“There is always a light within us that is free from all sorrow and grief, no matter how much we may be experiencing suffering.”
- Patanjali
Free Your Body
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Vinyasa Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga is a dynamic, active, and fluid type of yoga that is linked with the breath. One posture leads to the next, influencing the connection with your body and the ability to take every next step consciously.
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Katonah Yoga
Katonah Yoga is based off of Taoist theory, TCM, mystics, and geometry. The use of archetypal postures and analogies helps us find our true center, build healthy boundaries, and discover our potential.
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Yin Yoga
Yin yoga gains its name from working with the yin, calm and consolidating, side of our existence. It works with the deepest physical parts of ourselves, and its passive and static nature helps us learn to surrender to our active minds and bodies.
Vinyasa Yoga
The term Vinyasa means “to place things in a special way,” but one of my teachers rephrased this as “artfully placing one’s life.” Yoga is not something that you do on the mat, but how you live your life. Each posture flows to the next while following the breath. By linking the breath to the body during Vinyasa Yoga you strengthen your skills of concentration and connection, you connect deeper to your center by moving with/from your source of life (breath), and you learn to be with the present moment rather than rushing to the next.
Vinyasa Yoga is considered Yang, or active, yoga. We can work with our yang nature to balance our yin. Meaning, if we are physically or emotionally stagnant (i.e. working at a desk all day, feeling an emotional blockage or feeling stuck in life), then we can utilize yang action to find equilibrium. This goes for yin and yang of both body and mind. The uniquely designed sequences and practice has the potential to awaken the body and quiet the mind. I create the environment and you create the experience.
“The more we recognize the meaning of the search for truth, for what is essential, the less we will be distracted by other things.”
Katonah Yoga
Katonah Yoga coms from classical Hatha Yoga and is based on Taoist theory, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), geometry, and western esoteric philosophy. Created by Nevine Michaan who lives and teaches in Katonah New York.
This practice treats the body as a home, exploring its rooms and potential. We use many metaphors and analogies to help the individual create their own understanding and experience. We work with the natural geometry of the body and TCM to stimulate your meridian lines and find your true center. Working with the natural connections and boundaries of your body immediately and directly translates to the connections and boundaries in your life.
Through this practice you truly start to see your body as a fascinating vessel and your spirit as your potent source.
“…and your true power emerges – the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.”
Yin yoga
Yin yoga aims to balance our own yin/yang equilibrium, a relationship that exists in all things. Yin Yoga is great for individuals who are in constant motion of the mind or body who need a moment of stillness, and anyone looking for more freedom and openness in their body. Yin Yoga aims to discharge physical and emotional tension we have knowingly or unknowingly built up.
In a yang yoga class such as Vinyasa yoga you are working with muscles and organs which respond well to quicker movements because of their fluid content. In Yin Yoga we are working with the joints and tendons which need much longer to relax and lengthen. A Yin Yoga class consists of mostly passive postures which allow gravity and breath to gently pull and tug on our body, gently bringing space and life into soma and psyche.
Yin yoga enhances the mind by reshaping your relationship with stress. As we allow gravity to have us and gently load parts of our body to an appropriate edge, we interact with our physical and mental response to stress. By easing into a pose, staying aware with the sensations, and surrendering to the emotions and reactions that arise we rewrite our body’s stress response and become familiar with the feeling of “it’s okay.” Each pose is a beautiful arc of tension rising and melting away, leaving you revitalized and restored.
“In Yin practice, we are carving out neural pathways of loving kindness toward ourselves as we learn to feel deeply into our bodies just as they are.”