What is Yoga?

Yoga is a form of exercise that involves physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation. It originated in ancient India and is designed to promote physical and mental well-being.

During a yoga class, you'll typically start by warming up your body with some gentle stretches. You'll then move on to a series of postures, or poses, that involve holding your body in different positions and using your muscles to support your body weight. These poses can range from standing poses to balancing poses to seated poses and more.

As you move through the poses, you'll be encouraged to focus on your breath and to pay attention to your body's alignment. This can help to improve your balance, strength, and flexibility, as well as to reduce stress and increase relaxation.

In addition to the physical aspect of yoga, many practitioners also find that it has a calming and centering effect on their minds. Through the practice of yoga, you may be able to cultivate a sense of inner peace and clarity, and to connect more deeply with your body and your breath.

Yoga Classes at The Studio

Our classes are tailored toward beginning and intermediate levels, although advanced yoga practitioners will also greatly benefit. These are traditional, slow-paced, meditative classes that encourage proper breathing, flexibility, strength, and vitality, while also calming the mind and relieving stress. A typical class will include:

Pranayama (breathing exercises)
Warm-ups exercises including Sun Salutations
12 basic asanas (postures), with relaxation between asanas
Deep relaxation

The 12 Basic Asanas

Asana is one of the eight limbs of classical yoga, which states that poses should be steady and comfortable, firm yet relaxed helping a practitioner to become more aware of their body, mind, and environment. Our focus is on mastering the basic asanas from which variations are then added to further deepen the practice. Within the Sivananda tradition, the asanas follow an exact order that allows for the systematic movement of every major part of the body in a balanced way that enhances prana (life force energy), keeping the mind quiet, without the need to think beyond each individual pose. Additional variations may also be taught to meet your experience level and abilities.

Headstand (sirsasana) optional or replace with Dolphin
Shoulderstand (sarvangasana)
Plough (halasana)
Fish (matsyasana)
Sitting Forward Bend (paschimothanasana)
Cobra (bhujangasana)
Locust (shalabhasana)
Bow (dhanurasana)
Spinal Twist (ardha matsyendrasana)
Crow (kakasana)
Standing forward bend (pada hasthasana)
Triangle (trikonasana)

The Five Points of Yoga

Proper Exercise (asanas) - Yoga poses help develop a strong, healthy body, enhances flexibility, and improves circulation.
Proper Breathing (pranayama) - Deep, conscious breathing reduces stress and disease.
Proper Relaxation - Reduce stress and anxiety, and ease worrying and fatigue.
Proper Diet - Eating simple, healthy and vegetarian food that are easy to digest has a positive effect on the mind and body, as well as benefiting the environment and other living beings.
Positive Thinking and Meditation - These are the true keys to achieving peace of mind and eliminating negatively and stress in our lives.

Yoga has many tangible, powerful benefits on a mental and physical level, so let our instructors provide them for you. Whatever your challenges and goals are in life, we know that yoga is a powerful tool to help you achieve those goals. Yoga and meditation can happen anywhere, at any time, and we would love to teach you how. We are looking forward to sharing the gift of yoga with you. Contact us at The Studio - La Pine today for more information about our services

Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra, also known as “yogic sleep”, is the ultimate relaxation practice. It is an ancient technique where the practitioner enters the deep states of conscious relaxation, sometimes described as being between waking and sleeping. It is a systematic practice of moving awareness from our external world to our internal world. It brings us to state of deep wakeful sleep where our senses, intellect and mind relax. This provides the body and mind with numerous health benefits including increased energy, improved sleep, and reduced stress and anxiety.

This provides the body and mind with numerous health benefits including: improved thought patterns and reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced cognitive performance and memory, improved self-esteem and confidence, better sleep and improved physical health, improved waking mindfulness, treats chronic pain and PTSD, lowers blood pressure, strengthens the immune system and there are many many more benefits.