Kids Yoga

Our children are growing up in a world of busy parents, pressures at school and lots of expectations. It is a fast paced and competitive world and although we may not think about this being stressful for children it often is.

Children are naturally playful and creative. That’s why I love the saying “kids will be kids”. It is a beautiful recognition of children’s’ natural tendency to be spontaneous and adventurous. If this natural tendency isn’t nurtured during childhood it can be lost.

Children flourish when given the opportunity to be playful and creative. With the pressures that kids face in our world today it is important that they are given an opportunity to explore their playful side. One way that kids can do this is through yoga.

The ancient teachings of yoga are especially relevant for today’s kids. Yoga combines both physical and spiritual practices that promote a healthy lifestyle. It teaches us to be kind, compassionate and accepting of ourselves and others.

Kids get all of the benefits that adults get from a yoga class, increased body awareness, improved fitness and tools to rest their active minds. They respond well to yoga because it gives them a chance to explore aspects of their bodies, minds and emotions in a fun and creative way. It also teaches them how to deal with stress and issues of self esteem.

Yoga is offered to kids through stories, games, music, art and movement. There is a lot of play and laughter which helps to inspire children to maintain their natural wisdom, intuition and radiance.

Rebecca Simpson

Kids Yoga is non competitive and is all about having fun, living life and being free!

Please visit the Kids Yoga page here to read more about Kids Yoga at Ten Toes.

Peace, Love & Yoga Fun,

Bec

A second Ten Toes studio will be opening in a few weeks’ time.  Here’s what you can expect…

Lovely, fresh floorboards and natural light
Parking around and bus stop outside
Easy to get to and easy to find
Cafe close by for post-Yoga chai

We are busily turning the space into a beautiful Yoga studio and will keep you updated with progress reports.  (If you are an electrician, then call us!)

Have an inkling where the new studio could be?  Submit your guess by commenting below.  If you have the closest guess, you will win a FIVE CLASS PASS.  (Winner will be announced in the next newsletter 1 September.)

Radha Bornstein shares her love of Ayurveda

Ayurveda is India’s ancient medical system. For over five thousand years, Ayurveda has been an effective and powerful system for overcoming any dis-ease, be it mental, spiritual or physical. In a world that is constantly changing, it is comforting and assuring to have at our fingertips a healing system whose principles have remained unaltered through the passage of time.

These principles of Ayurveda are simple, practical and immediately effective. They are rooted in the foundation of the five elements. These elements are the building blocks for all of creation. They pervade our bodies and the world around us. These elements are:

Ether: this is the subtle, expansive space in which all things are contained
Air: the mobile and constantly shifting wind
Fire: the intense, heating power of transformation
Water: the flowing, life-giving element
Earth: grounding, stable and supportive

Ayurveda condenses these 5 elements into the three Doshas. Each Dosha contains two elements:
Vata contains air and ether. It is light, dry, cooling, rough, expansive and mobile in nature.
Pitta contains fire and water. It is sharp, intense, heating, oily and penetrating in nature.
Kapha contains earth and water. It is dense, heavy, cooling, moist and stable

Our bodies are pervaded by all three Doshas, but we are all born with a certain ratio of these Doshas. This is our constitution, which does not change during our lifetime.
For example, say someone is born with a predominance of Vata in their constitution.

Ayurveda

Due to the light quality of air and ether, that person would have quite a light frame and would find it difficult to put on weight. They may also tend to be a little ungrounded and light-headed. Due to the mobile quality, that individual would have trouble staying still. Their eyes and hands would tend to move a lot, they would be quite talkative and they may have trouble staying in one place for long. Due to the cooling nature of Vata, this person would dislike cold weather and may suffer from cold hands and feet.

Our constitution never changes. However, due to our daily lifestyle and dietary choices, we can aggravate any one of the Doshas. That is our current imbalance. The Sanskrit word for our current imbalance is Vikriti, and the word for our unchanging constitution is Prakriti.

Say this same person with the Vata constitution worked out in the hot sun and then ate a meal full of hot chilli peppers. These activities and foods increase the fire element within us, leading to a Pitta imbalance. A Pitta imbalance may manifest as a piercing headache felt more in the region of the temples, burning sensations or simply feeling irritable and short-tempered. So this person would then need to use regimes and foods that balance Pitta, such as eating some cooling basmati rice with fresh coriander and lemon, washing the head with cool water and having a restful and soothing evening.

As you can see, by knowing what Dosha is out of balance within us, we can use our common sense and knowledge of Ayurvedic principles to come back to balance. This is done by adopting foods and activities that are of an opposing nature to the Dosha that is out of balance. This is based on the simple concept that like increases like and opposites decrease each other.

Ultimately, Ayurveda is a science of awareness. It takes awareness to be able to tune in to our selves at any given moment and to have clarity about what we need. Living in this state of awareness is the true goal of Ayurveda and its sister science, Yoga.

By applying our knowledge and awareness in a practical way, we become our own healers. The power is placed back in our own two hands, and we no longer have to rely on numerous visits to health practitioners to try and sort out our problems. This is the wonderful beauty of Ayurveda. It gives us simple and effective tools that initiate the nurturing journey of Self-Healing.

Radha Bornstein

Radha Bornstein was first exposed to Ayurveda as a young child growing up in a Yoga community in California. She gained accreditation as an Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultant in 2007. For the past two years, Radha has been training under Australasia’s most experienced Ayurvedic Doctor, Dr. S. Ajit.

Radha will be facilitating a workshop at Ten Toes on Sunday 29 Aug 2010: Ayurveda - The Science of Life

If you have any stories about how Ayurveda has helped support your wellness, please share by commenting below. - Rachel

We don’t have to spend too much time on the mat before we begin to feel many of the profound and far reaching benefits of our yoga practice. The positive and enriching changes yoga can bring to our lives are almost countless. Some, like stretching and strengthening our physical bodies, are obvious, some can be a little more subtle like self love & a feeling of connection. It’s natural that as we experience positive change in our own lives, we begin to search for ways to share the benefits of yoga with others. For me, this has taken the form of Yoga teaching and a deep commitment to Fair Trade.

Fair Trade put simply, is an alternative system of trading that seeks to guarantee fair pay and working conditions for all people, but particularly those in developing countries who are often disempowered.  For me supporting Fair Trade has become a very practical way to take the teachings of yoga out into the world. There are many ways to look at the connections between the teachings of yoga and supporting Fair Trade, here are a couple that speak to me:

Connection
For many of us, our yoga practice fosters a deeper sense of connection to our breath, bodies, and our deeper self. In time we begin to feel a sense of connection to all of life. Supporting fair trade for me has become a way to have empathy for, and feel connection to, the people who make many common products I buy. By choosing Fair Trade tea, chocolate, home wares, gifts and yoga gear, I feel I am directly connected to the lives of courageous and talented people who make those products despite facing many challenges in their lives.

Choice
My yoga practice has helped me develop a reliable process of self observation. From this practice I have begun to know myself a little better every day, and thus I am able to make fresh choices in my life. As I see the benefits of my positive choices, I want to help others to expand their choices also. Supporting Fair Trade assists producers in developing countries to make simple choices like sending their kids to school, investing in their own small businesses (eg. buying a new cow), creating savings accounts, building improved dwellings, to name just a few.

Health & Wellbeing
My yoga practice has brought many positive health benefits, and has encouraged me to make diet and lifestyle changes to increase the effects. Some more great news about Fair Trade products is that they are often organic, ecologically conscious, hand made from natural materials and usually taste much better than other brands! So supporting Fair Trade is step in the right direction to increase my sense of health and wellbeing.

So if you’ve been searching for ways to share the benefits of your yoga practice with others, Fair Trade is one beautiful way to spread the love!

Peace, love and Fair Trade,

Jess White

Jess is the yogini behind www.ScissorsRockPaper.com, a Fair Trade and ethical webstore where you’ll find gear for the yoga practitioner, keen meditator and lovers of beautiful hand made gifts.

As women in a modern world we handle a variety of stresses. Our capacity in experiencing and exploring complex emotions is challenged greatly by the ebb and flow of our monthly cycles and the hormonal fluctuations throughout the different phases of menstruation, pregnancy and menopause we experience during our lives as women.

A yoga class for women is a safe environment where you can openly explore your emotions on the mat. It is important for women to nurture themselves and self nurturing through yoga helps to balance negative emotions and hormonal shifts experienced during times of PMS, menstruation, pregnancy and general life challenges. Time of menstruation can also be a powerful time of cleansing and the practice of yoga at this time can be a sensitive and deep experience if you connect with the rhythms and patterns of your own cycles.

In Yoga for Women classes, as well as increasing your strength, flexibility and motion in your joints, you will learn how to modify poses to complement these cycles and to help alleviate symptoms experienced during menstruation such as lower back pain, cramps, heavy bleeding, pelvic discomfort and emotional waves.  Yoga stretches not only your muscles but all of the soft tissues of your body, including the ligaments tendons and fascia sheaths surrounding your muscles.  Knowing how and when to stretch at the different times of your cycle can greatly benefit the fluctuations of your hormones and emotional self.  Specific poses can help reduce pain in the body, help to lower stress levels in the system and calm the mind as you focus your attention inwards during the practice of yoga.

Medicine has proved more than once that we house residual emotions within our organs and releasing these emotions on the yoga mat during times of PMS can be of great benefit to maintaining healthy relationships with our partners and friends.  Yoga can also help in maintaining regular levels of fertility and healthy menstrual cycles.

A regular yoga practice will release endorphins and soothe the nervous system making you feel happier and more able to function effectively when faced with day to day emotional challenges.  Yoga promotes self awareness, the opportunity to develop inner acceptance and self love and helps foster the ability to build a positive relationship with your own body.  After sharing your yoga experience with a room full of women, you will leave feeling fulfilled and deeply inspired.  In this current competitive world it is more and more important to surround yourself with a community of open, loving and supportive women.

See you in class, Girls!

Naomi

- Chameli, The Awakening Women’s Institute

Anna and her Baby Ava born 31 March weighing 2.7 kg

Anna says:

“My labour was absolutely wonderful – the most incredible experience of my life.  She was born completely naturally – I’m sure all of the lovely preparations we did in the yoga classes helped a lot!

Thanks a lot to Natalie for all of her help and support at the yoga classes – I’m really missing them now!  And best of luck to all of the soon to be Mums!”

Sometimes finding a way to feel uplifted is hard to do.  There often seems to be plenty of reasons to feel flat, discouraged, drained, overworked, melancholic, sad, apathetic…and even if there’s no identifiable reason, the feelings seem to persist.

I’ve found a fail-proof way to replace those feelings with lightness, joy, encouragement, peace…even inspiration and bliss.  It’s possible you are now thinking this post is shaping up like a pep-talk.  You may even be rolling your eyes.  But if you can, in an honest moment, admit that you ever feel down or lacking in energy, stay with me.

Chanting and singing in a group at a Kirtan (pron. keer-tahn) might take you out of your comfort zone, but lying just outside your comfort zone is a wide world of wonder.  Here’s how it works…

Chanting at Kirtan with Radiant Light Yoga

Putting yourself in a room full of other people whose intention is to feel uplifted can itself be enough to lift you out of the doldrums.  Add beautiful music and double the bliss.

Then join in the singing and double it again.  There’s something very therapeutic about expressing yourself through the singing.  That “something” has to do with removing blocks at the Throat Chakra and activating meridian points in the mouth as well as regulating the flow of your breath.

Adding Mantra to the mix will take your bliss through the roof.  Mantra is a word or phrase  that is capable of transforming the speaker or singer - words of power.  The words may originate from a spiritual language (often Sanskrit or Gurmuki) that arose from the teachings of enlightened sages and spiritual teachers or they may be affirmations in English.  Either way, Mantra is a mine of bliss.

Each mantra you chant and every repetition brings about a specific effect.  Chanting the name of a deity is a way of rehearsing and affirming the traits of that deity within yourself.  Chanting a Ganesha mantra will help you dissolve the blocks standing in the way of your progress, chanting a  Lakshmi mantra acknowledges the flow of abundance in your life and encourages it to continue to flow.

If you are practicing Yoga, you’ve no doubt realised that you are more than a body with a thinking organ.  You also have a soul.  So you’ve no doubt also realised that there is something bigger than you and me and this world we live in.  Perhaps you see it as a set of scientific rules about how things work (and you’re right).  You might see it as a Big Omniscient God (same thing really).  Maybe you see it as the connection of the innermost part of you to the essence of everything and everyone else (again - it’s all the same).  Chanting in a group at a Kirtan is a time to tune IN to that deeper realm and OUT of the noisy, messy  muddiness of our urban rat-race.

If you’ve been to a Kirtan before, please comment below about your experience.  Got concerns or questions about attending a Kirtan or about chanting generally?  Please comment below.

Yoga has an air of mystery about it. The lofty goal of enlightenment, of Union  between mindbodyspirit… or so it used to (literally translated, the word ‘Yoga’ means to yoke, bind, create a union).

We can now access Yoga in many different forms, places and times to suit our lifestyles. Many of the classes are taught (with respect) by people who have learned to replicate a sequence without truly understanding the true value and goal of Yoga.

Hence there are many classes available to us which simply are a mimic of the Asana – despite being well sequenced.

On the other hand the restrictions of our personal lifestyles are reflected in the class format. I know in some of my classes many people come to a particular class in order to simply grind out the days stresses and to get a good workout – while there is nothing wrong with this, I would still encourage some balance between a gymnastic workout and finding the Union.

The time we have in an Asana focused class is simply not enough to do this effectively.

For many of us, there comes a stage when you start to query what the teacher is saying when they mention things like “go deep within” or “use the breath to connect mind and body”. You start to find bits and pieces of comprehension of the Union… and when you do, you immediately know this is Yoga.

To explore and develop this aspect of Yoga the individual needs to explore past the daily class format – and yes, this is where I mention the upcoming workshop as an example…

Workshops are an invaluable aspect of further education in Yoga and Self. Many will focus on the Asana and correct alignment. Others will focus on Pranayama (breathing) or Meditation. Each have invaluable properties to bring about a more correct practice.

I have found, however, that few workshops focus on teaching you how to teach You.

To teach you how to observe when things are right, or when things are wrong as you come into, or out of, a pose. To observe and then adjust the body and/or mind in order to be more present and obtain clarity on the mat – and eventually in our daily lives.

To this end, I’ll be hosting a series of Workshops at Ten Toes in order to “Awaken the Inner Teacher”. The first will cover foundations and is scheduled for Sunday July 11 at 3-5pm.

See you on the mat!

Om Shanti

Geoff

Rachel's baby boy Gabriel born 8 April 2010 weighing 3.8kg

Rachel says:

“I’m positive that my Yoga practice prior to and during pregnancy helped me have a beautiful birth experience and to feel great quickly afterwards.  Now it’s helping me be a patient and present Mum!”