yin yoga | Bikram Yoga North Brisbane

02 Jul 2020

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Benefits, happiness, health, Uncategorized Permalink

Yin and Pin

Sticky Post By Rachel On July 2, 2020

Are you tired? Stressed? Tight muscles? Overthinking? Or just looking to stay balanced? It’s time to reset! Our next Yin and Pin class, guided by Katie (Yin Yoga Teacher) and Anette (Certified Acupuncturist), is on Wednesday July 29th, 6:30pm at the Gabba studio!

Yin & Pins merges the two ancient modalities of acupuncture and yoga. Both are vehicles to bring balance. This session will bring relaxation, rejuvenation, and release to your system, equivalent to a mini holiday. The first half will be a yin yoga session followed by acupuncture, bringing deep rest and restoration.

Balanced yin is essential to have relaxed muscles and joints, strong immunity, mental clarity, overall health and vitality. Your investment is $50 for 2 hours, and you can book directly with Sherry at the studio, or by calling on 0422 684 789!

08 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

June ’19 News

Sticky Post By Rachel On June 8, 2019

A warm hello to our community! We hope you are enjoying your time at the studio, and look forward to seeing you more in the hot room as the cooler months set in. We’ve added two state-of-the-art humidifiers to the hot room (you may have noticed the extra mist inside!), ensuring that we are still getting our sweat on each time we step on our mats for Bikram or Inferno Hot Pilates. Our Yin classes are still on every Thursday at 6:30pm, and Sundays at 6pm, our monthly silent class is on the last Sunday morning at 7am, and our Kundalini workshops have been added to the schedule every month now, by popular demand. We are even looking to at putting them on fortnightly, so please let us know if this is something you’re interested in.

We’d be so grateful as well if you could please post and check in on your social media when you come to class. Did you know, Before Yogananda died in 1952 he whispered to his student- “something called social media is coming… and if you don’t post and check in, it’s the same as not doing savasana at the end of class” but worse 😉 Help us promote our family business, we really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

Thank you to our teachers, for the knowledge and care you share to your students in your classes, carrying them through from start to end, and helping them feel better in themselves and their bodies. Thank you to our angels, for keeping our studio clean and tidy for everyone to enjoy! And thank you to our students, for coming to the studio and taking positive action towards being the best version of themselves possible. You are a big inspiration!

See you at the studio soon! Love Sherry and the team at BYNB xx

June Special – Members can bring a friend for free to our Yin or Inferno Hot Pilates Class

We invite our members to bring a friend complimentary to one our Yin or Inferno Hot Pilates class. It must be your friend’s first time to our studio.

Thinking of doing two Bikram classes in one day? Here is how to pace yourself:

Back to Back

So you’re going to do a double, good for you! There are two kinds of doubles that you could do: back to back (only 1/2 hour between classes) and a split double (one in the morning, one in the afternoon/evening.)

– Take it easy in your first class, pace yourself. Gently remind yourself that you are doing a double during the class. It can help give you perspective and keep focus. If you didn’t get through standing bow without falling out a lot, remind yourself that you are going to be doing it again in the next class, so don’t sweat it, just take note of what you want to focus on the next time. As it’s coming right up!

-Second class you may notice you’re more flexible. You might have more energy or you might be fatigued. Just notice how you are feeling and listen to your body. The second class usually feels as if it goes by quickly.

– Have something to drink in between classes that will replenish electrolytes and give you a little sugar. Fresh juice or coconut water is ideal. You might even try raw dates (just one or two), they digest very quickly and provide immediate fuel for your body to burn. Some people can even have a banana or some fruit, just not a lot – and give yourself at least 15 mins before the next class is going to start. Don’t ingest any protein or large amounts of fiber (like a smoothie) as it can take your body a while to break this down.

– Eat a fresh and balanced meal afterwards to replenish electrolytes and drink more water than usual.

Split Double

– Replenish your electrolytes after your first class. Drink water throughout the day. Set a goal of maybe two or three liters before your next class. Don’t drink it all at once!

-Try not to eat a really large meal in between your morning and evening classes. Try a couple of small meals instead. Have a snack two or three hours before taking your second class. Make it a healthy one. (nuts, fruit, veggies)

– The second class can be a bit of wild card depending on what you did with your day in between classes. Some people will feel more flexible others may feel rather tight in places they didn’t expect. Just take it one posture at time. Remember something you did in your morning class that worked for you and see if you can bring your attention to it.

-Have a juice/electrolyte drink or smoothie waiting for you after your second class.

Doubles in general:

-Avoid drinking alcohol on days that you are going to, or have done a double.
-Avoid excessive caffeine. (skip the afternoon latte before your second class!)
-Get to bed early the night before.
-Be proud of yourself!

They’re not as scary as your mind makes them out to be!

03 Nov 2015

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Yoga Permalink

Yin Yoga: Love it or hate it?

Sticky Post By Rachel On November 3, 2015

I see two types of people in the studio – those who love Yin and those who hate it. Here’s the top reasons people dislike Yin and why they need to give it another go:

I hate being still
It’s boring
I can’t stop thinking
It’s not a workout

1. I hate being still

For busy, active people, Yin yoga can seem a waste of time. “I can’t sit still, I have too much to do”. Think of a car. We turn the car off when we’re not using it otherwise we’ll run out of petrol and it will overheat. Think of your phone, it stops working when your battery is flat and needs to be recharged. Have you ever thought that constantly being on the go or ‘on’ will leave your inner energy reserves depleted? What if you were always on standby, waiting for the next thing – what does this do to your devices? Being always busy or ‘on’ drains our energy and also over-stimulates our nervous system leading to chronic stress.

How many times have you experienced after a busy, stressful day that your body is exhausted yet your mind is over-active or wired? How many times have you found yourself unable to switch off mentally? This is what happens when we are always ‘on’. This constant state of ‘on’ leads to anxiety. Being still is our chance to switch off, power down and recharge. It can be difficult and uncomfortable but being ‘on’ is a habit that can be broken. You and your body need to switch off and learning to be still is the first step. You will get the urge to fidget, to shuffle around, to scratch or adjust your clothing – these are all tricks of the mind trying to keep you from powering down and switching off.

2. It’s boring

Boredom is a sign of a busy mind. The inherent nature of the mind is movement, so left unwatched, the mind jumps from one thing to another. When we ask it to be still, such as in a Yin Yoga class, it rebels like a naughty child that doesn’t want to be told what to do. If we learn to practice mindfulness and become engrossed in the fullness of what we are doing there is no boredom.

Boredom exists when we are not paying attention or concentrating on the present moment. Boredom is a distraction of a busy mind. We have become so accustomed to multi-tasking that some people watch TV while playing on the computer and phone (3 screens!). We multi-task so often that we’ve forgotten how to single-task. Ever been out with friends or family to find them regularly reaching for their phone to check emails/Facebook? Maybe this is you?

We really struggle to give our full attention to anything these days and the result of our shortened attention span is boredom.We find everything boring and nothing satisfying. We are always seeking something better, something more interesting. Yet this is just a vicious cycle, leading to more boredom and less satisfaction. The antidote, as boring as it seems, is concentration. Coming back to focusing on one thing at a time and in our Yin Yoga practice this means our body and our breath. If we are truly present we will not be bored.

3. I can’t stop thinking

This is something I hear all the time. Guess what? You’re not the only one. The Yoga Sutras written approximatley 2500 years ago define yoga as ‘the stilling of the movements of the mind’. So a busy/active mind is not a new phenomenon, as it was recognised by the ancient sages as the barrier to inner peace.

So what to do? Most people ignore it and don’t realise it’s a problem until you ask them to be still for 5 minutes and focus on their breath. “But I can’t stop thinking!” Welcome to the club! Acknowledging the issue is the first step to transformation. “But I like thinking”, sure you like thinking when you want to, but isn’t it annoying when you want to stop and you can’t? It is this constant, incessant thinking that can lead to anxiety and even depression.

The only way to slow down the mind is to turn it upon itself. Ask your mind to watch and become aware of what it is doing. Don’t try to control the mind (for that is a losing battle), rather try to create space for your thoughts and watch what your mind does. Bringing awareness to our mind and its’ activities will help it to gradually slow down. The same principle applies when we observe our breath – it starts to slow down without effort. Most people give up as it can be confronting and uncomfortable to pay attention to your thoughts. But what’s the alternative? Do you prefer to be a slave to your mind?

We begin to cultivate mind/body awareness in our Yin yoga practice and this is why so many people feel lighter and refreshed after practice – they’ve stopped being a slave to their thinking and have found some mental space.

4. It’s not a workout

There are many people who come to yoga for a workout. I get that. However, the true essence of yoga is a ‘work in’. We do inner work. The whole intent behind the physical poses is to prepare the body and mind for meditation. It’s not the latest exercise fad. People often think that if they’re not working up a sweat or burning calories then they’re not doing anything and there’s no point.

So let me tell you the point of Yin yoga. Yin doesn’t use muscle activation, it is a release of the myofascial tissue that surrounds the muscles, ligaments and joints. It is in this tissue that tension and stress is stored. Yin is designed to work on releasing this tissue and the energetic meridians contained in the tissue that support our major organs. It promotes relaxation, improved vitality and brings balance back to the body.

Yin is passive and is about softening, releasing and surrendering. There’s no effort or struggle (this is something people often fail to grasp), we let go of any holding, clenching and tensing. One of the key benefits of our Yin yoga practice is that is soothes our over-stimulated nervous system helping to restore the body and mind to equilibrium. For those of you looking to lose weight, you won’t be able to if your nervous system is over-stimulated and your body is filled with stress hormones. Cortisol, the body’s hormonal response to stress increases our appetite, increases our cravings for sugary food, leads to fat storage and is often responsible for us not being able to lose weight. So if you’ve been trying to shift those kilos with a strict diet and heavy exercise then maybe you need to chill out and calm down with a Yin class.