2.5hr Sivananda Yoga Class

ABOUT

Join Nicci for an extended Sivananda-style yoga class at Riverside Studio, Stellenbosch, and experience what this incredibly simple, gentle yet powerful interpretation of the yoga practice is all about.

Suitable for absolute beginners, we move mindfully and take many, many mini-Savasanas (relaxation) between the different parts of the class so you needn't worry about not being able to keep up.

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What to Expect

A typical class begins with chanting OM and 2 pranayama (breathwork) exercises. After warming up with sun salutations (which we practice to musical chanting), the focus is on mastery of the twelve basic poses in the following order.

Savasana is practiced between asanas and closes the class, along with chanting OM again.

The poses are ideally done slowly and with control to stretch and strengthen the body as well as open the chakras.

The 12 basic poses of Sivananda include a little of everything: inversions, backbends, forward bends, twists, balances, and hamstring stretches. As students become proficient in the 12 basic poses, variations may be introduced, but for this session, you will be given the most basic preparatory poses to start building up the pose (if it's totally new to you) or the option of coming into the full expression of the pose, if that's where your practice is.

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Booking secures your spot

R200 for the 2.5 hour class

Please bring your own mat if you have one.

We have blankets and eye pillows but bring your own if you have.

Mats available - suggested donation R20 per mat that you can put into the Watershed Animal Rescue collection tin on the sign-in desk

Any questions, please WhatsApp Nicci on 078 563 8152 or email [email protected]

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Is Sivananda for You?

The goal of this practice is to promote physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Whilst there is an opportunity to flow during the Sivananda sun salutations, the asana system is fairly fixed, so you must enjoy working slowly and methodically to fully master the prescribed poses. An interest in Indian philosophy is also a good indicator that you'll enjoy Sivananda yoga.

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More about Sivananda Yoga

Sivananda Yoga comes from the lineage of Swami Sivananda, as brought to the west by his disciple Swami Vishnudevananda in the late 1950s, making this style of practice an important part of yoga's first wave of popularity outside India.

Sivananda (1887-1963) was well-known in India in the 1930s, when he founded an ashram in Rishikesh. He had previously been a practicing doctor. Because he spoke English well and wrote many treatises in English, he was sought after by western students who wished to study yoga and Vedanta. He founded the Divine Life Society in 1936 to organize and disseminate his teachings.

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Important Disciples

Sivananda's yoga and philosophies traveled west courtesy of several influential disciples. One was Swami Satchidananda, who founded Integral Yoga. Another was Vishnudevananda, who came to North America in 1957 and soon started the first Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Montreal, Canada. The key philosophical points and yoga methodology associated with Sivananda Yoga were the efforts of Vishnudevananda on behalf of further spreading his guru's messages.

Today there are Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers in major cities in the U.S., western Europe, South America, and Asia, as well as nine ashram retreats.

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Philosophy

The Sivananda method is based on five principles for optimal health and spiritual growth, as described by Vishnudevananda. They are:

Proper exercise (Asana)

Proper breathing (Pranayama)

Proper relaxation (Savasana)

Proper diet (Vegetarian)

Positive thinking (Vedanta) and meditation (Dhyana)

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About Nicci

Nicci takes her practice seriously but takes herself with a large pinch of salt (preferably Himalayan rock). Her classes are accessible, relaxed, and light. Laughter and softening is encouraged. Breathing is highlighted. Practising the pause is celebrated, on and off the matt.

Practicing formally since 1997, Nicci completed her first teaching immersion through Yoga Life in California in 2007 with Patti Quintero and Billy Asad. She gained her 200hr YTT in the Integral Vinyasa style (originating from the Sivananda tradition) and Advanced Pregnancy YTT through Ananda Sangha, under the patient and knowledgeable tutelage of Anne and Martin Combrink in 2011. Whilst Nicci’s core yoga training is in the flowing Vinyasa style, her growing passion is the slow and meditative yin practice which she teaches on retreats across the country, having completed her Advanced Yin Teacher Training course in Goa, India in 2018 (Preksha Ashram).

She loves to practice and teach a strong, slow flow, but increasingly feels that to tap into the truly transformative power – body, mind and soul - of the practice, we need to slow things right down, getting face to face with what lies beneath the distractions of movement: working deep into our deepest tissues and layers.

As an Internationally Certified Infant Massage Instructor (IAIM), Nicci creates a safe space to walk the challenging and exciting journey of pregnancy and beyond with mums-to-be: from yoga for infertility, through prenatal yoga classes, and flowing into the baby massage courses that she teaches from 6 weeks onwards. Nicci’s own experience of healing from trauma and addiction have led to her specific interest and passion for yoga, meditation, mindfulness and touch therapy as tools in this ongoing recovery process. She trained and qualified as a certified M-Technique Touch Therapist at St. Luke’s Hospice, Cape Town in 2018 and is available for massage upon request (to existing yoga students).

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