Yoga, training and health inspiration for you

More and more of us do it. We practice and practice to get the perfect one. Handstands. It's not a circus exclusive anymore, it's out there. Get some insight about all the parts of our bodies included in a handstand, and how we can prevent these parts from getting injured when practicing! 

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Yoga inversions – handstands for everyone

Wild guess, you haven't missed it. People are getting down and up into inversions everywhere. Downdogs, planks, handstands and more in a huge variety of shapes and styles. It's not a circus exclusive anymore, it's out there. 

We are fascinated with hand balancing. They defy gravity and intrigues us, we instinctually know it requires time and skills to conquer them. You need a brave both body and mind a big portion of character to stay in the training to conquer the more advanced poses. They are visually appealing and can express many different artistic styles and emotions. Beyond this, there's something with hand balancing that goes even deeper into how we humans are set up physically.

The photo shows the neuro sensory proportions and how much of the brain is used to control movements in different parts of the body. As you can see, we are hard wired to pick up information from our hands, and to use them in our daily life. Not only for hand balancing. This is why we can so many things from brushing our teeth to sending a text, handstand or play the piano.

Each hand contains plus or minus, everyone is different:

• 29 major and minor bones
• 29 major joints
• At least 123 named ligaments
• 34 Muscles which move the fingers and thumb
• 48 named nerves
• 30 named arteries and nearly as many smaller named branches

Handstand and injuries such as wrist issues 

Yes, obviously this is a complex area. I meet a lot of people with wrist issues. Not only when doing Yoga, handstands or in the gym, but everywhere, like the other day at dinner with friends. When they found out I work with my body and that I do a lot of handstands the following often happens:

• They tell me they have wrist problems, restrictions or pain and how they avoid things in life because of it. Of course, it also becomes a limitation to even start or to get good progression in movement training like Yoga, hand balancing and similar form of training.

• They tell me how they can't, won't or just don't know how to address it.

Preparations & build up – how to do a handstand

Well, you can't rest yourself out of this one. You need to start using your hands. More. Daily.

• Basic function and flexibility. Do an honest check in with the basics. Can you flex and point your wrists, circle them, spread your fingers wide, make a fist, connect with each finger. Massage your wrists and palms, play air piano, be creative and move your hands in as many different way as you can come up with.

• Add intensity and resistance. Once you have the basic skills it's time to add more resistance. Touch the floor, hang from something, carry things that are heavy. Basically do things that requires you to make an effort with your hands.

• Advanced skills and programming. I've said it before and I'll say it again and again – Get a skilled professional. When you want better progress, when you get stuck, if it hurts or if you want something special, get the best professionals and teachers to learn from. It's a life long investment.

Touch the ground, the sky and your heart everyday.

Learn more 

• Learn about the benefits of headstands (in Swedish)

Yoga online – handstand practice

• Playlist: Handstand – step by step (English)
• Videos:
  • Handstand practice in the video library (English, also choose language under settings)
  • Handstand practice in the video library (Swedish)

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Gwyn Williams from Team Yogobe is the founder of the ZenThai Shiatsu practice and facilitator at BaliSpirit Festival since its second edition. In this interview with Elisabetta Crovara he talks about balance, letting go, and the festival.

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.”

Simple and on point. But, how many times are we told to hold on and how many to let go? Growing up and even during our adult life, holding on is associated with strength and resilience. We do rarely let go, because we feel like we are giving up. Somehow, it’s counter-intuitive.

However, these two, need balance. And balance is what BaliSpirit Festival 2019 wants to restore. This edition will be Gwyn’s 11th — and when he talks about it his voice has the same excitement as if it would be his first time attending BaliSpirit Festival.

“At BaliSpirit Festival, people get out of their suits. It’s a space where we’re not defined by the other life that we’re living.” Gwyn says: “While our ordinary identity fades, we dance and celebrate in true freedom. We’re finally present.” It’s a beautiful image, the one of the festival grounds. Some holding on to asanas, or practicing the stillness of meditation. Others singing their heart out and dancing in pure liberty. A kaleidoscope of colours, darkness and light. Sounds and silence, ecstasy and calm. An image of balance, unity and community. Like the practice of ZenThai Shiatsu, brought to the festival by Gwyn, since 2008.

“On a superficial level,” Gwyn explains, “ZenThai Shiatsu is the integration of Zen Shiatsu oriental medicine, Thai Massage and osteopathic techniques,” practices that he explored at the Queensland College of Oriental Medicine and in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Here, he discovered the osteopath Arnaud Le’ Hermitte, who combines osteopathy with the art of Traditional Thai Massage.

With a strong background in martial arts, until 1997, Gwyn utilised the prana, the life force, to fight and compete. Then, he slowly realised the importance of the yin and yang, in other words: of a balanced life. If energy goes out, energy needs to come back in. And so he discovered and got into alternative therapies and yoga. Balance is at the very core of ZenThai Shiatsu: “beneath the superficial level is the practice of getting to know who we are in our true nature, in our stillness state, where we can melt away all the boundaries and just let go.” Holding on to stillness, we can then let go.

Photo: Rosa Chen

By creating balance in our bodies and minds, ZenThai also embraces a full sense of unity and acceptance, and is also a great reminder of the power of community. During Gwyn’s classes and workshops, participants work in pairs and in group as a whole. They gather together, practice, share, grow and offer their own healing, kind and loving touch to others. “The hand being an extension from the heart.”

ZenThai is like music

ZenThai creates a safe space of belonging, where people feel nourished and supported, no matter what is going on in their life. In Gwyn’s words: “ZenThai is like music. It’s an intention to move back into unity and a great modality to eliminate the conditionings. It’s a feeling of ‘we’re doing this together — and of going back to balance.” A practice that perfectly merges with BaliSpirit Festival’s vibe and energy. When we asked him a little sneak peak of his workshops he will offer this year, he replied with his main intention instead: to bring people together through movement and therapy. He won’t plan the content in advance, he will listen to the planet and to the family gathering on that day. What do they feel, wish and need. What are their intentions. And then the practice will start.

The common thread, as the festival’s theme, will be “Restore the Balance.” As Gwyn puts in, we live in a world overwhelmed by negativity, tragic dynamics perpetuated by the media and other channels we are constantly bombarded by. Well, it’s time to look at the positives and not to panic. Time to look at the flower growing on the cement. He continues: “The Earth works on a state of congruent vibration, like a pendulum. It’s a sequence and we need to embrace changes because everything is temporary. It’s a continuous swing from darkness to light.”

Movement from darkness to light is balance itself. One cannot exist without the other. So, for us, falling out of balance doesn’t matter really, because if we sharpen our senses, relax and become more aware, we can always swing back to balance. Yin and Yang. Sekala and Niskala. Dark and Light. All strong opposites that we need to accept and learn how to deal with. To meditate in stillness and in movement. To find serenity in the darkness and compassion in the light. To find silence when surrounded by hundreds of people and to speak out loud without saying a word. That’s what Gwyn’s practice is about and common thread to all BaliSpirit Festival’s workshops and events.

Gwyn gave one more blissful message, that we’d like to share in particular for any first-time attendees: “At BaliSpirit Festival, just say ‘Yes,’ and you’ll feel in the perfect place and time.” Shake your conditioning off and find your OWN way back to balance.

Photo on top: Caroline Schiff

Read more about BaliSpirit Festival here!

Practice with Gwyn here on Yogobe

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With the coming of her second child, yoga teacher Anastasia Shevchenko had to re-think her work. Read her story about bringing a big project to life despite a very small budget and lack of investors – while taking care of two small kids!

When life with kids make you change your plans

This story began last summer when our family got the good news: we were expecting! My husband and I wanted to have a second child, our 2 year old just got out of diapers, so we let the nature take its course… As I got pregnant, I realized that my life would have to change.

Before having children, I was a new yoga teacher, very keen to take on any teaching opportunity I got, even if it wasn’t well-paid, or even if it wasn’t paid at all for that matter! I just wanted to learn, to gain experience, to build on my resume… I started out, like most others, subbing classes for more established teachers and teaching at weird times that nobody else wanted.

With Liam’s birth, I had to become more picky, and frankly speaking, we could afford it. My husband had a fruitful work period, and I established myself with a small number of dedicated students who were happy to follow me from one rented space to another. At this point, I still liked to take some time in the evening away from the family for my work.

Changes had to be made
With the coming of the second child however, I had to re-think my work. I wanted to establish a way in which I could work more during the day or in high-intensity time chunks, work less, and be more recognized for what I do and how I do it.

And so, in the end of the summer 2017, the idea of the Berlin Yoga Conference was born. In September I put together a temporary website and outlined my vision, then approached the yoga teachers to see if the ideas resonated with them. I also started looking for a venue, which was one of the biggest challenges so far: Berlin has become very expensive and the venue costs a substantial chunk of my budget. In the end, I found an amazing venue that could not have been more perfect for the occasion – Malzfabrik. The people working there were very happy and supportive about the idea of hosting the Berlin’s first ever Yoga Conference.

With the venue finalized, by October a list of presenters was ready as well, with some basic notions about the programming and the business plan. In November, I approached important service providers for the next steps - the designer and the programmer - as well as the possible sponsors and media partners. 

Creative ways of bringing a project to life
Why have I planned the Berlin Yoga Conference so much in advance? By now you know the first reason – because of my daughter who was born in the end of February. The second reason is simple – because I needed a lot of time to compensate for the lack of money. Planning in advance has provided me with enough time to come up with all kinds of creative ways of bringing this project to life despite a very small budget, lack of investors, connections, or a well-known name in the community.

So now, here I am, working full-time (without getting paid for this), while having a newborn baby, nursing her while doing emails, Skyping with people while she’s asleep, and taking her with me in a sling to business meetings – all of this before my 3-year old comes back from the day care and we spend some time as a family the four of us.

And the last thing: I manage to do my daily practice! At 20:00 when we put the two kids to sleep, I have that one hour to practice, well, usually while trying to catch up with my husband stretching next to me. Well, maybe it is not a traditional Ashtangi kind of way, but that’s what I can afford at this point!

Interested in the Berlin Yoga Conference? There is a chance to experience a little taste of it through the photos from the Pop Up#1:Meet the Berlin Yoga Conference or to come over (link to the program for the pop up#2) to the Pop Up#2: Berlin Summer Yoga Edition this August 18, 2018

Find out more about Anastasia Shevchenko 

Home page, Facebook and Instagram.

Photo Credits: Alessandro Sigismondi

Be the light in November! The founders of Jivamukti Yoga, Sharon Gannon and David Life, are coming to Stockholm to spread some yoga love at Wild Wood Stockholm. Experience yoga with Sharon, David and Team Yogobe's guest teacher Camilla Veen from Norway, and meditate with the swedish artist Thomas Di Leva. Here are Sharons words about Jivamukti Yoga and Wild Wood Stockholm.

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Soul liberation and enlightenment
The word Jivamukti is composed of two words: jiva = individual soul + mukti = liberation. Jivamukti means soul liberation. The Jivamukti Yoga method is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings, grounded in the original meaning of the Sanskrit word asana as 'seat, connection' – relationship to the Earth, this implying all of life. The classes are usually quite vigorously and presented in a flowing form, combined with hands-on adjustments, breathing exercises, meditation, Sanskrit chanting, yogic philosophical teachings and deep relaxation.

Compared to a lot of other types of modern yoga, it perceives yoga not as just a way to improve ones physical health but in a more holistic way, equating yoga with spiritual enlightenment. One of the main things that strike most people about Jivamukti Yoga is the emphasis on ahimsa (non-harming) – especially expressed in veganism and animal rights activism. 

Chanting and music in a Jivamukti class 
During a class we experience chanting and music through Nada and Shastra. Nada yoga – the yoga of deep listening – is one of the five tenets of Jivamukti Yoga: The development of a sound body and mind through deep listening. The teacher will incorporate this in class using recorded music, spoken word or silence. Exuberant, eclectic music plays an integral role in a Jivamukti yoga class. 

Shastra – the study of yogic teachings as found in the ancient Sanskrit texts – is another one of the five tenets. This is usually incorporated in class by the teacher leading the class in chanting a Sanskrit mantra and/or a verse from a classical Yogic text, for example: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra or the Bhagavad Gita, then explaining the practical application of that classical teaching in one’s modern life. Each month there is an essay written by either Sharon Gannon, David Life or one of the senior Jivamukti teachers in the lineage. The teachings in this essay focus on one or more philosophical ideas/concepts found in the shastras (classical Yogic scriptures).   Another way that Shastra is incorporated into the Jivamukti Yoga system is through the study of Sanskrit. All teachers are given a basic understanding of the alphabet and some rudimentary grammar, when they are certified as a Jivamukti Yoga teacher and because most of the relevant ancient Yogic texts are written in the Sanskrit language, Jivamukti teachers are encouraged after graduation to continue to study.

Experince this at Wild Wood Stockholm
Vigorously physical and intellectually stimulating yoga classes, including flowing asana sequences, hands-on adjustments/ alignments, breathing exercises, chanting, yogic philosophical teachings, meditation and deep relaxation. 

• Three special three hours master classes where you get the opportunity to go deeper than what we can typically accomplish in a standard practice. 
   
• Two Asana labs: An interactive asana creative problem-solving laboratory workshop. 
   
• Open class: One of the six standard Jivamukti types of classes. All Open classes include asana, meditation and spiritual teachings – in a sequence creatively designed by the teacher. Music plays an integral role. 

Thrilled to teach Jivamukti in Stockholm
Jivamukti Yoga is spreading all over the world and we are especially happy and honored to be apart of its blossoming in the beautiful city of Stockholm. Yoga is synonymous with peace and Stockholm is the noble city of peace. This is the first time in many years that David and I will both be traveling together to Europe to teach at such an event. We are especially thrilled to be teaching along with senior teacher, Camilla Veen, director of Atha Yoga, the Jivamukti Affiliate Center in Norway. We hope that this gathering of the tribe will draw many old and new Jivamukti students together to celebrate the opening of the first Jivamukti Yoga center in Sweden. 

Read more about Wild Wood Stockholm here! 

Jivamukti Yoga Videos

Jivamukti Yoga online with Camilla Veen. 

Jivamukti Yoga

Läs mer om Jivamukti Yoga här!