Yay4Yoga: Viniyoga in Paris

@YogaYoga Paris

9.15am - Intermediate Viniyoga with Oliver Bell

What a gorgeous little studio this was! Unfortunately, there seemed to be an excess of English speakers in the class, so Oliver, the teacher, originally from the States, decided to teach in ENglish instead of French like he normally does. I was spewing! I really wanted to do a class in French to see how challenging it would be. Anyway, I was impressed that Oliver even had the option! He occasionally slipped in a few French words and phrases for the benefit of the actual French students and also because he told us he actually teaches better using French. So cool! I SHALL learn a second language one day.

I have no idea what this says,
but I thought it was pretty.

Viniyoga is considered "your yoga". It is a slower, gentler variation of "normal" yoga (if there is any such thing) which includes moving softly with teh breath and adapting any poses to suit your style, mood, body type such as bending elbows and knees in places where you wouldn't normally. That is a very basic outline (mostly for my non-yogi friends who I make read my blog!). Anyway, the class was certainly different and exactly what I felt like because I've been sick this whole weekend in Paris. Bummer!

Oliver was a funny guy. Clearly he has been doing this for years and really knew his stuff. He mostly demonstrated poses or flowing movements once and then walked around ensuring we were all okay. It was a lovely little class, with one crazy French lady who kept getting angry at herself. She fell out of Tree Pose, ooh, which Oliver called: Bhagiratasana instead of Vrksasana. So I just looked that up (What did we do in they days without Google? Did we actually use those strange, hardback things with pages called books to find information? Did we even go so far as to step into an actual library? Gasp! I remember when my parents bought a whole set of World Book Encyclopaedias from the man who knocked on our door and we thought they were the be all and end all of resources. Ah, books, I miss you.) So yes, after asking the "world according to Google", "Bhagirata" was some important dude who was respected by Krishnamacharya and so was likened to a tree or something. For an actual explanation from Yoga Journal, click here.

The view on my walk home.

Ummmm, where was I. Oh yes, the French lady feel out of tree pose and got really angry at herself. She actually stamped her foot and said something in French. It was amusing and frightening at the same time. Thank goodness she has chosen to take yoga! We also used props like blankets and blocks and, something I've never seen before a plank of wood! It was so random. Thick on one edge then tapering to be thinner. But perhaps this is normal for this style? I'm not really sure. Also, they doubled as a Pilates studio so maybe they use it for that too. Anyway, it helped align our shoulders when we held it out in front of us during Utkatasana (Chair pose). It was really cool. The best part about the class was that Oliver actually handed out and collected all of the props. What a champ! I guess this is feasible for a small class so I will endeavour to do that when I first start out teaching. Assuming that at least one person will turn up to my class. But, hey, that's months away! Let's not talk about it...

I really liked the Viniyoga style and would love to try more of it. Very different. I will just have to wait until the next time I go to Paris to try a French-speaking class! Either way, I would definitely recommend you go here. It's really central, about a block away from the Eiffel Tower.