Yoga with a punch
Hi Folks,
Hi Folks,
After Long time im back with few interesting information on yoga regarding 2012 yoga new breeds from an article. Here is it for you enjoy :)
Forget Bikram and Ashtanga, 2012's new breed of yogas is a lot more fun - and fierce. We put fashion blogger Bip Ling and four other writers through their postures ...
KickYoga
Getting up early and braving the pouring rain that was crashing on my window was never something that I was going to find easy - especially not with my new St Tropez spray tan. However, when I heard that there was a new martial-arts-cum-yoga class around the corner from my house, I knew I had to check it out.
Coming in from the rain, I was met by the chic, calming environment that is the Kick Studio in Hoxton. Owner Sophie greeted me with a friendly smile. This morning "Kickasana" was on the agenda. Devised by Sophie and her team for men and women of all fitness levels, this class combines Thai boxing movements with acroyoga and deep stretching - followed by calming meditation.
We kicked things off with a spot of breathing and visualisation, before limbering up into our yoga poses. But the tough stuff was still yet to begin. Rounds of Thai boxing combinations and flying high kicks certainly took my heart rate up to another level - and far beyond the one you'd usually expect for a little relaxing yoga. Luckily, at the end of the session we wound down with more breathing exercises and meditation.
The class itself was friendly and enjoyable and I left feeling positive, energised and ready for anything. It certainly kickstarted my day.
Cost and contact: £10 drop-in (discount packages available) B:02 Micawber Wharf, 17 Micawber Street, N1. 020 7253 8591, kickstudio.co.uk
Bip Ling
AcroYoga
There are things most of us imagine we will never do. For me, hanging upside down in a pike position with my shoulders balanced on the feet of a stranger was one of them.
I've seen this sort of thing done by Cirque du Soleil and been amazed. But actually, it's not as hard as it looks.
AcroYoga, as this gravity-mocking exercise is known, is a combination of acrobatics and yoga practised with a partner or in groups.
Indaba in Marylebone is the only yoga studio to offer a weekly AcroYoga class, and while experience of yoga helps, novices are welcome.
We warm up with sun salutations, before practising headstands to prepare for being upside down for most of the next hour.
Our teachers, Anna and Bryony, demonstrate how to form each posture move by move, for both the "base" (on the floor) and the "flyer" (balancing on top), and how spotters can rescue anyone who starts to topple over.
We may be climbing on top of one another but at no point is it scary -although there are a few screams of laughter.
Cost and contact: £15 drop-in, Sundays 2-3.30pm at Indaba, 18 Hayes Place, NW1, 020 7724 9994, indabayoga.com. Jasmine Gardner
Glow Yoga
Like most SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) sufferers, my motivation to exercise dwindles as the dark days continue. Yoga has long been touted as a way to boost your mood as well as your body but Glow yoga has the added benefit of taking place in a studio lit with anti-SAD lights - and heated by infra-red panels.
As you enter the Covent Garden studio of Glow Vibes Fitness, it feels comfortingly cosy. Unlike radiators - that only heat the air around us - infra-red panels permeate heat, warming the body from the inside out. Some studies suggest this helps everything from improving circulation and minimising exercise injuries to relieving joint pain and boosting your white blood cell count - even helping to prevent winter viruses.
The class combines Hatha yoga poses and core-strengthening exercises to flatten abs, improve flexibility and achieve long, lean muscle tone.
Being the cynic that I am, I was surprised to emerge feeling not only warmer but just a little bit happier too. And there's good news for guys who are too shy (or macho) to try yoga for the first time: the studio is launching a men-only beginners' workshop next month.
Cost and contact: Free first trial class, then £16 for a drop-in or 10 sessions for £120 at Good Vibes, 14-16 Betterton Street, WC2; 020 7240 6111, goodvibesfitness.co.uk. Bella Blissett
BroGa
"Get out of my face homeboy" demanded the hip-hop track pumping out of the Gymbox weight-room's large speakers as I walked towards the yoga area. Gymbox claims that its gyms are "anything goes, diva dancing, combat training melting pots of fitness insanity", so delivering yoga - an ancient Indian path to spiritual tranquillity - without seriously damaging its street cred among the hardcore gym-going community was always going to be a challenge.
"Broga" is Gymbox's solution, presumably a reference to the appeal it will hold for "brothers" rather than to the Malaysian town 50 km south of Kuala Lumpur. Broga, left, is hard, fast-paced and free from the effeminate associations normal yoga has acquired. Before the class I couldn't imagine yoga being physically strenuous but then I realised the trick. Don't let the gap year soundtrack distract you: along with the customary praying and leg-twisting, Broga essentially involves a lot of skilfully modified press-ups, squat-thrusts and planks. It's fun but if you weren't good at those things at school, you won't find this any easier. And in my whole class of 15 people, there were only a handful of brothers in sight.
Cost and contact: £10 drop-in. Tuesdays 7.30pm, Holborn Gymbox, 100 High Holborn, WC1, 020 7400 1919, and Thursdays 8.45pm, Westfield White City Gymbox, The Village, W12, 020 8735 5090, gymbox.com. Joshi Herrmann
YogaDance
I have always considered myself way too into "real" sports for yoga, so when was asked to try out YogaDance, I was a bit sceptical. "YogaDance is a unique way of combining free flowing movement with yoga," explained my teacher Katie, from new yoga studio Yotopia. "There is a new understanding of how the body best moves and is trained - using spiral movements, pulsing and repetition, instead of linear and static movements."
Right, I thought. "But don't worry there is no right or wrong in this class," she added - thank God.
The class started with floor stretches and standing yoga exercises which gradually built up into free dance. For the first 15 minutes, I tried to reproduce the teacher's exact movements. But as the class progressed I felt more at ease - and my moves started to flow naturally. Which considering I'm French and very self-conscious seemed something of a miracle.
For beginners who want a first-time approach to yoga, or even experts who want to try a more creative and more spontaneous method of practising it, YogaDance is a fun and relaxingoption. Despite my own reservations I have to admit, I loved it.
£15 drop-in, starts Friday, 7-8.30pm with Richard, and then on the last Friday of each month. St Martin's Courtyard, 13 Mercer Street, WC2, 0333 405 8888, yotopia.co.uk. Marie Winckler
Hope you people enjoyed reading this article :) WIll be back again with some other amazing and interesting information on yoga... Till then bye friends. take care....
KickYoga
Getting up early and braving the pouring rain that was crashing on my window was never something that I was going to find easy - especially not with my new St Tropez spray tan. However, when I heard that there was a new martial-arts-cum-yoga class around the corner from my house, I knew I had to check it out.
Coming in from the rain, I was met by the chic, calming environment that is the Kick Studio in Hoxton. Owner Sophie greeted me with a friendly smile. This morning "Kickasana" was on the agenda. Devised by Sophie and her team for men and women of all fitness levels, this class combines Thai boxing movements with acroyoga and deep stretching - followed by calming meditation.
We kicked things off with a spot of breathing and visualisation, before limbering up into our yoga poses. But the tough stuff was still yet to begin. Rounds of Thai boxing combinations and flying high kicks certainly took my heart rate up to another level - and far beyond the one you'd usually expect for a little relaxing yoga. Luckily, at the end of the session we wound down with more breathing exercises and meditation.
The class itself was friendly and enjoyable and I left feeling positive, energised and ready for anything. It certainly kickstarted my day.
Cost and contact: £10 drop-in (discount packages available) B:02 Micawber Wharf, 17 Micawber Street, N1. 020 7253 8591, kickstudio.co.uk
Bip Ling
AcroYoga
There are things most of us imagine we will never do. For me, hanging upside down in a pike position with my shoulders balanced on the feet of a stranger was one of them.
I've seen this sort of thing done by Cirque du Soleil and been amazed. But actually, it's not as hard as it looks.
AcroYoga, as this gravity-mocking exercise is known, is a combination of acrobatics and yoga practised with a partner or in groups.
Indaba in Marylebone is the only yoga studio to offer a weekly AcroYoga class, and while experience of yoga helps, novices are welcome.
We warm up with sun salutations, before practising headstands to prepare for being upside down for most of the next hour.
Our teachers, Anna and Bryony, demonstrate how to form each posture move by move, for both the "base" (on the floor) and the "flyer" (balancing on top), and how spotters can rescue anyone who starts to topple over.
We may be climbing on top of one another but at no point is it scary -although there are a few screams of laughter.
Cost and contact: £15 drop-in, Sundays 2-3.30pm at Indaba, 18 Hayes Place, NW1, 020 7724 9994, indabayoga.com. Jasmine Gardner
Glow Yoga
Like most SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) sufferers, my motivation to exercise dwindles as the dark days continue. Yoga has long been touted as a way to boost your mood as well as your body but Glow yoga has the added benefit of taking place in a studio lit with anti-SAD lights - and heated by infra-red panels.
As you enter the Covent Garden studio of Glow Vibes Fitness, it feels comfortingly cosy. Unlike radiators - that only heat the air around us - infra-red panels permeate heat, warming the body from the inside out. Some studies suggest this helps everything from improving circulation and minimising exercise injuries to relieving joint pain and boosting your white blood cell count - even helping to prevent winter viruses.
The class combines Hatha yoga poses and core-strengthening exercises to flatten abs, improve flexibility and achieve long, lean muscle tone.
Being the cynic that I am, I was surprised to emerge feeling not only warmer but just a little bit happier too. And there's good news for guys who are too shy (or macho) to try yoga for the first time: the studio is launching a men-only beginners' workshop next month.
Cost and contact: Free first trial class, then £16 for a drop-in or 10 sessions for £120 at Good Vibes, 14-16 Betterton Street, WC2; 020 7240 6111, goodvibesfitness.co.uk. Bella Blissett
BroGa
"Get out of my face homeboy" demanded the hip-hop track pumping out of the Gymbox weight-room's large speakers as I walked towards the yoga area. Gymbox claims that its gyms are "anything goes, diva dancing, combat training melting pots of fitness insanity", so delivering yoga - an ancient Indian path to spiritual tranquillity - without seriously damaging its street cred among the hardcore gym-going community was always going to be a challenge.
"Broga" is Gymbox's solution, presumably a reference to the appeal it will hold for "brothers" rather than to the Malaysian town 50 km south of Kuala Lumpur. Broga, left, is hard, fast-paced and free from the effeminate associations normal yoga has acquired. Before the class I couldn't imagine yoga being physically strenuous but then I realised the trick. Don't let the gap year soundtrack distract you: along with the customary praying and leg-twisting, Broga essentially involves a lot of skilfully modified press-ups, squat-thrusts and planks. It's fun but if you weren't good at those things at school, you won't find this any easier. And in my whole class of 15 people, there were only a handful of brothers in sight.
Cost and contact: £10 drop-in. Tuesdays 7.30pm, Holborn Gymbox, 100 High Holborn, WC1, 020 7400 1919, and Thursdays 8.45pm, Westfield White City Gymbox, The Village, W12, 020 8735 5090, gymbox.com. Joshi Herrmann
YogaDance
I have always considered myself way too into "real" sports for yoga, so when was asked to try out YogaDance, I was a bit sceptical. "YogaDance is a unique way of combining free flowing movement with yoga," explained my teacher Katie, from new yoga studio Yotopia. "There is a new understanding of how the body best moves and is trained - using spiral movements, pulsing and repetition, instead of linear and static movements."
Right, I thought. "But don't worry there is no right or wrong in this class," she added - thank God.
The class started with floor stretches and standing yoga exercises which gradually built up into free dance. For the first 15 minutes, I tried to reproduce the teacher's exact movements. But as the class progressed I felt more at ease - and my moves started to flow naturally. Which considering I'm French and very self-conscious seemed something of a miracle.
For beginners who want a first-time approach to yoga, or even experts who want to try a more creative and more spontaneous method of practising it, YogaDance is a fun and relaxingoption. Despite my own reservations I have to admit, I loved it.
£15 drop-in, starts Friday, 7-8.30pm with Richard, and then on the last Friday of each month. St Martin's Courtyard, 13 Mercer Street, WC2, 0333 405 8888, yotopia.co.uk. Marie Winckler
Hope you people enjoyed reading this article :) WIll be back again with some other amazing and interesting information on yoga... Till then bye friends. take care....
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