Adore Yoga Blog

Donna Gianniotis is an experienced teacher who specialises in supporting students who are going through treatment for cancer. Having been through breast cancer herself, Donna's yoga story is fascinating and inspiring. We are honoured to have Donna join us at Adore Yoga. 

When and why did you start doing yoga 

I did my first yoga class on a trip to India 15 years ago. I tried it because everyone else was doing it in India! I was very sceptical about it, but from that first class, something happened. I felt, for the first time in my life, more of a quietness in my mind. I had made a connection to my body. 

Tell us about how that connection has helped you in recent years.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago. I underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. My yoga and meditation practise was my rock throughout the year that I underwent treatment for the cancer. I felt very lucky to have the tools through yoga to support my physical body, my emotional body and my mind.

What kind of yoga did you practice during your treatment for cancer?

Gentle asana was really important after surgery to regain the full movement of my arm (after having 12 lymph nodes removed) as well as supporting my body through the aches and pains associated with chemotherapy. Breathing practices and meditation were a daily practice (and still are). These practices were so important at that time because our minds can easily project into an unknown future. Meditation helps to keep you in the present moment, to take each day as it comes and to find some stillness and peace within the storm of the cloud. 

What advice about yoga would you give a student experiencing a serious health issue? 

Yoga is a great tool that can work alongside traditional Western medicine to look after your inner world. Yoga means 'union' and it is about re-connecting to ourselves. The reason that we have illness and dis-ease is because somewhere along the line we have disconnected from ourselves. To put it simply, our mind is not with what our bodies is doing. Yoga on the mat helps us to re-establish this connection to ourselves and then hopefully we can then start to take this into our daily living, in all that we do. So my advice, practice yoga to help re-establish this relationship to yourself. But the practice can't remain on the mat, it must go with you into your work, play and relationships. 

What keeps you coming back to the yoga mat every day?

I love the re-connection that is made to myself in the practise and, as a teacher, I love the feeling in a class when students re-connect to themselves. It supports everything in my life, from swimming, snorkelling & bushwalking to my continued studies and practise in energy healing and energy medicine.

Donna is teaching a workshop for students going through cancer on Saturday 10th March, 12-2pm (book here) and will be running a 5 week course for students with cancer on Sundays at 10am from 18 March (book here).

A recent article in the New York Times entitled 'How yoga can wreck your body' has caused shockwaves through the yoga community and generated a huge online buzz.

It is certainly confronting to read sensationalist claims such as “the vast majority of people should give up yoga altogether. It’s simply too likely to cause harm,” but the main argument of the article is hard to fault: doing extreme yoga poses, or even practicing simple poses incorrectly, can cause injury. 

So why do yoga students practice poses that are inappropriate for them, or do simple poses in a way that causes harm? An article in the UK newspaper The Guardian provides plenty of explanations:

“Elizabeth Bennett, 45, slipped a disc in her neck after being "bullied" into a headstand at a New York yoga studio. "When I hesitated, he called me a wimp. There are too many teachers who push unwitting students too far to serve their own egos," she said.”

Or take the case of Megan Branch, a 22 yr old who injured her back practicing locust pose “because she was in a class that was so crowded with up to 70 people that she had to lie at an odd angle so the next student did not have his feet in her face”.

Yoga was never meant to be taught in big classes by inexperienced teachers. Traditionally, seasoned yoga teachers worked under the guidance of their own expert teachers, passing down the wisdom of their tradition to three or four students at a time. Teachers got to know their students and taught them poses that were uniquely designed to suit their individual needs.

If you’re doing yoga in a gym or a big studio, you may be one of 30 to 80 students being taught by a teacher with as little as 14 days training. 

Describing a typical community yoga class in New York, Joanna Walters in The Guardian says that a class of over 70 students “simply had a leader to mimic, with no expert correction of students' postures or warnings about injuries or not pushing one's limits. In an industry where there is cursory certification and no official licensing, yoga teachers can become "qualified" with a 200-hour online course”.

Unfortunately, this situation is not limited to New York and the minimum 200-hour certification set by the Yoga Alliance in the USA has become the benchmark for teacher training in Australia too. 

However, Yoga Australia, the professional body that represents yoga teachers in this country, requires teachers to undertake a minimum of 350hrs professional training before achieving Level 1 teacher status and will only accord teachers with a 200hr certification provisional membership. A Yoga Australia Level 2 teacher must have 500 hours training and 5 years/500hrs teaching experience, while a Level 3 teacher must demonstrate 1000hrs training and 10 yrs and 1000hrs teaching experience.

Yoga has been confused with exercise and the gym culture of recent years has normalised the idea of big group classes, obediently mimicking the moves of an ‘expert’ at the front of the room.  It’s certainly a cost effective way for studio’s to run their businesses, but it is not a safe or effective way to teach yoga. 

If you want to practice safe, effective and authentic yoga, here four things to look out for when choosing a teacher:

1. Make sure your teacher is a Yoga Australia accredited Level 1, 2 or 3 teacher.

2. Check that your teacher has experience in modifying poses for individuals (ie adapting for injury, age, flexibility level etc.)

3. Choose a class with a smaller number of students to ensure your teacher is able to spot mis-alignments and prevent injury.

4. A good teacher will ask students at the start of class if they have any injuries or medical conditions. If a teacher fails to do this, it’s an indicator that they may not be trained or willing to teach students according to their individual capacities.

Nikola Ellis is the founder & principal teacher at Adore Yoga. Adore Yoga teaches small groups of 4 and 6 students, as well as providing private instruction and professional mentoring programs for yoga teachers.

Mysan Sidbo is the sportsperson’s yogi. A former professional snowboarder, qualified personal trainer, massage therapist and kayak instructor Mysan’s approach to health bridges the body-mind gap. 

When did you discover yoga? 

I started doing yoga about 12 years ago in the Alps in Europe were I lived at the time. I started yoga because I was a professional snowboarder and skier and had spent years putting my body through heavy training sessions, pressure, stresses and injuries. 

I had also put my mind through a lot, being in a space where I needed to always be totally focused as well having adrenaline constantly pumping through my system. I needed a change, for my body and mind.

How did you go from being a professional snow boarder in Europe to teaching yoga in Australia?

I’m originally from Sweden and came to Australia when I was 28 to study. Since I had been a skibum for years and my body was totally broken, I needed to get an education and change things up!  I did a bachelor of business and a master of commerce and after finishing my studies I worked very briefly for a recruitment firm but I quickly realised that was not for me.  So I came back full time to fitness and kayaking and completed my Hatha Yoga Teacher Diploma. As soon as I started teaching yoga, I knew I had found my passion! 

What do you love about yoga?

I come from a professional background of sport and remedial massage which, along with my many own sport injuries, has made me passionate about creating better bodies through yoga. I have a great curiosity about how the body works- the mechanics and anatomy.  Linking it all - body, mind, heart and breath – through yoga has helped me, and my students, get happy and healthy.

Yoga helps me in my every day life, in stress full situations, when in need of peace, when in need of focus. And, as a very active sports person, it has helped me achieve better results, reach and last longer, and be at the top of my ability - so awesome!

What advice would you give a sports person starting yoga? 

It would depend on that persons needs, but most sports people needs to create balance in their training. That’s what yoga has done that for me and many others through my Yoga for Sports trainings. When you add the yogic knowledge of the body, breath and mind to any sport, great success follows!

Mysan Sidbo at Adore Yoga:

Core Strength Yoga Workshop: Saturday 19 May, 12-3pm. BOOK

Yoga for Sports Workshop: Saturday 16 June, 12- 3pm. BOOK

Mysan is available for private yoga lessons, specializing in sports and rehabilitiation, Monday & Wednesday evenings, weekday mornings and Sundays. Appointments essential 1300 844 693.

In 2008, we sent a survey to Australian yoga teachers to find out about the kind of training they were undertaking, the areas of yoga they were interested in and how they were using their teaching skills. Here's what they told us about their training and teaching.

Training

41% had undergone 200hrs of teacher training

18% had trained for up to 400hrs

38% had trained for 400 hrs or more

Interests

We asked teachers what aspects of yoga they’d like to study further. They said:

Pranayama: 72%

Meditation: 72%

Yoga therapy: 64%

Asana: 59%

Ayurveda: 59%

Philosophy: 59%

Yogic anatomy: 51%

Pre/post natal: 49%

Yoga cleansing techniques: 43%

Yoga for kids/teens: 36%

Chanting: 35%

Ongoing training

45% of teachers had a mentor

55% had no mentor

Teaching

77% were currently teaching

50% of those were teaching 3 classes or less per week

23% were teaching 4-5 classes per week

24% were teaching 5-10 classes per week

3% were teaching more than 10 classes per week

52% wanted to take on more classes

12% wanted to teach full time

Where they were teaching

Dedicated yoga centre: 65%

Hospital: 3%

Schools: 7%

Gym/Health club: 27%

Community centre/local hall: 31%

Outdoor venue: 3%

Private homes: 34%

Corporate offices: 27%

How many classes they taught per week

3 or less: 50%

3-5 classes: 23%

5-10 classes: 23%

10-15 classes: 3%

More than 15: 0%

Were they looking to take on more or fewer classes in the year ahead?

More classes: 52%

Less classes: 4%

Stay the same: 32%

We thought it would be interesting to see what yoga teachers were up to in 2012. We've created a new survey, with many of the same questions, plus a few more that will give us a wider picture of what it's like to be a yoga teacher in 2012. If you're a teacher, please take the 2012 survey here. We'll post the results in March.

What a weekend! 15 of us arrived at the beautiful Billabong Retreat in Maraylaya and settled in for a weekend of yoga, delicious food (home-made chocolate spread – this wasn’t a mung beans & salad retreat!) and fantastic company. 

We used our yoga practice to help us set some very special goals for 2012. Too often, we make new years resolutions that never materialize. At the Fresh Start retreat, we learned that aligning our goals with our deepest values makes those goals achievable and, just as importantly, brings us happiness along the way.

Deep yogic relaxations, visualizations and meditations helped us discover the things that matter most in our lives, while the workshops concentrated on setting realistic goals that are intimately linked with the values, people and activities that are most important to us.

It was an exciting, challenging and rewarding process that presented fresh opportunities for all of us, as well as helping to create new friendships in a warm and supportive environment. 

I want to thank all the participants for their wholehearted enthusiasm, effort and support. It was a wonderful weekend and I feel privileged to have spent this special time with you. 

We had such a great time that we decided to hold a ‘reunion’ class at Adore Yoga in February to catch up, do yoga and check out how we’re all going with our goals. I can’t wait to see everybody again!

(BTW;  I’ll share the photo’s as soon as I get my phone back – I was so relaxed I left it at the retreat!)

Join us for our next retreat - The Bali Paradise Retreat, 22-29 June 2012

1. I don't have time

2. My mind is too busy

3. There's always something more important that needs doing

4. I have two very active kids

5. It's uncomfortable sitting still for too long

6. It makes me frustrated when I keep getting distracted

7. I need the extra twenty minutes sleep more than I need to get up and meditate 

Why I DO meditate

1. Meditation creates more time. The presence of mind it brings puts a stop to the feeling that everything is spinning out of control.

2. Even on the days when it's hard to concentrate, I feel a whole lot calmer  after a few minutes focusing on my breath.

3. When I feel there's always something more important to do, I refer to point 1

4. My kids need me to meditate. They don't need a hyped up stress monkey shouting at them.

5. Sitting in meditation reminds me that it's ok to feel uncomfortable sometimes. Life isn't always cosy. It teaches me to breath easy through the rough as well as the smooth.

6. It teaches me to observe strong destructive emotions and embrace them in a way that takes away the sting.

7. Without meditation, I can become tired and overwhelmed. A short daily practice helps me manage my energy levels.

Do you have a lot of reasons why you don't meditate? Try making a list of why you should try it, then come and discover why more and more people are enjoying the huge benefits of this easy to learn practice. 

Two spots left for the Try Meditation 3wk Mini Course, 8pm Wednesday's starting 11 Jan. Book now

5 week courses starting 30 January

Tues 7.30pm with Lucy (Samadhi Room) Book now

Wed 8pm with Maurice (Samadhi Room) Book now

Thurs 9.15am with Lucy (Avenue Road) Book now

I'm always surprised how many women who've never tried yoga become devoted students as soon as they fall pregnant! Well, a mother’s instinct is usually right and thousands of women every year enjoy the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of practicing yoga during this very special time in their lives.

Yoga was an invaluable support during my two pregnancies and births. As well as keeping me free from the pregnancy niggles such as back pain, reflux and swollen ankles, it helped me to prepare mentally for what was to be the biggest adventure of my life!

Importantly, the relaxation and breathing in yoga taught me how to let go. Giving birth and caring for young babies is as much about ‘letting go’ as anything else. Letting go of preconceptions, of old ways of thinking and letting go of the fears and anxieties that all women experience as we make the transition to motherhood.

I would love to see every woman enjoy the benefits of yoga during this magical time of their lives. It helps them to reconnect with their own bodies as well as with their babies. It prepares them for the physical rigours of birth and early motherhood. It connects them with other women going through the same wonderful, challenging and miraculous experiences.

At Adore Yoga, we are offering 4 new prenatal classes in 2012 to help women enjoy optimal welllbeing throughout their pregnancies:

Prenatal classes in Term 1 2012 (27 Jan - 5 April)

Monday 6.30pm (Samadhi Room with Kristyn) Book now

Tuesday 6.30pm (Samadhi Room with Nicki)  Book now

Tuesday 10.30am (Military Rd with Sarah) Book now

Saturday 8.45am (Samadhi Room with Brooke)  Book now

Saturday 10.45am (Avenue Rd with Brooke) Book now

All of our classes are taught by experienced and compassionate prenatal specialists who love teaching this highly specialised yoga style. We’re looking forward to meeting new mums and their babies during the year ahead!

We are well and truly in love with our wonderful loyal students. We're celebrating Adore Yoga's 10th birthday in 2012 and there are students at the studio today who were with us way back in 2002 when it all started. THANK YOU for your loyalty, enthusiasm and for putting up with the various incarnations of the yoga studio as it metamorphosed from a grotty room with peeling plasterwork to our recent sleek renovation.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve your experience of yoga at Adore. Some of the things we've done over the years include:

• Hiring the most experienced, compassionate and inspiring teachers in Sydney
• Keeping classes to a maximum of 6 students for an optimum teaching environment
• Renovating our yoga rooms to create a beautiful and welcoming space
• Using eco-materials for our props and renovations
• Offering exciting workshops, intensives and retreats

In 2011, we introduced the Frequent Yogi Program as a way of encouraging students to get the most out of their classes at Adore. (If you left your completed Frequent Yogi card in the yoga room at the end of last term, you will have had $20 credited to your account. Well done for making all 10 classes!)

We had lots of feedback about the Frequent Yogi program and after listening to your ideas, we have changed the program for 2012 as follows: 

1. Earlybird Reward: Receive $20 off next terms fees when you rebook before the end of the current term*.

2. Multi-class Reward: Enrol for 2 classes per term and get $40 off the total amount; Enrol for 3 classes per term and get $100 off the total amount. 

We hope that these rewards go some way towards thanking you for being such a wonderful loyal student. As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks again for all your support and we're looking forward to seeing you back in class next term (with our brand new super-luxury eco Manduka Black Mats).

*Students enrolled in multiple classes receive a single $20 Earlybird Reward for rebooking plus the multi-class discount.  Rewards are redeemable against regular 10 or 5 week classes from 30 March 2012.

One of my new years resolutions is to show more gratitude. While I try to remain mindful minute by minute of how important my family, friends and students are, I don't always openly acknowledge how much I appreciate them.

I have the most wonderful job in the world. I get to do the thing I love the most and share it with some of the nicest people on the planet. But I wouldn't get to do this if it wasn't for my students. I am hugely, enormously, indescribably grateful to each and every person who comes through the door at Adore Yoga every week. 

It's a great privilege to be able to share yoga, helping students experience themselves in new ways and seeing the benefits that it brings in terms of physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. How many other jobs bring such lasting and meaningful satisfaction?

As I sit here on new years eve, taking stock of 2011 and thinking about the year ahead, I realise how truly blessed I am and how much I have to be thankful for. It’s time for me to start showing that gratitude more often because I want the people who bring such joy to my life to understand how important, treasured and appreciated they are. I’m going to start right now with a huge thank you to YOU for all of your support, enthusiasm, courage and love. May you have a bright, shining, peaceful new year that brings you all the happiness you deserve. Namaste.

THANK YOU!!

Trekking to Everest Base camp and yoga in Mosman have more in common than you might have realized. Belinda Gurd, a student at Adore Yoga, recently embarked on the biggest challenge of her life when she trekked to Everest Base camp and yoga played a key role in making it up the mountain.

Mosman based Belinda, 31, has had a truly transformational year. From desk-bound office worker to mountain-climbing yogi, Belinda’s story is inspirational. But why trek to Everest Base Camp?

“I visited Nepal a few years back and went on a 5 day walk through the Annapurna region,” Belinda explains when I met her for coffee this week. “One day I was sitting having tea and I met three girls who were trekking to Base Camp that week. I decided then and there that if they could do it, so could I.” But it took a while for that conviction to become reality. What propelled Belinda to take up the challenge, several years after her first taste of the Himalayas?

“This year I went through a lot of change in my life and I needed a goal to focus on.” In fact, Belinda’s self esteem took a nose dive earlier this year when her relationship of seven years came to an end. Usually a bubbly, outgoing woman, the break up of her relationship left Belinda in crisis and following her dream of trekking to Everest Base Camp seemed like the ideal way to re-focus her energy.

“I threw myself into a full-on training schedule, including weight training, running, strength work, sessions in an altitude training gym and 5 hour walks in the Blue Mountains,” says Belinda. She believes that yoga also played a pivotal role, both during training and on the trek itself.

“Yoga helped me to fix my posture, train my breath and focus my mind’ Belinda explains. “I kept thinking about my yoga classes when I was on the trek. I’d been in challenging postures and I knew I could do them. I just went back to that mindset. I’d listen to my teacher in my mind and it helped me get through the tough times because I knew I could do it.” 

Focusing on the breath was one of the many yoga skills that helped her on the trek. “All you do is think, walk and breath. Breathing is very important at altitude and, like yoga, you need to keep a continuous breath at the same pace.”

Belinda’s experience of being on the mountain had many unexpected parallels with her regular Saturday morning yoga. 

“Saturday mornings at yoga were like a refuge for me. That’s why it’s so addictive, I want to feel like that all the time.” Being on the mountain gave Belinda that same feeling of balance and perspective.  “I love knowing that place of stillness, focus and clarity is always within me and I am able to achieve that and go back to that. Hopefully I’ll be able to integrate that into my everyday life.”

It wasn’t just the breath and mental focus that made yoga such an important part of the trek for Belinda. She practiced yoga poses every day and believes it made all the difference to her physical performance.

“Every night I did yoga stretches, lots of child pose and down dog. In the mornings I did a full routine that I’d learned at Adore Yoga. I didn’t get sore at all. No lactic acid build up, nothing. I didn’t feel like I’d been walking for 5 hours. The yoga made a big difference.”

Ask Belinda what she’s learned from her trek to Everest Base Camp and she says, “The world, life and the universe is so much bigger than what we make it.” And she’s bringing the lessons she learned on the mountain back home to her busy Sydney life. “When I first got back from Nepal, I had a really overwhelming week. But I found I could go back to the moment on the mountain when I stopped, breathed and just was. I can still reference that.”

Belinda’s not the only one who has benefited from her trek. “I decided to raise money for charity. I work closely with Oasis Youth Support Network and managed to raise 3k for them, which I'm stoked with.” As a regular volunteer with this Salvation Army youth homelessness initiative, Belinda’s now sharing what she learned on her trek with some of the youngsters she meets there. “I sent photo’s (from Everest) to the kids at the Salvo’s to show them anything’s possible. You just need focus. When you can focus, you have more self discipline and can achieve anything” she says, echoing Patanjali’s famous yoga sutras, extolling the importance of stilling and focusing the mind.

So, what’s next for Belinda? “Kokoda, Kilimanjaro or maybe a marathon. I’d love to do a marathon,” she answers. It looks like her Everest Base camp trek has given her a sense of adventure that is going to be supported by her yoga practice for years to come.

Many thanks to Belinda Gurd for sharing her story.