Tag: Yoga in Kreuzberg

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!

Ayurveda Workshop Sunday 21st July

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What is Ayurvedic Healing?

In our last blog What is Ayurveda, we talked about the main parts and purposes of this ancient healing modality. Once you find out what are your doshas and have an idea of both your prakurti and vikruti, it may be time to start using this new understanding of your personal make-up to improve your overall health.

photo by Fern

Ayurvedic treatments are varied but may include any and all of the following: custom food plans, daily routines, herbal remedies, poultices, pranayama breathing exercises and yoga as well as other therapies such as oleation, massage and chakra balancing. (It is important to note that Ayurveda is not meant to be a substitute for Western medicine. It is best used as a complement to the allopathic system.)

We are excited to be hosting Yasmin F. Gow this Sunday (July 21) at our yoga studio in Kreuzberg as she presents an Intro to Ayurveda workshop. This workshop is designed to help you to deepen your understanding of yoga, help you choose the best kinds of asana and pranayama practices for you and help you to further love, appreciate and listen to your own unique body.

Ayurveda and Yoga: The Ultimate Blend
“As a yoga teacher, studying Ayurveda and becoming a certified Ayurvedic practitioner has changed everything for me, from the way I eat to the way I teach. My understanding of yoga, its Eight-Limbs, and its healing process has deepened through the study of Ayurveda. Not only am I happier and more aware of my own personal needs, I am also increasingly sensitive to the needs of my yoga students and Ayurvedic clients. Ayurveda has shown me that no one diet or any one yoga practice is necessarily good for everyone. Success and healing lie in the art of creating a tailor-made routine for the individual and simultaneously empowering that individual to observe his/her own natural rhythms and make his/her own conscious choices to lead him/her towards health and happiness. In teaching yoga, I call this approach Sustainable Yoga for Long-term Happiness (SuYoLoh).”

-Yasmin Gow

Date & Time: Sunday, July 21, fom 13:00 till 16:30
Teacher: Yasmin Fudakowska-Gow
Cost: 20 € (15 € for current English Yoga Berlin students)

About Yasmin
Yasmin F. Gow, ERYT 500, has taught yoga for over a decade. She is also an accredited Ayurvedic practitioner and the producer of five yoga DVDs. In 2010, she completed 108 days of 108 sun salutations and became the first woman to break the Guinness World Records™ Record for the longest yoga marathon lasting 32 hours. This initiative raised thousands of dollars for charity and was featured in publications worldwide, including India’s national newspaper the Times of India. A former studio owner, Yasmin currently offers Ayurvedic consultations, leads workshops internationally and mentors others to reach great heights.

Tuning in with your Intuition with Pranayama Breath Work – June 30th

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Intuition is the ability to understand or know something immediately without needing physical proof. This knowing is often based on your feelings rather than facts.

We are all naturally intuitive beings. We often have a “gut feeling” on what we need to do in any given situation. We know what the next move needs to be, because it just feels right when we think about it. But then often something happens. A thought comes up, a belief, and then we decide not to listen to our intuition. This is especially common in our western society because we are raised to follow our mind much more than our intuition.

The interesting thing about intuition however, is that is not about the head, is not about figuring anything out with the mind, it comes from a much truer source: the heart.

The heart is an amazing organ. At a physical level the heart is the most powerful source of electromagnetic waves in the body. Recent studies of the Heart Math Institute in California confirm that the heart emits waves that are 60 times stronger than that of the brain. They spread around the body in 360 degrees reaching up to four feet outside the body.

Through the electromagnetic field created by the heart we are broadcasting and receiving emotions, information, like radio waves in a continual exchange with the world. 　Isn’t that fantastic?

We are all such incredibly intuitive beings. We don’t even need to develop our intuition. We just need to re-learn to listen to our emotions, see how intuition talks to us and most of all, once we get the message, TRUST IT!

In our next pranayama yoga session here in the English Yoga Studio in Berlin, we will be using the pranayama breath work technique to open a new layer of the heart center and connect to our source of intuition. We will be working on feeling how your intuition talks to you. And what beliefs are stopping you from following it.

From my personal experience I can say, the more I follow my intuition the more I thrive in life. So I invite you to join us in this pranayama gathering that has the potential to put you right on track with that most juicy part of yourself.

Our next Pranayama workshop is on Sunday June 30, at our Yoga Studio in Kreuzberg.

Time: 16h00-17h30

Teacher: Rakel Sosa

Cost: 20 €

Places are limited.

For any question concerning this workshop you can contact us at: pranayamabreathwork@gmail.com

Yamas and Niyamas Part 4

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The final installment in our 4 part series about Yamas and Niyamas would not be complete  without talking about passion, self-reflection and surrender. In part one of this series, we talked about Patanjali´s limbs of classical yoga practice and started to explore the ethical guideposts within them (aka the Yamas). In part two of Yamas and Niyamas, we spoke about aspects of self-control with regard to possessions, sexuality and energy. Part three covered clarity and calm with regard to your inner life–the first installment of the Niyamas.

The Yamas and Niyamasa are ethical elements of practice, and they are what takes yoga from the level of physical exercise to a deeper, potentially life-altering point. All aspects of human life can be touched if a person is able to understand and practice the deep implications of yoga. Once again, 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 to cultivate happiness and to improve their lives and environments.

Tapas
“Tapas” is an attitude of passion and commitment. Some people think of it as discipline, or austerity. The word actually comes from the Sanskrit verb ”to burn”-so Tapas is all about fiery consistency. I think that we often get this mixed up with difficulty and striving. I prefer to think of it more as a gentle flame that inspires us to keep going, even when the tasks at hand seem very, very mundane! Think of doing your family’s laundry, or having the same conversation again and again with a friend who is struggling to understand something about themselves. Tapas brings us to do these things with patience, engagement and dedication.

What areas of your life and practice feel repetitive or lukewarm? Could being more present and engaged with these areas make you feel more excited about them?

Svadhaya
Svadhaya means active self-reflection, or study of the self. This doesn’t mean egotistical navelgazing. Rather, it’s about learning enough about yourself to see that you are part of something much, much bigger. Asana practice brings the body and mind to a place of quiet, so that we can experience our union with everything. Western Science calls this web of interbeing ´ecology´. The Yogic scriptures call it ´reality´. Both are correct, and Svadhaya is a practice that allows us to recognize this.  Svadhaya is an attitude that helps us to transcend projection, isolation and other illusions that come standard with a human body and mind.

How does yoga help you ”see” yourself in different ways? Do you have other practices that nourish this ability?

Isvara Pranidahna
The last Niyama is Isvara Pranidahna, which means ‘surrender’ or ‘faith’.  Simply put, this Niyama is about chilling the fuck out. Isvara Pranidahna means that you do your best, in the moment, with the tools you have, and then you release your attachment to the outcome. As the Bhagavad Gita says, “the future is none of your business, so don’t worry about it!” Focus on doing your best in the present moment, and leave the rest for another day.

Do your expectations and worries about a particular project or relationship hold you back from enjoying it fully in the moment? If you take a trial run at not worrying about controlling that thing, even for a minute or two, how does it feel?

Our Hatha yoga in English is a discipline of non violence that is about practice and experience, rather than dogma or rules. We offer yoga in Kreuzberg for all levels of physical ability. We believe that yoga in Berlin and around the world should be nurturing to your body and soul. And as we become happier and more balanced as individuals, we can go out and make our world a better place. We are happy to offer you a home in our sangha and hope we can offer you a place of belonging, growth and rest.

Spring Cleaning with Pranayama

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Photo by Fern

Breathing is the first thing we do when we are born, the last thing before dying. Our breath is the main vital force that keeps us alive. So, it is a good thing to ask: How is your breathing doing? Besides the fact that of course you are alive, how are you breathing? Are you exploring your breath in its full potential?

At the English Yoga Studio we invite you to experience a very particular and ancient modality of the Pranayama Breathing technique. A powerful exercise that will help you unblock tensions lodged in your body, this work is designed to help you to connect deeply with your vital creative energy. A real resource of wellbeing, this is an opportunity to relax, learn more about yourself and open the way to big fun and inspiration in your life!

 

Join our first Pranayama workshop and breathing circle on Sunday April 28, at our Yoga Studio in Kreuzberg.

Time: 16:00 – 17:30

Teacher: Rakel Sosa

Cost: 20 €

Click here for more details about this and other Berlin yoga workshops.

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?

 

Confused About Yoga Nidra: a Personal Story

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Blue door to yoga in kreuzbergFifteen years ago I moved back to Greece for a two year stay. I had been practicing Hatha Yoga in England and wanted to continue, so I joined the nearest studio to my house that I could find.

When I arrived for my first class, the teacher told me that this type of yoga was called Yoga Nidra but didn’t really explain what that meant. At this point in my yoga journey, I understood that there were many types of yoga. I had heard that the main differences had to do with the way the sun salutation is taught in different schools. But this didn’t bother me as it seemed a pretty small deviation.

Little did I know that Yoga Nidra meant that more than half of the class was to be spent in “shavasana” practicing relaxation! Every time the teacher would say it was time to go into the dead man’s pose I would think to myself, “already?.. but we hardy did any yoga!”. I hadn’t understood that practicing the relaxation was “doing the yoga”. It was the mind doing the yoga rather than the body.

Concious deep sleep yoga in Berlin

As soon as she would start talking, my mind would slip to another place. It felt as if I was not there at all but I could not tell you where I had gone either. It wasn’t that I was thinking of thousands of thoughts, on the contrary, I couldn’t remember a single thought! But I also knew that I had not been present since I couldn’t remember anything the teacher had said. It was a very strange experience. When I asked her if I should be concerned about this phenomenon, she told me not to worry because my subconscious had registered it all. But I wasn’t convinced.

I guess what was even stranger is that I kept on going back every week, for a year! Each time not able to grasp a single word my teacher had said!

It wasn’t until years later, while reading a book about Yoga Nidra, that I realized that during this period of my life I had started having my first lucid dreams. This means I was able to realize that I was dreaming while I was dreaming and could, as a result, be in control of my dream. Although this is not the objective of Yoga Nidra and a practitioner should not waste energy trying to achieve this state, the book said that it was a side effect that comes from practicing this kind of yoga.

yoga nidra dreamingWhen I made this realization it became obvious to me that this course had not been a waste of my time. My subconscious had actually registered everything after all! I started wondering: if lucid dreaming, (which I consider to be a beautiful and empowering experience) is only a side effect of yoga Nidra, then how powerful can the direct effects of yoga Nidra be?!

 

Without further thought, I returned to my mat and started practicing again.

If you are interested in trying out this enlightening style of yoga, join English Yoga Berlin in our Kreuzberg Yoga studio on Tuesday nights at 8pm.

Vinyasa Yoga: Fusion for Your Flow

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Recently, we added a new Vinyasa Flow Yoga class in Kreuzberg. Not your average yoga, this fusion style offers so many substantial benefits to those who practice it. But some people still seem to have questions about what makes this type of yoga so dynamic. We thought we might try to explain.

Vinyasa Flow yoga, aka “power yoga” takes its inspiration and principles from Ashtanga, but it is a more creative style. Each class is designed individually, using different asanas to focus on different parts of the body. Like Ashtangis, we pay very close attention to the transitions between each asana, or posture, and use breathing to coordinate the smoothest transitions. For example, while inhaling we focus on lengthening the spine and then while exhaling as we fold forwards. We also take from Ashtanga the use of the Sun Salutation as a ”link” between posture sequences.

When Cardio Meets YogaChandrasana during a Vinyasa Flow Yoga Class in Berlin

Vinyasa Flow classes, like Ashtanga, also tend to be a cardiovascular challenge because they are relatively fast-paced. Unlike Ashtanga, however, Vinyasa Flow postures are held for different lengths of time and movement is often incorporated into the posture (for example, moving the upper body rhythmically while keeping the lower body stable). Exercises and sequences from other traditions are also used such as tai chi, pilates and bellydance. Because these all use breath synchronized movement, they can be incorporated into Vinyasa Flow classes with ease to enhance the practice.

The popularity of Vinyasa Flow classes is probably the result of its diversity. Students find the classes fun, challenging and relaxing. For this reason, we decided to add another Vinyasa Yoga Class at our new studio in Kreuzberg. We would love to see you there!

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.

Stress & Yoga: A letter from an English Yoga Teacher in Berlin

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Dear 21st Century,

I have been teaching yoga for several years now, and to be honest, you are not making my job any easier! The stress that you have brought to Western life seems to have so many faces and seems to increase every year. Our progressively individualistic society makes people believe that they must solve all their problems on their own. People’s problems at work are leaking into every other area of their life. Every day I read from the newspapers about more people burning out due to stress at work. The combination of the flashing lights of commercialism and the constant bombardment of other stimuli that comes with living in a city only adds to these stresses. The self-employed don’t have the distinction between home and work, often lacking the discipline to employ that beautiful German word: “Feierabend”. And don’t even get me started on the state of our nutrition or how the radiation from our everyday domestic appliances negatively affects our health!

In all, it seems to me that along with tons of technological advances, your main additions to people’s personal lives have been feelings of loneliness, fear and deep stress. I believe that today, more than ever, we need to take more deliberate time to relax our bodies, emotions and minds (it’s really the only way to keep up with all the stuff you are throwing at us!) Creating a space with minimal stimuli in which a person can take the time to breathe and notice what is happening to his/her body, what feelings emerge, and what state of mind s/he in, is of utter importance. This is where Yoga comes in.

I believe strongly that the practice of Yoga can offer viable solutions for so many of the situations and conditions we experience today. In our yoga classes in Berlin we create that space of quietness and peace. My students enter the class with a rumble of thoughts and personal stress, and over the course of the hour, witness how the softness of breathing and stretching helps the mind calm down and helps them to think clearer thoughts.

As we learn to step back and observe what is happening to our bodies and our minds, we are taking the first step towards learning detachment. Detachment teaches us to not be so deeply involved in all the fancy stimuli and distractions you serve up daily. It shows us that we don’t need to get swept off our feet with every emotion or to let out lives fall apart when someone thinks something bad about us. Appropriate detachment is a tool that alleviates stress and in doing so, allows us to identify the real changes that we must make in our lives in order to better them.

I end each class with deep relaxation because it’s an important tool. Learning how to relax one’s body through a systematic relaxation, can also be used at any other important moment in life. I have had students practice the relaxation techniques we learned in class while riding the bus, before giving an important speech, or while conducting medical exams where absolute stillness was required. When people practice relaxation techniques with regularity, they can come to rely on them in times of stress. A weekly yoga class or a daily yoga practice creates this regularity and strengthens the cellular memory on the path to relaxation. This is one of the main reasons I teach yoga.

Yoga gives us many tools. Tools to breathe, tools to relax and tools to bring us inner peace. But to survive the life that seems to swirl around us regularly as a result of your active influence, my work is to help teach others to use these tools properly, how to alleviate all states of mind and emotion, and call on these tools when we need them so that we can live better lives.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Century.

Sincerely,

English Yoga Berlin