In this respect, yoga is constant. Sometimes Friday doesn’t always turn out to be a romantic night, but my yoga nights always turn out to be good. After each yoga session in the studio, I feel refreshed and ready for the last day of work in the week and a last ditch effort in romance the following night. Talk about trying hard. What I do in yoga, I practice in life. I stretch, I turn and twist and sometimes I even bend over backwards for some goals. Good goals of course.

Since I decided to be on my own in Auckland, my life has been pretty regular and predictable. My to do list each day sees little variation. Wake up, shower, and go to work. At work put up with my boss, deal with my colleagues and clients and a lot of Terms and Conditions of usage and such. Leave work, eat out or go home prepared dinner. Thursday nights I’ve got yoga and also Sunday mornings. Why I have yoga again on Sunday mornings when everybody is sleeping in or spending time with someone? Well, it’s because I have decided not to live in with a special someone yet and I prefer power naps to sleeping in so I do yoga on Sunday mornings. I simply feel that to prepare myself once more for the week ahead, I can turn to yoga. Auckland my dears, is a funny place after all. One can’t just claim that he is prepared for the demands of modern life by simply showing up at work or traipsing into the dating scene armed with a to-do list. Throw in some yoga for good measure.

When we were young and limber, just to be part of some group adventures, which by our lives and standard today would be considered unsavory or risqué, we were willing to bend over backwards, no pun intended there. We can consume what we want, stay up till the wee hours of the morning, stress over schooling, relationships and the world in general and it won’t show on our bodies at all. Except that most of us would look thinner for the more active roles we used to take. Now that we are no longer the flexible ‘saplings’ that we once were, yoga and other healthy lifestyle choices sound like a breath of fresh air and yoga is indeed and more. In our studio, we are quick to tell you that yoga is indeed a welcome change for everyone but it is not a miraculous cure-all and that it takes time to master. Spending some time in compromising positions is what you can expect, but we mean that sluggish circulation is compromised and by positions we mean the asanas, the twists, bends and stands of yoga. As adults living metropolitan lifestyles, people expect a lot from us, family, work and friends. It is a challenge staying sane, fit and afloat today. Yoga helps regain the flexibility and confidence we had, sign up today and find what you have been missing.

Click here to learn more about our yoga classes.

• “I’m too big and I’m afraid I can’t bend over backwards and all that.” There are techniques to yoga and please remember that nobody expects you to master it all in a few sittings. This discipline is for everyone and we do mean everyone. That means we let you learn yoga and move at your own pace and we assist you. That’s what our caring instructors are. You are not in a competition with anybody.
• “I don’t have enough time”. Yoga classes start from one hour, an hour of chatting with a friend won’t make you limber and feel as good and yoga class are minutes you can even squeeze through a lunch break if you are close by. You can drop in after work before going home or give an to recap your week and be prepared for the weekend with the family, yoga will make you feel energized. Or over the weekend, to prepare for the week ahead is also a great time to come over for a session.
• “Can’t afford it.” Simply not true and when you see how affordable our prices are and when you see practitioners posing their way to health, you know you’ve made the right decision. Yoga classes are cheaper than having to buy workout machines, which end up spending time in storage anyway.

Conquer your fear of the unknown or the unfamiliar. Be adventurous and reap the payoffs which are priceless in terms of your well-being. Our yoga studio is dedicated to assisting you reflect and complete asanas-the postures that promote inner and mental health. Allow us to help and you will be happier for learning yoga.

We believe that teaching yoga is like teaching preschoolers, and we approach it as such. People are innately intelligent and curious just like small kids, and that is why classes held for them are in small, manageable groups so they can have fun and at the same time, get the attention they need. And just as we believe in taking it easy when teaching yoga to adults and giving it the same fresh and positive approach as we would if handling precious young people, we also believe in being realistic at the same time. We do not claim that yoga brings instantaneous relief to pains of organic origins and that it will about a slim body shape in a week, but we do promise that with the constant practice of yoga and a highly positive attitude and a willingness to change, things will get better.

We recommend combining the practice of yoga with other healthy lifestyle choices such as simple but effective exercises like brisk walks or the ‘no elevator’ approach, less carbohydrates and simple sugars and having a pet if you are so inclined. Simple things add up and with a commitment to yoga, and our back up, you are sure to find good changes happening within you in a month. Park farther from the entrance of where you need to go and walk or take a pet, a friend or a partner for a walk, stay away from the computer for one hour more each day and drink lots of water. You will be delighted to see that you are in the same boat as others who come to our doors to join our yoga classes and find so much more than an exercise in the process.

No, yoga that does not mean a loss of exclusivity if that is how you want to have it. We have small classes and you can also arrange to have our instructors teach you one on one. Yoga is not aggressive as well, nor is it ‘pain made manifest’. Learning yoga is not easy but neither is it impossible. Sky is the limit when it comes to the possibility of advanced yoga poses but everyone; even the experts of old began with the most elementary poses.

Peace through posing is not for poseurs. The yoga we teach is fine for amateurs; after all you only have a lifetime to be good at it. However, yoga is not for those who are looking for instant answers. Yoga as we know it promotes peace, calm and discipline. It is through the calm and peace that the ‘eureka’ moment dawns on a person, if the world outside expects a struggle and your world within is also clamoring for a piece of the action ready to engage and angry for reasons hard to define, then how will you hear the answers when they come? Hence we recommend yoga, pose your way into inner peace. Peace through posing, with health and fitness maintained thrown in. See us today to be in a yoga class.

The benefits of yoga extend well over increasing your flexibility, building up your physical and emotional strength, and stamina. The improved levels of strength and stamina in yoga practitioners may not be as substantial or pronounced as those of weightlifters or cardio-respiratory training enthusiasts, but it’s certainly there. A person’s body mass acts as the resistance factor in yoga workouts and an hour of yoga twice a week brings about noticeable changes not just in the body but also in the psyche. Mood changes become infrequent and a person appears to be more grounded or stable emotionally. These lasting changes are brought about by yoga. Auckland experts recognize these as well; the importance and convenience of gradual and lasting changes, not the kind brought about by sudden gushes of feel good hormones brought about by high impact exercises which although they make a person feel good, optimistic and happy, does not last.

It has been observed that practicing yoga does reduce blood pressure, improve blood glucose levels in individuals stricken with simple diabetes, uplifts the mood for longer periods, helps with pain management for patients undergoing chemotherapy, improve posture and gradually reduce upper and lower back problems.

Positive findings and testimonies about the seemingly miraculous effects of the practice of yoga have its own brand of skeptics, but it’s fair to say that yoga does reduces stress and helps manage weight. Since it is an exercise in its own right, it burns calories and works by decreasing stress hormones the likes of norepinephrine and cortisol which are rampant in the body of worried and depressed people. That said, it is safe to say that yoga may not be a cure for stress, chronic high blood pressure, circulation and heart anomalies, and other medical conditions resulting from a sedentary way of life and most city dweller’s low fiber, high sugar and generally unhealthy diet but it does contribute to the alleviation of these conditions and anything that helps which is not further medication is always a welcome change.

As with all things, moderation is the key, and this goes as well for all good practices. Regularity produces the best results so come and practice with a group in our studio at a timing convenient to you. This is why the yoga that we advocate is safe and easy to accomplish for almost everyone, because we consider your pace, your overall health and we encourage individual learning at any stage in life. Doing things as part of a group has also been found to be helpful. Learn yoga with us, master it gradually and practice it regularly.

I’m a guy and I like yoga. I have not looked back since I discovered I enjoy it better than jogging, weights and cardio work outs at my gym. Well, I tried yoga in the beginning to supplement my gym routine but now it’s the other way around, I do more yoga than traditional gym training.

Where do I get all this time you ask? I’m taking a break from relationships, I date occasionally but for now I’m just enjoying a relationship with myself. After all, you can’t move ahead if you don’t know yourself and that goes true for both career and relationships. Yoga has helped me zone in to myself, pretty much like mediation and exercise. Well, I’m a guy and I like to simplify things, yoga for me is workout without all the impact. I found that I like it. Many other guys I know attend yoga classes, some attend with their ladies and some go with their friends. For me, game time, dart nights and occasional drinks is with friends but yoga time is for me.

I moved to Auckland from Perth and settled on a good job five years ago. I felt used and frayed, yeah, all that drama that women moan about all the time (with all due respect ladies, I am here moaning too). Took me long enough to get a promotion and with that I entered the dating scene with more confidence. I have always dabbled in dating, mind you and have had some success, however, a better salary and title at work doesn’t always equate to happiness or something that resembled happiness. It looks to me that some higher ups are handling the job and all that comes with it in a more ‘together’ way. Heard rumors in the office that a number of senior managers were taking yoga classes so, because I have nothing to lose, I tried the nearest yoga studio.

Three months into it and I know for sure that my senior managers’ secret in staying on top of their game is definitely yoga. Auckland is not a place for the weak of heart. So get into training to measure up, I recommend yoga training for men. Gents and ladies, yoga works, plain and simple.

Thanks Matt!

Since the Christmas is on the way, yoga classes would be great Christmas gift ideas for 2012 for everyone. Girls, here is your perfect Christmas gifts for boyfriend.

Yoga, once mastered is simply rewarding and many adhere to it for life. Yoga can be practiced alone, or with a partner or better yet, with a group. It is a low impact physical activity that promotes health and maintains smooth internal function and when partnered with other healthy lifestyle choices such as not smoking and not drinking, may prove to be life extending altogether. Our yoga classes consist of people from many different walks of life and some do it for fun while others do it to keep fit. However, one thing rings true for all of them, they are happily achieving what they set out to do through yoga. This is no wonder as modern yoga is highly doable. Many modifications have made traditional yoga varieties simpler and thus more available and attainable. Now, it can be a part of most people’s fitness plan.

For those who want to delve deeper into the practice, there are also ample levels and opportunities to advance and improve, if one indeed chooses to go into that direction. Advanced level classes are available for those who have already mastered introductory yoga.  Elementary levels are fine but if you want to proceed further, we encourage the same positive attitude and not a competitive outlook. The one to beat is you and the world is open to possibilities. In our studio, we may it happen-clean fun and affordable accomplishments through the sensible practice of yoga.  Check our yoga classes available in our Auckland studio.