YOGA
We cannot imagine that which we do not know
Choosing for
Devotion
Grace
Courage
......a path of creative evolution, for the benefit of self and of others.....
Building enduring Trust in something beyond thoughts.
Finding Softness in Strength
In my yoga lessons the focus rests on shifting the Awareness between the physical emotional and mental states and to use the body as a tool for becoming aware of Mind. there is a strong emphasis on taking an honest perception of ourselves in the moment, our intentions and our thoughts. In yoga we learn to watch ourselves. Sensory experience is the primary method of arriving at a different state of awareness and routing the experience in the Now. Calming the nervous System and enabling a deeper practice. Various forms of Meditation are used at different stages of the practice.
I give deep respect to self-reflection and self-discovery, patience, discipline and finding a personal joy in the practice. Deepening awareness and thus become aware of our patterns; physical, mental and emotional. The physical practice supports a quietening of the mind. Conscious breathing building resilience and softness of the Mind. Asana practice is geared towards experience of the Spine and our central axis, is geared towards opening the Breath Body.
A modern day Hatha Yoga which invites more time in all asanas, to find lightness and subtle strength in the form. It is in Stillness, or a quietening of the Body's Impulses to Move/Change, that we meet the deeper work of Yoga. We learn to become less obsessed with identifying with the body and notice there is an Awareness within which is independent of our physical form, position or situation.
Garudasana
Work with breath and its power to transform are approached with the use of the imagination and the same approach as we go towards asana - to notice the holding patterns, the control and assumptions attached to our breath, and through awareness to open the breath possibilities and its flexible responsive action. Building a relationship with our breath.
BREATH
Just as with another human being, just as with our Self, just as with anything that is most precious in life - take time, build relationship with Breath. Get to know, respect, trust Breath. Then learn to take some distance. Too much observation will lead to control - too little leads to disconnection. As with all things which matter, spend time, and find the balance.
The method is not the answer, it is the vehicle you choose to carry you across the waters to the abyss of unknowing where only the leap of faith, courage and devotion, can take you to trust in life itself. Love - the drive and force
- Monique
Upavistha Konasana
Classes at Open Yoga Bern, Munzgraben 4:
Wednesday - 1215 - 1315
Wednesday - 1430 - 1530 Yoga for Refugee Women (registration required)
Wednesday - 1715 - 1830
Monique teaches a modernised style of Hatha Yoga with elements of Flow. Formally Trained at the Himalayan Yoga Academy Rishikesh, India A school of Hatha Yoga. Influences come from a range of forms - ashtanga, vinyasa, yin and an intensive period of kundalini yoga in Rotterdam, NL, at Cherdi Kala. She continued her training with various Key teachers since, most prominently the late Michael Stone, Richard Freeman, Mark Stephens, Leslie Kaminoff, Helga Baumgartner, Stephen Thomas.
As a former contemporary dancer and current Voice and Singing teacher, her classes have a strong influence from related somatic practices (eg. Alexander techqniue, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Psychocalisthenics, Kinetic Awareness and Sounding). Central to her studies at Cambridge University were modules in Buddhist and Hindu Philosophies, and since has experienced a very long engagement with modern psychology. She appreciates and teaches a constant engagement with breath, inner awareness (form of drishti) and reassesment of the position of the Mind. Yoga is for Monique a practice to learn methods which prepare us for Life.