Thanksgiving yoga with the family :)

Photos of The Yoga Shala's Second Anniversary

On October 12, 2011 The Yoga Shala celebrated its 2nd Anniversary! We are so grateful to be part of the Orlando, Florida landscape. A big thank you to all the students who have supported our humble little Ashtanga Yoga School.

Open Your Heart

♥ Open Your Heart ♥

By Maureen Hanusek - Director of Evening Mysore program at The Yoga Shala in Winter Park, Florida

Back bends are probably the scariest yoga poses most yogis have ever had to accomplish. And it doesn't matter whether you are binding ankles or simple pushing through a bridge pose; at any stage of the back bend it can be a difficult challenge to move into.

Why do back bends seem like such a struggle? Well I believe that the art of back bending is directly correlated to the amount of love you have in your life. Now that is not to say that someone who can bind their ankles with their hands has more love in their life than someone just learning to push their head up off the floor. What I am saying is that your ability to open your heart and to push through the physical discomfort of breaking that protective barrier around the heart is directly correlated to the way we give and receive love.

Have you ever seen someone hunched over from the shoulders, head stretched forward? Now picture their face. What does it look like? Do they seem like that they have a lot of love in their life? Probably not, as they actively protect their heart.

Picture a couple on their wedding day; the groom standing at the altar, the bride walking up the isle. What do they look like? Shoulders back, chest lifting, crown of their heads reaching to the sky. This couple is full of love, and it's obvious.

Wouldn't we rather look like the couple on their wedding day, everyday? This is what back bends teach us, to open our hearts to people, living and new experiences. But life can be disheartening. Of course it can, this is why we repeat back bends in every yoga practice. Not to mention they help wake up the central nervous system.

Our many experiences with love in our lives may have led us to heartache, and it shows in our posture and our practice. So many reasons to protect the heart, love lost whether it was a child, sibling, parent, friend, spouse or grandparent. Maybe a loved one let us down in the past. As a result we still hold on to these pieces for whatever reason.

Back bending will teach you to let go of these pieces so that we can make space for MORE love in our lives. Being able to receive infinite amounts of love into our lives, and more importantly for us to be able to give infinitely more love to everyone, especially the people who really need it. Like that hunched over acquaintance that has very little room in their heart for love. Creating this space in our hearts though back bending is difficult, but so well worth it.

Isn't this what we all live for? Isn't this what we are meant to do? Isn't LOVE the reason we were all put here on this Earth together? To LOVE one another? So don't you want to do more back bending right now? I though so. ♥

Maureen Hanusek is a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher. She runs the evening mysore program at The Yoga Shala in Winter Park, Florida. For more information about classes with Maureen click here.

The Yoga Shala - Orlando's Ashtanga Yoga School

A very big thank you to Olivia Richardson and Byrant Hardwick for creating this video about The Yoga Shala.

The Yoga Shala is a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga Studio. We offer yoga classes in the Mysore style method, Guided Ashtanga, Beginner's Courses, and Pre-natal yoga. Owner, Krista Shirley, is authorized to teach by the Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, India. Our 2,100 sq ft yoga school has a men's and women's locker room, yoga boutique, and a large practice room located in beautiful Winter Park, Florida - just outside Orlando. We also offer workshops with world-renowned teachers. Check out our website to find more information. www.theyogashala.org

Shanna's Back :)

Welcome Home Shanna! Shanna White will be back on the schedule at The Yoga Shala in Winter Park, Florida (in the Orlando area) starting June 20th! She will be running our New Mid-Morning Mysore program, Our Lunch mysore program, and Saturday morning and Sunday evening Mysore. We have missed you Shanna!

Donation Yoga Class to benefit Odanadi. Class Held at The Yoga Shala in Orlando, Florida on March 12th 2011

A big thank you to everyone who came out to The Yoga Shala in Winter Park on Saturday to do some yoga and help raise funds for Odanadi - a non-profit organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking in India. We had a wonderful class, raised several hundred dollars, and spread good karma into the world!

Each Saturday we hold a donation yoga class at The Yoga Shala to raise monies for charities in need of help. Next Saturday, March 19th, please join Jaime at The Yoga Shala for a special donation class to benefit Japan. Bring yourself, and whatever money you can spare, and enjoy a morning of ashtanga yoga in Winter Park's authentic Ashtanga Yoga School.

Pictures below are from Saturday's donation class benefiting Odanadi.