Yoga
Yoga
Yoga
EDITOR
CONTRIBUTORS
AMBRA VALLO
ASHLEY GALVIN
BRIOHNY SMYTH
CHRISTINE HEWITT
DAVID NEALE
DYLAN WERNER
EDWARD SERRANO
EMMA ARNOLD
JENNIFER CORDERO
KINO MACGREGOR
LAURA KASPERZAK
LIZ ARCH
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LIZZY SNAPE
NICK BREWER
RACHEL BRATHEN
SAM SETTLE
STEPHANIE BIRCH
TOM & JEN HARVEY
PUBLISHED BY
106STORIES LIMITED
22 LYMINGTON RD
LONDON
NW6 1HY
ADVERTISE IN DRAZE
COVER
beez@106stories.com
WITH THANKS
ARTHLETIC
BRYCE YOGA
ITS YOGA INTERNATIONAL
ONZIE
PRISON PHOENIX TRUST
SUPER BEING LABS
SUVRETTA SNOWSPORTS
editor@draze.co.uk
PRINTED BY
THE MAGAZINE PRINTING COMPANY
www.magprint.co.uk
CONTENTS
9
Editors Letter
18
34
Interview
Retreat Review
Briohny Smyth
10
22
Photography
Posture Analysis
Christine Hewitt
Downward Dog
15
24
Winter Playlist
Music
Sport Feature
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26
Kale Enlightenment
The Accidental Yogi
From Sentencing to
Svasana
Feature
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Yoga on Snow
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39
Yogarise Peckham
Studio/Class Review
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EDITORS LETTER
The past few months have been a crazy haze of pondering, proofreading, photographs, printing, and then practicing in the few spare minutes we had left over. Were
sure as can be though, that the end product was worth
all of those other ps. To be sure there were times when
we were not sure wed make it, but we closed our eyes,
did some ujayi breathing, and bought a huge whiteboard
and some colourful pens (because everybody needs a bit
Bex Fetherstone
Editor
STUDIO
STOCKISTS
Thank you to all the
studios whove supported
us! To join this list contact
beez@106stories.com
LONDON:
Jivamukti Yoga Kensal Rise
The Life Centre Notting Hill &
Islington
Frame Shoreditch & Queen's
Park
Evolve Wellness Centre South
Kensington
Stretch London Fields &
Shoreditch
Good Vibes Covent Garden &
Fritzrovia
The Light Centre Belgravia &
Moorgate
Yotopia Covent Garden
Embody Wellness Vauxhall
The Special Yoga Centre
Kensal Rise
Yoga Centric Crouch End
Lumi Power Yoga Hammersmith
Samsara Mind and Body
Wandsworth
Yogarise Peckham Peckham
Victors Lab Bussey Peckham
Body Align Elephant & Castle
Down To Earth Tufnell Park
The House of Yoga Putney
Yoga on the Lane Dalston
BIRMINGHAM
Yoga Sweat Town Centre
Barefoot Yoga Harborne
BYoga Walsall
LIVERPOOL
Planet Yoga
ABERDEEN
Love Yoga
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CHRISTINE
HEWITT
Photographer Interview
could process and print our own photos and after that I went on to study photography in college.
How did the yoga and photography come together? In
And equally how do you think yoga brings out something new in photography? Simply being around
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someone who is very dedicated to yoga asanas, and watching them strive to perfect their
asanas with patience and grace in front of the
camera, can be very inspiring. For me, it teaches the lesson that if you put your heart into anything, you will achieve some sort of greatness.
Yoga can be a form of retreating from the hustle and
bustle of the everyday and reflecting. Does being behind
a camera offer the same sort of space, or does it draw
you more into the world around you? What photogra-
ever they need. Motivation, inspiration, even confusion or disagreement. Whatever they are taking
from it is precisely what they need to be taking.
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WINTER
PLAYLIST
Funk & Soul
Track
Posture
Awake Tycho
Warm Up
Transatlantic Quantic
3 x Sun Salute A
12 Apostles Flevans
3 x Sun Salute B
Standing Postures
Pushin On Quantic
Soul Orchestra
Standing Postures
Todavia Bocafloja
Standing Postures
Standing Postures
Soul 69 A-Ko
Standing Postures
Why Me Kinny/Horne
Seated Postures
Seated Postures
Seated Postures
Seated Postures
Finishing Sequence
Finishing Sequence
Svasana
15
KALE ENLIGHTENMENT
WORDS THE ACCIDENTAL YOGI
At lunch with my boss and telling her all about you. She drinks kale
smoothies, youd love her.
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BRIOHNY
SMYTH
Empowered yogini
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DOWNWARD DOG
Adho Mukha Svanasana
The Overview
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Ideally, the centre point of your weight in this posture should be slap bang in the middle, right at the
top of your bum, which is pointing proudly to the
sky above. If you can master this, you shift a huge
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BALANCE, BREATH
& BOARDS
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FROM SENTENCING
TO SVASANA
HOW YOGA HAS TRANSFORMED UK PRISONS
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these projects make financial sense, rather the problem lies in politicians eagerness to comply with
public opinion.
Can you imagine what the Daily Mirror readers
would say if yoga was standard in prison? Theyd
say, Oh look, were even giving our criminals free
yoga classes now. People dont think about the fact
that if we actually offered prisoners a way to reform,
it might stop purses getting stolen, or houses getting
broken into, or even someone getting murdered.
Although studies on the benefits of meditation in
settings such as prisons, have increased in number
in recent years and have shown promising results,
yoga itself has lacked the same attention. In 2012
however, Oxford University academics took to
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the prisons of Britain to conduct a study on the effects of participation in a yoga course. Prisoners of
mixed ages and gender, from seven British prisons,
were allocated randomly to either a control group
(who took part in no yoga and carried on with their
normal exercise schedules), or a yoga group. Those
in the yoga group took part in a ten-week course,
consisting of one, two-hour class each week. Both
groups undertook tests judging their mood, stress
levels and psychological distress before and after
the experiment. Additionally, both groups took
part in a cognitive-behavioural task at the end of
the period.
At the end of the ten-week period, the experiments
yoga group reported considerably reduced stress
and psychological distress compared to the control group. This much might seem obvious to the
regular yogi, however the more surprising outcome
of the experiment emerged from the cognitive-behavioural test, given to all participants at the end of
the trial. Each participant was required to undergo
what is known as a Go/No-Go test, which monitors decision-making processes, in particular those
related to impulsivity. There is evidence to suggest
that poor performance in a task like this is related
to difficulties in controlling violent behaviour. The
participants of the yoga group achieved significantly and consistently higher results in this test of
impulse control, than the members of the control
group, suggesting that prisoners with a regular yoga
practice may be less likely to resort to impulsive
behaviours often associated with violence and addiction.
We know for certain that yoga helps prisons to run
more efficiently and smoothly. There are fewer violent incidents, a lot less paperwork has to be done,
and theres much better communication, all as a result of people doing yoga, agrees Sam. Prison staff
are also under huge amounts of strain, so we offer
classes for them too, were really trying to
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The PPT run various courses aimed at preparing qualified yoga teachers for the prison environment, including one-day training events
across the country, and longer residential
courses.
To donate to the PPT, or if you have fundraising ideas visit www.theppt.org.uk/support_
us.php
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YOGA ON SNOW
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Theme: letting go
Lie down on the snow and close your eyes. Let your
thoughts roam freely. Feel the snow underneath you
and surrender your entire body to the mountain. It is
supporting you. Remain clear and awake.
I close my eye and retrospectively take a few moments to remember and appreciate my surroundings: the sky is crystal clear and the sun is radiating
a gentle warmth over my damp, snow-flecked face. I
can hear the gentle woosh of skiers, more seasoned
than myself, gliding effortlessly down the mountain, and now I smile at the freedom they must feel.
I can feel a trip to St. Moritz coming on.
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Onzie
A/W 2014
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my post-practice laziness, I stick them in the washer. They come out as good as new and dry in record
time, ready for practice the next day. Onzie also say
that their gear can be worn swimming and surfing,
in chlorine or salt water, so I decide give my gear a
go on the great British seaside - sure enough, the
waves do it no harm whatsoever.
Post-practice I stick on the Onzie autumn collection cardigan (mines in black but it also come in
navy and a floral print called Persia). This piece is
made from Free Flow Jersey and is cosy yet still a little stretchy, its perfect for teaching in, or practicing
on a chilly morning. Ive got to say, Im a little sad
that my gear is yoga wear, so much so that, much
to my friends amusement, I wear my radical leggings out shopping and watch with pride as heads
turn. Not very yogic I know but Ill make up for it
when I slide effortlessly (and without having to get
changed) into class later!
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To get your hands on Onzies autumn collection either visit www.onzie.com, www.yogamatters.com or
www.urbanyoga.co.uk.
Review
, PECKHAM
streak ends. The studio offers a salad bar of yogic tidbits, catering for everyone you can think of. Sporting a range of teachers and styles, a weeks worth of
classes at Yogarise Peckham packs in a huge range
of contemporary yoga styles. Pregnancy classes and
Mum & Baby Yoga cater for those practicing for
two, four-week-long beginners courses run regularly and give newbies a real chance to get to grips with
the basics, and five early-morning Rise & Flow
classes are there to satisfy even the earliest of early
birds. Theres even some dance thrown into the mix,
with a Saturday morning Yoga Fusion class, combining elements of yoga, pilates and ballet.
Prices are competitive by London standards - 12
for a peak-time 90 minute class sweeps in at a good
4 cheaper than the average London yoga-fix -
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phone my mother.
Although my limbs are shouting for me to stop,
Marcus voice is shouting louder and its telling me
to breath, so I keep breathing, its all I can do. After
what seems like our millionth sun salute, we pop
straight up into crow. Theres not much explanation
for those who thought that crow was nothing more
than a pesky black bird, but there are enough advanced practitioners in the room to spy on for those
who have less of an idea of whats going on. This
holds true for the rest of the standing series, but despite this, Marcus cannot be accused of lazy teaching. He hot foots it around the room, tugging on
practitioners lazy limbs and periodically popping
into pretzels poses as though he were merely tying
his shoelaces.
The class is fast-moving, just a little bit silly, and
served with a healthy dose of what the hell, just
give it a go. Even the beginners in the class, who
might otherwise be inclined to feel like theyve been
slapped in the face with a yogic wet-fish, seem to
be enjoying themselves. Marcus encourages them
to give things like arm balances and headstands a
try, reminding everyone in the class to focus on the
practice rather than the outcome.
At the end of Marcus class we get down to the important stuff. At its core the asanas in yoga are simply a path to meditation - disciplining of the body
in order to quieten the mind - and Marcus Rocket
classes are the ultimate display of these two facets
of yoga. After such an intense and sweaty session of
body discipline, svasana - the real aim of every yoga
practice - was bliss.
Rocket Yoga was developed by Larry Schultz
of Its Yoga and is now taught worldwide.
For more information and teacher training
schedules visit www.itsyoga.com.
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