I’m on holiday from 4 – 16 of November 2024.
The yoga classes resume on Tuesday 19th of November 2024, for four weeks until the Christmas break.
November 2024 holiday
Atmanjali Mudra – Namaste
Atmanjali Mudra (gesture of prayer)
Also known as the “Salutation Seal,” this Mudra is one of the most recognisable hand positions in yoga. It is both a joining and a gesture of reverence.
Place both hands together in front of your heart chakra.
Placing your hands together in front of your chest supports inner collection and creates harmony, balance, repose, silence and peace. This gesture activates and harmonises coordination of the left and right brain hemispheres.
It can support a meditation when you have a request of the Divine, when you have a heart’s desire that you would like to have fulfilled. With this gesture, you also express reverence or gratitude.
In India, it is the gesture of greeting or thanks; it shows respect for fellow human beings. Namaste
(From the the book – Mudras – Yoga in your hands, by Gertrud Hirschi, page 144).
| Namaste (hand prayer position) Meaning: My soul honours your soul. I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honour the light, love, truth, beauty & peace within you, because it is also within me. In sharing these things we are united, we are the same, we are one. |
Photo-Session in Cornwall, UK – June 2024
I recently attended a wonderful Retreat in Cornwall, UK. It was over the Solstice and full moon weekend, at a magical place in nature. We had the opportunity for a photo session with the talented photographer Shanil https://www.shanillakhlani.com/ and his wonderful assistant and partner Emma. Of course I said YES !!
Here a few photos from that morning. More will appear in my blogposts and newsletters over the next few months.
Yoga Retreat August 2024 spaces available
A few more spaces are available for the upcoming Yoga & Meditation Retreat at the Glasshouse Mountains Ecolodge, Friday 23 – Sunday 25 of August 2024.
Immerse yourself in a Weekend of Yoga & Meditation surrounded by beautiful nature, towards the end of Winter to shake off the Winter blues.
Our program for the weekend looks like this:
Friday:
• 4pm yoga class (asana, pranayama)
• 6pm Dinner
• 7:30pm evening meditation
Saturday:
• 6am morning sunrise meditation
• 7am yoga class
• 8:30am breakfast
• 10:30am Chakra & Aura talk
• 12noon lunch
• Afternoon activities , e.g. hike Mt Tibrogargan circuit,
• 4pm hatha-yoga class (sun salutations, asana, pranayama)
• 6:30pm Dinner
Sunday:
• 6am sunrise meditation and morning stretches
• 7am yoga class
• 9am Breakfast
The cost for the Retreat is $690.00 per person, this includes the whole yoga program, all the meals & accommodation in single or shared rooms, with private ensuite. https://hathayogaipswich.com.au/retreat/
Please contact me for any questions, or to book your space. https://hathayogaipswich.com.au/contact/
YOGA Classes July 2024
I’m back in Ipswich from my overseas travel. All went good.
The yoga classes resume on Tuesday 2nd July 2024, as per our weekly schedule, for the next several months.
Current Yoga class schedule:
Raceview Scout Hall, 32 Taylor Street, Eastern Heights 4305
- Tuesdays, 9:00am – 10:30am (90 minutes Hatha Yoga class)
Cameron Park, Scout Hall, Easton Street, Booval 4304 (this hall is heated in Winter)
- Tuesdays, 6:00pm–7:30pm (90 minutes Hatha Yoga class)
- Wednesdays, 5:00pm–6:30pm (90 minutes Hatha Yoga class)
Raceview Scout Hall, 32 Taylor Street, Eastern Heights 4305
- Wednesdays, 9:00am – 10:00am Seniors Yoga class
- Thursdays, 10:00am – 11:00am Seniors yoga class
All of the above classes can be joined online of course, if Zoom is better for you. Please contact me for the log-in details. https://hathayogaipswich.com.au/
MEDITATION EVENING
Friday 19th July 2024 at 5pm – 6:30pm
(breathing exercises, Meditation & Mantras, Chakra talk, full moon wisdom).
The cost is $15.00 or a tick on the yoga-class-pass
CHAKRA Introduction
The word Chakra means ‘wheel’. Chakras are energy vortices, or intersections where two or more nadis / meridians meet. Everyplace the 72,000 nadis of the astral body intersect, there is a chakra. There are an uncounted number of chakras in the body.
The chakras are the mechanisms by which the prana is able to permeate the physical body from the astral body, and basically then, it is the prana that keeps the physical body alive.
Within the astral body are 7 main chakras associated with kundalini awakening. They are located within the astral body in locations that correspond with the spine in the physical body, and at the junctions where the ida and pingala, and various other nadis, meet.
These main chakras are:
- Muladhara – located near the base of the spine in the perineal space for men, at the back and top of the cervix for women; sacral plexus
- Swadhishthana – located at the level of the uro-genital systems; prostatic plexus
- Manipura – located at the area of the navel; solar plexus
- Anahata – located at the level of the heart; cardiac plexus
- Vishuddha – located in the throat region near the thyroid and adam’s apple; laryngeal plexus
- Ajna – located in the space between the eyebrows; cavernous plexus
- Sahasrara – located at the top of the head; pineal gland
The six chakras are way-stations along the sushumna, to the final destination, the sahasrara chakra. They are of consciousness, with specific tones of awareness and bliss, as well as storage places for the subtle, vital energy. They have corresponding centres in the spinal cord and nerve plexuses of the gross physical body, with which they are closely related.
While these main chakras actually exist in the astral body corresponding to locations within the spine, it is hard to visualize and work with them in these locations. Therefore, we usually reference locations in the front of the body at the levels described above, and these locations have a direct effect on the actual chakra location within the spine.
Each chakra also has associated with it a corresponding number of nadis, a colour, a presiding deity and goddess, Sanskrit letters, a bija or seed mantra, and a presiding element or tanmatra.
From a Yoga perspective the Chakra system is part of Kundalini Yoga.
During the Yoga Retreat in August 2024, we’ll talk and discuss the Chakras, their functions, meanings, etc. in detail. https://hathayogaipswich.com.au/retreat/
NO YOGA classes in June 2024
As many of you know already (I’ve been talking about it long enough 😉 during the month of June are no yoga classes.
I’m away from 3rd – 28th of June 2024. Visiting family in Switzerland, early Summer holiday and going on Retreat myself.
The last class in May is on Thursday morning 30/5/24 10am Senior’s Yoga.
On Friday 24th May 5pm we have a Meditation & Mantra class, please let me know if you would like to join.
In July all the Yoga classes resume on Tuesday 2/7/24.
Trikonasana – the triangle pose
Trikonasana, or the triangle pose. The main benefits of this standing posture are to stretch the sides of the body and give a lateral movement to the spine. All standing yoga postures help to ground your energy.
Physical Benefits
- Stretches the sides of the body
- Stretches the spine laterally
- Helps keep the spine elastic
- Improves flexibility in the hips and legs
- Helps to open the chest
- Massages the internal organs
- Improves digestion
- Amplifies the benefits of the half spinal twist
- Improves circulation in the body
Mental Benefits
- Steadies the mind
- Calms the emotions
- Increase empathy and self-awareness
Energetic (Pranic) Benefits
- Calms the prana in the ida nadi
sitting spinal twist
Ardha-Matsyendrasana or the sitting spinal twist.
(literally Ardha stands for half = half spinal twist).
There are many benefits to this posture, but the most important is that the entire length of the spine receives a lateral twist in both directions – first to the left and then to the right.
Physical Benefits
- Increases flexibility in each vertebrae of the spine, from the base of the spine through the neck
- Stretches the back muscles and hips
- Massages the abdominal organs, helping to relieve constipation
- Breathing becomes more rapid, speeding up circulation and creating an aerobic effect
- Brings more blood flow to the spine
Energetic (Pranic) Benefits
- Helps rouse the Kundalini Shakti
Mental Benefits
- Brings peace of mind
- Helps to cure nervous disorders
Scout Hall Location in Cameron Park, Booval
PLEASE have a look at the picture below, for the exact location of the Scout Hall in Cameron Park (BLUE DOT). As street view and google maps might guide you to the wrong section of Cameron Park.
This is where we have the Yoga classes on a Tuesday 6pm and Wednesday 5pm.
OM OM OM
It’s possible that the apple maps on the iPhone is correct. But more than once this year, new people in the yoga class, ended up at the old Swifts Sport Club.
I don’t want to know, how many gave up coming to class, because they were guided to a wrong location ?!?
Maybe if you put into google maps “Foote Street, Booval” you end up very close to the Scout Hall.
Hatha Yoga Ipswich 