The BLYS Back Story
History
Black Lotus Studios was created by Sue-ellen Kohler in 2007 as the new home for the teachers and yogis from The Sydney Yoga Space when Peter Thomson closed his school in East Sydney. For ten years, Black Lotus Studios was in Enmore until the building was scheduled for demolition. Sue-ellen and her partner Melissa Coote took a leap and built a studio in their back garden. The teachers work closely with Sue-ellen and are certified or in training through the B.K.S Iyengar Yoga Association of Australia under the auspices of Senior Iyengar teacher Peter Thomson.
Classes & Courses
Our classes will introduce you to a method of yoga practice where we align our bodies with beautiful and harmonious hatha yoga asanas or postures. Each asana is unique in its shape. There are roughly sixty main asanas and literally thousands of variations on them. We think of asanas in groups: for example, 'forward bends,' 'backbends', 'inversions', 'standing', or 'restorative'. A class is usually made up of a skilfully created sequence taken from these groups. Class sequences consider external influences (like weather, season, time of day) and individual circumstances (injuries, emotional state, age, fitness, menstruation, etc.), and through experience and training, your teacher will be able to adapt the details to work with your particular circumstances and will also challenge and extend you.
Mind & Body Health
An asana is a shape we strive to achieve with our bodies, but to get there, we must, as they say, give it our all! To practice hatha yoga is to connect fully and wholeheartedly with our every action: physically, emotionally, mentally and even spiritually. When we are in an asana, we mirror the physical qualities of each asana in the less tangible parts of ourselves. With practice, we can see what is in our way and what is limiting us on a deeper level. We understand how inextricably linked our bodies are to our minds, and by working directly with our bodies, we can understand ourselves better. How we think is clearly expressed in our bodies, and changing our bodies also changes our thinking.
Transformations
Each individual asana expresses an almost archetypal or primal shape. For the time that we are in an asana, we become that shape. The process is creative, and over time, and with daily practice, we will experience all the possibilities of our unique and individual selves. For example, a backbend opens the chest, cracks open our hard upper back shell and softens our heart. A forward bend asks us to look deep within and dissolve resistance, denial and demand. A headstand will turn things literally upside down, asking you to visualise your body differently, question long-held beliefs, and discover compassion along the way. Standing poses give us legs to stand on and the courage to move forward with confidence. While this practice aspires to bring us to our full potential, along the way, we are brought into contact with what we are feeling and where we really are. We may not always like what we feel and see, but this discomfort, in turn, helps us understand ourselves better. This amazing and potent practice offers a pathway for transforming negative or destructive mind states into a more balanced and harmonious expression of our creative selves.
Not Just Muscles
Western science has classified the organisation of our bodies into 11 main 'systems': Skeletal, Muscular, Respiratory, Circulatory, Nervous, Digestive, Immune, Reproductive, Endocrine, Exocrine and Renal. When we practice yoga asana, we stimulate and energise all these systems, and this helps them to function naturally, in harmony and in good health. So, while the strengthening of muscles is important, when we practice yoga, we develop a deeper comprehension and respect for how the body functions as a whole, a kind of 'community' where each part is interdependent on every other part. Further to this, while yoga is undeniably physical, our pathway into feeling and understanding is through awareness, our consciousness if you like.