Ottawa Yoga Blog - PranaShanti Yoga Centre Ottawa

Give Mom health and relaxation this Mother’s Day!

March 24, 2015April 17, 2023 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

Every year my family gave my grandmother lavender hand cream, soaps, and talc powder, until she had amassed such an inventory that it would take her the better part of a decade to use it all. Finally, we collectively decided to start giving her experiences, rather than things. She had enough things, and she was actually quite particular about the types of things to have, but she would eagerly use a gift certificate for massage. We've got a few things happening at the centre for Mother's Day this year! See which experience suits you or your mother figure. Yoga Classes Yoga for Kids and Mom Saturday May 9th 12:30 - 1:30 pm Enjoy an hour with your little yogi and practice Yoga for Kids and Mom led by Victoria Lyons. Register here! Mother's Day Yoga Workshop Saturday May 9th 3 - 5 pm A decadent two hour class for Moms to reconnect with a sense of peacefulness and celebrate all that you do and give. A little bit of everything...

Your Brain on Yoga – by Dr. Eileen Harris

March 2, 2015April 17, 2023 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

In your yoga practice, are you “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment by moment”? Are you at least striving to do that? If so, you are practicing a form of mindfulness as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I call it mindful meditation. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates that yoga as a mindful meditation can actually alter certain structures in your brain, including structures responsible for feelings of love, peace and well-being. Let’s use peace as an example, which I define as the absence of stress. The stress response is a complicated trigger system governed by the amygdala, the small but vital portion of your brain responsible for memory, decision-making and emotions. When presented with a stressful stimulus (in modern life anything and everything can be a stressful stimulus) there is often an immediate reaction. We know this as the flight, fight or freeze response. It is automatic and often without...

what is a mala necklace and how do you use it?

February 16, 2015July 28, 2015 by Devinder Kaur2 Comments

You may have noticed your teacher wearing a necklace-like decoration with a tassel on the end, sometimes around their neck, or wrapped around their wrist. Called a mala (pronounced: mall-ah), why is it yogis wear it and what do they use it for? Malas, or mala beads, are a meditation device used by Hindus, Buddhists, yogis, and other eastern schools of philosophy - not unlike the prayer beads of the rosary used by some denominations of Christianity. Their purpose is to guide the user through japa (pronounced: jah-puh), the meditative practice of repeating a mantra. The user guides the number of repetitions by repeating their mantra for each bead they pass over. Hindu and yoga malas typically consist of 108 beads, though the number varies amidst other traditions. 108 is considered an auspicious number for many reasons, though one of our favourite reasons is that 1 represents the path, 0 the cyclical nature of life, and 8 the infinity loop. Malas are made from...

Happy Family Day – Monday, February 16

February 14, 2015April 20, 2021 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

Sometimes you need to yoga apart so to appreciate your togetherness that much more, and sometimes you want to yoga together as a healthy, heart-full way to bond. We are open this Monday for Family Day. Bring a family member and they practice FREE. On Monday, save the HST on our Family Yoga Package! 15 classes shared by up to 4 family members and valid for 1 year. Buy online with code YOGAFAMILY!...

40 Day Challenge

February 3, 2015December 6, 2021 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

Beat the Winter Blues with the PranaShanti 40 Day Yoga Challenge! About the Challenge The PranaShanti 40 Day Challenge is a commitment to attend yoga classes for 40 consecutive days. The Challenge runs Monday, February 9th, 2015 to Friday, March 20th, 2015. Yogic science confirms that it takes 40 days to fully develop a new life-promoting habit or to drop a current destructive habit. The PranaShanti 40 Day Challenge is a great way to strengthen the body, unburden the mind, and begin a daily commitment to yourself. In 40 days, you can create a whole new way of being. Start with any class on Monday, February 9th! Optional Gatherings There are 3 optional team gatherings! 1. Monday, February 9th, 5:45 PM - 7:15 PM ~ Kick Off Class Join us for our Kick Off class, Hatha Yoga with Mike. We’ll follow the class with healthy snacks. This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow participants so that you can encourage each other along the way....

Vedantic Philosophy: The Snake and the Rope

January 16, 2015July 28, 2015 by Devinder Kaur2 Comments

Try and guess the source of this philosophical quip: “Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them”. This is actually from Star Wars Jedi knight Obi Wan Kenobi, but it might as well have come from the Vedanta philosophy (the philosophy stemming from the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures). Let’s take a look! Is what we see real? How far can we trust our senses? How can Yoga help? We'll start with the simple expression, “my eyes were bigger than my stomach”. This is an expression many of us have heard and used, though what does it actually mean? Sight only happens with our eyes, yet we use to sight to judge the visceral taste experience – we think, “boy, that chocolate cake looks good” and “wow, that pizza looks delicious!” How do we know they really are good, and how do we know we’ll enjoy the experience of eating it as much as assume? Here is the illusion. Seeing the whole picture...

A Numerology Reading for 2015

December 31, 2014April 14, 2016 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

From Devinder Kaur, PranaShanti's lead trainer and owner, a numerology reading to prepare you for the coming year. In Kundalini yoga, numerology is a system that assesses the significance of numbers in a person's life. It is simply a framework for considering life, personality, and events, so that we act in a way most beneficial to our health, spirit, and success. As every year does, 2015 brings us a new cycle of energy and expansion. How you respond to stress, and how you let this response affect your communication with others will affect your quality of life. There will be continuing fast energy shifts in 2015! Tap into your intuition and learn how to ride this energetic wave with the most clarity and productivity with Yoga and Meditation. The overall number for 2015 is 8, the universal number that represents the life cycle. While you may feel ready to leap into the future, you need to have a better and more effective plan...

The Body Remembers: Resolving trauma through yoga

December 3, 2014August 19, 2015 by Devinder Kaur5 Comments

It is more common than we think that people with a significant degree of trauma will turn to yoga for healing and even more common for trauma survivors to turn to strong and disciplined physical practices. Unfortunately, most yoga teachers and most students aren’t fully aware of how to support themselves and others in the process of unravelling the complexity of the trauma in a safe way. Students walk in and out of yoga classes everyday without sharing their feedback with teachers. So, sometimes, as teachers, we simply don’t notice or know that a student may have just walked out of class feeling exposed, raw, vulnerable, and confused about how a practice that has a potential for healing has just surfaced the very adverse emotional state that he or she has spent so much time suppressing and masking. Or sometimes, the immediate feeling after a class is a lifted energy. The adverse emotional state may surface a few hours later,...

Black Friday Sale

November 27, 2014April 20, 2021 by Devinder Kaur1 Comment

Save the HST on Friday, November 28, 2014! To support your yoga practice in this season of lights, we're offering you the opportunity to bring some more light to your winter this Friday. For one day only, we are offering a 13% discount or SAVE THE HST on 5, 10, 20, 50, Family, 1 Month Unlimited, 3 Month Unlimited and Annual Unlimited Class Packages. Buy Online with the code FRIDAY2014 or in person at the Centre. Note: Drop-In and Monthly Auto-renew packages are not included....

Annual Unlimited Holiday Savings begins December 1st!

November 12, 2014April 20, 2021 by Devinder KaurNo Comments

Make a commitment to yourself! This package is truly UNLIMITED! With the PranaShanti Annual Unlimited Package Holiday Special you will enjoy: No limit to the number of classes you practice in a day, week, month or the year! 10% off special events, workshops and trainings 10% off all boutique purchases and Infrared Sauna sessions 5 Complimentary yoga class passes to bring friends & family to class with you A PranaShanti tote bag and water bottle This special is available from December 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015, with the holiday special price of $1,275.00 (HST included) which includes all the goodies listed above for 365 days! A $300 savings just on the package price with more savings all year long! Sign Up!...