Yoga styles
For thousands of years, the nature of man has been explored in yoga through various kinds of inner contemplation. All these types serve to expand our self-awareness. In our teaching, we use different methods of yoga to reach that retreat and expand our self-awareness.
Hatha Yoga
Our Yoga classes begin with elements of Hatha Yoga. This style of Yoga works through physical exercises:
Asanas – body postures for the regeneration and build-up of the entire organism
Bandhas and Mudras – targeted muscle contractions to activate energy
On the physical level, the mobility is promoted, the immune system strengthened, and relaxation and bodily wellbeing are generated. Vitality and the inner strength are fostered and the awareness for inner processes raised.
On the emotional level, the exercises create an air of ease and high spirits. This triggers a transformation process.
A spirit of inner liberty, creativity and mental balance can arise.
Kundalini Yoga
The second main focus our classes are breathing and body exercises from Kundalini Yoga. Through an intensified oxygen intake these exercises have a soothing and stimulating effect on the whole organism. The aim is to arouse subtle inner strengths.
The fundamental principles originate from the tradition of Yogi Dhirendra Brahmacharia and his student Reinhard Gammenthaler.
Focus on the Chakras
During the body and breathing exercises, we consciously direct our attention towards the chakras. In the Yoga system, the chakras equal latent, energetic centres in the human bodies. Their state of activation differs from person to person. The chakras have an influence on our emotional and mental state. Working with the chakras, characteristics such as courage, love, mental balance, assertiveness, self-confidence, and openness can be specifically strengthened.
The foundation of this knowledge hails from the tradition of Agama Yoga and forms an essential part of our Yoga classes.
Raja Yoga
In advanced classes, we will also employ techniques from the Raja Yoga, a Yoga style in which mental training is used as means for broadening the self-awareness.
Concentration exercises calm our mental activity and focus our attention.
A state of deep serenity, satisfaction, and clarity can be achieved. We learn to perceive our intuition more clearly.
Furthermore, indoor and outdoor meditation exercises will be introduced. It is their goal to let our conscious mind completely immerse into the present.
If this state is maintained for an extended period, we gain access to areas of our own psyche, whose beauty is hard to put into words. This is the beginning of the true aim of Yoga: the conscious connection with our won essence. This connection is found to be immensely beneficial and gratifying. The primal meaning of Yoga is connection or unity.
The skilful fusion of Hatha, Kundalini, and Raja Yoga in our classes leads our students to a deepened experience and training of their body, and their emotional, mental and spiritual inner world.
Vinyasa
What makes Vinyasa Yoga special is the symbiosis between fluid movement and breath. Fluidity in motion increases sense of freedom and ease in our body, what moreover positively impacts state of mind.
We practice smooth transitions from one pose to another, creating a pleasant warmth in the body and stepwise intensifying Asanas difficulty. Throughout this awareness of the body and breath control we focus on building strength, improving balance, slowing down the breathing pattern. By repetitive sequences accompanied by sound of the breath we create a meditative ambience that conduce a deeper state of relaxation.
YIN-Yoga
In YIN Yoga, postures are held between 1 and 7 minutes.
YIN works on the deepest layer of the physical body – the myofascia.
YIN is effective at releasing tension in the body, nourishing the connective tissues and calming the nervous system.
It is great as a standalone practice and as a complement to more dynamic movement practices, which do not reach as deep as the fascial structure.
YIN Yoga stimulates the meridians – the energy lines running through the body connecting to the vital organs. In Chinese Medicine each organ is related to a season:
Winter – Kidneys & Bladder; Spring – Liver & Gallbladder; Summer – Heart & Small Intestine; Autumn – Lung & Large Intestine.
By nourishing the meridian lines and organs with YIN Yoga we give ourselves a practice carefully crafted to the specific needs which change with the seasons.
Pranayama
The Yogic breathing techniques are called Pranayama. The name is constituted of Prana (Breath, Respiration, Vitality, Energy, Life) and Ayama (length, extent). Pranayama describes a conscious approach to master breathing aiming at deepening and expanding it.
In Yoga, the breathing process is of extraordinary importance. Our mental and our emotional state influence our breathing and vice versa. When we are stressed, nervous, tense or angry our breath usually is short, shallow and hasty.
Similarly, we can influence our inner state through our breathing. If we steadily exhale a couple of times, slowly and silently, and then draw a deep breath, it will instantly affect our mood.
Many people’s breathing is shallow and inefficient. This inhibits the blood and the organs from a sufficient oxygenation and thus is a strain for the whole organism. Possible consequences range from inertia, tiredness and listlessness to lethargy.
Pranayama helps us to regain our natural, free respiration and then teaches us how to expand our breathing capacity. This is an essential part of classical Yoga practice. The quality of breathing is vital for the smooth functioning of our body functions. Additionally, there is a close link between calm and deep breathing and a well-balanced and relaxed mental state.
Taking control of your breathing means to enter into a deep connection with oneself. This actively reduces physical and mental tensions.
In Pranayama, breathing is exclusively done through the nose. While exhaling slowly, we lower the chest, relax our stomach completely and, at the end, even push it a bit towards the spine in order to exhale the residual air. While inhaling slowly, we refill our respiratory system in a particular way. Firstly, we breathe into our stomach and then our chest, before we fill the clavicle region. This procedure is repeated a couple times ideally, outside in the fresh air.
This lets our breathing unfold fully, filling us with vitality, strength and happiness.
Breathing exercises are a fundamental part of our regular Yoga classes and Yoga workshops. We place a special focus on our everyday breathing and Pranayama in Yoga workshop 3. However, it could also be the focus of a Yoga workshop specifically addressing your individual concerns.
Meditation
Meditation is completely being present, regardless of whether it is behind shut eyes in the lotus position, while browsing the city, surfing a wave or even at work. The sensation is almost the same. It is true relaxation in which you consciously feel every movement. It is a state of perceiving and approving the next motion without judging it. It is a state in which life goes up in spontaneity.
Strengthened mindfulness and observation abilities for inner impulses, thoughts, and emotions grant us the freedom to decide whether or not we want to act on them. The ability to follow the inner wisdom and to decide what is beneficial to the situation increases – even under high pressure.
We use different types of meditation in our Yoga classes. There is time for conversations through which we make ourselves aware of how meditation can influence our daily life.
In addition to still sitting and perceiving, we employ motion. Meditating while walking makes it very easy for many people to immerse themselves completely in the moment and be fully present. Depending on the season we also offer a range of outdoor meditations focusing on our perception as well as a variety of indoor meditation exercises focusing on breath and the Chakras.
Complementing our standard meditation offer, Yoga workshops and Yoga holidays impart different meditation practices and specific knowledge to the participants. This lets them, more and more, incorporate total presence into their day-to-day life.
The attention is focused on perception itself: it may be the perception of the wind caressing our body; or the perception of a river glittering in the light; or the perception of our own breath.
Perceiving our bodies from the inside helps us to achieve this. By sensing the vivid power within us, we attain complete presence. We part with the incessant stream of thoughts of our mind.
Very often in our everyday life we see the glittering water of the river without really seeing it. We hear the birds singing their song at dawn, without really listening to it. In order to really see the glittering river, it needs complete presence. In order to really listen to the birds’ song at dawn, it needs a break of our stream of thought. In order to perceive nature’s beauty, we must fully immerse in the moment.
If we succeed in indulging in the perception alone, we make the acquaintance of the observing part in us – the acquaintance of our consciousness.
Millenniums-old teachings of Yoga as well as contemporary teachers such as Eckhart Tolle (‘The power of Now’) identify the consciousness as the basis of our being.
The stronger we interact with our consciousness, the richer our inner treasure of felicity, compassion, liberty, and love will grow. We realise that we are not bound by the limits of our everyday thoughts and views. Even the boundaries of our body blur: our consciousness expands and connects with the glittering river, with the wind, the sun, the trees, the mountains, and other people. The sensation of the infinity of our consciousness is what Yogis call “Yoga” – the state of unity.
Yoga Nidra
oga Nidra beinhaltet verschiedene Tiefenentspannungsübungen für Körper, Geist und Seele. Diese Form des Yoga kommt ohne Körperübungen aus. Wir konzentrieren uns einzig auf die Wahrnehmung von Körper, Atem und tieferliegenden Bewusstseinsebenen. Visualisierungen, Klänge und gesprochene Anleitungen helfen dabei, sich einer tiefen Entspannung hinzugeben.
Durch das Ausüben von Yoga Nidra gelangen wir zu einer aussergewöhnlichen Regeneration von Körper und Psyche im Wachzustand. Gedanken hören auf, in die Vergangenheit oder die Zukunft zu reisen und kommen in der Gegenwart zur Ruhe. Wir erfahren innere Stille für kurze Momente, die sich mit der regelmässigen Yoga Nidra Praxis auszudehnen beginnen.
Das hat viele positive Auswirkungen auf unser Wohlbefinden. Während sich Körper und Psyche entspannen, lösen sich nicht nur muskuläre Verspannungen, sondern auch emotionale und mentale Blockaden.
So können mit Hilfe von Yoga Nidra zahlreiche körperliche und seelische Leiden gelindert werden, zum Beispiel Schlaflosigkeit, Angstzustände, Empfindlichkeit, Nervosität und Aggression.
Wir bemerken, wie sich die Erfahrung der Tiefenentspannung direkt im Alltag auf unsere Gedankentätigkeit und unseren Gefühlshaushalt sowie auf die Qualität unseres Schlafes auswirkt.
In einem fortgeschrittenen Stadium des Yoga Nidra trainieren wir das sogenannte ‚luzide Träumen’ (bewusstes Träumen). Die verschiedenen Phasen des Schlafes – darunter die Träume – sind bereits seit Jahrtausenden Bereiche, welche Yogis und Yoginis untersuchen und deren Potentiale für den Alltag zu nutzen verstehen.
Yoga Nidra ist ein wichtiges Element von Yoga Workshop 3. Teilweise beschäftigen wir uns auch während der regelmässigen Yogakurse in Zürich mit dieser Form der Tiefenentspannung. Wenn Sie es wünschen, können Sie einen speziellen Yoga Nidra Workshop anfordern, für Sie als Einzelperson, aber auch für kleine bis mittelgrosse Gruppen.
Unter Yoga Workshop – auf Ihr persönliches Anliegen zugeschnitten erfahren Sie mehr.
