When I started doing yoga more regularly about 12 years ago I never gave any thought to hands on adjustments. I don’t have any clear recollection to be 100% sure but I guess it is largely because in the classes I attended there were hardly any. In the classes I attended the instructions were given orally with the teachers demoing, to different degrees, the poses in front of…
If you found my previous post interesting, there is more! In a documentary entitled “Who Owns Yoga?” the Al-Jazeera correspondent Bhanu Bhatnagar “explores the impact of our modern obsession with one of the world’s oldest physical and spiritual practises.” The documentary is only 50 minutes long. It features well established names from the yoga world in the West and East, such as Sharon Gannon and David Life (founders…
Few months ago a fellow yoga teacher posted on Facebook an article about whether or not yoga should be considered as a sport that triggered my interest. For most of us the mere idea of talking yoga and sport, let alone yoga as a competitive sport, seems outrageous. The steady breath, the journey for emotional and maybe even spiritual wellbeing and inner peace that we associate with yoga…
It is 100% true that to practise yoga all you need is the willingness and the patience to do so. The yamas and the niyamas are accessible everywhere, and there is no “wrong” way of practising them. Equally breathing techniques, pranayama, can be incorporated into everything, because well, it’s breathing! As for asana practise, a minimum amount of flat space is of course desirable but after that, the…
Some of you might already have seen the video starring the international yoga teacher Briohny Smith did for the US fitness chain Equinox some six years ago. At the time the clip caused quite an uproar (mainly in the US, not sure if anybody in Europe cared…) as some considered it to be portraying yoga in an overtly sexual way, not representing the “true spirit” of the practise…
It can be just as daunting as it is exciting to start a new activity and yoga is no exception to that. Whether you start to practise in a fancy yoga studio or at a more down to earth community centre, here’s a list of few unwritten rules that most yogis around the word follow. The physical yoga practise is individual yet collectively done and observing the yoga…
Iyengar yoga is one of the most widespread yoga styles in the world, yet it is not as familiar to many as other yoga styles, such as hatha and asthanga. My first experience with Iyengar yoga was three years ago on a surf and yoga camp in Portugal, where I rocked up with a dislocated shoulder I had gotten the day before the camp started. Annoyed with myself,…
Iyengarjooga on yksi maailman laajimmalle levinneistä joogamuodoista mutta ei kuitenkaan ehkä yhtä tunnettu kuin hatha- tai astangajooga. Sain ensikosketuksen Iyengarjoogaan kolme vuotta sitten Portugalissa jonne olin matkustanut jooga- ja surffileirille. Päivää ennen leirin alkua onnistuin saamaan olkapääni sijoiltaan enkä ollut varma tulisiko joogaamisesta yhtään mitään. Ensimmäisen aamun joogaopettaja ei kuitenkaan hämmentynyt vammastani yhtään vaan päinvastoin sanoi ettei se ole mikään este. Kyseessä oli siis nimenomaan Iyengarjoogan opettaja ja…
Originally I had planned to go to an advanced level vinyasa class on my last full day in Paris. With all the walking done over the days (and long dinner on Tuesday on Tuesday evening) I however started feeling like something mellower would be a better fit for the day. As mentioned I had really like the energy at Studio Keller the day before and I quick look…
There is a real yoga scene in Paris and as I was due to visit my old hometown over few days I naturally wanted to check out what is on offer. Cue a message to the “Finnish people in Paris” Facebook page (note to self, 1am on a Saturday morning is probably not the best time for any question) and googling along the lines “best yoga classes in…