Nathalie is the senior Yoga teacher at Shanti Som. She explains what yoga can do for you and why you should start your pratice today!
If you would like to more fully understand how to get in charge of your life through yoga, chakra awareness and the way you look at and approach your life, a yoga retreat at Shanti Som can be a great start. Here´s Nathalie´s recommendations:
¨I really needed to have a quiet moment to think about what to write on yoga! Writing about yoga is like writing about life. But then life in our purest state. A state of harmony, bliss, in union with our deepest Self. Free from tensions. Yoga gives us a manual to how to get back into this state or rather, how do we get aware of this inner state, how can we Realise the Self.
Do you recall a moment in your life where you felt completely free from tensions, in harmony with all there is and all that you are? This is Yoga, and any practice in yoga aims to get you back into this state, eliminating everything that is blocking this free flow of awareness. Yoga can be translated into union. Union between our lower self and our higher self. Our individual mind and the universal mind. The different layers of our beings. When we are in union we can experience bliss, and are free from tensions. To get back to this state we have to uproot all tensions. Yoga is a holistic path into health that will help you to get there. Even after your first class in hatha yoga you will reap the benefits from it and experience a deeper sense of peace. Why is that?
There are different paths in yoga, when we focus on the physical practice in Hatha yoga our main practice will be the doing of Asanas/postures with some Pranayama/breath control and relaxation.
Whenever we have got tensions this will reflect within the body. Where the body tightens, the free flow of prana (life energy) is obstructed. Long held tensions can lead to disease. Different postures are designed to let prana flow or be directed to different parts of the body helping to prevent or eliminate disease within the body and thus to enhance and maintain our physical health. Practicing Asanas directly influences the health of all our systems. Muscular-, respiratory-, nervous-, sensory-, reproductive-, urinary-, digestive-, vascular-. And our bone structure. I could write on how this works but for now it is enough to know that it works. A normal yoga class will work on all levels benefiting all different systems. In case of disease classes can be tailored therapeutically to help the body eliminate the state of disease.
In any yoga class you will re learn to breath properly. Calm, steady and deepened nostril breathing has got a direct calming effect on our nervous system, fighting the effects of stress on body and mind. Bringing our breath under our control brings our response to life under our control! We learn to stay calm or bring ourselves back into a state of inner calm through the use of our breath. On top of that, flushing our body with oxygen brings happiness in its own way.
Then there is the mind. It is with the mind that we create most of our tensions. During our practice we tempt to deeply focus on our body; our breath and even our experience of prana. When our mind is fully focused it becomes free from tension, tranquil, even peaceful. Daily tensions disappear to the background the more we become absorbed in what we are doing. This will connect us to our inner witness. That part of us that sees without judgment and without suffering. We can see our life and life circumstances in a different light and are better able to make decisions that will help us to enhance our inner peace.
The refreshing effect on body and mind and our enhanced state of peace will be like a drop of oil in the water and spread out into our life, effecting the people and circumstances in our surroundings and so we can make a contribution to world peace starting with our daily efforts to be at peace with ourselves.
All reasons to start with your yoga practice right now!
In my yoga classes at Shanti Som I daily get to meet different people that have come to realise that true happiness is not coming to us from out there but can be found within us. Living a more spiritual life gives a deeper sense of meaning.
To take our life’s back into our hands it is very helpful to retreat ourselves from our daily basis and reset our intentions.
Shanti Som wellbeing retreat, nestled in the midst of nature, is a wonderful place to make this start. The eastern orientated architecture is a blessing to our senses. The beauty and serenity of the place and the calming effect of the surrounded pine forest all enhance our capacity to truly relax and reconnect to our most inner Selves so we can feel whole again.
In my classes I hope for people to experience and establish this connection, this inner sense of peace and maybe to transmit a little bit of the yoga philosophy. To make them realise that all we need to establish this inner peace can be found within our Selves. This way we are no longer victims of our lives but become empowered to create the life we want to live with peace beauty and meaning at its core.
As my classes are filled with people from all different levels I do not teach in a set style but intuitively try to find the best way for the group at hand to connect. Sometimes through challenging sequences, sometimes through quiet reflection, sometimes technical, sometimes flowing. Always with the intention to establish an inner connection within each of them that they can hold on to and return to when they leave the class. ¨
If you would like to more fully understand how to get in charge of your life through yoga, chakra awareness and the way you look at and approach your life, you can book into the Shanti Som yoga retreat:
http://www.spa-in-spain.com/hotels-and-spas/hotel/shanti-som-wellbeing-retreat/6-night-yoga-retreat/