(...) This is the day you realize how easily the thread is broken between this world and the next and I found myself sitting up in the quiet pathway of light, the tawny close-grained cedar burning round me like fire and all the angels of this housely heaven ascending through the first roof of light the sun has made. This is the bright home in which I live, this is where I ask my friends to come, this is where I want to love all the things it has taken me so long to learn to love. This is the temple of my adult aloneness and I belong to that aloneness as I belong to my life. There is no house like the house of belonging. — David Whyte, from The House of Belonging This week, we close cycles with our LAST CLASS OF THE YEAR. A workshop-y class with strength, flexibility and balance and a bonus on core and upside down time. In this well-rounded session, put into practice the discipline of familiarity, just observe. How do asanas feel in your body, how can you respond to them with intelligence, how can you make them yours truly? Your body, the house of belonging. Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Anish Kapoor in Versailles Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 700 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

Hey yogis! Exceptionally our Wednesday class @20.00 is canceled this week. Diana will be teaching a closing O yoga session on Wednesday the 20th. A very special workshop-y class to close this year *en beauté*! OOO

"Indifference has two aspects: the undifferenciated abyss, the black nothingness, the indeterminate animal in which everything is dissolved - but also the white nothingness, the once more calm surface upon which float unconnected determinations like scattered members: a head without a neck,an arm without a shoulder, eyes without brows. The indeterminate is completely indifferent, but such floating determinations are no less indifferent to each other. Is difference intermediate between these two extremes? Or is it not rather the only extreme, the only moment of presence and precision?" -- Gilles Deleuze , Difference and Repetition Work with clean lines of energy and patterns of precision through this strength building slow-flow that will get your legs burning. Ease into reclining twists and hamstring opening. Mobilize and stabilize your spine with lateral bends, forward bends, twists, and backbends. Explore movement in six different ranges of motion and work at creating a sense of both, lightness and strength. Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Olafur Eliasson Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 700 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

“And what lights the sun? Its own fire. And the sun goes on, day after day, burning and burning. The sun and time. The sun and time and burning. Burning. The river bobbled him along gently. Burning. The sun and every clock on the earth. It all came together and became a single thing in his mind.” ― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 This week we will explore the touchstone of Hatha yoga: sun salutations, also known as Surya Namaskar. Learning the key points of sun salutations creates a strong foundation for all elements of classic Hatha yoga. This class incorporates Surya A, B, C, D, and Maha Surya to align the seven main chakras in the body from root to crown. Spice up your sun salutations taking it from earth to air. Explore different tools to make your jump forward and back smooth, soft and light. Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Olafur Eliasson Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 700 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

Hey yogis! Chakana and O yoga are back this Saturday December 2, with TAITA INTI. An event dedicated to the SUN in all its flavors and variations. Sun salutation by day, electronic music and arts by night. Support this emerging collective. More infos at http://www.chakanaproject.com/ See you there! xOxO

"Consider, on the border between these two cases, the repetition of a decorative motif: a figure is reproduced, while the concept remains absolutely identical ... However, this is not how artists proceed in reality. They do not juxtapose instances of the figure, but rather each time combine an element of one instance with another element of a following instance. They introduce a disequilibrium into the dynamic process of construction, an instability, dissymmetry or gap of some kind which disappears only in the overall effect." ―Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition Mindful repetition is not repetition of the same but a process of learning that relates to what has been acquired. A set of asanas will be stacked, one after the other, creating a growing "ladder flow". At first align and stay, with every loop, revise and deepen. Expect movement, sweat and rythm. Enjoy my fellow yogis! Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Tomas Saraceno Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 500 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

(...) most of our fundamental attitudes to life have their physical counterparts in the body. Thus comparison and criticism must begin with the alignment of our own left and right sides to a degree at which even finer adjustments are feasible: or strength of will will cause us to start by stretching the body from the toes to the top of the head in defiance of gravity. Impetus and ambition might begin with the sense of weight and speed that comes with free-swinging limbs, instead of with the control of prolonged balance on foot, feet or hands, which gives poise. Tenacity is gained by stretching in various Yoga postures for minutes at a time, while calmness comes with quiet, consistent breathing and the expansion of the lungs. Continuity and a sense of the universal come with the knowledge of the inevitable alternation of tension and relaxation in eternal rhythms of which each inhalation and exhalation constitutes one cycle (…) -- Foreword to Iyengar's Light on Yoga Have we observed carefully how we move through this world in our bodies and minds? Observe your foundations, experiencing how your body gets in contact with the world. Come back to the mat with a beginner's mind, practicing with a lightness of being yet with persistence and full awareness. Your capacity to lift up relies on the act of grounding, what you give is what comes back. Push against the earth solidity, root to rise, follow your line. Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Bence Bakonyi Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 500 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

"Every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end…For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena." -- Fritzof Capra, The Tao of Physics Set up the sacred space in which you practice. Use your lines of energy and alignment to further that sense of sacredness, and to feel the unique geometry of your very own body. Transit and flow, twirl and twist from dancing shivas to warriors and one leg standing poses, bringing focus to alignment and foundation. The dance of Shiva unifies ancient mythology, art, religion and modern physics. It symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, the daily rhythm of birth and death, beginning and end. You are pure geometry! Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Marc Quinn Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 500 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

Hey yogis!! This is happening this Saturday. Chakana #3 FAUNA. Included, O yoga session in the afternoon, exploring the rich fauna of the yoga asana zoo! 👾🐵🦁🐱🐷🐗🐰🐸🐟

This Wednesday @20.00 O YOGA: Halloween and All Saints have always been filled with mystery, magic and superstition. We take this opportunity to explore rare postures of the yoga fauna and mythology. Find your flow through full body mudras and unusual shapes that ignite your imagination. Variations upon variations weave into a fairly complex sequential fabric, featuring moments with Vyaghrasana, Sirsasana and Vatayanasana. Not all freakish things in yoga are easily accessible. Approach the mat with curiosity and cultivate persistance but always with self-derision!

This passage quotes a ‘certain Chinese encyclopaedia’ in which it is written that ‘animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) etcetera , (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies’. In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking "that". — Michel Foucault, The Order of Things Halloween and All Saints have always been filled with mystery, magic and superstition. We take this opportunity to explore more unusual postures of the yoga fauna and mythology. Find your flow through full body mudras and unusual shapes that ignite your imagination. Variations upon variations weave into a fairly complex sequential fabric, featuring moments with Vyaghrasana, Sirsasana and Vatayanasana. Not all freakish things in yoga are easily accessible. Approach the mat with curiosity and cultivate persistance but always with self-derision! Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Marc Quinn Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 500 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch

"And in me too the wave rises. It swells; it arches its back. I am aware once more of a new desire, something rising beneath me like the proud horse whose rider first spurs and then pulls him back. What enemy do we now perceive advancing against us, you whom I ride now, as we stand pawing this stretch of pavement?" — Virgina Woolf, The Waves The spine is an amazing piece of machinery, moving in many different ways that allow for the major part of body mobility. Mobilize and stabilize your spine with lateral bends, forward bends, twists, and backbends. Explore movement in six different ranges of motion and work at creating a sense of lightness and spaciousness. Duration : 90 minutes. All levels welcome Drop-in: 30 CHF / 25CHF students 9x abo: 250 CHF / 200CHF students" Photo: Mark Dorf Diana is an Architect and yogini living in Zurich and learning around the globe. With over 500 hours of training in Hong Kong and Singapore, under the guidance of Rinat Pearlman and Patrick Creelman, founder of Pure Yoga, she teaches a strong practice focused on alignment and intelligent sequencing. Her yoga classes find inspiration in everyday life, in as much as in art, design, literature and philosophy. For more: o-yoga.ch