Tag: yoga in Berlin

Top 10 Tips for Freelancers in Berlin (Part Two)

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Last week we presented you with the first part of this blog.  Here is the eagerly-awaited conclusion with the rest of the top tips for low-income freelancers in Berlin.

3) If you are a broke-ass freelancer and you’re registered with a German Health Insurance (a gesetzliche Krankenkasse) company, you may be eligible for a reduced rate.  As a freelancer, they’ll usually assume that you make lots of money, so they’ll give you some heart-attack-inducing monthly rate (usually around 300euro). Don’t cave and pay it! Rather, tell them that you’re broke and they’ll send you a form about your income (Einkommensermittelung), from which they will calculate a monthly rate (a legally-defined percentage of your income). They have to charge you a minimum of (for 2014) 158e per month; it starts to rise when your take-home income goes above 927euro per month. Sometimes health insurance companies only offer these reductions for freelancing that is part-time (which they define as less than 19,5 hours per week, on average, and is considered nebenberuflich).

4) You’re not obliged to pay into the German pension scheme, unless you’re a teacher, midwife, crafts person, journalist, care worker or artist. The pension scheme is 19% of your monthly income, before tax. There was a proposed law last year to force all freelancers to pay in; it got struck down.  If you have the money to pay in, it’s a great idea; it also is very important if you are trying to qualify for residency or citizenship here. You can see a more detailed list of which people are obliged to here.

5) You have to have more than one client. A lot of German businesses tell their employees to become freelance, so that they can employ them without paying benefits for them. It is a really dirty tactic and very widely practiced. Unfortunately, it is the freelancing employee who is penalized for this so-called Scheinselbständigkeit (apparent freelancing). If, during a calendar year, you make more than 83% from one client, you are considered to be scheinselbständig–and therefore are required to pay into the public pension scheme, which is gonna cost you a whack of cash. (They can make it retroactive for up to four years, too!)

6) If you’re here on a visa, make sure your paperwork shows you doing work that your visa allows. Not all freelance jobs are created equal–if your visa is for freelance teaching, you can’t just toss carpentry into the mix (well, not with a receipt, anyhow). Here is a blog on the issue , and another one.

7) You don’t pay tax on the first 8,130e you make (if you’re unmarried). If you’re married, your income is taken together and your partnership gets a tax-free amount of 16,260e. As a single person, it works out to about 670e per month of profit, before you have to start paying income tax. Your insurance is tax-deductible, and so are your pension payments. You can learn more here.

8) As a freelancer, it makes sense to learn about what you can claim as business expenses. For example, if you have office space at home, you can claim a part of your rent as a business expense–but make sure you get your landlord’s permission first, because it could be grounds for eviction otherwise!  You can also make deductions for travel costs, further education, meals with clients–hell, even your bike. Learn about the tax regulations –it pays off!

9) Accountants are really expensive. The cheaper alternative is to join a Lohnsteuerhilfeverein–an association for helping people with their taxes. They’re non-profit associations, and the membership fee is usually pretty low.

10) When everything seems too much and you feel at the end of your rope, take a break, come to one of our classes for a yoga session where you can regroup, relax and take stock before going back into the thick of it.

Top 10 Tips for Freelancers in Berlin (Part One)

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What do English teachers, massage therapists, graphic designers, yoga instructors, translators and in-home care workers have in common? In Germany, these professions (and dozens more) are increasingly done by selbständig (freelance) workers. This is a relatively new phenomenon, and there are a lot of complicated aspects of doing freelance work.

We teach English and Spanish yoga classes in Kreuzberg, and many of our students are expats in Berlin; many of them are freelancers, and everyone in our collective has extensive experience freelancing; so, we put two and two together and decided to develop this blog as a free resource, in English, to help people navigate the (often confusing) terrain of Selbständigkeit in Deutschland!  Many freelancers in Berlin are precarious workers, so this blog is dedicated to their needs.

Recent studies have shown that there are over 1.1 million freelance workers in Germany who make less than the state’s proposed minimum wage (i.e., less than 8.50e per hour). This situation dates back to Gerhard Schröder’s Agenda 2010 economic reform.  Since Agenda 2010, economic inequality has risen in Germany and working conditions have plummeted. It’s a criminal situation–but it’s totally legal! So we would like to share with you about what we have learned, to help make it a bit easier…

Disclaimer: we’re yoga teachers, not accountants or lawyers; if you need more detailed information, please visit free legal counseling services or join a union like the FAU or Ver.di and get their help!

Tips for low-earning freelancers…

1) If you’re an EU citizen, you’re entitled to income support from the Jobcentre. The Jobcentres have recently been sending letters to non-German Europeans and telling them that they have no right to Hartz IV benefits (which comprise of money, health insurance and your rent every month). This is illegal–as both the European Court in Brussels and the German Bundessozialgericht have recently confirmed. Hartz IV is a lot of bureaucracy, work and stress, but, if you’re up against the wall, it can help you a lot. We recommend a visit to the following independent and free sources of information:

2) Whether you’re an EU citizen or not, if you are legally living in Berlin, you’re entitled to the Housing Benefit (Wohngeld). As a freelancer, it’s tricky because you need to give them a prognosis of your earnings in order for them to calculate your need. You also need to be officially registered where you live, and have a rent contract. The following counseling services can help you with the forms:

 

These links and resources should get you started.  Don’t miss the second part of this informative blog, coming out next week with the rest of these great tips.

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.

New to Berlin? You are not alone.

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One of the most interesting parts of our Yoga Studio in Kreuzberg is meeting expats from all over the world. New students arrive to a class early, and we sometimes get the chance to talk with them about their experience of being new in Berlin. It’s always humbling and interesting, hearing fresh perspectives and reliving our own migration journeys. Here is some stuff we have learned…

 

Stress Is Part of the Package…

Moving somewhere new is inherently stressful. It’s also exciting, funny and thought-provoking. The stress you feel is your body and mind struggling to keep up with so much newness! Everyone feels it differently: some people will say that they feel angry, exhausted, sad, anxious or lonely, and others simply can’t sleep, can’t eat or can’t stop moving. 

 

And So Are Setbacks and Curveballs…

Your life here is going to look different than what you expected. In fact, that would be true no matter where you were! But it will be clearer here. Adjusting will take some time, and in the meantime you will surprise yourself with the new challenges you seek out and the new risks that you take.

 

But You Can Deal With It…

Now is the time to pull out all of your self-care secret weapons! Make time to Skype with friends and family back home. Do your best to eat a nourishing, healthy diet and make sure you leave room for comfort food from back home. Seek out green, peaceful environments (we recommend the greenhouses at the Botanical Gardens) and the company of animals. Make your wellbeing a priority – whatever that means for you. Sauna, yoga, and sleep- whatever it takes. And, as always, don’t forget to breathe.

 

And You’re Not the Only One.

This is often the hardest part–feeling like you’re doing it all alone. Well, you aren’t! There are plenty of new folks here and they are also looking for friends. Socialize, meet lots of people and put effort into creating friendships and community that will support you. Take classes and join groups, and know that, once you have just one good friend, you will feel about a million times better.

 

For help with your transition, check out our Wellness resources in English.  As teachers of a very international yoga community–and as migrants ourselves–we are happy to support you in taking care of yourself and growing into your new life here.

 

See you on the mat!

Guest teacher Anastasia Shevchenko comes to our next Community Class

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Anastasia’s yoga journey started over 10 years ago.  Throughout her growth as a yogi, she has experienced many different yoga styles, which she credits with deepening her understanding of the essence of yoga.

“In my personal practice and in my teachings, I enjoy combining static postures held for a prolonged period of time (Hatha-style) with more dynamic exercises, synchronized with the breath (Vinyasa-style). Both types of exercises have their distinct benefits on the physical, psychological, and mental wellbeing.”

On our next Community Class at English Yoga Berlin, she will guide a yoga lesson that everybody can relate to, with postures that build core strength, increase flexibility in the limbs, and relax the body and the mind. The class is open to students of all levels and abilities.
WHEN?    Thursday 21st November, 2013 (15.45 – 17.15)

WHERE?   English Yoga Berlin – Görlitzer Str. 39, Kreuzberg

HOW MUCH? Donation based / Pay What you Can

Four Yoga Poses for Back Pain

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Many people discover Yoga during the process of trying to treat back pain. Back pain is a very common problem in our society and can be caused by diverse sources. It can stem from simple muscle tightness, chronic postural problems, bad working conditions, structural misalignment in the skeleton, emotional stress or any number of other imbalances in the body.

 A regular, personalized Yoga practice can go a long way in helping to relieve back pain. We are careful to keep our Berlin Yoga classes small enough so that every student can freely ask questions about their own body. It’s important that your practice is tailored to suit your needs–every back is different! Make sure that you let your teacher know about your specific issues. For example, Yoga for a slipped disc is very different from Yoga for tight hamstrings. 

 Here are some tips for using Yoga to treat the most common back ailments.

Downward Dog is a wonderful posture for strengthening all of the paraspinal muscles. It also helps to stretch the hamstrings and calves, which, when tense, can contribute to lordosis in the lumbar spine. It’s very important to have a straight back as you practice Downward Dog–so start with bent knees and, as your legs warm up, you can experiment with straightening them. Sliding the shoulder blades down the back and rotating the upper arms outwards will keep your shoulders broad and strong in the pose.

 Cat/Cow is a gentle vinyasa that helps the spine warm up and releases tension in the back. Make sure you move slowly, deliberately and with your breath. If you have neck problems, keep your neck steady and your gaze on the floor. Otherwise, you can let it move with the rest of your spine. As your back warms up, notice where the bend is easiest to accomplish in your spine and then gently bring the movement into the stiffer parts of your back. This will help achieve more mobility in tighter parts of the spine.

Child’s Pose is a great release for the lower back. Bringing your knees together under your belly will bring your spine into neutral. Letting them rest wide apart is a deeper hip opener but involves more flexibility in the lower spine. Choose whichever variation works best for you, rest your forehead on a block or on the floor and then breathe and relax.

 Abdominal Work is best performed while lying on the back. This way, the floor can support the pelvis and the lower back. This makes it easier to work the abdominal muscles without straining the spine and strong, long core muscles are a key part of back health. Start gently, lifting the legs one by one (with the knees bent if need be), and then build gradually towards longer holds.

 As always, listen to your body. If you feel any pain, stop, rest and ask for a variation from your teacher.

Honouring your limits and restoring balance: A new restorative yoga class, and a guest teacher!

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This Thursday, Natalie Kakon joins us as a guest teacher in our community class: “Unwind and release; allow your stress to slip away by yoking to a feeling of infinite space within the body. Learn how to expand your chest and lengthen your spine with the support of blocks, blankets and chairs. Bring your body back to its individual balance while connecting to a deep sense of relaxation. Join us for a restorative, yin practice.”

 

What?:  Restorative Yoga with Natalie Kakon

Where?:    At the English Yoga Berlin studio

When?:    Thursday, November 7, from 15h45 till 17h15

How much?:   Donation based/pay what you can

 

Our weekly Restorative Yoga class with Juli happens every Sunday evening at 18h in our Kreuzberg yoga studio.

 

 

 

Why Restorative Yoga?

In our everyday lives, we are often encouraged to push further, achieve more, do more, be more social, be more productive, fill our days with activities and take on more work. It is easy to lose sight of our own capacities, our own limits, and we can push ourselves beyond them without nurturing the support structure that we need to maintain a healthy balance, inviting stress, anxiety, injuries or illness. A restorative yoga practice (as well as yoga nidra and other practices that focus on relaxation) can help to rejuvenate the body and mind after pushing too far, thereby fostering balance. Once we know our limits and have nurtured them we can then gently (and with support) test the waters and play at the edges.

Expanding our limits (and moving beyond our comfort zone) can cause great rewards such as opening our minds to new concepts, becoming more flexible or physically strong, and strengthening our empathy towards other people. But it’s not possible to find balance if all we feel is stress, low energy and burn out. Restorative yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for nurturing our bodies and restoring them to health. When we are in a rushed and high-energy state, our bodies activate the ‘sympathetic nervous system,’ which is responsible for releasing certain chemicals to keep us going, so that we can react quickly and do more within a shorter period of time – a state of fight-or-flight. These chemicals can linger in the body until the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to counter them. And we can remain in this state long after the specific things that have caused us anxiety or stress have ended. This is why we sometimes feel that ‘relaxing’ (meeting friends, watching TV, reading a book) cannot rejuvenate us. We may have trouble sleeping or have anxious dreams, which only perpetuate the feeling of urgency, stress, and low energy.

What is Restorative Yoga?

The only way to counter these effects in our body is with complete and total concentrated relaxation. Activities that remove distractions, such as meditation, sitting by a fire, or going for a solitary walk can help. Yoga Nidra and Restorative Yoga are specifically designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, so that the body and mind can restore to balance. Restorative Yoga is based on the Iyengar tradition of using props to support the body during poses.

Some of these poses were adapted by Judith Lasater for a restorative practice, so that deep relaxation could occur by holding positions longer (up to 15 minutes) with the support of bolsters, blocks, chairs, pillows and blankets. The body is positioned in such a way that it is totally supported, without the need to either stretch the muscles or use their power. A restorative pose should be very very comfortable and relaxing so that the muscles of the body can decompress, and the mind can completely unwind, fostering the release of chemicals from the parasympathetic nervous system. A restorative yoga class may contain some gentle flow or Hatha poses before moving into the longer-held restorative poses.

The classes we do at English Yoga Berlin incorporate a gentle flow, along with some chair-supported Hatha poses (beneficial for those needing to strengthen their bones and joints because of Osteoporosis or Arthritis). Our community class guest teacher, Natalie Kakon, will incorporate some Yin poses in her class. Yin poses use gravity to help open up the body to deeper stretches, encouraging more flexibility. Yin yoga is about finding the edge of your limit and breathing through it to open up a little more space. This particular combination of restorative and yin poses can be very juicy, as it can support the return to balance as well as gently push the edges all in one class!

Is Yoga Good for Business?: An Interview with Shaleah Dawnyel

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Small Business Coach, Shaleah Dawnyel

The classes we offer in Kreuzberg are as varied as the people who attend them. We have artists, activists, doctors, parents and business people. We offer Classical yoga, Hatha, Vinyasa Flow and Restorative yoga to make sure that there is something for everybody. And because we offer affordable classes in English and Spanish, we often attract people from around the world who are starting a new life here in Berlin.

Recently, we did an interview with one of our longest attending students. Shaleah Dawnyel is a small business coach in Berlin who focuses her work on helping freelancers and entrepreneurs to move their businesses forward. She is also one of the biggest supporters of our yoga school as she is constantly sending overworked and overstressed people our way. So, we took some time to ask her why.

 

What made you start coming to English Yoga Berlin?

The stress of my international move is what originally prompted me to come to the studio. I was looking for some way to handle my anxiety about being an expat-freelancer who was starting over from scratch here in Berlin. But when I moved from LA, I had the wrong idea about yoga. I thought mediation was a bunch of crap and therefore I thought yoga was too. It’s a big industry where I come from where people are often trying to prove how holy, bendy and yoga trendy fashion conscious they are. When I discovered English Yoga Berlin, it totally changed my perspective.

What’s so different about our yoga classes?

EYB classes are always so nurturing, supportive and challenging. They aren’t filled with esoteric babble but rather a lot of practical wisdom. And the yoga teachers are not only knowledgeable but down to earth. They teach me to explore my personal limits and then to support myself once I have found them. This is a hard thing in life and business: knowing when to push and when to accept things as they are. The difference between go time and wait time is illustrated so clearly every day on the mat and it has helped me enormously to be able to identify what time it is in this big life transition.

How has your yoga practice helped you in your work?

I have learned to breathe through discomfort. This has helped me during difficult meetings. I have learned that every day I have a different capacity for things. This has helped me with effective time management. Yoga Nidra shows you how to visualize things in a relaxed state. This has taught me to achieve my goals with less striving effort. By learning to respect my own limits, I have actually become a better business person. I don’t ignore my instincts like I used to, but instead respect them as I know they are giving me valuable information about the current situation as it is unfolding. I don’t take situations with clients personally anymore because I have the benefit of the kind of perspective that regular yoga practice creates. When you become an audience to your life and work, you become exponentially more effective in everything you do.

What advice would you give freelancers and entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting yoga?

Do it. Seriously. If I was to give you just a short list of all the potential benefits of regular yoga practice it would include: more restful sleep, more energy, better focus, less stress and relief of back pain etc. In addition to this, I have noticed that with my small business clients and myself, the emotional and psychological benefits are exponential! Many freelancers and entrepreneurs over-work themselves because they simply don’t know when to stop. They continually struggle with understanding what is “enough”. Over time, this causes burn out. Any time we access and accept what is really going on inside us and use it- things have the potential to drastically improve. Regular yoga practice has helped me to manage anxiety, cultivate more creative thoughts and put them into action, increasing my self-confidence. By learning when to stop, I have become more effective in my “go time”.

 

But one word of caution- don’t just go anywhere for yoga. Go somewhere you feel good. Shop around if you have to because it’s an individual experience that should bring you what you personally need. English Yoga Berlin has small classes that make me feel like I am being simultaneously cared for and challenged. I look forward to being in the studio every week and I am truly grateful for their contribution to my life and work!