The way in which we practice here at Shama-Bhakti Yoga Centre is to give the opportunity to the individual the utmost ability to realize 'yoga'.

The ‘yoga’ we teach at the SBYC is better than just a workout:

The way in which we practice here at Shama-Bhakti Yoga Centre is to give the opportunity to the individual the utmost ability to realize 'yoga' in all its permutations.

Here at the SBYC, we teach a few different practices (meditation, asana yoga, philosophy, etc.) to enhance your experience. We teach the vinyasa-style of hatha yoga. Our classes are based on the Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga system with a Shama-Bhakti twist. The twist? The recognition that yoga can be fun and light-hearted, serious and life-affirming, physical and spiritual, has structure and can be interpretive, and so is an expression of energy – prana – that is expressed in each and every one of us in a slightly different way and therefore has no single face or voice.

Ashtanga is the traditional practice from which all vinyasa styles are derived including: 'Flow', ‘Vinyasa', 'Power', etc., even the ShamaLama classes here at the studio, has it’s roots in Ashtanga. All these types of classes effectively fulfil your cardio requirements if you just want the 'workout'. Looking deeper, the practice at Shama-Bhakti Yoga Centre is much much more. Once you get the hang of the sequencing and flow with conscious breath in our classes, your focus and concentration moves into a deeper place in the posture, in your body, and your mind, allowing you to do things more freely without hindrance from chronic holdings in your body or any voice in your head. Because this opening in both the physical and the spiritual depends on your ability to tap into your own inner intelligence and not to look outward for something to do it for you, the practice is done in a room that is without distraction. No mirrors so you can focus from the inside out. Our studio room is clean and is set at a temperature that is comfortable and warm; not too hot, not too cold, not drafty. It is the practice that enhances your experience of your body, your mind and how you mature in your practice of 'yoga' as a whole by allowing you to do the work yourself in these ways:

1. Assists you in developing focus and heat by using your breath consciously.

2. Helps you become aware of your own process and progress by virtue of the fact that you build on your practice slowly and incrementally.

3. Asks you to work physically on the postures to create a strong, flexible, aligned body which takes dedication and effort. The results are profound. Totally worth it!

4. You will start to get to know yourself better and better. Every process worth doing takes time and discipline so while you are working on opening your body, the practice is opening your mind, and as you loosen up your body and the chronic holds you may have developed over time, developing space and lightness, the practice is setting the spirit free.

In this way you can monitor your progress in three ways:

1. If your breath is steady your mind is steady, if your breath isn't steady then the task is to slow down and move up away from the posture. This takes courage, honesty and a light-heartedness that develops over time.

2. You will see progress in the development of your ability in your postures.

3. Your demeanour will change toward yourself and others.  

Why I love this practice:

Because of the work you do in a posture with the breath during the hour/hour and a half that you spend with us, it allows you to:

1. develop the body-mind

2. achieve cardio-vascular health

3. build endurance and stamina

4. build strength and flexibility

5. develop tone and glow

6. create your own heat

7.  move with awareness

8.  recognize chronic holdings and remove them

9.  prevent injury

10.  become more aware of how you create your reality


Yoga is truly about self-reflection, self-observation and awareness, self-acceptance, self-discipline, and finally self-realization.