yoga

Kick Start Yoga Course (Daytime)

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Shala Om Yoga Studio Port Adelaide

Would you like to give yoga a try?

Would you like to reboot your practice as you come out of lockdown?

Or do you just like doing beginners’ courses?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then this is the course for you!

Starting on Monday 21st March 2022, we will meet twice a week and run through a structured programme introducing you to the basics of both Hatha and Yin Yoga styles. Or refreshing your practice if you have been away from yoga for a while.

 

Times: Mondays and Wednesdays 10.30 am for 4 weeks

Venue: Shala Om Studio , 3 Kyle Place, Port Adelaide (upstairs, Room 4)

Cost: $100 (That is only $12.50 per Class!)

enquiries: Phone or text Unjay on 043 1928 663 or email unjay@shalaom.com

If you know this is for you sign up now using the form below.
Only 4 places available!

Such a great introduction to Yoga. Unjay is an engaging and passionate yoga teacher whose classes are friendly and fun and filled with variety. I have found something I love to do for ME and will be continuing my yoga journey. Thank you

― Fiona E.

I found the course really helped me destress after work! I noticed my flexibility and strength increased thanks to Unjay’s expert teachings.

― Caity H.

As someone who isn’t a fan of pretense, I felt I could be myself with no judgement in the class (I could even fall over or not make some postures and feel comfortable!). Unjay guided us through gently and made the class light-hearted and enjoyable. We were taken at a gentle pace, but still had … Read more

― Tania K.

Unjay offers a practical and unpretentious approach to yoga which is just perfect for beginners or those who are out of practice!

― Joanna G.

It was paced extremely well for beginners to progress well, and the meditation aspects of the course were good to relax to.

― Heather F.

Starting with basics but never boring. Suits all fitness levels with no judgement. Perfect course for beginners or people just needing a refresher. Great mix of styles, skill levels and poses for everyone. You will love the guided meditations, breathing exercises and singing bowls.

― Louise F.

Casual, achievable for a return to yoga person, twice a week is a good immediate reinforcer + Unjay is skilled and approachable.Loved the small group, great people with a common goal and everyone moving at their own pace. Unjay is very knowledgeable – oh and he knows yoga too!

― Trish B.

I would say that Unjay’s style of teaching is inclusive in every sense – I really felt welcomed and part of a community. I have never stuck at yoga before practicing with Unjay; he has a way of making you feel totally comfortable and at ease.   If you want to escape the busy noise … Read more

― Rebecca P.

Beginners’ Course, Shala Om, Port Adelaide

Kick Start Yoga Course (Evening)

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Kick start yoga course evening

 

Would you like to give yoga a try?

Would you like to reboot your practice as you come out of lockdown?

Or do you just like doing beginners’ courses?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then this is the course for you!

Starting on Monday 8th November 2021, we will meet twice a week and run through a structured programme introducing you to the basics of both Hatha and Yin Yoga styles. Or refreshing your practice if you have been away from yoga for a while.

Times: Mondays and Wednesdays 6.30 pm for 4 weeks

Venue: Shala Om Studio , 3 Kyle Place, Port Adelaide (upstairs, Room 4)

Cost: $100.00 (That is only $12.50 per Class!)

enquiries: Phone or text Unjay on 043 1928 663 or email unjay@shalaom.com

If you know this is for you sign up now using the form below.

 

Only 5places available!

Such a great introduction to Yoga. Unjay is an engaging and passionate yoga teacher whose classes are friendly and fun and filled with variety. I have found something I love to do for ME and will be continuing my yoga journey. Thank you

― Fiona E.

I found the course really helped me destress after work! I noticed my flexibility and strength increased thanks to Unjay’s expert teachings.

― Caity H.

As someone who isn’t a fan of pretense, I felt I could be myself with no judgement in the class (I could even fall over or not make some postures and feel comfortable!). Unjay guided us through gently and made the class light-hearted and enjoyable. We were taken at a gentle pace, but still had … Read more

― Tania K.

Unjay offers a practical and unpretentious approach to yoga which is just perfect for beginners or those who are out of practice!

― Joanna G.

It was paced extremely well for beginners to progress well, and the meditation aspects of the course were good to relax to.

― Heather F.

Starting with basics but never boring. Suits all fitness levels with no judgement. Perfect course for beginners or people just needing a refresher. Great mix of styles, skill levels and poses for everyone. You will love the guided meditations, breathing exercises and singing bowls.

― Louise F.

Casual, achievable for a return to yoga person, twice a week is a good immediate reinforcer + Unjay is skilled and approachable.Loved the small group, great people with a common goal and everyone moving at their own pace. Unjay is very knowledgeable – oh and he knows yoga too!

― Trish B.

I would say that Unjay’s style of teaching is inclusive in every sense – I really felt welcomed and part of a community. I have never stuck at yoga before practicing with Unjay; he has a way of making you feel totally comfortable and at ease.   If you want to escape the busy noise … Read more

― Rebecca P.

Trustpilot

What is Yin Yoga again?

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Yin energy is represented as the feminine, dark, passive side of nature. The resting state of the body in sleep. The stillness of earth. The nurturing energy of the mother.

Yin yoga accesses this deep power through holding postures for up to 5 or 6 minutes each, with resting periods in between. This means an entire class could consist of less than ten poses.

Although the postures are based on traditional Hatha yoga asanas, the intention is quite different. Rather than aiming to stretch the body actively, during yin yoga we try to relax and melt into the poses, with most attention being directed to let go of effort and allow the body to release and realign fascia and muscle fibres.

Yin classes can be extremely relaxing, inducing a near sleep-like state of euphoria as you let go and rest in place. To assist with comfort, we will often use props, especially bolsters and blankets.

If you are more used to a vigorous, yang style of yoga such as vinyasa “power yoga”, yin may seem at first not challenging or even boring. But stick with it for three or four classes and see if you benefit from the yin approach. It may take a bit of acclimatisation.

Yin is a relief and refresher from 21st century media overload. Just relax and watch as your body responds to the postures, noticing the changing sensations and the feeling of unblocking your energy channels.

All of this does not necessarily mean that yin is an easy option however… as we all have unique bodies, what one finds restful another may find very challenging. It can take focus and endurance to stick with a posture which elicits a negative response rather than coming out of it at the first opportunity. To understand this, try kneeling up on your heels with toes tucked under for one or two minutes. Simple to set up, this “toe crusher” pose can require a lot of active willpower to sustain for a long count.

Yin yoga can facilitate the easier flow of energy, chi, or prana throughout the body, revitalising organs by working with the meridians in a similar way to Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Joints have time to soften and lubricate and soft tissue to disentangle and realign, resulting in easier movement and greater range of motion.

If Yin Yoga sounds like something you would like to try, Shala Om offers yin classes every Thursday evening in Semaphore. You could also book a private class at your house at a time to suit you.

How do you feel about the commercialisation of Yoga?

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Lotus blooming from the mud

Someone on Quora asked me this today and this was my answer.

I am- gradually- starting to feel okay about charging for my yoga classes. It’s cost me a lot to be a yoga teacher, and continues to cost as I have to pay for a venue, props, ongoing yoga training, publicity, website etc.. When I first started, my impulse, like many yoga teachers, was to give classes for free. Then I charged as little as I could to make it accessible to everyone. Until my students asked me to raise the fee because they felt embarrassed paying me so little!

Through all this, I haven’t changed my commitment to offering accessible, authentic yoga to my community. That is the heart, and the reason for what I do. The heart of yoga, as I understand it, is bringing together body, mind and spirit to perceive the divine unity and come to a more complete consciousness.

So, finally my answer to you would be that yoga which is shaped by market forces and trends and is motivated by opportunistic greed is unlikely to be authentic. Anyone who tries to “own yoga” by patents, copyrights and specifying regulations of which they are the sole guardians (I’m talking to you, Yoga Alliance) is likely to be inauthentic.

But nature will find a way. I came to yoga through a very diluted, syndicated yogalates practice at a gym and realised I was not satisfied with it; it led me to seeking out more knowledge about actual yoga. So the profusion of commercial yoga Studios means more people will have the opportunity for at least some exposure to the yoga way and may want to dig deeper.

The other consideration is that even the most commercial studio chain is very likely to have some sincere true yogis teaching within it, so there is another opportunity for people to come into contact with a more integral yoga practice.

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What is yin yoga?

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What is yin yoga?
Yin yoga is a super-slow form of yoga, involving seated or reclined poses which are held for at least two to five minutes each.
Some say yin is a modern variant of Hatha yoga, initiated and developed since the 1970s in America. Others say that which we are now calling yin yoga is in fact closer to the original practice of the yoga asanas, which are thought to date back at least 5000 years. (1)
The theory is that you apply load to connective tissue such as ligaments and the fascia, which is the sheath which covers all muscle tissue, in order to increase flexibility.
A second focus within yin yoga is clearing the “meridians”- the channels carrying Qi (chi), the vital energy or life force, through the body. The map used for these meridians is the same used in acupuncture. Therefore you can have a sequence to promote kidney health, for example. Although this concept is drawn from Taoism and Chinese medicine, it is also found in yoga’s “Nadis”, or energy pathways through the body which carry prana, the yogic name for life force.
Because you hold the poses for extended periods, you are not expected to put as much muscular effort into each pose. We want the emphasis to remain on working with the fascia, and other deeper tissue beneath the muscle layer. You just put yourself into a position and stay there. There is less emphasis on alignment than there is in more flow-style yoga.
A third benefit of the yin approach is that it is very contemplative. It can be especially good for those who say “Oh, I can’t meditate, I’ve got a monkey mind”. Because we are tasking the body with sometimes taxing holds-and it’s fascinating how something you can do easily for 20 seconds becomes almost impossible after four minutes!- the mind can and must slow down. We maintain focus and develop patience and resolve.

Yin sequences will be offered at Shala Om from time to time within our usual schedule during 2017.

(1)”The practice of holding yoga postures or asanas for extended periods of time has always been a significant part of traditional yoga practice, both in the hatha yoga tradition of India and in the Taoist yoga tradition of the greater China area. Some regard Yin yoga as the oldest form of hatha yoga, since it is an effective method of physical conditioning for prolonged sitting in meditation, which was the principal concern of ancient yogic practitioners.”

-Wikipedia
Article ©2017 Unjay

Build community from your dreams!

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There is nothing more powerful than an idea. 
There is nothing more dangerous than a human with a belief that their idea is absolute truth.
To be certain is to be out of touch with reality- because we must know we cannot with certainty know anything. 
Astrophysics tells us this. Particle physics tells us this. The world’s biggest machine, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, was built to find out what stuff is made of at the most basic level. And we still don’t know for sure.
So, choose. Choose honestly and wisely what your faith, what your picture of the Universe, is. And act as though you are right but be open to being wrong.
In light of this understanding I approach yoga or meditation. Without dogma. Without a guru.
My friend Vani is from the rich, ancient culture of India and has a legitimate direct transmission of practice from her guru.
I am from no particular culture, or no single culture anyway. And although I sometimes envy people like Vani who know where they fit and who their people are, I think my situation is more representative of the current age. The age of individualism.
Western European culture has been elevating the individual above the collective since at least The Renaissance, arguably since the High Middle Ages. That’s five or six hundred years of social, philosophical and spiritual evolution. And we have lost a lot in the course of that evolution. Westerners are more isolated, lonely and depressed than ever before. But we have gained the ability to stand on our own and say, “This I believe; this is me.” And that is empowering.
It is when we have no belief, take no position, that we fail so miserably. Then we fall between a place of community and individual faith. It is then that society degenerates into a hopeless, chaotic, alienating dystopia.
I think that, moving into the future, we are going to be ever more discarding the received authority of traditional cultures, traditions, social structures and religions. This can be frightening and so there is a temptation to join the backlash of the backward-looking. The offer of the certainty of the past through right-wing political nostalgia, fundamentalist religious beliefs, nationalism, militarism. All of these give you something to belong to, something to be part of. That sense of community, of “unity with”, with which we in the West seem to be losing touch.
I value individualism highly. I also acknowledge that we are fundamentally social beings. Nothing is more damaging than isolation. So how do we resolve this dilemma?
Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. Be open to exciting choices. Then look at ways those choices give you opportunities to build community. Or join community. 
My own mini “Eat, Pray, Love” story is one of leaving my teaching position and going to Byron Bay to do yoga teacher training. There was a time of uncertainty when I came home- I just wanted to go back and disappear into the seductive endless summer of a surfie/yoga/hippy Mecca. But then my friend Heather said to me, “Go and build community in Semaphore”. Her words were clear, true and inspired. One of those precious times when you know that what you are hearing is absolutely right. So I came home and Christy and I, with support from our kids, started Shala Om, a tiny yoga community in Semaphore. 
It’s not on a world scale. It’s not a commercial success. It’s not even a business really. There are only a few people who know about it. But it’s our little contribution, and it is so valuable to me and to others. 
It is community born of individualism.

Gazing meditation 

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Gazing meditation

Like butterfly wings
Her lashes softly close and open,
Open onto unknown ancient depths of being.

Have we just met
Or have we been before many times

In the presence of the mystery that is each of us?
The mystery which is expressed through the fact of our existence,
The universe whose consciousness is us.

We wonder at the separateness of a stranger
Even as we find a oneness in our wonder.

©2016 Unjay

Christmas and yoga

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Christmas and yoga
Christmas… A celebration of the birth of Jesus dating back to around at least the third century A.D., with uncertain origins, but certainly including both Christian and pagan content.
Yoga… A philosophy and practice dating back maybe 5000 years or more, possibly to the Indus Valley civilisation. 
They are the same. Essentially.
Huh!? You may say… How can they be the same?
It’s actually simple and clear. The word yoga derives from a Sanskrit verb meaning to “yoke together”, specifically yoking together body, mind and spirit through physical, mental and spiritual practices, disciplines and virtues.
Christmas (Christ’s mass, or the sacred feast day dedicated to Christ) celebrates the embodiment of the divine in human existence.
Yoga teaches that the deep essential nature of each of us is perfect, pure and divine. Christianity says the same about Christ.
Thus yoga and Christmas are celebrations of the spirit embodied. “Hail the incarnate deity”, as the carol says. In yoga terms, “Ham sa”: I am that [which is pure perfect and divine].

What is yoga?

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This answer is one I found on the Yoga Australia website..

https://www.yogaaustralia.org.au/what-is-yoga

…As my teacher Madhuri says, “each asana (pose) not looking a certain way”.  Photo: Punnamjai

There are many different ideas related to Yoga, where it comes from, what it is all about, and how to practice a range of techniques.

Generally, it is recognised as an ancient system of philosophies, principles and practices derived from the Vedic tradition of India and the Himalayas, more than 2500 years ago. It is a system that recognises the multi-dimensional nature of the human person, and primarily relates to the nature and workings of the mind, based on experiential practice and self-enquiry.

In Yoga, the body, breath and mind are seen as a union of these multi-dimensional aspects of each and every human being. The system and various techniques of Yoga cultivate the experience of that union, leading to greater integration of being, internal peacefulness, and clarity of the mind. It is a system that is designed to cultivate health and happiness, and a greater sense of self-awareness and higher consciousness.