Do yoga over Christmas with a personalised sequence - book for a private class now!

In this Newsletter:

- Yoga Practice: Force versus Intensity

- Your Feedback on Yogita Yoga

appreciated for 2014!

- Yogita Yoga Community Event Donations

- Christmas shutdown: Get Your Holiday

Sequence!

- Teaching Yoga?

- Inspiring YouTube video

Yoga Practice: Force versusIntensity

Classical conditioning is deeply ingrained in our

psyche and habits. As such, we are often

taught that 'more is better' and that there is

'no gain without pain'. In fact, I used to have

this attitude when I first started on my yoga

journey, having come from an athletic and

intellectual background where you push

yourself (mentally and physically) until it hurts

in an attempt to become faster / stronger /

better / more successful.

A student recently asked me whether he was

'trying too hard' during his practice and it

immediately brought back memories of my own

first difficulties on the yogic path: I

remember getting regularly frustrated during

the yoga class as other students mastered

postures that I could only dream of despite working with all my might to get closer to

that elusive goal of mastering that perfect back-bend or handstand. It wasn't until

my teacher training that I understood the power of letting go and that 'less is often

more': I changed my practice from a goal-driven exercise to a cultivation of

mindfulness as I transcended layers of stiffness and old injuries. But once I let go of

the need to achieve, the postures started happening! I understood the power of

breath and I comprehended that practicing with intensity rather than force means

that you only need enough energy to activate the posture - once you are there, you

reside and surrender into the posture.

The day, the student asked me the question, I decided to really point out to the class

the importance of practicing with awareness and compassion and it was amazing to

observe how much deeper each student was able to go by just letting go that tiny bit

and enjoying the moment rather than the outcome :-)

YourFeedback onYogita Yogaappreciated!In the new year,

we want to

continue serving

our local yoga community and as such

we would love to hear your

feedback!

Tell us what you like, what we

could do better and what you

would like to see in the future

(class types/times, workshops,

talks). Simply click here and put

"Feedback" in the subject line.

Your feedback is greatly

appreciated and we look forward to

your ideas and inspirations!

Namaste.

Christmas and New Year

The Shala will be closed as of

Tuesday, 24th of December and

will re-open on the 6th of

January 2014. If you want to get

a personalised sequence to continue

your yoga over the holidays, book

for a Private Class now!

Your existing class series will be

automatically extended over this

Yogita Yoga Community EventDonations Help Koalas

Thank you for joining us and supporting our

community events. This year we have donated

the money ($120) from the movie & philosophy

talks to the Koala Fund of Fauna Rescue SA

Inc. One of our students, Merridy, is one of

their tireless volunteers. The Koala fund does

not receive any government funding and needs

to raise money to pay for vet bills, equipment,

koala enclosures and special baby koala milk

for the orphaned ones.

We thank you for your kindness and

generosity; and as we experienced Merridy's

help first hand (assisting a sick koala outside

our house), we know that the funds will go to a

good use.

We hope you enjoyed these community

gatherings and will continue to join us in 2014,

when we will start new round of events. Stay

tuned!

Namaste

holiday period. If you are away on

holidays at other times, please

email us with the dates, so we can

extend your series.

Teaching Yoga?

A student recently asked me what the

most rewarding thing was about being

a yoga teacher. This gave me a chance

to pause and reflect on what it

actually means being a 'yoga teacher'.

When I first decided to do a teacher

training, teaching was the last thing on

my mind (or so I told myself!). I

merely wanted to immerse myself into

in-depth study of yoga anatomy, philosophy, meditation, pranayama and asana. But

during the teacher training (click here if you want to find out about an excellent

course!) I understood that a good teacher is by far and foremost a good student -

because a teacher studies his or her students. And although we have to rely on

teaching to groups in a class situation, there simply is no cookie-cutter method for

each student and one asana may be taught to a student differently compared to

another. For me, teaching is also always a continuation of my yoga practice - not the

asana practice but the practice of loving kindness: extending love and attention to

each and every one of you! As such, it is a continuous study and those of you who

watched the movie at the last Philosophy & Movie Night may recall Georg Feuerstein

(one of the most learned yoga scholars of this century) saying that "if you are not

prepared to learn from your students, you should not teach yoga, as yoga is by far and

foremost study."

As such, I would like to thank all of you for being such great teachers to me - in every

class I learn something new from you; you enhance my practice and my teaching and

for this I thank you.

Namaste,

Evelyn

Inspiring YouTube video

of the Month:

The Kindness Revolution

We wish you a wonderful Christmas holiday season and a happy,healthy and prosperous 2014.With much love,

Evelyn & Andrew :-)

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