Yogini Kaliji (Kali Ray) is an internationally renowned yogini and the founder of TriYoga. Kaliji travels extensively, having already taken TriYoga to over 37 countries worldwide, with its home-base being Santa Cruz, California. Kaliji will be landing on local Durban shores soon, presenting workshops and yoga training that invoke her knowledge, systemised methods and mastery of yoga flow into a fantastic three-day event.  

TriYoga’s flowing sequences are characterised by “rhythmic pacing”, “relaxation-in-action”, “wave-like spinal movements” and “economy of motion” that all work together to generate a greater flow of prana. The asanas are designed to “flow without thought” and incorporate different “turns” that enable the entire practice to flow seamlessly.

In anticipation of her upcoming South Africa visit, Complete Yoga directs some principal questions Kaliji’s way…

Why have you decided to come to South Africa? Is this your first visit?
Long term TriYoga teachers, Bindu & Shaun, have been teaching TriYoga here for the past 5 years. They invited me to meet those who have been practicing TriYoga. This is my first visit to South Africa and to the African continent.

What is TriYoga and on what principles was it developed?
In the tradition of ancient yoga, the origin and continuing development of TriYoga is guided by kriyavati siddhi, or kundalini-inspired yoga. I began to experience this January 5, 1980. It continues through today. From this inner guidance, TriYoga is a systematised and complete method of yoga, including asana, pranayama and over 1000 hasta (hand) mudras. TriYoga unites pranayama and mudra with dynamic and sustained asanas to create greater flow of prana. The art and science of yogaflow, the practice, has the inherent characteristics of rhythmic breath, relaxation-in-action, wavelike spinal movements and economy of motion.

The breath is central to your teaching and practice. What role does pranayama play in yoga practice and how do you teach it?
The breath is central to TriYoga practices. TriYoga Prana Vidya, the knowledge of life energy, includes the trinity of pranayama, dharana and dhyana (breathing practices, concentration techniques and meditation). Practitioners can remain with basic practices, always deepening, or continue to expand their practice systematically through seven levels.

The goal of yoga practice is the experience of meditation. How does the manifestation of meditation happen through yoga practice?
The two great aspects in creation are consciousness and energy. The primary purpose of yoga sadhana is to increase the flow of prana. As this energy increases, awareness expands. This evolves into meditation, the flow of sattvic (pure) mental energy, expanding consciousness. Like fuel is used to make a journey, prana is needed for the inner journey. Energy is refined and increased through various TriYoga techniques, including yogaflow (trinity of yogasana, pranayama, mudra), prana vidya, vegan diet, nada yoga, and karma yoga.

For more information on the TriYoga Workshops taking place in Durban May 25 – 27, visit http://classifieds.completeyoga.co.za/ads/triyoga-workshops/ or call Shaun Lovell on 071 526 2057 or email triyogaafrica@blissmonkie.com. For more information on TriYoga, visit www.triyoga.com

Paramahansa Yogananda speaks of enlightened yogi masters achieving a state of levitation during their yoga and meditation practice in his book, Autobiography of a Yogi. At a yoga studio in Northriding, you can see students doing exactly that: levitating in the air while quietly holding traditional yoga poses 

These students, however, are supported by a special hammock or “sling” hanging from the ceiling, made of tissu, the super-strong nylon fabric used by Cirque du Soleil acrobats. Unnata Aerial Yoga, a new form of yoga developed by circus aerial acrobat Michelle Dortignac in the USA, has come to South Africa, and is being taught by Carly Bowden and Julie Swart, who travelled to New York to train and qualify under Dortignac. Unnata is the Sanskrit word for “elevated,” meaning both elevated in spirit and physically elevated.

Aerial Yoga is a fun, challenging, dynamic yoga practice incorporating traditional yogic philosophy and teachings, as well as aspects of Pilates, Aerial Arts and Strength Training. It is specifically designed to increase strength, mobility and flexibility. Aerial yoga classes consist of floor work and aerial exercises, stretches and relaxation. The class focuses around the low-lying soft fabric sling suspended from the ceiling to hip height.

Aerial Yoga makes use of the fabric sling to distribute the body’s weight between the floor and the sling, allowing a variety of strength-building, flexibility and core strength movements and poses. The sling assists in particular with challenging yoga poses, supporting the body’s weight during those poses, allowing the body to lengthen as it holds a pose. It allows the practitioner to focus on alignment, and uses gravity to deepen the stretch.

The sling supports the body during inverted poses, allowing the spine to lengthen as it bends, resulting in reduced spinal compression during the pose. This decompression of the spine and joints leaves the body feeling stretched and taller. The sling allows deep stretching without the impact that gravity can often inflict.

Recently, I attended an Aerial Yoga class taught by Julie Swart, and I now have a whole new respect for the idea of “elevated consciousness.” Luckily, her classes are designed for most levels of fitness, with modifications offered for different levels of strength and flexibility. Doing yoga poses hanging from or being supported by the cloth hammock allowed me to deepen the pose more than I could have on a mat and added a rigorous element of stretch and strengthening that surprised my muscles and gave me a new mind-body awareness. For example, in a few short steps, we were in Baddha Konasana (Butterfly Pose), but suspended in the air. The aerial version of this pose offered an intense stretch into the inner thigh muscles and a profound opening of the hips. In addition, the feet are pressed together so intensely from the binding of the fabric around the ankles that I’m certain there must be some pressure point benefits as well!Floating quietly in this pose with hands in prayer position, I perceived the “effortless effort” of yoga more profoundly than ever before.

We then continued with a series of Warrior poses, with the front leg elevated and supported by the hammock, forcing me to put all my weight onto my back legs, again intensifying the strengthening and stretch. Even Downward Dog has an aerial version, bending over the hammock, which is situated under the hips, giving you a sense of hanging and suspension, as well as the pushing and stretching of the leg and back muscles. The pose that intrigued me the most, however, was the Headstand. By hanging straight with your legs wrapped securely around the fabric sling, one can attain an advanced inverted pose without neck and spinal compression. Students appear like large bats hanging ever so quietly and peacefully in their day slumber! Gravity is reversed and a profound elongation and lengthening of the spine occurs, allowing spinal fluid to fill and lubricate the discs between vertebrae. Students feel taller, and possibly may be slightly taller after doing this pose.

I was able to do most of the poses in the class despite not being super-fit or a trained acrobat, for that matter.  However, I did have to really listen to my body, as some of the poses are very intense. Julie Swart is a former pole-dancing champion, so her strength and flexibility are quite impressive. She was very good about offering various levels of challenge when it came to certain poses. There are, however, some medical conditions that will restrict some yogis from doing the intense inversions of Aerial Yoga. These include high or low blood pressure, glaucoma, pregnancy, neck injuries, heart conditions, epilepsy or eye problems.

My favourite part of the class was the relaxation at the end, when we spread out our hammocks and laid quietly inside them, cocooned and cradled, just floating and rocking gently.

When asked about how Aerial Yoga is being received in South Africa, Carly Bowden reports that classes are fully booked on weekends, which so far is the only time they are offered. Her goal is to offer more classes in more areas, and to begin to train more teachers in Aerial Yoga. She and Julie Swart are running their first teachers training programme starting at the end of May. They do require, however, a yoga teachers training certificate in order to enroll. The training runs over 10 weekends.

It seems that Aerial Yoga is here to stay, and is growing.It is a great complement to one’s traditional yoga practice as it allows a yoga practitioner to attain some of the poses that are out or reach in a floor practice. There are very few of us who can hold a handstand for minutes at a time, even fewer who can achieve challenging poses such as the Scorpion, but with the aid of the hammock, these now become accessible to any level of fitness and flexibility. As founder, Michelle Dortignac, describes it, ”I always relate hammock work to a vitamin supplement: I wouldn’t want to live off it, but it really helps push you further, faster.” I was impressed with how Aerial Yoga aims to stay true to the traditional yogic principles and teachings of harmonising the right and left sides of the body and bringing the physical and energetic bodies into union with the mind. It is a great way to explore your yoga practice further.

By Debbie Banda

For more information on Aerial Yoga, contact Carly Bowden at carly@aerialyoga.co.za, or go to www.aerialyoga.co.za.

Complete Yoga had the wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal with Ana Forrest, the legend behind the phenomenon that is Forrest Yoga, while on her workshop and book signing tour in South Africa late last year.  More remarkable than the fierce, physical and breakthrough healing yoga practices that Ana trains and teaches, is the indomitable strength and spirit of her personal story and her passion for doing the work that she undoubtedly was born to do.

Here’s what Ana had to say…

CY: Welcome to South Africa… you have arrived at last! Why Africa Ana, why are you here and why now? What have your first impressions been so far?
A: My first impressions have been very mixed. I am feeling the land and, yes, it feels very responsive. I came here because Africa has been calling me and it’s only been this year that I was able to make it… but I am delighted to be here. I have always felt that there is work I can do here and so I have come to plant seeds in this place. When I am working where I know I can help, there is this magnetic pulling and I feel it here. There is something really important for me to learn here – I just don’t know what it is yet! All I know is I’m thrilled to be with the “wild ones”.

CY: You travel the world a lot. Is there Forrest Yoga in many countries in the world as a result?
A: Yes, I try to make it to as many countries and places as I am able to. My vision and spirit pledge is to “mend the hoop of the people around the world”. How I do this is by training teachers and giving them very specific techniques, so they too know how to pass the energy. They learn how to do hands-on healing, learn how to use the yoga poses to treat people’s injuries, how to help people with their sadness or their unbalanced emotions. Forrest yoga is not a mystery – if you do it, it works. These gifts that I teach I have honed from my soul. I want to keep giving the good medicine to people long after I am gone.

CY: You mentioned “mending the hoop of the people” in your book, Fierce Medicine too – what does it mean?
A: My spirit pledge is a very important part of my work. Not too long ago there was a Native American medicine man that was watching the people of his tribe destroying themselves. He said, “the hoop of the people has been broken”. We have come into insane times and “mending the hoop of the people” is about finding a new way of building hoops, where people can learn to live together in a good way without torturing, killing and harming each other.

CY: You have been practising yoga now for over 40 years. Do you feel the consciousness of the world has changed since then with respect to its approach to yoga?
A: Yes, I have been in this field close to 40 years and I’ve seen huge changes. There are some people who get so annoyed and say “oh yoga’s gone so commercial”, but I think it’s good – more people are hearing about yoga, people aren’t so scared of it. There is no conflict with religion anymore, which was the prevalent thing back in the day. It’s no conflict to commune with your body and find out what is true. We don’t need another religious organisation – we need the tools that will help us connect to our own spirit and to our own spirituality. Whether it’s from doing a sitting practice or a Native American practice or an African practice or going to a church, I don’t think it matters but if you’re doing these things and not making a connection, then there is something wrong. There is a sickness, a kind of spiritual bereftness and emptiness that so many of us have that leads us onto really terrible places. It’s like people are trying to fill a gaping hole where their spirit should be living. The first time a lot of people start thinking about their spirit is when they are dying and that’s a little late! We need to learn how to live with our spirit intact.

CY: Do you find a lot of people who come to yoga are searching for happiness?
A: I certainly came to yoga searching for something bigger than myself. Happiness wasn’t what I initially was going after. It just didn’t occur to me until, much later, someone asked me “what about joy?” and that began a whole different investigation for me into what I call pleasure, joy, contentment and delight. We need to “feed ourselves” that as part of our daily diet. That’s part of what I write about in Fierce Medicine - making yoga a part of the daily diet for the evolving soul.

CY: Why and how did you create Forrest Yoga?
A:  Part of the reason why I created Forrest yoga is that I found traditional yoga practices were not helping me, they did something and there was value, but it didn’t touch the deep level anguish and misery that I was living in. Part of the beauty of turning my life around was that I created a yoga system – a system for anyone who wants to go on a quest, who wants to evolve and gain their vision for life. We need to choose to learn from what we are given, especially the difficult stuff.

CY: How is Forrest Yoga distinguishable from other types of yoga?
A: I have brought in the different tools that have made a difference in my life: therapy and ceremony tools that demand direct enquiry. I teach people how to think differently and how to feel intelligently. People think that we get all our knowledge from information, but that’s just one small part of it. Just feeling with our hands and feet is sometimes all that is required. I teach people to learn how to feel as part of their wisdom. I then teach them to bring the thinking and the feeling together and to take the conflict out of it.

CY: How does Forrest Yoga address meditation?
A: In every class I teach pranayama and setting an intention for practice. When you sit quietly in pranayama, you are building life force. When I teach people to sit, I am teaching them to do something in the sitting. I don’t bore the mind into shutting up, it doesn’t feel right for me. Learning how to fascinate the mind while doing the pose or doing the breathing, that is compelling.

CY: How would you describe the taste of yoga to people?
A: Every day is a different taste! It depends on what happened that day, I guess. The magic is that each day I do yoga I turn it into a learning experience and I will inevitably feel better after my practice. It’s amazing that we can shift and play with our energies and from there, move into a space of self-mastery. Some days I can wake up in pain and have a real shitty feeling, like so many do, but I know that when I get on the mat I can change it and that’s an amazing thing. I can reset a more true, honest place for myself instead of just being grounded “in my shit”. I can clear the smog. And sometimes I have to have a little tantrum anyways – then I say to myself, “I’ve got a few minutes to wallow in this space” and then I move on and change it.

CY: What is your personal yoga routine like?
A: It depends on my travel. My routine when I am teaching workshops is that every class is two and a half hours and my teaching team and I gather and we do the first class together ourselves. We set our intention so that our energy is full and so that we have a lot to give. Teaching by myself would be a burnout and it’s really easy to sacrifice my own practice for my mission and it’s one of the greatest challenges I’ve had to overcome. As I’ve become more in love with what I am doing, the lesson has been not to become “a sacrificial whore” for it. A lot of our teaching in our culture tells us that to sacrifice is a good thing but I think that is insane… literally. There is powerful way to give without being sacrificial. Feed yourself first and feed yourself during. When I teach people, I also teach them how to grow their energy in the process of teaching and not to spill it all out. You need to practice in a way that feeds you.

CY: Many people are familiar with the difficulties of your past. Have you healed from and transcended it and does it still define you?
A: I don’t use the word “transcending” as it implies that you’ve buried pain and built a platform on top of it. Yes, I have healed a tremendous amount but whenever I am faced with new challenges, my old stuff inevitably crops up. The part of ourselves that holds fearfulness is the part that we need to embrace.

CY: Do you teach people a lot about facing their fears?
A: I do, but more than that, I like to say, “don’t just face your fear… hunt it, go after it!” There are times when I still have nightmares from my past. But I’m not haunted by it as it’s not a daily part of my life anymore. Instead of beating myself up over it with the mentality that I’m supposed to be healed from it, “that I’m a teacher of teachers, blah, blah, blah”, which is a lie, if it comes up, I do something about it. Sometimes I still feel the scaring in my guts from my years of bulimia. A backbend will help me heal the scaring. I know that I have to continue to do my practice very consistently if I want to stay healed. When I discovered that I had a thyroid problem, I also discovered that I wasn’t really speaking – not about what was so important to me, the things that delighted my spirit or about love. I was a drug addict, an alcoholic and my mother sold me into prostitution when I was 12 – I could somehow say that stuff, but yet I wasn’t speaking about my love. I assumed that my actions would say it. I didn’t speak to my students about how much I loved them and so that was part of my healing – speaking that which was most precious to me.

CY: Yoga is obviously your passion and life’s work. What do you still hope to accomplish?
A: Yoga is one of the main places where I learn truth. I created Forrest yoga for very specific reasons – to address the spiritual bereftness, the stress levels, the back problems, neck injuries, brain problems, spinal, hamstring, knee injuries and immune system challenges. I am not afraid to feel other peoples’ pain, or the earth’s pain. I can’t solve all the world’s problems but there is something here I can contribute to. It’s better to ask, “What part of the world problems can I contribute to?” It makes it more workable and less disheartening. I lived through torture and while I need to monitor the amount of pain I take in, if I can help just one person connect to their spirit, then I feel I’ve made a difference. Teaching yoga is what I am here to do and that means training people to evolve. We have the capacity to destroy both ourselves and others (we have been doing a good job so far) and yet we also have this ability to “quantum leap”. I have this inherent belief that we can transform and evolve. There is true beauty, mystery and magic in this world!

By Angela Myers

Ana Forrest’s book Fierce Medicine is available for purchase from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Medicine-Breakthrough-Practices-Ignite/dp/0061864242/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334059415&sr=1-1

Emotional Yoga is a unique approach to healing that combines two proven, well-developed modalities – yoga and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).

There is nothing else like Emotional Yoga.  The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), founded by engineer Gary Craig takes a scientific approach to treating pain, disease, and physical ailments and, combined with the widespread physical, mental, emotional and spiritual discipline of yoga that unites mind, body and spirt, Emotional Yoga offers an almagimation of the best of these two disciplines.

About EFT
The premise behind EFT is the “discovery statement” that “The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.” From this discovery, it has become clear too that emotional imbalances often cause physical maladies. So whether you are suffering from physical or emotional pain, EFT will work to eliminate stored stress and help you to heal.

The miracle of the Emotional Freedom Technique is that it resolves physical and emotional issues rapidly and permanently when used correctly. And, because EFT is emotional acupressure, working on the body’s energetic meridians, there are no adverse side-effects. EFT works equally well no matter what the magnitude of the ailment or the emotion. It is effective in treating physical pain, allergies, asthma, depression, OCD, anxiety, guilt, anger, PTSD, addiction, grief, loneliness, and a host of other issues. Furthermore, the technique provides rapid relief to both acute and chronic ailments. Within minutes, the body’s energy system is revitalised and the body’s energetic equilibrium is restored.  Negative emotions and physical pain vanish.

Benefits of Yoga
The benefits of yoga are widely recognized. It is clear, too, that many practitioners of yoga report feeling strong emotional responses when doing yoga poses. By taking the time to tune-in to the inherent wisdom of the body, emotions often arise.

Emotional Yoga
The Emotional Yoga approach employs yoga as a way of getting in touch with the underlying emotional issues that keep people feeling stuck and then uses EFT to release the underlying energetic imbalances. Emotional Yoga brings the experience of EFT to the body level. Effectively, EFT functions as emotional acupressure. The technique, is designed to reduce or eliminate emotional and physical stress by unblocking energetic meridians through tapping on pressure points. Generally, the EFT practitioner works with his or her clients to uncover issues through talk therapy followed by this tapping technique.

Emotional Yoga is designed to unearth emotions that are stored within the body and then to release their energetic impact upon us. Yoga gives us a way into the body and a language for expressing ourselves. EFT releases negative energy from the body. The reason the Emotional Yoga approach can be more effective than EFT alone is that, in Emotional Yoga, both the diagnosis and the treatment occur at the level of the body. The traditional diagnostic approach for EFT relies on the mind for answers. This can be limiting because clients have to interpret their emotional experiences and use their brains to try and make sense of their feelings. Taking this approach, analysis is still essential to the healing process. However, as Gary Craig points out in his explanation of EFT, “The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.”

About Emotional Yoga
Are you suffering from persistent physical or emotional issues?
Are you plagued by any of the following:
·        Anxiety
·        Anger
·        Depression
·        Fears and Phobias
·        PTSD
·        OCD
·        Trauma
·        Addiction
·        Disordered Eating
·        Stress
·        Headaches
·        Persistent Physical Pain

Try Emotional Yoga, it can help.

About the Founder
My name is Daralyse Lyons and I am the founder of Emotional Yoga.  I’m a walking testimonial for the method, which combines yoga with the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).  Using Emotional Yoga, I have recovered from a rampant eating disorder, OCD, depression, anxiety and PTSD.  My life before finding Emotional Yoga felt hopeless. I was institutionalized 18 times at residential treatment facilities for my eating disorder and associated emotional problems. Yet, I remained stuck.

When I first began practising yoga, I used to sit in silence and emotions which I had buried deep within my body finally began to spring forth. Through yoga, I began to become aware of the stored body-pain that had accumulated over years of emotional trauma. Yet, yoga only gave me a means of recognising my pain. It did not ease the emotions that arose “on the mat.”

I had been going to therapy for many years. I went to psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, nutritionists and even hypnotherapists. I believed that if I could correct my negative thinking patterns I could let go of my bulimia and move beyond my childhood traumas.  Then, I stumbled upon EFT. I was hooked from the first session. I let go of negative emotions that I had never been able to release. Yet, for me, something was missing.

The idea to combine yoga and EFT came to me suddenly. I realised that, instead of uncovering the issues that needed to be released through my thoughts, I could get to the underlying feelings physically. The body possesses intuitive emotional wisdom. By tuning in to the body’s messages and by linking specific yoga postures with specific emotions, I could unearth negative emotions that were stored within my body. I could then perform the EFT tapping sequence in order to achieve breakthroughs. These methods have given me lasting emotional freedom.

Ever since my own healing, I have been working with others to help them break down their own emotional walls and to let go of their pain. Using Emotional Yoga, I have successfully helped clients to resolve such problems as chronic pain, phobias, eating disorders, addiction, trauma, OCD, depression, allergies, anxiety, and other physical, mental and emotional barriers to wellness. The Emotional Yoga technique (by combining yoga and EFT) requires tuning in to the wisdom of the body and allowing your body to articulate your emotional state. The practice holds that your experiences in your body and “on the mat” act as a mirror for your experiences in life.

The miracle of these techniques is that they release negative emotions. Once the attachment to the emotion or the behavior or the physical problem is gone, it will be gone forever.

Biography
Daralyse Lyons is a Certified Yoga Instructor.  She received her Yoga Teacher Training at the Yoga Education Institute (a Registered Yoga Alliance School). She has also been trained in Advanced Level EFT. She works with individuals, couples, and groups to help people transform themselves and their lives.  Sessions can be conducted in-person, on the phone, via e-mail or via Skype. Visit www.emotionalyoga.info for more information or email Daralyse on alyseL17@aol.com.

There was complete silence in the room and a deep, profound sense of tranquillity emanated from the people there.  They were practising Restorative Yoga and healing themselves from the effects of stress, or, in some cases, even burnout, as they lay quietly in Waterfall (Legs up the Wall position or Viparita Karani)…

One could almost hear the bodies changing gear as the gentle, fully supported asanas gradually helped overloaded systems move down through the gears from fourth to third, to second and then neural as the body engines stopped racing and the brakes were slowly applied through regulated breathing.  Slowly they each came to complete rest as their PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) took over and started to bring them into balance again.

What is Restorative Yoga?

Although all forms of Yoga are able to bring great physical and psychological change and healing to many people, Restorative Yoga is particularly designed to provide a restful and restoring experience for practitioners.  It has been described as “a supported, conscious body/mind relaxation practice.” or  “active relaxation”.  The emphasis is on relaxation and rest – but not sleep.  The body is in a state of active rest as it is supported by props and does not have to work the muscles to keep upright or balanced.  Neither does it work the bones or joints to place them under any pressure.   In these wonderfully cradled positions each person can enter into a state of mediation as they observe their breath quieten and settle into the silence, stillness and tranquillity where body tissue can find release and ease from its toxic condition and restoration and wellbeing can start to flow again.

Restorative Yoga as a Healing Tool

The theory behind Restorative Yoga is that in our hugely pressurised world we seldom give our bodies a chance to settle back into perfect equilibrium after a period of intense activity or anxiety.  As a result our bodies become flooded by stress hormones such as adrenaline (short term stress hormone) and cortisol (long term stress hormone).  This leads to a build up of toxins and the body become acclimatised to being operated by our SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) which keeps us in a state of readiness to flight, flee or free depending what stressor is around.  It is like leaving your car running all the time, rather than switching it off when you have completed the journey.  Instead of cooling down and stopping wear and tear of all the mechanical parts you would be keeping your car constantly running, all the parts would be over used and break down faster, the oil and fuel would run out more quickly and you would be stranded with a car that couldn’t be used until it was repaired and refuelled.  It is the same with our bodies.

According to the American Psychological Society stress impacts on our lives in dramatic ways:

• About half of the adult population say that stress has a negative impact on both their personal and professional lives and on their physical condition.
• About one-third (31%) of employed adults have difficulty managing work and family responsibilities.
• Over one third (35%) cite jobs interfering with their family or personal time as a significant source of stress.
• Stress causes more than half the adult population (54 percent) to fight with people close to them and one in four people report that they have been alienated from a friend or family member because of stress. 8% connect stress to their divorce or separation.

Stress affects us physically in the following ways:

• Feelings of fatigue (51%)
• Severe headaches (44%)
• Upset stomach (34%)
• Muscular tension (30%)
• Change in appetite (23%)
• Teeth grinding (17%)
• Change in sex drive (15%)
• Feeling dizzy (13%)

We have to get back into the habit of letting our bodies find homeostasis (balance) regularly or we will be kept ‘revved up and raring to go’ by our SNS and then one of these days we will splutter and fail to ignite.   We need time when our PNS is in charge again and our heart rate can return to a normal, healthy rate, our digestion can function easily and our muscles can relax instead of remaining tense.  At that time our innate body wisdom and cellular intelligence can take over and heal our bodies and minds again, reconnecting us with our souls and reminding us why we are here.

When to use Restorative Yoga

Restorative Yoga comes into its own when a person has reached a point of deep fatigue and even a gentle Hatha class feels like too much for them.  They might describe themselves as feeling a bit fragile.  A session of Restorative Yoga would give their bodies a chance to rest and begin to heal in a way that can never be achieved by lying down in front of the TV and ‘resting’ because one is tired. Lead by a Restorative teacher they would be taken through a sequence of postures, of which most would be done lying on the mat.  This sequence would gently alternately stimulate and relax their spine and move their bodies though a range of movements from forward bends to backward bends, to easing twists and very gentle inversions.  Each asana would be ‘held’ or rather, they would be held in position by props such as bolsters, pillows, folded blankets, blocks and sandbags, for anything between 3 minutes to 30 minutes, depending how familiar they were with this form of yoga.  In this totally supported position they would tune into their breath and let themselves just ‘be’ for a while, rather than working on ‘doing’ the posture.  This might be combined with the use of mudras to focus the body’s energy or chanting or short periods of guided pranayama.  Finishing with the usual relaxation pose, savasana, people usually leave a Restorative Yoga session feeling deeply at peace and reconnected with themselves.

Letting the Healing Continue

Having learnt the principles of supported postures and Restorative Yoga students can begin to incorporate them into their normal yoga class in order to give their body a little relief and be less demanding on the muscles if they are tired that session. They can also carry on using the simple poses at home – they can even be done in bed!   Waterfall, the posture mentioned that the start of this article is a great example.  Said to be the “Bringer of Youth” it is a wonderful pose that has very many benefits and can easily be ‘held’ without strain for up to 30 minutes once the correct props and positioning have been found.  It is an excellent posture for people who have raised blood pressure and who are taking medication to help to control it.  In fact it helps to lower blood pressure.  It is not good to do if you have a headache, or neck problems, ongoing heart problems or a hiatus hernia.  Once in this position the upper body and head tissues become oxygenated and revitalised with fluid which has pooled in the lower body as it is redistributed again in the elevated position.  The face can relax and rejuvenate and look fresher and clearer once the session is over.

Try it out and listen to your body as it responds to this new form of yoga – your body is likely to heave a huge sigh of relief and whisper ‘thank you’ as it senses the permission from you just to ‘be’ still, silent and tranquil for a while.

By Elizabeth Henshall

About The Author: Elizabeth Henshall lives in the Eastern Cape and Edinburgh, Scotland.   She is a trained Hatha Yoga teacher with a speciality in Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga.  She is passionate about the use of these forms of yoga for recovering full health again after anything major and traumatic in a person’s life and in incorporating them increasingly into yoga practice as we age and have different physical requirements.  She often says that there is a time in everyone’s life when the challenge is to go back to learning how to just ‘Be’ – be still, be the you that you really are and be totally at ease in your mind, body and soul.  She has a Doctorate in psychology and is a mental health specialist on the lifelong development of positive mental health and wellbeing for children.  She has been practicing Yoga for thirty years and brings a wealth of knowledge to the workshops she runs

Visit www.restorative-yoga.net for more information or email admin@restorative-yoga.net

Nia blends martial arts, self-healing and dance into a creative and energising fitness art that works to build strength, agility and flexibility in body, mind and spirit. Nia provides a synergistic workout that addresses the whole person through integration, play and sensory awareness. It’s a workout that is fun yet efficient, providing cardiovascular conditioning while inducing the feel-good sensations of dance that bring with it transformation on many levels.

Origins: Nia was born out of the aerobics craze of the 80s. In the USA in 1983, Debbie and Carlos Rosas took off their shoes and eliminated the repetitive up and down jogging that embodied traditional aerobic exercise. In 2002, The Nia Technique was brought to South Africa by black belt trainer Kathy Wolstenholme from Boulder, Colorado, who introduced Nia as an alternative and effective means of dance therapy.
The Benefits: On a physical level, Nia is designed to increase strength, flexibility, agility and grace and can be used to complement any other sport or fitness programme. With Nia, you trim, tone and define more of you, with less effort, the focus is on pleasure and potential, rather than pain and competition.
The Focus: Emphasising holistic health through conscious awareness, participants are encouraged to focus on “the joy of movement”. Nia uses three tools to stimulate, motivate and create positive change: music, movement and magic. Music is used for inspiration and as an energy in which you learn to sink, ride on and flow with. Movement is used to integrate your body, mind, emotions and spirit. The magic is you – how you do what you do, how you interact and connect, and how you create. Nia uses systemic movement, moving the entire body with grounded steps from the martial arts (Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do and Aikido), the dance arts (Jazz, Modern and Duncan Dance) and body integration therapies (Alexander Technique, yoga and Feldenkrais Method).
Spiritual Aspects: Nia works by stimulating conscious body awareness through movement, sound and intention– the conditioning is not just physical, but “whole body”– incorporating body, mind, emotions and spirit.
What to Wear: Wear comfortable clothing to move around in, similar to active wear or yoga clothes and bare feet.
Contact: Visit www.niagp.co.za for a teacher in your area or call (011) 880 5223.
Cost: Around R60 to R80 per class. Monthly class cards are available at around R420, depending on the venue.

Compiled by Hayley Alexander

Belly dance is a Western term for the traditional dance genre known as raqs sharqi, meaning “oriental dance” in Arabic, and is an expressive form of movement that emphasises the complex movements of the hips and pelvic area. Because it is an evolving dance form, there are many styles currently practised – from the traditional Egyptian, Gypsy and Arabic Flamenco styles to the more recent American Tribal style

Origins: While the origins of belly dance remain a mystery, it can be traced back to the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa. Used as a social dance for fun and celebration, it was popularised during the Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries when artists depicted their interpretations of harem life in the Ottoman Empire. Traditionally however, it is believed that belly dance was taught by wise women to prepare for pregnancy and childbirth.
The Focus: Uniquely designed for the female body (although males do perform belly dancing in some countries), the focus is on the abdominal muscles, hip movements, rib cage and arm movements. It is characterised by smooth, flowing, complex and often sensual movements of the torso, alternating with shaking and “shimmy” movements of the hips.
The Benefits: Suitable for all ages and body types, belly dance is a non-impact weight-bearing exercise that places minimal stress on the knees and feet. Building cardiovascular strength, it can be as challenging as the dancer wishes. Working to strengthen the muscle groups of the abdomen, pelvis, trunk, spine and neck, belly dancing also relieves stress in the back and increases the flow of fluid to the joints, improving hip flexibility and toning the arm muscles. Apart from the physical benefits, there are also numerous psychological benefits including increased self esteem, relief from stress, socialisation with others and increased concentration.
Spiritual Aspects: Belly dance movements focus on the pelvis area and therefore work to unblock and free energies that may get trapped here. Since this is the area known for strength and creativity, belly dance unlocks these potentials. It’s a dance of life and celebration and therefore through it, belly dancers learn to access the power of joy and inner sensuality.
What to Wear: Many studios loan shimmy belts to beginner students (fabric belts with coins attached). For performances, dancers wear traditional costumes such as a fitted top or bra and a skirt or harem pants, usually elaborately decorated with beads, sequins, braids and embroidery, but for regular classes, simply comfortable clothes will do.
Contact: Call Gwenyth King of The Belly Button Dance Studio on 084 769 2017 or visit www.thebb.co.za
Cost: Usually a monthly fee ranging from R150 to R250 for a weekly lesson.

Compiled by Hayley Alexander

Biodanza is a South American movement style with rhythmic and harmonising effects that facilitates a richer enjoyment of life and a healthy expression of inner instincts such as joy, creativity and vitality. Biodanza uses music, movement, expression and a sense of community to awaken human potential. It does this through creating unique intense experiences, known as vivencias

Origins: Developed over 40 years ago by Chilean doctor, psychologist and artist Rolando Toro Araneda, Biodanza is practised all over Europe and South America and has been in South Africa since 1995.
The Benefits: With Biodanza over 70 percent of communication is non-verbal, making it a practice of body language skills. Beneficial effects include the regulation of the nervous system, emotions and improved immune system functioning as well as increased self esteem and a greater capacity to relate to and communicate with others. A great practice for “letting go” and counteracting stress, most people also find it also helps develop their smile muscles!
The Focus: Different to formal dance choreography, Biodanza follows organic rhythms enabling participants to experience freedom of expression within the structure of a class and proposed dance movements. The first part of the class is more active, with upbeat and exhilarating dance rhythms, which then evolve into more relaxed and fluid dances.
Spiritual Aspects: The entire system of Biodanza is holistic as it awakens the potential to live in joyful connection with a sense of wellbeing. It addresses the totality of the human being and health in its broadest sense, including the body, emotions, relationships with others and attitudes to life. The purpose of Biodanza is to bring people back to a life-centred principle of living.
What to Wear: Comfortable clothes and bare feet.
Contact: Visit www.biodanza.co.za or call 082 901 0075.
Cost: From R80 to R100 per class. Many teachers provide discounts for a series of classes booked.

Compiled by Hayley Alexander

Meaning “beautiful movement”, Eurythmy can be put into practice as an art form, a self development process, a social team-building practice, a healing therapy as well as an educational tool. Eurythmy emphasises your whole being by integrating body, life and expressive forces with spiritual and interpersonal forces. With Eurythmy, your body becomes the moving expression for what we cannot see, through music, poetry and story

Origins: Eurythmy was initiated as a progressive art of movement at the turn of the 20th century by Rudolph Steiner, the developer of Anthroposophy and the Waldorf school movement. It is taught and practised worldwide.
The Focus: Eurythmy is a social movement experience most often explored in a group, but also as an individual practice. Group work unlocks the powers of moving as a conscious organism, sensing your own space (individuality), the space in between you and others (relationship) and the organism between (community). Individual movement encourages self discovery and expression while nurturing personal talents and helping to overcome challenges.
The Benefits: Eurythmy cultivates a connection with the source of inspiration, imagination and intuition by unlocking the many secrets of music, language, movement, nature and the human being. It nurtures the sense of wonder and beauty for life. It develops coordination, flow and mastery of the human instrument as well as spatial awareness and connection to the streaming substance of time.
Spiritual Aspects: This art of consciousness expands and enlivens your subtle senses, deepening and widening your capacity to relate to and express life. As well as working consciously with yourself and others in space, you will also tap into the stream of time. What is referred to as “time stream” is described as “the present moment constantly unfolding in a river of unformed potential”. Through intention and personal creativity, participants can shape the personal stream of movement with feeling, gesture and meaning.
What to wear: Comfortable, loose clothing is worn as a free and light sheathing. Shoes are ideally thin Eurythmy slippers. Artistic Eurythmists wear silk, flowing gowns and an even thinner silk veil which flows through the air making the dynamic air currents visible.
Contact: Call the Centre for Creative Education on (021) 797 6802 or visit www.cfce.org.za. You can also email Liz Smith on lizsmith@kingsley.co.za.
Cost: Public classes are R50 and to study it as an educational course is R24 000 yearly.

Compiled by Hayley Alexander

A movement meditation practice drawing on many indigenous and world traditions such as shamanism, mysticism and Eastern philosophy, 5Rhythms also draws from Gestalt, the human potential movement, and transpersonal psychology. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and energy moves in waves, patterns and rhythms

Origins: 5Rhythms was established in the USA by Gabrielle Roth in the 1960s.
The Benefits: A dynamic dance platform that teaches a vocabulary of expression through non-verbal forms. It’s a restorative process of connecting with your “inner teacher” through finding the feet and freeing the breath.
The Focus: The practice focuses on putting the body in motion in order to still the mind. The 5Rhythms are flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness and, when danced in sequence, are known as a “wave.” This “moving structure” gives people the space to improvise, listen, explore and express through their own bodies, discovering their own movement landscapes. The emphasis is on bringing presence and awareness into movement and being conscious of what is moving (and not moving) in the body.
Spiritual Aspects: Through dance you can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration through which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential. By integrating body and breath, work begins with the physical body and transcends through to emotional, mental and spiritual levels.
What to wear: Something that allows you to be free!
Contact: Call Hannah Loewenthal on 082 777 8257 or email hannah.loewenthal@gmail.com.
Cost: R50 for an individual class. Special rates and workshop rates also apply.

Compiled by Hayley Alexander