YOGA - grounding sequence for winter

As the colder and darker winter months have arrived a calming yoga sequence is ideal for this time of year.

It all starts with taking the time out of one's busy schedule, to make space for oneself. Mindfulness.... awareness... comfort

* * * 

Find a warm cozy spot where you can spend a few minutes to yourself, undistracted by your daily life.

Choose a soft blanket, a zafu or fold your yoga mat so that your body stays warm.

* * * Sit down in a comfortable position, one in which you can stay a good five minutes without moving or shifting. This will take a while to find; give yourself the time to find it. Start by simply being. Breathing. Thinking. Feeling. Let your thoughts wander and learn to accept this natural state of mind. When you are ready close your eyes. When you feel ready start observing your breathing, without forcing it in any direction or way. Do a 3-3 pranayama, also known as So-Ham, followed by a 4-8 pranayama. Returning to regular breathing formulate your wishes for this yoga sequence.

I would like to direct you now to a web site which, along with beautiful photos, put together a lovely restorative yoga sequence. Do this at your own pace, stay in the poses for as long as you can. Watch your breathe: once it becomes forced you leave yoga and enter effort so that is the moment to release out of the pose.
http://www.yogajournal.com/slideshow/yoga-sequence-keep-healthy-winter/

* * * At the end of this sequence come back into a comfortable seated position, close your eyes one more time and reflect on this sequence: which aspect did you enjoy? Which postures helped you relax? Which postures made you feel positive? Take this into your daily life, this realization. Now turn your focus on the wishes you had formulated at the beginning of this sequence and reflect on them. Slowly open your eyes and find yourself back in the hear and now.

namasté

and  may peace be with you

YOGA - x-mas yoga

To celebrate this wonderful time of year and
find inner peace come together at
the yoga shala at La Vudèle for
x-mas YOGA

hatha, Iyengar, meditation
calmING & relaxing
 

  Friday, 18.12., 10h
Wednesday, 23.12., 17h
Wednesday, 30.12., 17h
Saturday, 02.01., 17h
 
after each session we share a cup of warming Zen tea
1.5 hours ~ € 10 ~ mats provided
for beginners, regular practitioners and non-yogis
drop-in class, no reservation required

*** wishing you light, prosperity & happiness ***

YOGA - World Yoga Day '15

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 Every year in late winter World Yoga Day, now in its 7th year, takes place allover the world. This year on 22nd February, on a Sunday morning, between 11h and 13h, yogis everywhere came together to celebrate this special moment, united spiritually and connected through yoga.


 A donation-based project every year a different cause benefits from the contributions of each yogi, be it monetary or idealistic. This year it is the TARA project which provides funding to a deprived part of Africa, enabling children to attend school and better the lives of themselves and their families. Originating in Austria World Yoga Day has spread throughout the world, as you can see on this list of participating yoga studios, from Argentina to Malaysia and Venezuela. 
 Last year I was on Corsica through helpx.net, a fantastic opportunity to stay with locals and exchange ideas, services, thoughts, and spent the actual World Yoga Day time at the most amazing beach, Santa Giulia, 

EXTRA - yoga retreats 2015

* yoga retreats 15.-17. May * 21.-26. June * 11. - 13. September *

 

For 2015 we not only offer the usual weekend retreats in May and September but also a 6-day/5-night yoga week in June! We chose this date to offer our yoginis the unique opportunity to experience the fantastic sight and scent of lavender in bloom, usually from the middle of June until the end of July

A holistic time, where we take care of ourselves from the inside, be it through
* yoga practice
* delicious organic vegetarian food: seasonal, fresh, Provencal with an international touch
* meditation
* time to explore and relax, take a typical Provencal afternoon siesta, swim in a lake, go for a walk
* time to enjoy an in-depth practice, yoga philosophy, spirituality. Focus will not only be on various asanas but on advancing on the path of yoga
* mats & material will be provided

YOGA - weekend workshop September '14

another wonderful yoga weekend

Just like last September, this weekend - running from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening - saw us practicing yoga in the outdoors around La Vudèle. Under the blue sky of Provence...

The June date with focus on meditation and pranayamas, the September date with an introduction to the 7 chakras. For the September date we welcomed a return visitor from last year, Conny! Weekends of yoga outdoors, blue skies, sun, fresh air and warmth. 

For 2015 there will be 3 dates to enjoy Yoga & Nature, yoga practice outdoors, surrounded by the sound of birds, the rustle of leaves in the wind, the feel of the warming sun on the skin, the eyes feasting on the blue of the Provencal sky...

yoga weekend 15. - 17. May &11. - 13. September (Friday afternoon - Sunday evening)

yoga retreat 21. - 26. June (Sunday afternoon - Friday morning) - 4 spaces left

Namasté!

YOGA - "le yoga du jeudi" or Yoga in the Morning

under the mulberry tree
with guests from Australia

This June I had decided to offer a morning yoga session, along with our weekend workshops and private retreats, to our guests in the B&B and gite and to the locals in Quinson who descend onto the salle de fête every Monday evening for yoga with Christiane. During the summer months this weekly course is suspended so that I thought - to bridge this gap - I would offer a class at La Vudèle. And to show that yoga in the morning is quite a different experience from the usual evening classes I decided to start the class at 10h, after breakfast and with enough time to digest. What makes this even more special is the outdoor setting: Yoga & Nature, taking our yoga practice outside, under the blue sky of Provence, surrounding by plants, flowers, wild life and the occasional breeze plus the scent of lavender, especially during harvest time!

Each Thursday a different constellation formed, a slightly different group participated, sometimes 3 people, once even 7; sometimes in French, then in English, sometimes in German, and once in all three plus Dutch! Since no reservation was required I never knew who showed up or how many. This truly meant for me to "take without expecting" or AparigrahaWe had some locals come and participate, some guests in our chambre d'hôte, some visitors to the area who had seen the poster in the village announcing this new class.
Each week there was a different theme, a different focus, be it on balance, inversions, cooling asanas, invigorating sequences, all dependent on the experience of the participant, the mood of the day and the general energy.

And what a joy it was to practice outdoors, to be outside, surrounded by nature: in the cooling shade under the vast mulberry in our garden; by the side of the wheat field with views across lavender fields onto Mont Denier. This mountain range, with an altitude of almost 2000m, served as a focal point for tadasana or mountain pose: imagining oneself a mountain, a natural structure which like our body and mind does neither sway nor move, solid, grounded.

This is definitely an experience I shall repeat to offer next year, along with 3 dates for yoga weekends in May & September and a 6-day yoga holiday in June.

Namasté and thanks to everyone who joined me this summer