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 Challenge Yourself, Improve Your Health, Enhance Your Life!
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Welcome!
We are very excited to share with you our first newsletter. Hopefully, access to our newsletter on a regular basis will help you keep in touch with what's going on at Bikram Yoga West Edmonton.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for practicing at our studio. We believe that it's the students' attitudes and efforts that create the friendly and fun environment at our studio. We're thrilled that we're collectively building such a strong yoga community and truly thank you for sharing your energy with us in this endeavor. We welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have to contribute.
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Schedule Changes |
We are pleased to announce that we've added three new classes to our schedule:
Saturday at 3:30 pm
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Sunday at 9:15am & 3:30pm
Starting November 1st, all morning classes will begin at 9:15am sharp!
(Saturday's second class will then change to 11:15am).
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| Guest Teacher |
Steve Martin is a graduate of the Spring 2005 teacher training in Los Angeles. Bikram Yoga has given Steve the opportunity to travel, teach, and train in South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Texas, and his adopted home of Vancouver Island.
We are thrilled that Steve will be in Edmonton as a guest teacher to share his knowledge and experience from November 4th until November 18th. Please join us in welcoming Steve to Bikram Yoga West Edmonton.
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| 30 Day Challenge |
November 1st - November 30th
Cost: $99.00 plus GST
What is a 30 Day Challenge?
The challenge is 30 Bikram yoga classes in 30 days! Whether it's to kick start a new practice, or step up a regular one. The 30 Day Challenge is a great way to gain a new perspective on your body, mind and spirit while taking your yoga practice to the next level! You can miss up to three classes, but they must be made up by doing doubles before the end of the challenge.
Why would I do this to myself?!
You have to remember that the challenge is for YOU. Doing Bikram Yoga everyday will test you, heal you, and challenge you! If you are used to practicing 2 -3 times per week you already know the benefits of this yoga first hand. 2-3 times per week in the hot room is considered a "regular" practice. Imagine being able to hyper-jump your yoga practice by compressing 6 months worth of "regular" practice into 30 Days! Wow.
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| Feature - Pranayama; The First Breathing Exercise |
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What does Pranayama mean?
In Sanskrit, Prana means life force and Yama means control.
When is it done?
First! Pranayama prepares the body for yoga practice by charging the body with oxygen and life force. Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class was designed so that each posture prepares you for the next. In this case, by saturating your bloodstream with oxygen, you are fueling your body for the entire class.
What is it good for?
- Brings the body out of cold storage.
- Initiates breath control. Breath is the bridge between the physical body and mind. Pranayama encourages a state of mental and physical equilibrium.
- Increases lung and chest expansion capacity, lung elasticity and power, and calms the central nervous system.
- Utilizes all lobes of the lungs, and helps to open otherwise closed alveoli.
- Stretches and strengthens the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, and abdominals.
- #1 way to detoxify the body is through the breath.
- Excellent for asthma, shortness of breath, headaches, and nervousness.
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| What is Yoga? |
It is impossible to give a precise answer to this simple question, mainly because Yoga is so incredibly comprehensive and encompasses such a tremendous variety of approaches. The word itself, which stems from the ancient Sanskirt language, means both "union" and "discipline." Thus yoga conveys "unitive spiritual discipline" or "the spiritual discipline of integration." What the tradition of Yoga seeks to integrate is head and heart, as well as psyche and world, on the basis of a profound spiritual realization that transcends head, heart, psyche, and world.
Hatha-Yoga("forceful discipline"), the most popular yogic approach in modern times, sprang up around 1000 C.E. It is best known for its numerous bodily postures, which are designed to maintain or restore health and enhance physical vitality. The underlying idea is that the human body is very precious, because it serves as the foundation for spiritual realization. Traditional Hatha-Yoga even seeks to transform the body into a transubstantiated or "divine body" that can withstand the ravages of time and is equipped with all kinds of extraordinary capacities. Much of contemporary Hatha-Yoga, by contrast, revolves around physical fitness and health, whereas traditional Yoga is chiefly about mental health and actualizing our full spiritual potential.
Today, yoga is being adapted to the needs of its tens of millions of Western practitioners. The popularization of Yoga has led to a certain amount of oversimplification and distortion, yet in the hearts of its genuine practitioners, Yoga's torch of wisdom burns as brightly as ever. We can expect it to light out path into the future, but for this we need to actually practice it. Yoga cannot unlock our immense spiritual and creative potential unless we practice it steadfastly.
May your path be blessed with growth and higher realizations.
- Excerpts from Yoga Gems Georg Feuerstein Bantan books
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| What is Bikram Yoga? |
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Bikram Yoga is a routine of 26 hatha yoga poses and two breathing exercises working the whole body for 90 minutes in a heated room. The poses work synergistically and cumulatively to return the body back to a balanced state.
The yoga builds energy, stamina, and flexibility. It incorporates strength, challenge, gravity, balance, concentration, and most importantly, the tourniquet effect. This technique allows the stretching, squeezing and massaging of the internal organs, flushing out the cardiovascular system and stimulating the endocrine and nervous systems in order to release any deficient hormones and enzymes. The body then maximizes its ability to self-regulate and self-adjust.
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| Friday Karma Class (5:30) |
 Every Friday for the month of November, Bikram Yoga West Edmonton will be donating all proceeds from the 5:30 class to Sierra Rose - a small 2-year-old friend from Australia who has severe Cerebral Palsy. The money donated will be used for stem cell therapy that she requires. Please join us for these Karma Classes and feel free to supplement our efforts by way of donation if you choose. |
| Our Neighbors - The Haven Social Club |
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There is an awesome newly renovated bar/social club located directly across the street from the studio, which features local live music. One of our students, Zoe, performs on Wednesday evenings at open mike night.
Go check it out - you deserve a cold one after hot yoga!
The Haven Social Club
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