Yoga

A letter from Mollie Bunce

I am a great disciple of yoga and cannot imagine having to stop. 

For the past four years I have been attending weekly yoga classes in my home town, ever since I first saw an advert in a local paper. I was apprehensive at first, but the benefit I have gained since joining the group is not just the ‘feel good’ factor I experience after each class but realising I am not yet ‘running out of steam’! 

My 90th birthday is in October 2017. Our lovely teacher, Yvonne, says she follows the Iyengar style of yoga, which concentrates on alignment and precision—and, as our class age ranges from sixty upwards, that gives me a lot of scope. 

THE WORD ON THE STREET

Photographs taken on the streets of Bermondsey in south London—with thanks to our yoga practitioners Tina Glover and Tarryn Lazarus—by Ivan Maslarov

Jarret | New York

I started practicing because my husband had gotten very into yoga and I wanted to understand what he was doing. I was very skeptical; I basically thought it was a whole lot of mumbo-jumbo. It wasn't until I managed to suspend my skepticism that I began to see its benefits. Yoga helps to restore my emotional and physical resilience in a way I could never have anticipated.

Mia | Singapore

Yoga means union: between yourself and others as well as between your body and mind. The asanas (postures) are the first step on the journey toward self-awareness and well-being, together with pranayamas (breathing techniques) and kriyas (cleansing techniques). I like to attend classes led by Indian teachers; they have an holistic approach which expands well beyond the asanas. A good yoga class leaves your mind calmer, your breath slower and your body invigorated.

Tina | London

The early forms of yoga were all about meditating; sitting still, emptying the mind. The movement in yoga gives the mind something to focus on while emptying itself. As you go through the sequence, the mind starts to quieten. Practised over years, it is transformative. 

Nadia | Jakarta

I have done yoga for seven years—a combination of hatha yoga, universal yoga, yin and yang yoga.  I either had a teacher come to my apartment or I joined a private class.  I used to go to Bikram Yoga Kuningan to do Bikram yoga.  I still go to anti-gravity yoga when I can, either to Yoga @42 or to a private class with my teacher and two friends.

Judy | Calgary

I started studying yoga as a teenager in the 1970s. In the 1990s, I was introduced to Svaroopa: ‘bliss of your own being’. It involves holding the postures for a longer time, allowing for spinal tension release; there is also individual support using rolled blankets as ‘support equals release’. I have teacher's training in this style. I have studied Iyengar, Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Kriya, but Svaroopa is the yoga that speaks to me. As with all yoga, it prepares the mind for meditation. I am a classically trained singer and have found that the focus which comes from a meditative state is the same as in singing.

Tarryn | London

People say: “I’m not flexible, so yoga is not for me.” I believe yoga is for everyone. It’s about mindfulness, learning to breathe—which I still have to remind myself to do. It’s about the ability to concentrate on the now; but most importantly it’s about you, and taking from it what you need. I have been practising yoga for thirteen years. I practise Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Jivamukti, TriYoga and Yin Yoga. (I am not a fan of Bikram yoga!) I have had lessons with incredible teachers throughout London.

Nadine | Frankfurt
I have been practising Kundalini yoga for more than four years, at classes in the office, at home and at yoga retreats. Yoga has become part of my life, with fixed appointments in my diary each week. It is my re-energising time.

Jarret | New York

I have been practicing for several years.  My practice centers around breath work, but I draw on Vinyasa, Kundalini, Hatha and meditation.  It all depends on the day: if I'm high energy, Kundalini and meditation help to bring me down and center me; if I'm low energy, Vinyasa energizes me.  I go to local studios in New York City and the Berkshires. It's an escape from the pressures of everyday life.  Yoga calms and energizes me at the same time.

Tina | London
I have practised yoga for ten years; over the last three years, I have been practising the Mysore style of Ashtanga at Stillpoint. It's only in the last year that I have realised how important breath is. Most people go to yoga now to build strength, stamina, flexibility. It certainly does all those things, but the real benefits come when you start to focus on the breath, which should be calm and constant.

Judy | Calgary

The yogi’s journey is incremental, as with life, and is not necessarily an easy or straight path. It takes courage, determination, persistence and patience. It’s about being ‘consciously’ aware of yoga’s precepts and applying them within your life. There has been a commoditization of yoga in parts of the world, and I feel concerned about the consequent dumbing down and commercialization. People can hurt themselves because they see it as an outward practice. I see yoga as an inward practice that helps me on life’s journey. 

Mia | Singapore

I have been doing yoga since 2000 and practise traditional Hatha yoga. I found out about yoga therapy through Master Lakhi at Ananda Yoga in Hong Kong. To become a yoga therapist you had first to become a teacher.  So I signed up for the certificate at Vyasa Yoga. I now teach a style based on the teaching of Swami Vivekananda. I keep the asanas pretty simple, combining poses learned from Master Lakhi and Vyasa Yoga, and always include a breathing exercise and Shavasana (the corpse pose, the most difficult one to master).

Tina | London
It is about letting go. We push ourselves all the time to do better, to do more—women in particular. We push and push and push. After I realised about breath, I started to soften my practice and be kinder to myself. I'm no longer pushing my body so hard that it starts to hurt. Now, I feel that I am moving my body around my breath. I am more compassionate towards myself and to others. I'm no longer interested in making everything perfect.

Namaste