Prema Vinyasa Yoga

Prema Vinyasa Yoga is a school of yoga that teaches a path of self development using ancient and modern transformational tools.

The path involves the following principles, that the teachers embody in their lives and convey in their classes:

Prema: Unconditional love. We foster love towards ourselves, every sentient being, and to life itself, by adhering to the guiding principles of: Acceptance, Forgiveness, Letting go.
Bhakti: Yoga teaches us that the divine can be found in every aspect of life, and hence this path cherishes the aspect of “Bhakti Yoga”, union with universal consciousness by love and devotion. This is expressed through chanting, pooja, altar care, other rituals and a yearly community pilgrimage to Mother India.
Svadhyaya: Self-study and study of the scriptures. We encourage self-reflection on all aspects of our experience. Yoga was developed to answer the problem of the suffering inherent in life (duhkha). In this path we study how the ancient seers solved this problem in different and unique ways. However, we are aware that we practice yoga in a society that is utterly different from the one that developed it. If we keep the tradition as it was, it is bound to lose its efficacy. We consider ourselves life-long students, on a journey open to the teachings of all yoga schools, of different spiritual and self-developmental traditions while keeping an eye on modern science and medicine. We accept that knowledge is evolving and hence that our beliefs can change.
DaDaDa: As teachers of Prema Vinyasa Yoga, we are guided by the teachings of the Bhradaranyaka Upanishad: Dāmyata Datta Dayadhvam (DaDaDa): “Be Self controlled, Give, Be compassionate”.

A Prema Vinyasa Yoga class is an alchemical space of transformation that offers the following elements:

Prema: Unconditional love. This starts with yourself, accepting who you are fully and how far you have come in your spiritual path. We then shine prema on all the people around us, in our teachings and in how we relate to our students.
Bhakti: Chanting, offering mantras at the beginning and at the end of the class, either with the accompaniment of harmonium or with voice only (vedic chanting). Altar preparation and care.
Vinyasa: Movement as a form of embodied spirituality. The classes are taught at a slow pace with lots of attention to details and somatic embodiment. The goal is to bring the practitioner outside of their head and back into their body, while keeping them aware of every time they “drop out” of the body, whether to start thinking or conceptualizing what they are doing. The teacher uses detailed cues to guide the students while offering individual assists when needed.
Parinama: Transformation. The vinyasa classes can be challenging physically and mentally, to push the practitioner out of the comfort zone, into the place where transformation can happen. The student is always empowered and encouraged to develop bravery and courage from feeling uncomfortable, challenged and vulnerable. Hence the teacher is a guide to a territory that for every student needs to be explored in their own way. Kramas are offered for all the challenging poses and transitions.
Svadhyaya: The classes are taught with a theme that encourages self-study and reflection.
Bhava: The classes cultivate a bhava, a feeling-state that can be emotional, playful, or spiritual depending on the theme of the class and the kind of contemplation that is encouraged.
Functional asanas: The cues and alignment are grounded in the understanding of skeletal variations and hence are functional rather than aesthetic. The teacher offers hands-on-assists, and allows the students to contribute and shift to personal practice whenever they need.
Naada: music. We use music in our classes to accompany the bhava and create a mood for the class. We encourage experimentations and creativity in the flow.
Sangha: the teacher builds community with the practitioners.
Freedom: personal contributions in the class is cherished. The teacher has a welcoming attitude towards variations and self-practice.