The Pune Cycle and Backbends

Dear fellow Sadakhas (practitioners, students)

Every month, Iyengar yoga classes all over the world follow a similar cycle of study.  It’s called the “Pune” or “India” cycle, named after Pune, India, the location of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, or RIMYI.  The cycle defines a different area focus for practice each week, as follows:

  1. Standing  poses
  2. Forward bends
  3. Backbends
  4. Restorative poses and pranayama

During each week a variety of poses are practiced, but there’s an emphasis or focus on one family of poses.  In this ...

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Symmetry and Balance

Dear Friends and Colleagues in Yoga –

The eye is drawn to symmetry and balance. This is one of my favorite photos from a class at Ganesha’s Place (now closed). Even though each pair of legs is a little different in shape and length, there is symmetry around the vertical lines defined by gravity. The floor provides a firm, even surface for the spine and head. My breath slows and becomes more even just looking at these practitioners in Viparita Karani ...

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Branches Yoga

Transitions and Change

March-April is a time of transition and change. It’s delightful, it’s exciting…but transitions and change can also be a strain on the mind and body. Then we must listen carefully, noticing when we need more rest, some moments of quiet, or perhaps we need to move physically. My yoga colleague and friend Chris O’Brien said in her blog this week that “…Yoga…teaches me to listen more to my body and heart than to my mind/ego when it comes to decision making.”

Any yoga ...

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Jann Boyer Yoga

Awareness in Yoga

“Awareness must be like the rays of the sun, extending everywhere, illuminating all.”  BKS Iyengar

This week in classes we’ll explore a well-rounded asana practice – some standing poses, seated poses, twists, maybe even a revolved pose or two, and some back extensions  (plus – of course – inversions in the Level 2 classes).  Sometimes we delve into a certain pose, discussing various ways to approach it.  Other times, it’s useful to keep a steadier pace and a quieter, more introspective ...

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Springtime and Snow Cupcakes

These Johnny Jump-Ups looked so brave and cheerful at my sister’s house in Texas – it was a promise of Spring.  And here we are, just a week later, feeling the warmth of that promise in the air.  March is a month of change, and activities being to pick up.  Two of those are affecting the class schedule this week:

  • In light of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Savannah – which is quite a party, I understand – ...
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Jann Boyer Yoga

The strong, silent type

Last week in Texas there was snow.  In March.  In the early morning, looking out from the front porch at my mother’s house, the trees were outlined sharply against the white snow, and it was quiet.  A few inches of snow is small stuff to those in more northerly parts of the country, but with the underlying ice, it brought activity to a halt in north Texas. The roads were quiet, the fields were silent.  It was lovely.

This week in ...

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The branches of yoga support and enfold us

Dear Friends –

The branches of yoga are reaching out to a new studio in Savannah this week.

I am partnering with fellow teachers Lynn Geddes, Kate Marvel, and Greg Schultz to offer alignment-based yoga classes and private instruction at Branches Yoga (of course), at 2424 Drayton St.  This is a short distance east of the wonderful Ganesha’s Place, which closed at the end of February.

The Iyengar Yoga classes in Savannah are moving to Branches ...

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An end and a beginning… and classes this week in Savannah and Hilton Head

Dear friends –

This week brings an end to a wonderful, 3+ year association with Ganesha’s Place in Savannah…and marks the beginning of a new adventure just a couple of blocks east. I am partnering with Lynn Geddes, Kate Marvel, and Greg Schultz to offer alignment-based yoga classes at 2424 Drayton, in the same space now occupied by Lynn’s Anahata Healing Arts, and way-back-when, by the Yoga Co-Op. We’ll be opening with a new, and I think charming business ...

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Jann Boyer Yoga

This week’s classes in Savannah and Hilton Head… and a look into the future

In this week’s classes we have some extra variety:
* Forward bends and abdominal poses in the L2 classes and Thursday L1
* Neck and shoulders in the Tuesday L1 class in Savannah, and the Therapeutic Yoga classes Monday and Thursday 1:00 pm in Hilton Head.

Forward bends have a calming, quieting effect.  They call for patient, persistent “svadyaya” (self study) as you explore and observe the sensations you feel.  Abdominal poses bring forth more “tapas” (discipline, burning zeal, ...

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Standing Poses… With Some Assistance

This week is standing poses!

Always steadying and strengthening, standing poses help us to review the basics of good posture and alignment, and build stamina and stability in the process.

This week we’ll practice standing poses with the assistance of chairs.  We often use props for safety, to stay in the pose longer, or to achieve alignment in a pose.  This week we’ll use the chair primarily to help us focus on the actions of each pose, and to let the “mind ...

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