Meet our Teacher - Oceane

If you have been lucky enough to make one of Oceane’s classes, you will know what a calming, grounding presence she has. She expresses her love for the yoga practice through her teaching and we are so lucky to have her on our team! We sat down to interview Oceane and learn a little bit more about her - read below!

What led you to start practicing yoga? What makes you passionate about the practice?

I got dragged into my first vinyasa yoga class by an ex-boyfriend, while feeling very depressed. I really did not want to go! I hated every single moment of it but for some reason I went back, again and again until it became my routine and one of the most important things in my life.

I'm very passionate about the energetic aspect of the practice. The ability to shift and change how I feel through pranayama, or even simply being still and feeling it all.

Do you do any other activities or exercises to compliment your yoga practice?

I don't see my yoga practice as a workout for my body but rather for my mind so I absolutely train on the side. I love pilates reformers ( did you know I teach it too?) surfing, hiking or a simple walk by the beach. There are so many ways to work out but my goal is to make sure I am having fun.

How long have you been meditating and do you have a preferred style?

I have always done some kind of mindfulness practice but I'll say it's only been over the last 3 years that I got really committed.

I tend to do the same meditation practice everyday as a sadhana (40 days straight) according to what I need. Currently I am practicing a kriya meditation (or visualisation) for self love that I got given by a teacher.

How has the practice helped shape you into the person you are today?

It sounds very cliché but yoga has 100% changed the course of my life and shaped me mentally in the best possible way. Since practicing pranayama and meditation regularly I feel more anchored in my life, less affected by the constant changes and simply more present. But perhaps what I got most out of all my years of practice is the deep faith and trust I have in life. No matter what happens, I deeply know that I am always going to be ok.

What inspires you in life?

I am fascinated by the human body and mind. Our uniqueness and our interconnectedness. There is so much to learn from the tradition of yoga or even the ancient wisdom of the Chinese medicine system. I am an eternal student at heart and love learning new things, creating, sharing and gathering with the yoga community whether through classes, workshops or retreats. That's what yoga is for right?

Want to join one of Oceane’s classes?

Check out our online timetable below! Or read more about Oceane in her TIY profile here.

Author: This is Yoga

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Meet our Teacher - Alec Snow

Meet Alec! Alec is one of our very talented TIY gems. He brings his playful, yet calming, energy and passion to each class that he runs. Get to know a little bit more about Alec in our interview below!

What led you to start practicing yoga? What makes you passionate about the practice?

Yoga was actually introduced to me in Acting school. It was given to us as a way of developing a greater awareness of our body. I remember my acting teacher telling me that my relationship with my body was non-existent. As I embodied my practice, what I soon realised was that yoga was much, much more than just trying to touch your toes. It was the doorway to an ocean of ancient knowledge and an invitation into a deeper understanding of who I am.

Do you do any other activities or exercises to compliment your yoga practice?

I love to play guitar and sing. I always find after practicing yoga I sing the best because I’m so relaxed.

How long have you been meditating and do you have a preferred style?

I remember my first meditation was when I was about 6 and it involved holding a yin and yang ball in my hands listening to ‘We’re in Heaven’ by Do. Now things are quite different. I practice a curated blend of meditation that I have come into contact with over the years. Everything from Tantric, Dzogchen, Vipassana, Metta and Stoicism.

How has the practice helped shape you into the person you are today?

Yoga is the discipline in my life that holds me accountable. It gives me both ritual and release. But I think most importantly, it illuminates the invisible, that is essential. It helps me unclench the fist in my mind and let go.

What inspires you in life?

Any chance I get to be creative.

Author: This is Yoga

Want to check out one of Alec’s online classes? Follow the link below!

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Meet our teacher - Karolina

Meet Karolina, we interviewed Karolina so that you, our community, can find out a little bit more about her teaching and her wonderful self! Read below..

Tell us about your journey to yoga and your teaching background?

My teaching journey began in 2010 when I graduated from the Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training facilitated by the founders of the method: Sharon Gannon and David Life in Rhinebeck, New York. In 2012 I became an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher thanks to the guidance of my mentor Narayani ( Nicole Nichols). After moving to Sydney in 2012 I joined forces with Jivamukti Yoga Sydney in Newtown and over the years I become an essential part of the studio’s teaching faculty. While teaching there, I have dedicated my time to serve as a mentor to newly certified Jivamukti yoga teachers, helping them to grow and become more skilled in sharing the method.

In the late 2018 I left the school in pursue of my own growth and independent journey as a yoga teacher. 
I am now teaching numerous classes and workshops in Sydney, running my retreats and continue to serve as a mentor, running group and “one on one” mentoring programs for newly certified yoga teachers.
As a part of my ongoing continuing education, I have been practising and apprenticing with my Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Eileen Hall from Ashtanga Yoga Moves in Sydney since 2017. To balance my yang, I also practice and teach yin yoga.

What do you love most about teaching?

Heart to heart connection with students and many healing and therapeutic potentials that come from this ancient, potent modality.

Do you have a favourite pose(s) or one that you are trying to work on?

I have a love/hate relationship with Karandavasana (from second series of Ashtanga Yoga). I have been challenged by it and been working on it for some time now. I find that there is absolutely no time or space for switching off while attempting it. Full presence!

What do you enjoy doing outside of yoga?

Spending time in nature and connecting to the land, exploring healing earth traditions, playing and listening to music, connecting with friends and loved ones, ocean swims. I am also currently studying Recall Healing Therapy, so most of my free time is consumed by it at the moment.

Do you have a favourite book/ show/ song or quote you can share with us? 

There is just too many to mention...I highly recommend all books by Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield and Thich Nhat Hanh.

I'm currently reading this beautiful book: "See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love" by Valarie Kaur, which I highly recommend.

You can practice with Karolina at our TIY Studios or TIY Online. If you want to get to know her a little better visit her TIY Teacher’s page 💛.

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This Is Yoga – Craig’s Story

It all started with one Foundations class …

Back in 2018, I was a regular busy person – full-time job, 3 school-aged kids, wife, house, mortgage. I was fairly active, yet flexibility was a thing of the past – kind of like sleeping in. As my kids got bigger, I struggled to keep up with them in the park or at the beach. In particular my lower back and shoulders. I ended up at the physio/chiro a few times because my lower back was really grumpy.

I dabbled in meditation and mindfulness to try to help me be calmer, more focussed and generally more pleasant, but I never gave it a proper go. 

Then my life got turned on its head. My wife got sick. Really sick. About as sick as you can get and still make it. She was on life-support in a coma for 10 days. She was in hospital for 10 weeks. It was chaos. But the hospitals and health care workers were amazing. They managed to get her back home to us. Unfortunately, she suffered brain injury during all of this and she now needs a lot of care and support.

I was suddenly looking after 4 people on my own. On top of that, we were down to one income. 

This was a massive personal challenge. I needed to be the best version of me. Long days, full of pressure. I also needed to be able to care for and comfort my wife and my kids. Tired and grumpy Dad wasn’t going to be much use. I really needed to be the best version of me possible. So I decided to give yoga a proper try and I booked myself into a Saturday afternoon Foundations class.

It changed my life. It gave me some ‘me time’, focus, challenge, strength, flexibility, mindfulness, acceptance, improved diet, better sleep, and more calm. It was like a miracle pill. I’m not saying it was easy. It wasn’t. Just walking into the studio full of fit people who I imagined could tie themselves into pretzel shapes at will was a real challenge. But it felt fantastic afterwards. So I came back again, and again. I loved it. This is what everyone needs. 

What the business needed was someone who could help it grow. What I needed was something meaningful to pursue that could give me the time and resources to look after my family. 

So I bought This Is Yoga. Many of my friends thought I was nuts taking on the challenge of running a small business, on top of everything else. When COVID hit 4 months later, I started to think they may be right. But we handled that as best we could too, by focussing on the community – keeping the classes going for both the students and the teachers, and also to provide some wellness and connection during those challenging times. We gave away over 700 months of yoga to health care workers. 

It has been a challenge taking on the business, but it was nothing compared to the rest of my life. Ironically, I wouldn’t have been able to get through my family challenges without yoga, but I also wouldn’t have had the courage or drive to take on the yoga business without having had the family challenges.

I’m still a busy person, just maybe not a regular one anymore. I’m certainly a much better version of me – pursuing meaningful goals to the best of my abilities and making a difference. Thanks to yoga I’m able to do this, and for that I am truly grateful.

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Meet our Teacher - Jourdi Bleu

Teachers can play such a fundamental role in our yoga journey and as part of our community. We can feel a connection to them, a warmth, despite often knowing very little about their background or story! So, we interviewed one of our very own This is Yoga teachers, Jourdi Bleu, to give you an insight into her beautiful journey.

What led you to start practicing yoga? What makes you passionate about the practice? 

My mom introduced me to yoga when I was 16 years old. I was going through some hard times, and she thought it would help ground me. I have to admit, I didn’t fall in love with it right away, but I knew that I always felt better after I practiced.

With a gymnastics background growing up, my body was naturally good at the poses, so I kept coming back to it purely for physical activity. It wasn’t until I was 21 (8 years ago) that I really fell in love with the practice. I remember the exact class that made me have that “AHA” moment - I walked out on a bliss cloud and it finally clicked for me that there was something else happening on the mat, on a much deeper level than just the physical practice. For the next couple years my true love for yoga developed and then I finally did my teacher training in 2016 at BodyMindLife. It was then when I learned about why this practice made me feel the way it did, and how it was shifting many aspects of my life. I wasn’t quite ready to start teaching right away, so the next few years I dove deeper into my own practice with my newfound knowledge, and a transformation began.

When I travelled to India in 2019 and practiced more traditionally in many different ashrams, I felt in my soul that I was ready to start sharing this sacred practice with others. So, when I got back to Sydney in 2020, I began my journey as a teacher. It has been the most amazing experience, one that lights my soul up. There’s nothing I love more than students coming up to me after a class telling me how great it made them feel, or that yoga has changed their life. There’s not a doubt in my mind that I was definitely put here in this lifetime to share my knowledge of this ancient practice. To me, it’s so much more than just a practice, it’s a whole way of life and thinking, and that’s what makes me so passionate about it. Yoga has definitely shaped me into who I am today, and I am so beyond grateful that it is a part of my life.

Do you do any other activities or exercises to compliment your yoga practice? 

I compliment my practice with strength and gymnastics work at the gym, and cardio sessions like HIIT and spin classes. I feel like those drills make the bigger poses easier to access.

Can you tell us; a favourite pose, a pose that challenges you and a pose you are working towards?

My favourite poses are handstand and Warrior 2, and the one that challenges me the most is Uttkatasana (chair pose). I am working on tougher transitions like crow - headstand - crow and my press to handstand.

What can students expect from your classes?

If you come to my classes, I usually like to take it slow and strong, so you can really embody each pose and move with your breath. My sequences are always creative and fun (planning classes is one of my favourite things to do) and I promise you’ll have a laugh as I let my bubbly, light - hearted personality shine through. I’m so excited to dive deeper into the teaching realm, as it’s morphing my relationship to yoga to a level that I didn’t even think was possible. 

Author: This is Yoga

To book a class with Jourdi, check out our timetables below!

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Interview: Exploring Fascia Release with Vicky Chapman

Vicky is our go-to yogi for all things fascia and connective tissue! Out of passion, she has cultivated her knowledge and skill in the area over several years and is a huge advocate for fascia release techniques. We interviewed Vicky on the benefits of fascia release - read more below!

For people who may be new to the concept of fascia release, can you give us a basic insight into what this is?

Fascia is our connective tissues, its job is to connect everything in the body. When we release the fascia with tools like self massage with balls/rollers and props, it helps us move more freely. It hydrates those tissues, making us feel less stiff. By using fascia release balls and props we can access the really hard to reach tight spots in the body and spend some time exploring to create more freedom in range of movement, better posture, more resilient tissues to help with injury treatment and prevention.

Can you explain to us why fascia release is beneficial to yoga practice?

Fascia release is for everybody, whether you do yoga, running, crossfit or nothing at all. It’s a tool you can use whenever you need to target and release your tight or problematic areas. It releases the stuck parts of the body, allowing you to move better, stand taller and be more comfortable. Incorporating it into my yoga practice has been life changing. I use my balls everyday somewhere on my body to prepare me for movement or release headaches or just create space where I’m feeling stuck. I take them everywhere with me.

What piqued your interest in working with fascia and connective tissue? Have you done extra training in this area? 

I’ve been teaching fascia release workshops with rollers for about 7 years now, but a few years ago my teacher Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga medicine, taught a 5 day training on all things fascia and it blew my mind…the way the chinese medicine Meridians blend beautifully into this practice compliments my yin yoga teaching. I learnt so much and have been teaching workshops with the balls instead now for the last few years as they’re a much more versatile tool.

I love learning and have done an additional fascia training this year, and will be doing another on fascia trains in August. The more I learn about connective tissue the more I’m fascinated in how it works.

Can we expect much discomfort as we work into the fascia? 

There will be parts of your body that individually you’ll feel A LOT, and there will be others that you barely notice. It’s the areas that are uncomfortable that usually need the attention so it’s our bodies way of telling us where to focus. I don’t believe harder is better, self-massage is how I think of it… if you like your massage firm or soft you do you :) I’ll always give you lots of options.

Do you incorporate any of these techniques into the yoga classes you teach?

Yes I incorporate fascia release into my yin yoga classes. In yin we are stressing the connective tissue and looking at finding full range of movement in the joints, so by releasing tight muscles with the balls & props, your body will be able to find it’s full range much easier. I also use them on my yoga retreats in every class like prepping the feet for standing poses or releasing the shoulders for Handstands. They can be added in everywhere to elevate your yoga practice but also these tools will help you off the mat, treating headaches, releasing tight necks from long days at the computer, softening overused quads after a long run/cycle. I take them everywhere and use them everyday, they’re the most versatile tool to have in your tool box.

Author: This is Yoga

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