Our trial online Bikram 90 minute class today went really well! We are going to be back on tomorrow at 4:30pm (Thursday 26th March). We will continue to have classes each day, at different times – please check our facebook page , instagram , app , or call the studio (3256 6565) to get information on class times.

The first time you connect you will need to download an app on your computer, or your phone. Then you just click this link to get started:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/3385399929

That link should take you straight there but if it asks for a meeting ID it’s: 338 539 9929

You will have the option to use video so the teacher can see your practice and offer corrections or you can do so without if you just want to hear the dialogue.

Please note classes may not be offered everyday, but we will aim for at least a few times a week.

Class will start at 4:30pm, once teaching commences the online room will be locked so late entries do not disturb the classroom. You can join early from 4:20pm to ask any questions to our teacher. The class will then run exactly as if in the studio but from the comfort of your home.

Have your mat, water and smiling happy faces ready.

Dear Bikram Yoga North Brisbane students.

We’re seeing hard evidence over the last few days that health is worth more than wealth.

Health has always been the priority of Bikram Yoga North Brisbane. Health is exactly why we do, what we do. As such, there a few things we wanted to let you know about:

1. The studio is open. Unless Australia goes into total lock-down, classes are on. However, we have implemented a limited timetable, so please refer to our app Bikram Yoga North Brisbane for the most up-to-date class schedule.

2. We have limited our class size to 20 people. Please book via the app, or call Sherry on 0422 684 789. Please make sure you cancel if you can’t make class in case someone else needs that spot.

3. Rental towels and mats are available. These are laundered immediately after each use. We would however prefer you bring your own mat. We do have mats for sale at the studio.

4. Weights and props will not be used in our Pilates and Yin classes for the time being. Bolsters are for sale at the counter for Yin.

5. There are no towels in the bathrooms. At the moment paper towel is like hen’s teeth so please use your own towels to dry your hands.

5. We have disinfectant spray available if you would like to use that on your mat after class.

6. We are regularly disinfecting all the surfaces at the studio and the yoga room flooring itself.

Of course, it is entirely your prerogative to come to class, or not. As we have always said – two reasons not to attend – if you are running a fever and/or you are, or think you might be, contagious.

Finally – We believe in self care. Wash your hands, exercise, eat well, look after your immune system and be in company of good people. We are a small, family run studio with a fantastic community and we strongly believe the yoga and movement is beneficial for both body and mind, particularly during times like we are experiencing now. 

We will continue to follow the guidelines provided by Queensland health with regards to the management of Corona Virus and other flus.

See you in the room.

Love and light,

Sherry and the team at Bikram Yoga North Brisbane.

Many of us practice yoga asana / postures on a regular basis, without ever really connecting to ‘what a postures is’, and why we practice them in the first place.

​A yoga asana is a set of muscular contractions and relaxations. ​Figuring out how to use our muscles accordingly in each posture, is the goal of a physical practice. Once we find the correct musculature in the posture, we breath, focus our gaze, and enter stillness. This is where and when the therapy occurs!

Each posture is different, hence the body will have a different shape in each one. Where we get into trouble is beginning to think, consciously or not, that simply getting our body into the shape of a posture is the goal. This becomes a problem when we look like we are doing a posture, but we don’t have correct control over the musculature of the pose. Specific muscles need to contract, and others to relax, in order to create the necessary compression, stretch, or twist that brings the therapeutic benefit.

This often happens in a forehead to knee pose, for example. We become focused on touching our forehead to our knee rather than being aware of the necessary muscle control that rounds our spine and makes this happen in the first place. (Contracting the front of the abs, relaxing the lower back muscles, and keeping the shoulders down and away from our ears!). Correctly getting the forehead to the knee strengthens the abdominal and thigh muscles, squeezes and flushes out the gall bladder, pancreas and spleen, as well as the uterus and ovaries, and increases flexibility of the sciatic nerve.

Building your practice upon the principle of muscle control is going to bring you tremendous benefit. The shape of the posture isn’t worth making if your body is not working properly. Yoga Guru Bishnu Ghosh explains, “Controlling of any muscle is nothing but to contract and relax the muscles without any movement of the limbs or contraction of any other muscle.”

Do you want to start a blog? Write and share your own creations, thoughts, content; don’t mimic the work of another.

Do you want to create more financial freedom? Dedicate time today towards cleaning up your spending and researching how best to invest your money, rather than thinking its too difficult, boring, or can wait for another day.

Do you want to change your work environment? Face your fears and do so, even if it means leaving the familiarity of the current.

Do you want to change your physique? Get up and move your body every morning, even if you want to stay in bed or watch TV

Do you want to enjoy the benefits of a meditation practice? Sit your butt down everyday and meditate, even if you’re tired, un-interested or only have 5 minutes.

Do you want to achieve deeper levels of intimacy with your partner? Openly and clearly communicate with them, rather than accepting and desensitising yourself.

Do you want do what is right? Do you want to move towards greater levels of freedom, transcendence and joy, and not be limited by control, security or familiarity? Then just do it. Let go of the easier option. Let go of excuses. Go after your dreams – accepting it might be challenging along the way, but relaxing into the intrinsic knowledge that this is what you’re meant to do and it will ultimately deliver to you what you greatly desire.

Namaste

You may have seen (or attended!) some of our Kundalini Yoga Workshops over these last few months with Kylie. They have been a big success – many attendees saying they have felt more creative, enlivened, all-embracing, and clear-thinking after their Kundalini class. So we are listening to you and keeping them on our regular schedule! You can keep up to date with our latest classes on our app.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the practice, we’d like to take the time to explain it to you here –

Kundalini Yoga is an uplifting blend of movement, dynamic breathing techniques, meditation, and chanting of mantras. The goal is to build physical vitality and increase consciousness. It does this through strengthening the nervous system, increasing willpower, clearing brain fog, improving breath, enhancing visualisation, imagination, and creativity, opening the heart, upgrading communication skills, boosting compassion and gratitude, awakening intuition, and developing wisdom. Now that’s a list of benefits!!!

Like all yoga, Kundalini yoga is not to be taken lightly. It is like an express train that shakes and wakes you up. Some classes will leave you feeling high and totally blissed out. Other will really provoke and confront you. What’s important is to stay present and accept pleasure and pain as part of the same journey to health and balance. Our ego naturally leans toward pleasure and comfort. It takes concerted effort and discipline to begin to release the ego’s grip on our consciousness. This effort is the work required to begin to access the truth of who we are, to create a strong connection to our soul and to start to take great strides towards being more at peace and in harmony with ourselves.

We sincerely encourage you to experience Kundalini yoga for yourself. It will add depth to your existing practice and to your life. This Saturday, 7th September we are offering a special Kundalini Meditation and Gong Bath Class. The class will be 90 minutes, from 10:15am to 11:45am. It’s suitable for all levels – beginners and expecting women are welcome! The cost is free for members and $28 for non-members. You can book and pay direct to the studio, or contact Kat o 0439 068 058, or Sherry on 0422 684 789. We recommend wearing loose, comfortable clothing, preferably white or light colours, bring water, mat, bolster / cushion and small blanket. Come a few minutes early to get settled in, we start on time.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Namaste

Grief is the heart-breaking feeling people experience after they’ve suffered a loss. This loss may be from an illness or death, somebody leaving home or moving away, someone changing, physically, emotionally or mentally, and is no longer what or how we expect they should be. It could perhaps also be due to a change of residency, getting married, or becoming pregnant. Regardless, we grieve the significant changes that take place, as we come to realise life as we knew it, will never be the same again. Even if we have a tremendous gain as a result of the change, such as moving to a beautiful new home, we can still grieve the loss of the comforts of the old – the friendly neighbour, the favourite cafe nearby, the customs we had in the home. We somewhat expect grief to arise around death, but it also shows up ‘unexpectedly’ in other areas of life.

While everyone experiences grief and loss differently, yoga can help with the process of moving on and healing for all. The combination of both the heart opening backbends and the nurturing forward bends work together to heal and mend your broken heart. The backward bends help to stretch and ‘crack open’ your chest – allowing suppressed emotions to flood out, flow freely and pass naturally. This can be confronting and challenging – even emotionally painful – but the breath-work that comes with your asana practice helps support you through this process, and return you to a place of calm. It’s very important to allow these feelings to flow freely, rather than trapping them inside. The longer you hold onto them, the deeper they will ingrain. The more you let them free, the quicker the healing process will be, and the lighter you’ll feel.

Taking a longer savasana after a backward bend will be extra nurturing for you, as will the forward bend that usually follows. Forward bends give your heart the added comfort, love, and support it needs as it rebuilds and restrengthens itself – as it starts to put the pieces back together. Forward bends are like giving yourself a giant hug. It’s not surprising in Bikram yoga, the deepest backward bend of the series (Camel / Ustrasana) is followed by the deepest forward bend (Rabbit / Sasangasana).

The asanas, breath-work, and stillness that comes with your yoga practice all work synergistically to support you through your grieving process. It’s a safe, wholesome space for you to feel your emotions, set them free, and gently put the pieces back together.

If you don’t feel up to a dynamic practice, we also offer a slower style, Yin Yoga. Yin also offers forward and backward bends, and gives extra time within the asanas for you to release stored or trapped energy.

We hope to be of service and support to you always- but especially through difficult periods of life, such as when you’re grieving a loss or experiencing significant change in your life. If this is you right now, please prioritise your yoga and self care. It’s tremendously important.

Namaste

(Hopefully) We all know sleep is crucial to our well-being, and it’s quality is a big determinant in how happy and healthy we are day to day – there’s no question we feel better after a good nights rest. However, most of us will encounter sleep disturbances through out our lives – in fact, one out of three people will experience insomnia at some point in their life.

A mere week of unrest or sleep deprivation can cause severe changes in mood: depression, decreases in emotional regulation, and obvious depletion. On the contrary, it seems that a good night’s rest can enhance the positive feelings and states of being. There’s really something to the idea of “sleeping off” difficult experiences.

So what does affect quality of sleep? Well, three common factors include stress, hormonal imbalances, and obesity. When you are experiencing one or more of these, your body is going to be operating more in the sympathetic nervous system state – also called ‘fight or flight”. This is a more heightened state of being, and it’s very hard for your body to relax, ‘let go’, enter sleep onset (the natural oncoming of sleep), and stay asleep through the night. You see, the body cannot tell the difference between an external and internal threat or imbalance – it only see that’s something’s not right and in order to survive, it must be switched on and ready to either fight or run away from the stressor.

How Yoga can improve sleep quality is that firstly, it helps move you into the parasympathetic nervous system – this is when you’re functioning more in a rest and digest state of being. The long slow breathing exercises, combined with stretching and stillness, help increase parasympathetic dominance. This is where stagnant energy has shifted, the mind has calmed, physical tension releases, and emotion dissipates. The stiffness has gone and in this state, its much easier to move into the natural onset of sleep.

Leading on from this, a second therapeutic benefit of yoga is that in this parasympathetic state, your body is more receptive to change and healing. Your endocrine (hormonal) system is gradually rebalanced, your muscular skeletal system is realigned and strengthened, leading to body transformation, and your mind-body connection is increased, improving awareness and confidence. You really do leave with a renewed mind and body, each time you come to a yoga class.

Researchers seem to agree. In one study on yoga and sleep, participants practiced Bikram yoga regularly over a two week period, and results showed they woke up fewer times in the night, a sign of better sleep quality.

A regular yoga practice can greatly improve your overall health, including the quality of sleep you achieve each night. Have you noticed any positive changes in your sleep or general health since practicing Bikram or Yin Yoga at our studio? We’d love to hear your stories and feedback!