Satsang – Community

Yapana@ Yoga All Levels.: “yapana” is an ancient Sanskrit word which means: “The support and extension of life”. It is a style of yoga that appeals and will challenge the athlete, the student with limitations, as well as yoga teachers and students wishing to deepen their experiences, refine and develop their practice.

There are different components to each Yapana® class, which are thoughtfully and skillfully sequenced. This is not choreography, but there is a really inspired flow to the practice. We begin with alignment oriented “vinyasa flow” to warm-up the body. This is followed by static “DOING” poses that are dynamic and focus on strength/core building. We then move into the restorative “BEING” poses, which encourage flexibility/release, and even weight loss, as current research is now indicating. These poses stimulate the rest and digest mechanisms in the body/mind which also help us cope with stressors off the mat. All postures are held for an extended period of time with the addition of strategically placed yoga props to help bring the practice to the level of the practitioner rather than force everyone to do the same thing. We end class with a STILL pose, or final relaxation. This is often preceded by pranayama and/or meditation. Often today, this crucial integration period is shortened or ignored, leaving one feel unbalanced. Studies show that a minimum of 15 minutes is necessary to help people drop into a deep state of relaxation.

This style of yoga is unique in that it teaches safe alignment and key body positioning skills and thus offers the practitioner the opportunity to learn the skills that improve posture, stamina, muscle tone and safe range of motion.

This class offers a full body/mind/spirit experience on the mat that challenges ALL levels of practice and meets practitioner’s unique needs.

Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30-10:45. Each class will have a certain amount of progressive learning, giving those students who are committed to coming often to grow, while welcoming new comers to start where they are.

FUNdamentals – This is a Yapana® practice that will use the same warm up, DOING-BEING-STILL format to introduce a skill or theme and some of the more classic poses. Sunday’s class will set the tone for the week of Yapana® classes so that those coming frequently have a chance to develop, deepen and refine, while those practitioners who can only make a weekend class can enjoy a simple, yet challenging yoga session with both active and passive elements of recovery.

Rana Waxman (819 Posts)

Rana Waxman is a registered yoga therapist ERYT-500, with 20 years of teaching experience. Rana is a freelance writer and social media expert in addition to leading yoga workshops internationally and teaching alignment focused private and group Yoga Lessons in Hoboken and Jersey City NJ.