SPRING/SUMMER NEWS FROM ENGLISH YOGA BERLIN

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“Time
doesn’t heal,
consciousness does”

                                                                      ― Danielle LaPorte

Greetings Yogis!

The spring weather is all over the place, but we are not. We have grounded ourselves in preparation for a bright season to remember.  News from English Yoga Berlin bring you: Clelia joins the team, courtesy of Erasmus, to learn from EYB about survival in the world of small sustainable enterprises. Pinelopi is getting stronger and stronger after her accident.  There are still places left in the 3 hour Yoga and Alexander Technique’s workshop with Rossella Buono and David Moore – read all about it!!

News from English Yoga Berlin

Pinelopi is back

Pinelopi’s Back

Pinelopi is back after her bike accident in December.  Lots of thanks to the wonderful substitute teachers that have kept the yoga Kreuzberg classes going for her.  She is now feeling stronger and enjoying giving the Hatha Yoga classes again. Thank you to all the wonderful people who sent flowers, healing wishes and kindness!   This time apart doing physical rehabilitation and healing has allowed her to focus on how to better the injury conscious aspect of yoga.

 

DM FB event

Yoga and the Alexander Technique Workshops

Our 6-day workshop with David Moore and Rossella Buono has one place left. Write to us if you are interested! Because of the popularity of the workshop, we’re now also offering a 3-hour workshop on July 18th, 6pm to 9pm. Register here.

 

Erasmus – Clelia

Erasmus meets English Yoga BerlinHello, pleased to meet you!! My name is Clelia and I am here to learn from EYB what it takes to run a yoga enterprise committed to people and their needs – I hope to meet as many of you as possible.  Read more in the blog about how I got here, it’s a story about how to live through limitations and transform pain into a great opportunity.

 

 

 Yogatherapy

Juli continues with her yoga therapy courseJuli is excited to continue with the advanced yoga teacher training, Svastha Yoga Therapy at the begining of June. Module 5 will bring new knowledge about yoga for depression and anxiety to the community classes at English Yoga Berlin: therapeutic Vinyasa Flow on Sundays at 4pm.

 

 

New EU regulations on private data collection

EYB is GDPR compliant

Sign up for our newsletter

No doubt you know by now what GDPR is.  We have been reviewing all our administrative processes and our privacy policy as regards to the use and retention of the private data of our students.  As you know we only send out our newsletter for a maximum of four times per year, so if it would bring you joy to receive our heartfelt seasonal updates, click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. You can subscribe to our mailing list on the right.

 

Holiday Closures

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Holiday time

Everyone needs a holiday, even yoga teachers! Hatha Yoga classes will be closed from July 1 – 23.

Vinyasa Yoga classes closure will be from July 20th to mid-August, check the website for up to date schedule information.

 

 
We offer Hatha Yoga classes with Pinelopi and Vinyasa yoga with Juli.  Our yoga Kreuzberg Berlin classes are open for and welcoming to beginners. We also offer Berlin business yoga, pregnancy yoga, and private yoga classes, including for people struggling with chronic pain.

Sit up straight

 

“Sit up straight” is a phrase we often use as yoga teachers. The very premise of the asanas in Hatha yoga is to create a body that is comfortable enough to sit still, with a straight back in order to meditate. That is why we practice asanas: to reduce the dis-ease in our body, so that our minds can quiet, and that we can experience Existence beyond our body and mind.

But what exactly does “sitting up straight” mean.  In my ten years as yoga teacher, I have seen that this instruction is up for a myriad of interpretations. Everyone tries to do what their perception of straight is. However, the perception is created from deeply ingrained patterns and beliefs and does not always end up bringing you to a more balanced posture. Many interpret “sit up straight” to mean that you should concave your back and look like a ballerina. Others interpret it as pushing your hips forward and lean back, like swaying in the wind. Often people use a lot of muscular energy to try and hold their perception of straight.

Now, the fact that this instruction can be interpreted so widely constitutes an actual problem for asanas. Sitting up straight is the pose that all other poses stem from. One could interpret it as the mother pose that gives birth to all other poses. So when we are confused with what this means, and see our students use immense amounts of energy to execute it, it distorts the rest of the practice. There is an important link missing in our teaching.

But unfortunately, most yoga teacher trainings do not prepare you for this kind of analysis. Mine included.

This is where the Alexander Technique can help immensely in modern day yoga.

Last July, I had the pleasure to host David Moore and Rossella Buono, in a six hour workshop at our studio in English Yoga Berlin. They brought the Alexander Technique into yoga and into my life. They provided me with the “missing link” I was needing in order to take my yoga teaching to the next level. I understood that certain students were getting stuck in yoga poses because they were losing sight of the overall process of coordination. The “missing link” was in understanding and coordinating the basic posture from which all other poses rise…. or in other words, understanding what “sit up straight” really means.

In a merely six hour workshop, I learned so much as a yoga teacher! I was so inspired by this workshop that I immediately starting applying my new knowledge to my every day yoga classes, seeing a real difference in students. Since then, I have been working on getting David and Rossella back to teach Berlin yoga teachers more about how these two practices can work together. I am delighted that in July 2018, practitioners and yoga teachers from all over the world will come to attend a six day workshop doing just that!

 For more information about the workshop please click here.

 

Pinelopi specializes in Hatha Yoga. Her yoga Kreuzberg Berlin classes are open for and welcoming to beginners. She offers Berlin business yoga, pregnancy yoga, and private yoga classes for people struggling with chronic pain. In mid-September she will be offering her first English speaking yoga and mindfulness retreat dedicated to presence.

6 day intensive Yoga and the Alexander technique workshop

yoga and the alexander technique david mooreWe here proudly present the next level in our Yoga and the Alexander Technique adventures: a six day intensive workshop!

In the past year we have hosted two workshops at our yoga studio with David Moore and Rossella Buono. The workshops were a great success. Everyone left feeling they learned something valuable to bring to their practice and are now asking for more. So here it is!

WHEN: July 18th to 23rd 2018

WHAT: A six day Yoga and the Alexander Technique workshop that will give us the opportunity to explore the basics of posture movement and breathing and give participants the skills to develop a personalised approach to their yoga practice based on their own unique characteristics and needs. The practice does not end on the yoga mat, but involves the development of our awareness to how we are living and moving in all aspects of our lives. Besides examining and refining yoga poses we will be looking at everyday activities as simple as walking, standing and sitting.

In this workshop we will explore:

  • Coordination and posture from an Alexander Technique perspective
  • Modifying yoga poses

  • Breathing and pranayama

  • Deepening observation skills

  • Meditation

  • Freeing the energy flow through the body

  • Identifying and overcoming habits

  • Doing and non-doing

  • Developing an individualised practice

WHO ARE THE TEACHERS:   David Moore (author of Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness ) and Rossella Buono

FOR WHO IS THIS WORKSHOP:  It will be of particular interest to yoga teachers, Alexander Technique teachers and experienced practitioners in those disciplines. However, if you are not any of these things, but still wish to participate… you will be very welcomed!

WHERE: our English Kreuzberg Yoga studio

PRICE: €450 (€400 early-bird if paid before 19 May)

For more details please click here.

A workshop on yoga and the Alexander Technique!

We are happy to host a workshop at our studio on Yoga and the Alexander Technique! As injury conscious yoga teachers, we find this workshop particularly interesting to deepen our knowledge on how yoga movements can cause injury in different people. This is yet another step to deepen our commitment to providing safe yoga to our students.  You are all warmly invited to participate!

The details:

  • What is the Alexander Technique?

This is a technique that studies movement and helps eliminate unnecessary tension in order to move in a more effective way. By using this technique you can identify your unconscious patterns of tension and change these patterns to be more at ease in your body.

  • Who will run the Workshop?

The workshop will be run by David Moore, author of the books “Yoga and the Alexander Technique: Intelligent Injury-Free Yoga” and an upcoming book “Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander Technique to Enhance Your Practice, Prevent Injury, and Increase Body Awareness” which is being published in June (here are the reviews).  David is the director of the School for F.M Alexander Studies in Melbourne which has been running a three year full time training course for Alexander teachers since 1998. He has been developing and teaching the application of the Alexander Technique to yoga practice for over 30 years and runs workshops and retreats in Australia and internationally.

  • Who is it for?

This workshop is for every yoga or Alexander technique practitioner who wishes to deepen their knowledge in how to prevent and deal with injury. It will be of particular interest to yoga teachers, Alexander Technique teachers and experienced practitioners in those disciplines.

  • What is the workshop about?

The workshop will provide an active and practical investigation of

  • ·         Coordination and posture from an Alexander Technique perspective
  • ·         Modifying yoga poses
  • ·         Kinaesthesia
  • ·         Doing and non-doing
  • ·         Directing energy through the body
  • ·         Identifying and overcoming habits
  • ·         Developing an individualized practice

  • When?

July 2nd 2017 9am to 3pm

  • Where?

English Yoga Berlin, Görlitzer Str 39, Kreuzberg

The workshop is held in the Gemeinschaftsraum (the exKinder Kino, or KiKi). Press the button for ´YOGA´ at the front door, then follow the signs through to the last courtyard, up the stairs and find us on the first floor, by the painted trees.

  • How much?

50 Euro

  • Book the workshop:

Click here to book the workshop through paypal.

 

At English Yoga Berlin we offer regular weekly Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga classes. We are committed to using injury conscious approaches as we understand that each body is unique.  Our yoga Kreuzberg classes are open for and welcoming to beginners. We also offer Berlin business yoga, pregnancy yoga, and private yoga classes for people struggling with chronic pain.