A traditional practice, lived in a real life.
At the heart of Ashtanga yoga is a traditional asana (posture) practice, that is practised with deep breathing and close attention.
I teach the Mysore method, where you work through your own practice while receiving individual guidance from the teacher.
The method has a clear tradition and structure. The way you live with the practice can be personal.
Ashtanga means “eight limbs”. The asana practice is one part of a broader yogic path that also includes yamas (ethical principles), niyamas (internal observances), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (turning the senses inward), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (meditative absorption).
Your practise is your practice.
In a Mysore class, you don't practise a sequence that everyone has to keep up with.
You work through the sequence you have been taught, at your own pace, while I offer individual instruction when you need it.
Over time, you learn to understand the practice for yourself — how to work with the breath and how to meet what is actually there that day.
The structure gives you something to return to. The relationship with the practice develops gradually, through experience.
“Heidi sees surprisingly accurately through the camera, and we have progressed slowly but surely, just as we did in person.”
— Erja & Marko
Your practice doesn't have to look the same every week, every year or every decade.
Some days you have more energy, some days you have less.
Sometimes you have an hour. Sometimes you have twenty minutes.
Your body changes. Your life changes. Your responsibilities, priorities and energy change, too.
The tradition remains, but the way you meet it can change.
The practice doesn't need to become another ideal you have to organise your life around. It can become something that lives within your life — supporting you rather than asking you to be someone you're not.
“The practice is for my body and my life.”
— Erja
What I hope the practice gives you
Space to notice.
Clarity about what matters.
A clearer understanding of yourself — beneath the habits, expectations and stories you’ve learned to live by.
Something deeper than the everyday life experience, and perhaps a little magic.
What starts as making shapes on the mat becomes a source of relating wisely with the world.
The practice grows awareness of how we breathe, pay attention, respond, relate, rest and move through our lives.
The practice changes with you.
