Art and Yoga are intertwined in Gurpran’s life and each practice inspires the other.

Let the waves and stars relax you at the end of your day.

Mixed media artist and Yoga teacher, Gurpran Rau treats us to a relaxing and mindful practise every Wednesday evening from her beautiful home studio space.

Gurpran’s class Breathe, Release, Restore focuses on key elements such as mindful movement, breath work, and visualisation techniques, intelligently sequenced to activate the parasympathetic nervous system - decreasing anxiety and bringing you into a state of bliss. 

If you don’t have time for a 75-minute class every day, here are 3 simple stretches that allow oxygen to flow throughout your body after a long day:

Let the light shine in as you restore your mind and body

Sit in a comfortable seat, and lift your arms above your head. Feel your roots connect with the earth and your spine growing longer. Relax your shoulders, bringing them away from your ears. Hold for up to 6 breaths.

Reach for the stars as you unwind for the night

Place your left hand to the side of your left hip and reach up your right arm. As you exhale, anchor your right hip down and send your lifted arm over the head creating a side stretch. Look up to the lifted hand if this feels good. Hold for up to 6 breaths and switch sides.

Letting go as you breathe, release, restore

Place each hand on each knee and take Chin Mudra (hand position where your thumb and first finger are touching). Close the eyes or have a soft gaze. Start to scan your body noticing any sensations that arise. When you feel ready, without changing your natural breathing pattern, start counting your breath. Do this for at least 10 cycles (one cycle = inhale and exhale). Once you’ve finished, open the eyes (if they have been closed) and take some time to notice stillness before moving from this position.

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Gurpran teaches her class on a Wednesday evening from 7-8:15pm, you can book in to join live and/or get the recording (which is available for 7 days after the class).

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CAMYOGA offers a big and diverse schedule and most of our classes are live streamed - we then share the recorded session with you for 48h.

Many of us have learned to love the convenience of this offer for many reasons and in our schedule, some teachers and styles are only on offer, virtually.

Our teachers had to adapt to this new world and haved learned to enjoy it too. Like, Karen Stamper who teaches our Iyengar Open class on Wednesdays. In her words:

For my online yoga class, I use my partner Richard as my model. This means he gets a really good practice as he's determined to show his best poses online! But I also find it really helpful to have him there as a demonstrator, this means I can sit at the screen and help participants achieve the poses with the props that they have.

Students also tell me that it is really useful for them to look up and see Richard in the pose, he has also learnt to reverse the instructions I give so that he is performing them the same way as the student, which flips my brain when I turn to look at him!

You may sometimes hear Richard chipping in with comments because he thinks he knows best!"

This class is full of smiles, hard work and commitment! And we assure you that Virtual classes can be divine!

Book Karen’s class, and check out our other online classes here.

iir prihatinawati http://asianjasmine.yoga/

When I signed myself up for a free taster of Broga® at CAMYOGA, I didn’t even read which type of yoga I was about to take. I am new in Cambridge - I moved here from Indonesia in August. I have practiced yoga since I was a child - I am a registered vinyasa teacher, and mostly practice yoga at home - so I was excited to get to the studio and have a guided practice.

When I arrived, and a lady told me in the changing room what class I was about to take, I wasn’t sure what to expect...

You know, surprises always come to greet you in the most unexpected corners... I loved it!

Yes, it was mostly men in the class, yes we did heck of a load of high/low planks, either into or from chaturanga or downward facing dog, and yes I was sweating. A lot!

I know what you think, this yoga might be only suitable for the very athletic or experienced practitioners, but to be honest it is not! Let me explain why.

Firstly, the poses were dead simple. Having practiced yoga for over half of my life, I’ve had my time of working to get into the 'fancy poses' - undervaluing these simple poses. But more recently, I’ve started to take notice of the simple things, to find the grace in anything and everything. This was the beauty of the practice.

So, if the poses were dead simple, how did I get my kick from the practice?

These simple poses were repeated over and over again with controlled ujjayi breath throughout - once you’ve done 7 or 8 repetitions of a low and slow chaturanga you start feeling muscles you never knew you had.

The practice really prompted me to be mindful of my own body and muscles. For example: try to come to downward dog, then plank, slide slowly into your low chaturanga and press up to plank and downward dog again, repeat 8 times slowly. Now try it again with one legged dog, one legged plank and so on... Now you know what I mean!

I think I may have read your mind - it sounds scary right?! Don’t worry the teacher, Liz, is very nice and knowledgable and will offer options and modifications for you to work with at at your stage, wherever you are in your yoga journey.

I know you will feel that there are eyes watching what you are doing, pressuring you to do the full pose although deep down you feel that you are not ready yet. Hang on a minute. No one is watching you as each of us is sweating like crazy and trying to keep doing what we are doing with our own perfection, we don’t have time to watch other people! Moreover yoga is not about comparing yourself with other people! Yoga is your journey within. No judgement. Every body is different! Do what is best for you, enjoy the learning, focus within.

Happy practicing and Namaste!

- Iir Prihatinawati

About the Author

Iir Prihatinawati is a registered yoga teacher (RYT200) at Yoga Alliance UK and has just moved to Cambridge from Indonesia. She has been learning yoga since childhood but it became a regular practice for her after her first pregnancy, and has been hooked on vinyasa and ashtanga ever since. You can find out more about Iir on her website.

Broga® classes are held on Tuesday evenings, 17.00 at the CAMYOGA Cambridge Central Studio.

Check out our schedule to book.