5 Benefits of expanding your Level 1 Teacher Training
5 Benefits of expanding your Level 1 Teacher Training The yoga world has changed in many ways in the last five years. As a studio and training centre we see these differences evolve over time. Students have been introduced to a wider variety of styles of yoga and utilise classes for more than the physical […]
What is nidra and how can it help me?
What is Yoga Nidra and how can it help me? By Rina Modi teacher training Manager at the Shala Over the last few years I have heard more and more yogi’s talk about Yoga Nidra, with an increasing number of teachers offering this practice as well as the demand for teacher trainings in this area. […]
What is Yoga?
What is Yoga? Yoga is many things to many people. When we ask this question on our teacher training programmes we usually end up with many words scrawled all over a huge whiteboard. Yoga is hard to define as it is so expansive and all-encompassing. Here we have chosen 8 words we associate with yoga. […]
Pregnancy yoga – Benefits for prenatal wellness and birth
Pregnancy Yoga – Benefits for Pre-Natal Wellness & Birth “Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body and spirit for the rest of your life” Ina May Gaskin Designer Pregnancy and birth is a multi-faceted time in a woman’s life. Whatever the journey, there are for sure […]
Yoga Philosophy – Know Your Own What, How and Why
Yoga Philosophy – Know Your Own What, How and Why The practical benefits of yoga philosophy training by Daniel Simpson What exactly is yoga and what is it for? There are many different answers in ancient texts, and few of them apply to modern life without being reframed. Teachers often do that without even realising, then […]
10 reasons to come back to in studio classes
After this period of isolation and solo yoga practices, here are 10 Reasons to come back to the studio for in person yoga classes: Dedicated yoga space – Get away from the 4 walls of our homes Social – Tea and chats in the lounge area Physical Contact – Hands on teacher assists and adjustments […]
Yoga in 2021 and beyond…
Yoga as a practise is on the rise – there is no doubt about that. In 2016 a Yoga Journal report found that people practising yoga in the US had gone from 20.4 million in 2012 to 36.7 million in 2016. Imagine what the numbers are now! In the UK, yoga was one of the […]
21 years – thank you
By Gingi Lee, Founder of the Shala Twenty one years ago I climbed the stairs in an old Victorian brewery in Battersea, opened a small door into a light filled room. It was like no other space I had been in, a room with energy, nurturing, exciting, full of potential. I had spent most of […]
Practice while you can
This is a mantra I’ve repeated hundreds of thousands of times over the years when I was too hungover, depressed, heartbroken, anxious, sad or just couldn’t be arsed to get to the yoga studio. It’s also what I’ve told many people I’ve taught. Not just the able-bodied ones, but especially the less able, older people, […]
More than one type of warrior
by Gingi Lee There is a photograph of a Karate Master prominently hanging in the reception area of the Shala Yoga Centre in London. He is garbed in traditional Karate clothing (Gi). He is in a fighting stance wielding an Okinawan martial art weapon that is shaped like an old fashioned fishing oar. He looks […]
Breathwork for cancer
Inspired by The Shala’s Breath for Life series, a pilot study at St James Hospital, Leeds took place monitoring the benefits of simple yoga and breathing techniques for people post surgery for lung cancer. The patients specifically wanted to learn tools/techniques to improve breathing, control emotions, manage panic attacks and improve fitness and flexibility. The […]
What is body rolling?
Yamuna Zake is a master body worker, teacher and a visionary healer who has dedicated her life to understanding how the body works, helping thousands of people around the world to create positive change in their bodies through the system she created, Yamuna Body Rolling. Yamuna Body Rolling (YBR) is a powerful therapeutic fitness technique […]
Brightening our inner skies
By Norman Blair I have been planning to write Brightening Our Inner Skies for more than ten years. There are notes that I made in April 2005. In 2008, I was writing down possible titles such as Opening Doors. Brightening Our Inner Skies seeks to help the reader to have a better understanding of Yin yoga. And […]
Zen uncut with brad warner
On Sunday September 20th we had a Soto Priest grace the yoga centre to give a talk on Zen Meditation practice. It’s not often that you have a priest drop by, but Brad Warner is not your average priest. In fact you wouldn’t know this at first glance. He looks a bit like the nerd […]
Guiding, mentoring & supervision for yoga teachers
MINDING WHAT MATTERS… Guiding, mentoring, supervising – supporting each other By Norman Blair There’s a story called The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Of course, aloneness is very much part of human life – and working on our own (as we often are doing as yoga teachers) can accentuate these lonely feelings. I set up the […]