Salute to the Mountains

Yogis often idealize about waking up morning after morning with the personal strength, discipline and motivation to complete a beautiful home yoga practice. What we forget in these daydreams, however, is that life tends to get in the way. That dream of waking up early to salute the sun crashes with the first buzz of the alarm clock. Rather than inner peace, your mind gets cluttered with questions like, “why couldn’t I just get up this morning? I always feel so good after yoga, why can’t I just let myself feel good?  I am way too tired to practice this morning and my bed just feels too good to get out it right now…” And, even if you have established a regular home practice, it’s easy to get lost in trains of daily laundry lists or lack of inspiration. Again, life tends to get in the way. 

Life also has the tendency to invigorate, and sometimes, all you need to find the inner will to get up in the morning is some new inspiration. Luckily, in Nepal, inspiration awaits you outside almost daily, especially during the autumn months. That inspiration is none other than the Himalayas, the most dreamed about mountains in the world. So, tomorrow morning, rather than staying in your warm bed, why not head out into the sunshine and salute the mountains? Get outside on your nearest rooftop, spread out your mat and your heart to the awe-inspiring landscape around you and live. Amidst the chaos of life, taking a moment to sit move, breathe and meditate in the beauty around us can help turn a grudging home practice into a day at the spa. Your heart, body and soul will thank you. 

For information about daily yoga classes in Kathmandu and yoga workshops and yoga retreats in Nepal, please visit www.pranamaya-yoga.com

Yoga in Nepal: following a worldwide hype or rediscovery of ancient wisdom?

In the US alone, more than 15 million people practise yoga, and myths such as ‘Yoga is for old people’, ‘Yoga is boring’ or ‘Yoga is religious’ seem to be a thing of the past. Yoga studios around the world are offering several different style yoga classes every day. Some classes focus more on precise alignment of postures, some incorporate dance and flow sequences and others contain meditation and awareness practises.

People have many reasons to start practicing yoga, from looking for a healthier life, improved flexibility and endurance and weight loss to more spiritual reasons. Some just follow in the footsteps of famous movie, music and sport stars. Whatever the reason, yoga certainly has a positive impact on many lives.

The immense growth of interest in yoga in the West has lead to an increase of scientific study into yoga. Benefits from yoga that were already described in ancient Vedic texts are now being presented as new medical research results.

"Yoga as medicine represents the next great yoga wave," says Kaitlin Quistgaard, Yoga Journal. "In the next few years, we will be seeing a lot more yoga in health care settings and more yoga recommended by the medical community as new research shows that yoga is a valuable therapeutic tool for many health conditions."

It is said that the East treats the person; the West treats the disease. Stress, anxiety and depression are the root of many health issues.

"Our system of medicine is very fragmented," says Dr. Carrie Demers, who runs the Center for Health and Healing at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA in Honesdale. "We send you to different specialists to look at different parts of you. Yoga is more holistic; it's interested in the integration of body, breath and mind."

Yoga brings together physical and mental disciplines to achieve peacefulness of body and mind, helping to relax and manage stress and anxiety. Traditional yoga philosophy requires that students adhere to this mission through behavior, diet and meditation. But someone who is simple looking for better stress management — whether because of life's daily hassles or a health problem — and not an entire lifestyle change or way of life, can still benefit from yoga.

Pranamaya Yoga Kathmandu wants to attract more people to yoga in Nepal by offering different styles of yoga at two convenient located yoga studios in Moksh complex, Pulchowk and 1905, Kantipath.

Asthanga yoga, Iyengar yoga, Power yoga, Hatha yoga and Pregnancy and Postnatal mom and baby yoga are some of the styles of yoga available.

Sam Voolstra from Pranamaya Yoga: “Our team of Nepalese and international experienced yoga teachers hopes to bring together an active yoga community in the capital, by organising daily classes and workshops, inviting international guest teachers and starting teacher training programmes.”

Pranamaya website: www.pranamaya-yoga.com.

yoga on holiday in Nepal or abroad

Relaxation, peace and a break from a daily routine are what a lot of people look for on their holiday. Yoga holidays and retreats offer this and more and are therefore in great demand already for many years.

All over the world you can find people practising yoga at beautiful holiday destinations. From Downward Dog on a tropical beach to Headstand at 16000 feet during a yoga trekking, yoga and holiday are a great combination.

You can also make yoga part of your holiday, away or at home, by simply starting the day greeting the sun with a flow of yoga movements called Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutations. Even though it is best to learn the series with an experienced yoga teacher, by following the written instructions carefully and listening to your body, you can practise Surya Namaskar safely even if you are an absolute beginner to yoga.

Surya Namaskar, as the name suggests, is best practised when the sun first makes its appearance in the early morning. Since getting up early on your holiday might not always be easy, you can also turn it into you greeting the sun at the time convenient for you, as long as you practise before having your breakfast.

To start your exercise of Surya Namaskar, find a peaceful and comfortable location, indoors or even better in nature. It is great if you have a special yoga mat, but a towel on the beach or a carpet on the floor is also fine.

Start your practise by sitting cross-legged for a little while, just listening to your breath and becoming aware of your body and your thoughts coming and going. How are you feeling today?

A good way to start your day is to think of something to be grateful for, something that puts a smile on your face. You can be grateful for many things; a beautiful flower nearby, a special friendship you have, or simple being grateful for being alive and having a whole new day ahead of you.

Now you are ready to start. Surya Namaskar is a series of 12 movements. Each movement flows into the next with an inhalation or exhalation. In the beginning just focus on each movement and carefully go from one position to the next. When you feel more comfortable, you should start performing each movement on the breath.

1. Exhale. Stand on the front of your mat with your feet together and your hands in namaste in front of your chest.

2. As you inhale, lift your hands up in the air and arch back slightly from the chest.

3. As you breathe out, bend forward and down and place your hands plat next to your feet. If this is not possible with straight knees, bend your knees. Make sure your back is straight and your fingers are in line with your toes. Do not move your hands in the next positions.

4. As you breathe in, place your right leg behind you on the floor, keeping the left knee bent between your arms. Look up.

5. Hold your breath while bringing your left leg back and coming into a push up position. Make sure your body is in one straight line.

6. As you exhale, slowly lower your knees, chest and chin to the ground, but keep your hips of the ground.

7. Inhale and lie flat on the ground, stretch your toes and lift your head and chest. Keep your shoulders relaxed, arms bend and elbows close to your body.

8. As you exhale, lift your hips up and push your heels as far as possible on or towards the ground. Do not worry if your heels do not touch the ground.

9. As you inhale, take a large step forward to bring your right foot in between your hands, and lower your back knee to the floor, so the top of your left foot in on the ground. Look up.

10. As you exhale, step your left leg forward and straighten both legs as much as possible and bend forward. Hands are again flat next to your feet, and please bend your knees if necessary.

11. As you inhale, stretch your arms forward and slowly come up with a straight back. Arch a little back from the chest and stretch your arms.

12. As you exhale, return to a standing position, releasing your arms to hang by your sides. Now take a deep inhalation. Now put your hands back in namaste as you exhale and start again at position 1. This time to positions 4 and 9 with your left leg first. Repeat the whole sequence 3 to 5 times.

After finishing, lie flat on your back, take deep breaths into your abdomen and relax your whole body. And you are ready for another amazing day!

For information about daily yoga classes in Kathmandu and yoga workshops and yoga retreats in Nepal, please visit www.pranamaya-yoga.com

Footnote: reference to Sivananda beginner’s guide to yoga, Swami Sivadananda, 2006

Yoga and sex: the perfect match for greater satisfaction

You start slowly, moving your body and finding the rhythm. Your breath becomes faster and you explore new positions to see the effect. You generate heat and after the exertion come a great relaxation and peacefulness. Are we talking about a yoga class or lovemaking? How about both?

Yoga and sex are both physical and emotional, uplifting and challenging, they both use the body to calm the mind and stimulate the spirit. So how can practicing yoga improve your sex life?

On a physical level yoga helps strengthen pelvic floor muscles and sex organs and accumulate energy to achieve better orgasms. Increased flexibility and a toned body give more self-confidence and help you to experiment with different positions.

But more important yoga can help you deal with the biggest spoilsport of great sex: the mind.

You are turned on, the other is making the right moves and then it happens. Like the first clouds on a clear sky, the first thoughts appear. “Is he going to still find me attractive naked”, “will she be comparing me with her ex”, “what shall we have for breakfast”. The mind is bringing up insecurities, work stress, to do lists and other random thoughts. Another great trick of the mind is comparing the person in bed to the image you have made up of the perfect lover, and they hardly ever match. And before you know it your sex drive is seriously diminished or completely gone.

Yoga makes you aware of your body and how it feels from one moment to the next. Learning to feel and adjust to the smallest sensations during yoga practice teaches you to savor all the sensation in your body. This awareness is carried over into your daily life and yes into the bedroom too. This awareness helps with the focus towards your body, but also takes the focus away from your mind and the things your worry about. Free from your stresses you can completely enjoy everything happening between the sheets.

"Yoga focuses people on how they feel, which is something they don't do enough during sex," says Dr. Marty Klein, a sex therapist and author of Beyond Orgasm: Dare to be Honest about the Sex You Really Want. "During sex, people tend to think more about what they imagine the other person is looking at or thinking about. Yoga brings the mind away from judgments, thoughts, speculations, assumptions, anxieties—things that interfere with physical response and emotional satisfaction."

Whether you choose Hatha, Asthanga or Iyengar, a consistent yoga practice helps in improving better understanding of yourself and more sensitivity about the other's needs. In the bedroom, this increased attentiveness helps you recognize subtle shifts in your partner—a level of focus that will put you on the fast track to becoming a world-class lover.

"You will be tuned in to what feels good and what doesn't—for yourself and for someone else," says Kevin Courtney, a yoga teacher based in New York City. “Take the time to be fully present—no mental grocery list, no daydreaming, no anxious gathering of fears and insecurities. Look your partner in the eye and spend time on every caress and every kiss.”

For daily yoga classes in Nepal please visit pranamaya-yoga.com or the yoga studios in 1905, Kantipath and Moksh Complex Pulchowk in Kathmandu.

Riding the wave: the yoga approach to anger

Our life is a constant assessment of likes and dislikes. We want to hang on to certain people, material possessions and concepts and get upset if we cannot. And likewise we try to escape or avoid people, situations and ideas we do not like.

Attachment to who we think we are and how our lives should be is the origin of a lot of trouble. The yogis were already aware of this many thousands of years ago and tell how our ego is preventing us from having a realistic view of life; realising that everything in life is ever changing, and so are we. Anger in its different forms, like jealousy, sadness, frustration and outrage, is the result of unwanted change or processes in our bodies, relationships, careers and lifestyles, and society.

Buddha already compared anger to picking up a burning coal, throwing at someone and in the process burning yourself. Anger on the bodily level speeds up heart rate and breath, creates muscle tension and blockages and burns energy rapidly. Also on a mental level anger threatens your health, especially since we often carry anger for longer periods.

Eckhart Tolle mentions in his book ‘A new Earth’ his observation that after two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the fight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.

Tolle: "If the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story-making. This would probably be the duck's story: 'I don't believe what he just did. He came to within 5 inches of me. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I'll never trust him again. Next time he'll try something else just to annoy me. I'm sure he's plotting something already. But I'm not going to stand for this. I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget.' And on and on the mind spins its tales, still thinking and talking about it days, months, or years later.“

You can see how problematic the duck’s life would become if it had a human mind. We humans are almost addicted to the drama and keep upsetting situations or events from the past alive for a long time.

So what is the best way to deal with your anger? The yogic philosophy encourages us to learn how to observe anger, instead of suppressing or letting it take over completely. The first step is to practise awareness, so you can start to feel anger coming up as a wave. Then through use of the breath and relaxation techniques you can actually feel and watch the sensations of the anger wave in your body and mind without getting washed away by it. By keeping a positive outlook and focussing on solving problems without blaming others or yourself, you can actually allow the biochemical reactions of anger but you are riding the wave and remain in the present moment whenever and wherever.

Classical Buddhism approaches anger in much the same way, says Ven. Thubten Chodron, author of Working with Anger: "In Buddhism, we are constantly practicing the mindful observance of ourselves, including the arising, abiding, and subsiding of destructive emotions like anger. We don't stuff our anger down, but we don't buy its storyline either. Sometimes we can just watch it, and it will lose its power and dissipate. Other times we apply an antidote to it—a more realistic or beneficial way of looking at the situation so that the anger evaporates."

And after the anger wave subsides we can follow the duck's lesson of Ekhart Tolle: “Flap your wings--which translates as 'let go of the story'--and return to the only place of power: the present moment."

Pranamaya Yoga offers daily yoga classes in Kathmandu, Nepal. For more information and class schedule www.pranamaya-yoga.com

Power Yoga in Nepal: Release the power within

Power yoga is the new rage in Kathmandu. This vigorous fitness-based yoga approach on music is challenging and fun and works on both physical and mental levels.

Roshani Adhikary taught Power Yoga in the US and has come to Kathmandu to teach daily Power Yoga classes at the new yoga studios at Kantipath and Patan. She tells us more about this popular style of yoga and why it is so good for us.

What is Power Yoga?

Power Yoga is a style of yoga. The term Power Yoga became popular in the in the mid 1990s, when several yoga teachers were looking for a way to make Asthanga Yoga more accessible for western students. Unlike Ashtanga, power yoga does not follow a set series of poses. Therefore, any power yoga class can vary widely from the next. What they have in common is an emphasis on strength and flexibility, instead of the gentle stretching and meditation commonly associated with yoga.

So compared to other styles of yoga, my power yoga classes are more physically challenging and intense and do not follo

w a rigid system. Each class has a different focus, and the different poses increase your strength and flexibility gradually. The body heat you generate during the class works is detoxifying. And after the class you feel like you can conquer anything!

How did you come a Power Yoga teacher?

My parents did yoga since I can remember, but their yoga practice was more meditation and sitting and breathing. For me this was and still is more challenging than the most difficult poses in power yoga! I find it really hard to sit still and not fall asleep. I admire people that can do it, but I need the physical challenge.

It was only in my mid twenties that I really got into yoga. I moved from the UK to the US in the middle of the recession. Not being able to find work was a very stressful experience for me. In Power Yoga I found a release for that stress, and I finally even managed to make it my work.

I never had focus before doing yoga, and I find that yoga really helped me develop concentration and awareness. Now if I do not do my yoga practice in the morning I really miss it, the day is different without it and I feel restless. The balancing poses on the mat help with building up my concentration and give me confidence and balance in daily life too.

Is Power yoga for everybody?

The moves in power yoga are not complex and there are adjustments for different levels, so anyone can join the classes. However, power yoga will most likely appeal to people who enjoy exercising, and want a minimal amount of chanting and meditation with their yoga. As you gain strength through your practise you can progress to the more advance versions of the different poses.

The benefits of power yoga are not only physical; on a mental and emotional level the classes bring you calmness because of the awareness that is needed to hold the poses and the synchronisation of movement with the breath.

Does Power Yoga help you loose weight?

Power yoga gives you a challenge, and changes your perspective on yourself and on life. You become more aware of the magical workings of your body, and this new respect helps you accept your body, but also at the same time makes you want to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

A regular power yoga practise definitely trims and increases your muscles. You sleep better too. But a balanced diet and daily exercise are essential if you want to loose weight permanently and have a healthy life.

For people that work behind the computer all day power yoga is a great way to relieve back and neck pains, release stress and lift your energy levels.

There are daily Power Yoga classes at Pranamaya Yoga Studios. For more information and class schedules please visit the website: www.pranamaya-yoga.com.

Asthanga Yoga in Nepal: Practise and all is coming

At half past six the first students arrive at the Pranamaya Yoga Studio in Patan. The students call themselves Asthangis, are practising the Primary Series and have come for a Mysore-style class…

In this interview Danish Asthanga Yoga teacher Karina Skjelmose explains what it is all about.

What is Asthanga yoga?

Asthanga Vinyasa yoga, as it is called officially, is a system of yoga whereby you repeat a same series of movements until your teacher thinks that you are ready to move on to the next series. There are in total 6 series, but most people only get to the third series. The system is developed from the yoga sutra from Patanjali, and was taught by Pattabhi Jois in Mysore to various yoga teachers from different countries. And so Asthanga yoga spread around the world.

In Asthanga Yoga you synchronise breath with movement. By repeating the same series every time you not only improve your body strength and flexibility but it also gives you body consciousness and a calm mind.

The controlled breathing and the use of body locks make us sweat, and this cleans your muscles and joints. Funnily enough the sweat of a beginner smells different than the sweat of a more advanced student, the change of smell is for me a sign of progress, the body is cleansed.

The system we teach is very precise and detailed. It has to be taught in the right order. In that way it resembles some forms of martial arts, where you progress from belt to belt. Some students find it difficult to be asked to stop where other students can continue. This is also part of the practice, listening to your body, respecting the judgement of the teacher and letting go of ego.

How did you get to Asthanga Yoga?

I wanted a change in my life. I did not have balance; too much energy and too little in touch with my emotions. I felt that I needed to use my energy but relax at the same time. I tried different styles of fitness programs, but while I needed to control my energy and focus, fitness just added more and more energy, without getting in contact with my feelings.

A Sufi friend then suggested to me to try Asthanga Yoga, so I went to the Asthanga Vinyasa School in Copenhagen. During the first class I already saw the connection that this style of yoga makes between the physical and the mental part of me and I decided to go into it 100%. I became a regular student, and not only did I become physically strong but I also after some time started to slow down thought the breathing part of the practice. This changed everything in my life, effected decisions I made and even opened the way to meet my husband.

How is Asthanga different from other styles of yoga?

The vinyasa makes it different, the coordination between movement and breath. We work with flowing non-stop movements on the breath. That is where the energy comes from. Asthanga is a very physical form of yoga and definitely challenging. Since it has to do with building up strength, it attracts more men than women. It is not seen as a feminine yoga, but women definitely excel in it too. The meditation part in Asthanga yoga does not come from non-moving, it comes with moving.

What are you getting from practicing Asthanga yoga?

I now cannot imagine living without it. It gives me energy, a sense of calm and a strong focus, and I take this with me into my life outside of the yoga studio. This is also the reason why Asthanga Yoga attracts people from the corporate world and all sorts of famous singers, movie stars and sport heroes. They found out that they could use this focus in their professional life too. You build up the patience and discipline to repeat the same practice again and again, until you get it right.

What is the difference between the yoga studio in Copenhagen and the yoga studio in Kathmandu?

There are lots of strong women in Kathmandu and they make up the majority in the classes. In Copenhagen we have more men attending classes. The students here are also more mature and focussed, they are more precise and less performance based. Therefore they progress faster. In Copenhagen the society is more result oriented and that can be a disadvantage in the practice. In Copenhagen on the other hand we have a very strong health culture, people are for example more aware of the importance of a right diet than in Kathmandu.

Asthanga Vinyasa classes by Karina in the Pranamaya Yoga Studio in Patan. For more information on class schedules and prices please visit the website: www.pranamaya-yoga.com