they often naturally squeeze, massage and apply pressure to the area. This stimulates blood circulation, increases awareness (and thereby ability to respond to pain) and supports the metabolism of healing in the affected area. Shiatsu is especially successful in treating things like neck pain, but can also be used to deal with allergies, headaches,  chronic pain, exhaustion and all sorts of other problems you might have. Plus, it just feels really nice.

image taken from shiatsu-brighton.com

Learning a few Shiatsu points on your own body is a wonderful way to add a special level of care and support to your yoga practice. You can practice Shiatsu points regularly, and then use them in stressful situations as part of emotional first aid! In our English yoga classes at English Yoga Berlin, we integrate this teaching, step by step, so that students can slowly begin to learn their own bodies areas of strength and weakness, and thereby develop a highly personalized practice that meets their own health needs. Here is a blog discussing how Shiatsu and Yoga can complement each other, from a student’s perspective.

Two very useful points that relieve anxiety, exhaustion, sore eyes, neck tension, jaw ache and shoulder pain are Heavenly Pillar and Heavenly Rejuvenation. Heavenly Pillar is located on both sides of the neck, about one finger-width below the base of the skull and about one finger width on either side of the neck. Heavenly Rejuvenation is located on the shoulders, midway between the base of the neck and the outside of the shoulders, about 2cm below the top of the shoulders. Here is a graphic that shows both points.

The most important part of self massage is listening to your own body, so breathe deeply while you try finding these points and, when you find a point that feels good, stay there and apply gentle pressure. You might feel the point radiating outwards, into the muscles surrounding it. That’s a good sign. You don’t want to hurt yourself, so only press as firmly as you need to in order to feel a nice sensation. It’s recommended to press for about 1 minute—but feel free to stay longer if it feels good!

2 ways to get free yoga classes this Springtime…

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photo by fernTo celebrate the longer days and the budding green leaves, we are offering a special Springtime gift to all people looking for English yoga classes in Berlin!

1) When you purchase a 5er / 10er card or a monthly membership, you will get a free class. You can use your free class anytime before April 31, 2014, to attend any of our Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Classical Yoga or Restorative Yoga classes in our Berlin Kreuzberg studio. You are also welcome to donate your free class to a friend–just let us know!

Check out our schedule, and a map of how to find us.

2) Additionally, we are searching for some friendly and enthusiastic people to help us with leafleting, photography and cleaning in exchange for classes. If you are interested, send us an email explaining why you would be a good work exchange yogi and your dates and times of availability, and we’ll get in touch!

Endometriosis and a Personal Approach to Healing

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It wasn’t until my 30s that I started realizing there was something off about my menstrual cycle. I’d always had pain during the first few days accompanied by heavy bleeding, and often experienced what is called ‘breakthrough bleeding.’ But it gradually started to get worse, until there were months when I was bleeding every day of my cycle. With the advice of a friend, I went to see a naturopath, who prescribed homeopathic medicine (specifically, venom from the snake, Lachesis). I was open to trying it, but after about half a year, I felt no change for the better, and out several hundred dollars. In the meantime, I moved 5000km to another city for graduate school.

At this point I’d had a yoga practice on & off for about 8 years. After I moved, I made an effort to continue my yoga practice and
discovered many more different teachers and styles of yoga than I had before. I felt that my practice had been good for me ‘physically.’ I became more aware of the pain I was experiencing and was able to ease it a little during my menstrual cycle. But I didn’t recognize the healing benefits until much later on. I continued to struggle with menstrual cycle problems, and had now built up a lack of trust towards naturopathy. So I tried allopathicremedies – the birth control pill was advised for hormone balancing, even though I didn’t need it for contraception, and I had several invasive surgeries. After the second surgery to remove ovarian growths, a biopsy showed that it was endometrial tissue. That was when I got the diagnosis of endometriosis. But the hormone therapy didn’t seem to work: the tissue kept growing, albeit perhaps slower.Endometriosis is a rather common illness, affecting approximately 10% of people with female reproductive organs, and perhaps more who show no symptoms. The allopathic methods of treatment vary from mild hormone treatment to organ removal surgery. Sadly, I know several people who have had full hysterectomies, and yet still experience the return of growths. Growths root down onto other organs or muscles, making them difficult to remove completely and can cause lung collapse, kidney failure and/or extreme pain. Endometrial tissue can often even grow on the scar tissue from previous surgeries! Hormone therapy such as IUDs or contraceptive pills can slow the growths and relieve some pain, but not always. Sometimes androgen hormones are recommended to induce menopause. One person I know had tried this method twice and still experienced the return of the growths and painful menstruation.Often, pregnancy and subsequent breast-feeding can act to “re-set” the adrenal system so that endometriosis may not return. Menopause may see an end to more growths, but the ones that have already rooted down may continue to grow. There has been some evidence to show that even people without ovaries and a uterus may develop endometriosis on the prostate. It is seen by the medical system as a woman’s disease, making it difficult for male-identified people to receive proper treatment.

Having no success with allopathic or naturopathic methods, I began to investigate the alternatives. My personal approach to healing began when I decided to become a yoga teacher and delve deeper into my practice. I read this book that recommended a strict endometriosis diet and followed it dogmatically for one year. And I tried out many other modalities – body talk, the sadhana practice of kundalini, myofascial massage, acupuncture, mindfulness meditation and medicinal roots. I sought advice from elders and spiritual practitioners. A couple years ago, I had yet a third surgery – recommended because of something that looked cancerous but turned out not to be. All of the methods I had tried became too much for me to keep up a regular practice with, it became a stress to try to keep up the discipline of the diet. And I wanted to do other things than focus on my body all the time! But I learned an awful lot through experimenting with different things and I eventually found what worked for me.

Endometriosis is an immunodeficiency illness, attacking the body when it’s low on other resources, so I focused on trying to keep healthy. I also became convinced that stress causes endometriosis by the physical tightening of muscles around the pelvis. The practice of mula bahnda (the root lock) brought more awareness for me about what was going on in my pelvic area. During menstruation I now try to focus on letting go of any tightness, sometimes even doing exercises to push out any stuck endometrial tissue. And I am also careful not to do inversions during heavy days. I continue to make smoothies out of spirulina (for immune boosting properties), maca root (for adrenal health), and trying to not let stress overtake my life, while keeping a balance of having some fun, expanding my limits and moving beyond my comfort zone once in awhile. I occasionally get some pain and breakthrough bleeding, and then I know it’s my body telling me to slow down. So far, the growths have not returned, and I’m still years away from menopause! It may not take becoming a yoga teacher for you, but I know there’s a way that you can heal yourself too.

Juli teaches Vinyasa Flow Yoga and Restorative Yoga in our Berlin Kreuzberg studio. She continues to explore self healing with yoga and encourages her students to do so, too.

New Year News: Workshops, Classes and Babies, oh my!

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English Yoga in Berlin

English Yoga Berlin

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.”

– Victor Hugo

Welcome to a brand-new year!  We wish you a healthy and happy 2014, full of laughter and learning.

Our collective is very excited about the beginning of 2014: we have opened new morning classes, will offer a deep-cleansing workshop and are celebrating the arrival of a special and very small new member of the EYB community!

New Morning Classes

To help you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, we will be offering Yoga on Friday mornings. From 10am until 11h45, Pedro will offer Classical Yoga. Each class includes yoga asana (poses), breathing exercises (pranayama), deep relaxation and Yoga Nidra. Yoga on Friday mornings is an ideal way to relax and prepare for a great weekend! Check out this and other classes on our schedule.

Shatkarma Workshop: Yogic Detox

Over the weekend of January 18/19, our collective will be offering a yogic detox, cleansing and self-care workshop! In this workshop, you’ll learn a range of detoxifying practices that you can use to bring balance to your body and clear toxins and stress. You can see more detailed information here.

Community Class Re-Schedules

Our collective’s popular Community Class has moved to Fridays at 12.15pm.  This is a donation-based class  that we offer for people in low-income situations or those who cannot otherwise afford our regular classes.  It is guided by a different teacher each week and is part of our collective’s commitment to accessibility. For more information check out What is a Community Class?

Yoga Mom

Zoe has Landed!

Our Pinelopi has given birth to a healthy and gorgeous baby girl!  Zoe arrived last October to the delight of her proud parents and the cheers of all of us at English Yoga Berlin.  Pinelopi’s maternity leave will continue for a little while longer, as mother and child get to know each other and enjoy this very special time together.

We are looking forward to a full year of offering Hatha yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Classical Yoga and Restorative yoga classes in Kreuzberg. We would like to, once more, extend our appreciation and gratitude to the wonderful community of yogis who practice with us at English Yoga Berlin! Your presence and contributions transform our Kreuzberg studio into a place of belonging and community. Thank you for your practice and your dedication!

New Year’s Message from English Yoga Berlin

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I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.  Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.  So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.  Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.  Make your mistakes, next year and forever. – Neil Gaiman

In order to help you stick to your resolutions, we start the year with a new class, specially for those who prefer morning yoga:

Friday 10am – Classical Yoga

and a new schedule for our popular community Class

Friday 12h15 – Donation Based, a different style each week.

Consult our schedule for more details.

We wish all of you, the EYB community, a healthy, happy and brimful 2014.  May your mistakes lead to achievements, and may your achievements lead you to dare making more mistakes.

December got you wrapped up in stressful knots?

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Whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, Yule, or Dōngzhì, or no religious-cultural festival at all, the month of December in the Northern Hemisphere can be a stressful time of year. Winter is starting to hit hard, the hours of light dwindling down to their shortest, and the temperature is dropping. Additional stresses can wear us down; such as family or work social obligations, exams, deadlines, trip-planning, depleting finances, and attempts at tying up our own loose ends or goals for the year. Our hibernation impulse kicks in, and we want to stay inside where it’s warm and snack on comfort food.

Acknowledge your stress

Sometimes we can get so caught up in all these activities we don’t realize we’re wearing ourselves down or getting irritated in the process. Once you acknowledge and recognize that stress is indeed affecting your mood or sleep cycle, you can give yourself permission to slow down, take breaks or drop things with less priority. It may seem counter-productive to schedule more things in, but adding some regular breaks, and things that are for ‘you’ to your schedule, will make the other stressful items on your list seem easier. You can look forward to the little present you give yourself – your Friday evening acupuncture session or swing dance class.

Eat Hearty Warm Food

Being on the go all the time can deplete our resources and zap our body of nutrition. It’s more important than ever during stressful times to eat well. There are a lot of sweet treats around this time of year, which fill us up without providing nutrition. Depending on where you live, you might also feel more dehydrated because of cold weather. Also, according to Ayurvedic nutrition, our bodies need more Vata energy during the cold winter months. They recommend eating more heated root vegetables, rather than raw salads. You can save time by making large batches of soup or stew. If you spend most of your time away from home glass jars can provide a DIY alternative to a thermos in order to carry around your delicious hearty lunch.

Breath and Movement

Outdoor activities in the cold can be quite exhilarating if you’re prepared for it. Wrap yourself up in a warm scarf and wear loose clothing made with natural fibres. One misconception most people have in countering the cold is to hunch their shoulders up by their ears and round forwards. This actually makes us colder! If you open up your chest and drop your shoulders down, your lung capacity increases and allows more oxygen to enter and warm up your body! If you breathe deeply and slowly or take slight pauses as you hold the breath in, it helps to keep the warm air in longer. Keep your body moving by riding a bike or walking quickly. And when you reach your destination do some gentle stretches to come back to the warmth of the inside temperature.

Regenerate

A regular yoga or meditation practice helps to recuperate us from stress. Keep going to your yoga class, despite your busy schedule. Or even add a new one!

Take advantage of our special offers this month at English Yoga Berlin – bring a friend for free to our slow and rejuvenating Restorative and Classical yoga classes.

And remember, as the daylight hours grow shorter, the actual Winter Solstice on December 21st is approaching, which means the daylight hours will start to increase again!

And as the New Year is shortly upon us, so is our new yoga schedule for 2014.

December Offers + Winter Break

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………………………………………………….

“When there’s snow on the ground, I like to pretend I’m walking on clouds.”

-Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata (Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005)

 

As the days grow colder and shorter, and the festive gift-giving season approaches, we present you (our community of dedicated and enthusiastic yogis) with a month full of offers & news. Below you will find a special deal to de-stress, a gift idea, free taster classes and information about our end of year break. We at English Yoga Berlin are looking forward to a month of relaxing yoga amidst the end of year chaos and shuffle. Hope you will join us!

Give the Gift of Yoga

At a loss for a festive gift? Do you know someone close to you who would like to try yoga?
Buy two or more gift certificates for 10€ each, one for 12€. Each card is individually printed and sent by post if you wish. Contact us here to place your order by email, or talk to one of our teachers at the studio.

Special Offer: Slow Down + Bring a Friend

To alleviate your end of year and holiday stress, we encourage you to slow down throughout the month of December by offering you a special deal. Bring a friend for free to one of our slow, meditative, relaxing and rejuvenating Classical or Restorative classes.

FREE Tasters for new Course

We’re offering two free tasters for a new 10-week course, Classical Yoga for Swing Dancers, that begins in January. Not exclusively for dancers, but open to anyone who would like to develop their balance, body awareness and concentration. Drop in to one of these sessions to get more info and to sign up.

Wednesday Dec. 11 at 19:00h
Friday Dec. 13 at 19:00h

Holiday Closure

Our last class for this year will be on Sunday December 22. We will reopen again in the new year on Thursday January 2. Click here for our current schedule.

Free (or Cheap) Health and Wellness in Berlin

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free or cheap wellness in Berlin

In Germany, everyone is legally supposed to have health insurance. Unfortunately, it is not a universal health care system: rather, insurance is verdammnt expensive and is only available to documented people—and the most recent estimates suggest that up to 1 million undocumented migrants are living in Germany. In addition, there are plenty of people who have health needs which are not covered by their insurance. That is a lot of people with their health needs not getting met. What a stupid situation! What dumb laws! (If you’re trying to find your way through it, you can read more here.) 

And they wonder why we feel like fuck the law…

Anyway, so, there is a lot of demand for cheap or free health services in Berlin, especially in languages other than German. We see this a lot at English Yoga Berlin, because so many of our students are new migrants or expats in Germany and they often feel disoriented and uncertain. It often takes a long time to find what you need in a new country, and online lists make things easier! Teaching yoga in Berlin has brought us into contact with a lot of cool, free or cheap health services available. We teach yoga in Kreuzberg, so we’ve highlighted services in that area. And we offer yoga in English, so we’ve tried to find services that are English-speaking, too.

So here is our list…

The Gesundheitsamt system in Berlin offers a series of free clinics. They are usually really crowded but it only costs 10euro and you can get STI testing, dentistry, pregnancy tests, psychiatric help etc. You do need to bring some kind of identification but you don’t need insurance, and they’re legally obligated to keep your data private. Make sure you arrive early, because you will have to wait for a couple of hours. If you can, bring a German speaking friend or support person. You can see all of the various clinics and their opening hours and specialities here (in German). 

The Selbstverwaltete Heilpraktikerschule (Autonomous Naturopath Training Programme) at the Bethanien offers some cool free or low-cost services. They have a Massage Abend where you can get a back, foot or shiatsu massage for 5euro (schedule here). They also do affordable homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and herbal medicine consultations on Mondays and Fridays.

Berlin Community Akupunktur offers sliding scale acupuncture (17e to 35e).

Friedelpraxis is a collective that offers non-commercialized osteopathy andTCM (traditional Chinese medicine) in Berlin. To become a member of the practice, you choose a fixed monthly rate that you can pay. You can get in touch and make an arrangement with one or more of the folks in the collective.

Every Wednesday from 11h until 13, Autocuratio offers Natural healing advice and treatment (nutritional advice, ear acupuncture, massage, spinal adjustment) at Zielona Gora (Gruenbergerstr 73).

The Berliner Krisen Dienst offers emergency mental health counselling that is anonymous and multilingual. You can ring them anytime, and here are the phone numbers.

Multilingual, free peer counselling for women is available at women’s centres like Paula Panke, Schokofabrik, Frieda and EWA. You can see a whole list here.

The FFGZ in Schoeneberg (Feminist Health Centre for Women) offers counselling and other health resources. They specialize in reproductive and women’s health.

Health and wellbeing is strongly linked to relaxation, and that is why saunas are so amazing and important. You might feel a bit uncomfortable at first with the naked part, but you’ll get used to it. The Berlin Baederbetriebe has an amazing array of saunas and pools. If you have some cash to drop, the Liquidrom is a cool, salt water based spa and sauna.

Heile Haus e.V. is a former squat that is now a grassroots community health centre. They offer workshops, individual consultations, sports and dance, language courses, a little cafe and a bathroom/shower/washing machine area that people can use.

Another very good resource for people with longer term medical conditions is the ARTABANA network. It’s a decentralized non profit network of medical health professionals and other healers who provide free, confidential services all across Deutschland for those without insurance, or without adequate insurance. The Medibuero fuer Fluchtlinge is a network of medical professionals that treat refugees and undocumented people free and anonymously.

We offer Hatha Yoga in English, Vinyasa Yoga in English, Restorative Yoga in English and Classical Yoga in English and Spanish. All of these classes are available for a reduced price—just ask one of us at the studio. If you know of other cheap or free health services in Berlin, please let us know and we will add them to this list!

Fall Schedule and Special Offers!

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photo by Fern

The days are getting shorter, the first leaves are falling and there is only just the slightest hint of chill in the evening air, but we all know what it means…

It’s time to do more Yoga, dammit!

To accommodate everyone’s return from their Summer Adventures, we are happy to announce that we will be opening three new classes!

From September 1 onwards, our new schedule will look like this…

Tuesday

Thursday

Sunday 

15h45-17h15

Community Class

18h00-19h00

Hatha Yoga

17h45-19h30

Classical Yoga

 

16h00-17h30

Vinyasa Flow

starting September 15th

20h00-21h30

Vinyasa Flow

20h00-21h45

Classical Yoga

 

18h00-19h30

Restorative Yoga

starting September 15th

  taught by Juli; taught by Pedro; taught by Meg

To celebrate the change of season with our lovely student community, we have 2 Special Offers…

Buddy Pass: Receive a free yoga voucher to give to a friend when you purchase a 5er card or month of classes in September. We know you all love yoga so much that you talk about it to anyone who will listen, so… the voucher is valid until the end of 2013 and can be given to a friend who has not been to one of our classes before. Then they will know what you’re always talking about!

and

Early Bird Special: Sunday yoga till the end of October for only 50euro! Sign up for Sunday classes on or before September 15th and get 7 classes for the price of a 5er card.

May 13th: A Day of Free Yoga!!!

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We are very happy to introduce and welcome two new teachers, Pedro and Juli, to our English Yoga Collective!!

      Juli goddess posePedro

Pedro and Juli will  be teaching on Mondays starting from May 13th. Pedro will be teaching Classical Yoga and Juli will be teaching a gentle Vinyasa Flow. To help you get to know them better, May 13th will be a day of English free yoga classes in Berlin!

When:            17h30-19h30 (Classical Yoga) & 20hoo-21h30 (Vinyasa Flow)

 

Where:          Görlitzerstr. 39

Who:              Pedro and Juli

How much: on this day all yoga is for free!

 As usual, classes will be limited to 10 participants, so make sure you arrive early to get a spot!