Sheila's Class Schedule

 

Yoga Styles

Hatha Yoga
Classical Hatha is the root of all styles of modern yoga asana (posture) practice, promoting a strong awareness and appreciation of body. Classical Hatha emphasizes releasing physical and mental tension and gently challenges the body to enable it to extend and strengthen.

A typical class includes warm-ups and breathing exercises (pranayama) followed by a series of held postures (asana) that move the spine through its entire range of motion, build strength and flexibility in all major muscle groups, tone all internal body systems, and open energy channels. Classes end with relaxation to allow the body to fully integrate all the benefits of the practice. Classes may include other aspects of hatha yoga such as meditation and yogic philosopy.

Flow Yoga
Flow yoga is a style of hatha yoga that emphasizes letting the breath lead movement. Through Flow Yoga, we relate with the body as an ever-changing, energetic process rather than a static object. We use our inhalations and exhalations to embody a sense of flow within the stillness of each posture, and to flow between postures. Being in the flow helps us cultivate bhava or "feeling mind", moving beyond conventional thought patterns that keep us stuck. We feel the expansion and contraction of our muscles, strengthening as well as lengthening. By touching into the edges of our strength and flexibility and then letting go, our body awareness deepens. This approach softens our rigidity, cultivating openness and creativity in body and mind, both in our yoga practice and in our life.

Gentle Flow: Soothe the soul! Recharge and renew with gentle and restorative poses through flowing sequences letting the breath lead our movement. Through balancing gentle movement and soothing stillness we can soften and open in body and mind. The perfect way to unwind and reconnect with your innate wisdom. This class does not include sun salutations. Suitable for beginners and everyone else!

Hatha Flow: Introduces sequences of foundational postures that emphasize the breath and energetic alignment. You'll be invited to rest between sequences to allow the body to fully integrate the benefits. Discover a new relationship with your body and develop confidence in both movement and stillness. Practiced with rhythmic and soothing music, this class is intended for healthy beginners to yoga and intermediate students of flow or hatha yoga.

Power Flow: An energizing and creative flow class that builds heat, energy and strength as well as flexibility. Includes more variations of namaskars (sun salutations) and sequences of foundational postures with optional intermediate variations. Suitable for healthy practitioners who have been practicing yoga for six months or more.

Hot Flow: Hatha Flow Yoga with heat! Hot flow yoga is practiced in a room heated to 32-35° C for optimal stretching, strengthening and detoxification. With heat, your body burns fat more effectively, expels more toxins and enjoys greater range of movement in muscles and ligaments. Yoga with heat can improve the function of the immune system and metabolism. Hot yoga is suitable for new and experienced yoga students with a tolerance for exercise in heat. Hot yoga is NOT suitable for pregnant women as heating the body can be harmful to your baby.

Flow & Yin
This class provides a delightful, balanced practice of active and passive forms of yoga. The class begins with an energizing but accessible Hatha-Flow Yoga sequence of standing postures, and transitions to Yin Yoga, with passive postures held for 3-5 minutes. Please see the Flow and Yin class descriptions for further information on these styles. Suitable for healthy students with some familiarity with yoga postures. Previous experience with Flow and Yin not required.

Yin
Yin yoga is based on the Taoist mind-body system as well as that of traditional Indian yoga. While most yoga styles work on the more yang (fluid, active) body elements, this style of yoga works on the more yin (stable, unmoving) parts of the body, increasing the flexibility of the deep connective tissue (tendons and ligaments).

Changing the more solid yin tissues requires time and acceptance. In Yin yoga, postures are all done on the floor, allowing the muscles to relax and gravity to do the work. Postures are selected for their ability to work with the core connective tissues, particularly through the low back, pelvis and upper legs, and each pose is held for a longer time than in Yang styles (generally 3-5 minutes). Yin is effective for improving the flow of energy by unblocking and balancing the meridians, which in Taoist medicine are the channels of life energy in the body, and the lower 3 chakras, which are energy centres in the yoga system.

With its long-held poses, and focus on yielding not exerting, Yin offers students an opportunity to fully experience their body, mind and emotions, and to practice mindfulness and loving-kindness. Yin is a meditation of body and mind. Suitable for beginning and experienced yoga students.

 

Meditation
Shamatha, or "peaceful abiding" meditation, while originally taught by the Buddha, is a secular form of meditation, suitable for anyone, anywhere, anytime. This basic form of mindfulness meditation has extensive benefits for body and mind. With regular practice, meditation can relieve anxiety and depression, lower blood pressure and relieve pain. Meditation can help us feel more self-confident and self-aware, and also more compassionate and open to others.

Shamatha is the foundational form of meditation found in many spiritual traditions, particularly in the East. Shamatha means placing the mind on a virtuous object to let the mind settle. Virtuous means something that will bring benefit. The Buddha suggested the breath as our object of meditation. The breath is considered to be one of the most virtuous objects because it is an antidote to many neurotic qualities of the mind: anxiety, intellectualization, dullness and wildness. Through resting the mind on the breath, we begin to make friends with our mind and see that our thoughts and emotions aren't as solid as we think they are. We start to experience the natural peace of our mind between thoughts and over time discover that we don't have to be at the mercy of our moods. Instead of our mind controlling us, we can direct the mind as we desire. This can help us in our every-day life: we focus better on our tasks, are less distracted and relate with other people with less reactivity and more calm. On the spiritual journey, by making friends with our mind and cultivating spaciousness and one-pointedness, our awareness can begin to grow into insight into the true nature of our mind and of the world around us.

Sheila teaches shamatha meditation in her yoga classes and in introductory workshops and courses.