Monday 18.30-19.30
Online: you will receive a Zoomlink
With: Sanne Kerkhof

Supplies:
Mat + blanket and possibly pillow
2 tennis or massage balls
Theraband
Yoga block

VIJNANA YOGA

Vijnana Yoga originated from the 2 traditional movements Ashtanga and Iyengar. The precision of Iyengar is combined with the flow of Ashtanga. In addition, Vijnana Yoga pays a lot of attention to meditation and pranayama (breathing exercises). It is a very powerful form of yoga that focuses on the centre of the body. As a result, you develop strong awareness, a powerful body and a stable mind. Samana offers classes for both beginners and advanced students. Check the class schedule for class times. The founder of Samana Sanne Kerkhof, was trained in this tradition.

Vijnana Yoga was developed by Orit Sen Gupta and is based 7 basic principles.

The seven basic principles of Vijnana Yoga

1. Relax the body
Relax the body on an exhale. On the inhale, scan your body from within and relax. Your body should become stable and calm. Relax from the inside out.
2. Calm the mind
Observe your state of mind, let it be there without judging it. Become aware and practice from your inner stillness.
3. Intention
The physical and mental relaxation makes it easier to focus your attention and practice with concentration. Prepare for the exercise by visualising yourself or someone in the pose.
4. Grounding
Where you touch the ground you let yourself sink. The more you learn to ground, the lighter your body becomes and the less effort it takes to move.
5. Connect
Two opposite directions are always connected.Go down to go up. Go backwards to go forwards. Move from your centre.
6. Breathe – Be aware of breathing in and out. Lengthen on the inhale, ground on the exhale. Breathe in becomes wide, breathe out becomes steady and connect. Sometimes breathing is soft, sometimes deep and long. Breathing is always there.
7. Lengthening, expansion – By grounding on the out-breath, you can lengthen and become wide on the in-breath and/or vice versa. The body moves as a unit, relaxed and connected.

Finally:
All these principles go together and should be applied simultaneously during yoga practice. However, it is difficult to oversee the function of all these principles simultaneously. To understand the principles better, we always choose one that catches our attention, we work with the focus on that one principle until we master that principle. Sometimes a yogi works with one of the principles for a year or two before it becomes like second nature to apply it. Yoga practice is not “whole” until we can apply all the principles. If the asanas don’t feel right, we can look for which of the seven principles needs more attention to make the pose live.

BOOK:

Online: €15

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