I started practicing yoga when I just moved to Canada from Japan. Back then, there weren’t many yoga studios in the city and the few that were there taught a yoga class in a library, dance studio or church, pretty much wherever they could rent that week. Yoga classes back then started with yogic philosophy, and ended with minimum 30minutes of savasana.
But soon I was introduced to another teacher who taught a lot more physical school of yoga. It was disciplined and tough.
At times, I was confused which style of yoga I should label myself into.
When I was introduced to Vedic Astrology, Jyotish, everything made sense.
We are born under the same sky, just with a different patterns of stars (even twins). Āyurveda teaches us that we are born with the same constitutions, just different amount of each dosha.
Our current environment (do you live in the southern hemisphere? Cold climate?), relationships and career all have different influences on who we are and what our lifestyles are like.
But we all crave the same thing: mental, physical, spiritual health that allow us to live our lives with freedom and joy, with a stable and grounded rhythm. A lifestyle that yoga was meant to help us create. A slow, steady, grounded and joyful lifestyle.
And my belief is that our strategies to get there should be different in each person. To simplify, a person who lives in Norway (cold climate) may benefit from a bit of warm or even hot yoga before moving into a meditation practice, whereas a person who lives in Indonesia does not need any more hot and fast-paced movement but rather, grounding breathing and meditation practice with steady movement.
I may recommend a certain herbal tea blend or often customized tea blend to someone and not the other.
When I explain briefly what SOMA YOGA is about, people often confuse my practice to restorative yoga. Restorative Yoga aims to “restore” body and mind to bring relaxation and calm to a practitioner’s state. Although SOMA YOGA uses relaxation and calm during practice, the aim doesn’t end there.
SOMA YOGA is about respecting and upholding these beliefs:
- That each person is different at each stage of their lives
- That each person’s desire is the same but their journeys to get there should be different
- That a practice is a practice and not a quick fix
- That each branch, limb, of yoga is important but practiced at different and consciously chosen circumstances
- That relaxation and calm is part of our method to release deep tissues in our bodies by using a meticulously specific and consciously chosen posture, and mapping the emotional patterns in our subtle bodies
But above all, I believe in one thing: there is nothing to fix or even improve. We only need softening into our true selves, which are the most relaxed, free and softer selves that are grounded and stable, releasing the deepest tissues to release deeper emotional knots, so that we can live a free and relaxed, stable and grounded life.
Who is SOMA YOGA for?
- You feel hesitant and unsure about going to a group class
- You are less interested in fitness and more interested in mental and emotional health
- You would like to learn about what is needed in practice for your lifestyle
- You would like time to discuss and check in about emotional, inner landscape for health as well as physical
- You are interested in deep release
- You are interested in better sleep, decompression of spine, or dissolving harmful patterns
- You are interested in deep healing, release from anxiety, depression or other struggles
- You are interested in releasing old emotional habits through the pathways of prāna
SOMA YOGA is not for you if....
- You want to exercise and work a sweat
- You want to master a headstand or other “more advanced” poses
- You want a quick fix
Soft, gentle, and deep. That’s SOMA YOGA.