Why not add these Shoulder Opening Practices to your daily routine?

Safeguard your Shoulders today to prevent the most common Shoulder injuries.🙌 Strengthen & open your Shoulders with some small practices you can try any time of the day.

Why should we even have Open Shoulders?

Why should we even have Open Shoulders? 🤔

According to the APA (American Psychological Association), “Ongoing muscle tension in your neck and shoulders can lead to more serious issues like back and shoulder pain, body aches, and migraine and tension headaches.” Click for reference.

Some more:

1. It helps you improve your posture.

2. It helps in multiple muscle movements around your shoulders.

3. Adds extra support to your arms whenever arm strength is required.

4. Reduces neck and shoulder stiffness.

5. It Gives you more flexibility and mobility.

6. Open and strong shoulders help you lift heavy objects and play sports.

7. Psychological effect: Open shoulders make you look more confident.

Here you go with the tips for your shoulder:

Gomukhasana (Cow Face):

1. Sit in Vajrasana or Sit with your legs crisscrossed, placing one knee on top of the other.

2. Raise your right arm, fold it at the elbow, take your right palm behind your back, and take your left palm behind the back from down. Now your right elbow is pointing to the ceiling, and your left is pointing to the floor.

3. Try to hold your palms behind your back. If not, you can also use the belt, as shown in the image.

4. Repeat on the other side.

5. Breath, and hold for five breaths.

Forward fold with Clasp:

1. Stand with feet one foot distance apart or into a wide-legged position. You can also try this by sitting in Vajrasana.

2. Clasp your finger behind your back, inhale deeply, and open your chest.

3. With an exhale, soften your knees and fold forward, letting the head fall toward the ground and gently releasing the neck.

4. Aim your clasp hands to the floor beyond your head. Stay here for five deep breaths.

Ardha Uttanasana with the wall:

1. Stand an arm’s distance away from the wall. Inhale, lengthen your spine up, and raise your arms.

2. With an exhale, extend your spine and fold forward halfway through, making a 90 degree at your pelvic.

3. Place your palms on the wall, fingers pointing to the ceiling, and sink your chest towards the floor. Feel the opening in shoulder joints.

4. Breath. Hold for five breaths and repeat.

Reverse Prayer:

1. Sit in Vajrasana, or you may choose to stand with your feet together, float arms down to either side of your body and, bending elbows, reach arms behind your back.

2. Press palms together in a prayer position on the spine and reach hands as high up as feels good.

3. Stay here for five deep breaths.

In addition to these Practices, you can also explore a Shoulder focused themed session we are running this month every Thursday at 07:15 am with Lalit at our Online platform Alaya. You can also explore the Shoulder Focused Sessions in the Library, go to the Video Library, and hit the search button.😎

Ashtanga Yoga Workshop

Join Letizia, founder of Himalaya Yoga Shala Sardinia, Italy for this 2-hour immersive workshop designed to help you refine your existing Ashtanga practise, or begin your journey on the path of the 8 Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.

Letizia started to practice Yoga nearly twenty years ago. After trying various styles, she found her home in the connection of breath and movement typical of Vinyasa. She met Himalaya Yoga Valley in 2012 and under Lalit’s guidance completed the 500hrs of Teacher Training between India and Ireland. Over the years her practice and teaching went more and more towards the Ashtanga Vinyasa method. In 2015 she started studying with Lino Miele, both in Italy and India. India. In 2020 she has been honoured with the authorization to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa according to the method codified in the book written by Lino together with Sri PK Jois during his 25 years of study with Guruji. Ashtanga Yoga by Lino Miele is the main written reference for practitioners of Ashtanga Vinyasa worldwide.

WORKSHOP: Ashtanga Yoga Workshop with Letizia

DAY: Saturday, August 6th
TIME: 15:00 – 120 Minutes

This workshop will include:

Mantra, Pranayama and is designed for all levels of practitioners who are seeking a dynamic somatic experience using the traditional discipline of Ashtanga from Mysore, India.🧘🏻‍♀️

Booking Information

Book your place through our schedule here or on the Himalaya Yoga Valley app.

Yoga for Disc Bulges and Protrusions 

We are so looking forward to welcoming our clients back to our Ballincollig centre from the 13th of July! The safety of our clients and team are our top priority. Please follow these guidelines when attending classes with us.

Class Capacity, Timings & Student Registration

• Capacity of students in each class will be in line with social distancing requirements of 2 meters

• Each class will be one hour in duration reduced from one hour and fifteen to allow for extra measures between classes

• There is 30 minutes between classes to allow for cleaning studio

• All bookings and transactions made online so that there is no cash transactions in the studio (prearranged exceptions will be made for people with accessibility barriers, no internet, this must be pre-arranged and absolutely the exception not the norm)

• Students must sign in before coming to the studio. We can not facilitate drop in’s

Supplies

• Students are welcome to wear visors and masks and can bring their own masks

• All students must bring their own props and yoga mat- these can not be left at the studio and must not be shared between clients

• We no longer have a water dispenser- please bring your own water

Cleaning and Hygiene

• Students must sanitize their hands before entering and exiting the studio

• After and in between each class the teacher will sanitize commonly touched surfaces

• The studio will continue to be regularly cleaned by a contracted cleaner

• Our downstairs door will be locked while cleaning takes place. Please wait for the teacher in your car or outside observing social distancing until you are called to enter. This prevents client crossover and ensures you are entering a clean and safe space

Practising Yoga

• We have staggered marked out spaces based on current social distancing guidelines for people to practice. Please place your mat on these designated markings only

• Teachers will provide verbal cues and demos rather than physical adjustments

• Please observe 2 meter distancing from the teacher

• Prop heavy classes are not currently on our schedule as we do not provide props

Class Check in and traffic flow

• Our teacher will meet clients at entry door downstairs to check you in on the iPad and there will be staggered entry staggered entry

• Please keep 2 meters apart when entering and exiting the studio and remove shoes at entry and put in bag, and store with other personal belongings in studio cubby holes. All personal belongings including shoes and car keys must be in a clean bag in cubby hole.

• Please come to the studio in dressed ready for practise. We will not be using changing rooms.

Other Important Measures

• Any student who has contact with someone who has Covid-19 must not attend our studio for 14 days and until they have received medical clearance to do so

• Any student displaying symptoms of Covid-19 should not come to class. You can find out about symptoms of Covid-19 and what to do if you get sick, here https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/472f64-covid-19-coronavirus-guidance-and-advice/

• It is imperative that absolutely all students are signed in to class for the purpose of contact tracing should it be required. Please check that your contact details on our system are up to date and we can contact you should we need to

• If you are unwell, or become unwell after class please contact our team on info@yogacorkireland.com and notify us so

Our philosophy on holding space for yoga during these times

We are overjoyed to have you back! We will give you the same warm welcome you are used to when coming to our studio, we may not be able to be physically close to our students but we will still aim for close energetic and human connection. Our space will be a much needed sanctuary that puts safety at the peak of our priorities. We commit to creating a safe space of healing and warmth that is designed promote and protect the health of our clients and team.

If you have any questions please contact us.

Namaste and see you soon!

Here is a simple tutorial for our clients! Himalaya Yoga Valley App & Booking Tutorial

Namaste,

We hope you are all doing well and your families are safe and well too. It came as a pleasant surprise to us on Friday that yoga studios will have the opportunity to become operational again on the 29th of this month. We were expecting permission for yoga studios to reopen in the August phase and our planning has been geared towards that date. We will however now begin a phased reopening of Himalaya Yoga Valley with our Ballincollig centre reopening first and we will also retain and expand our virtual studio offerings. With our capacity reduced by close to 60% and Ballincollig being a much larger space it will be feasible for us to begin our reopening from that location with all of the social distancing and hygiene measures required to do so safely. We aim to reopen in Ballincollig in the second week of July and will notify you when our schedule is up to take online bookings!

Ballincollig

Please see this video of our Ballincollig Yoga Studio which will give you an idea of why it is such a popular place to practise with our clients- we look forward to welcoming you there.

Highlights of our Ballincollig Studio

*One of Ireland’s largest yoga studios spanning over 2000 sq ft
*Located just off the link road
*Beautifully designed, spacious studio with lots of light & overhead heating
*Free Parking on Site
*15 minutes drive from Cork City

Safety

We will be following all HSE guidelines to make practising with us as safe as possible for our team and our clients and we will circulate and publish our practice guidelines and policy in the coming weeks before we open. This will be available to view on our website, social media channels and you will also receive it by email if you are on our mailing list. We were the first studio to close in Cork. We did so early to protect our team, clients and community and we will not rush reopening for the same reasons. We thank you for supporting that decision when we made it and thank you in advance for working with us to keep everybody as safe and healthy as possible.

Classes will be one hour in length to account for studio cleaning and can not cross over so we will have approximately 3 classes per day to begin with in this government phase of restrictions.

Your Pass or Membership

If you had a pass or membership with us with remaining classes or time on it before the lockdown started and have not transferred it for use online, you can now contact us to reactivate it and we will extend the validity equal to what was remaining on it when we closed. If you have a pass or membership that you bought for use in our studio before the lockdown and you reactivated it during the lockdown to use online, you can carry on using it online, in house or blended between both. Virtual studio memberships are exclusively for use online. Our team is always on hand if you need any help or clarification regarding your pass. Simply drop us a line.

Please note all bookings must be completed and paid for online as we will not be doing transactions in the interest of safety. In the interest of taking care of vulnerable or elderly clients who may not be able to book online we will make exceptions and our team will assist you. You will need to email for this before attending the class and this is in exceptional cases only. We want to keep barriers to practise down so we are here for those clients who can not book online and for all other clients we greatly appreciate your support in keeping our team safe by pre paying and pre booking.

In respect to our clients who have patiently waited to use their passes during lockdown we will not have passes available for sale. Single classes will be available for purchase and use on the same day from the start of our second operational week. We will monitor attendance and open up sales for passes based on our findings. We kindly request that clients attend a maximum of three classes per week online and also use our online classes to ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to attend.

Himalaya Yoga Valley Online

Should you wish to practise from home you can join our thriving online community and attend up to 100 classes per month with Lalit, Lisa, Anca, Jim and Carolann from the comfort of your own home for just €19.99 per month! We have up to 5 classes a day, including Dynamic, Themed, Gentle Glow, Restore & Revive and plenty more of your usual favourites. Our clients are thrilled with being able to access the same classes they know and love without the commute. If you wish to become a member of our virtual studio you can do so here many clients have expressed their wish to keep practising from home and we are proud to be able to deliver the highest quality yoga experience directly to them. We have some very exciting international teachers lined up and our online community has grown into a very special one!

Thank You So Much

We appreciate all of the incredible support from our clients over the last few months and our wonderful team who offered so much to our community for the first 8 weeks of the pandemic lockdown with free classes every day- we had attendance of over 100,000 during that period with people from all over the world benefiting from yoga to help them get through a difficult time. We continue to offer free online classes to frontline health workers and we hope to restart Yoga in the Park as soon as possible to fundraise for our charity partners who have been so hard hit by this pandemic. We are in the process of getting relevant permissions from the council to do so.

It has been a challenging time for us as a team and to stay afloat as a business, but the support of our wonderful clients and teachers has kept our spirits uplifted!

Once again, thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in Ballincollig or online!

Yours in Yoga,

The Himalaya Yoga Valley Team

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have launched Himalaya Yoga Valley online! Classes will kick off live at our virtual studio on Monday the 11th of May. We have up to 5 classes a day and over 100 classes per month for you to enjoy with our team of expert teachers and here is the really exciting news…after such an incredible response to our community wellbeing classes we are launching our introductory unlimited memberships for just €19.99 a month on a rolling basis!

After seeing the response to our online classes and what they meant to so many, we wanted to offer unlimited access to the highest quality classes for as low a price as possible. We launched our studio 7 years ago with a vision to make yoga accessible and now we open our virtual space with the same mission and hope in our heart- to bring authentic, accessible, affordable yoga from it’s origins to everybody! We are keeping our classes FREE for frontline healthcare workers as a way to say thank you for all that you do and we are also running a free weekly Seva class for all levels each week.

We have kept affordability and accessibility at the core of our vision, and you can expect the same incredible quality teachings that you have come to know from our team, led by Yogacharya Lalit.

Here is what is on offer

-Over 100 classes a month

-Classes 7 days a week

-Various styles

-Something for all levels

-Members-only access to our library of classes that will grow as we go

-Private Classes

-Corporate Classes

-FREE classes for frontline Healthcare workers

-All classes easily accessible on Mindbody Online

If you are already a member of our studio you will have received an email about your existing memberships and passes and if you have any questions you can drop us a line. We look forward to welcoming you all back to our classes online and want to thank you for your support over the last few months.

If you have enjoyed our classes or would like to support us in our online expansion we would greatly appreciate your support!

Join our school founder Lalit for this Masterclass which is FREE for Members on 3 & 6 month unlimited passes, half price for those on class passes and €20 drop in. Be sure to book your place as spots are limited!

We are excited to be running our first Masterclass of the year with our school founder Lalit. These Masterclasses are FREE for Members on 3 & 6 month unlimited passes, half price for those on class passes and €20 drop in. Be sure to book your place as spots are limited!

Every Monday and Wednesday evening and all day Saturday our New Beginnings Level 2 and Bridge to Peak classes are themed! To keep things fresh the themes change each month. Check out the December themes below!

December Themes
Penrose Wharf
Monday: Hips & Hamstrings
Wednesday: Twists
Saturday: Shoulders (Mobility &Stability)

Ballincollig
Monday: Sun Salutation Techniques
Wednesday: Backbends
Saturday: Arm Balances & Inversions

Joanne O’Riordan recently started practicing yoga with Lalit Kumar, school founder of Himalaya Yoga Valley at our Cork City studio.

This YouTube video which can be viewed at this link is the inspirational story of her journey to yoga, a journey without limits that embodies the spirit of yoga for everybody! Joanne is a sports journalist and disability rights advocate and one of only seven people living in the world with the condition Tetra-Amelia Syndrome. Joanne was born without any limbs and her motto in life is ‘No Limbs No Limits’. Her amazing attitude to life has inspired many! In this video you will hear about Joanne’s experience of yoga since she started practicing with Lalit only 6 weeks ago and how our only limitations are the doubts we place on ourselves.

Lalit Kumar from India has been practicing yoga since the age of seven at traditional schools in the Himalayas. He has been teaching internationally for over a decade with a wealth of experience. He is a renowned teacher in the global yoga community. Lalit and the team at Himalaya Yoga Valley Cork are dedicated to improving the health, happiness and wellbeing of our clients and also our communities. The team have raised over €70,000 for Cork Simon Community and Pieta House through their Yoga in the Park project. Himalaya Yoga Valley centres in Cork City and Ballincollig are known as sanctuaries from modern day stress and places where people always leave feeling better than they arrived!

If you believe that yoga is for everybody please share this video and Joanne’s story!

To hear more from Joanne, check out the Joanne O’Riordan Podcast on redextra.ie, Apple podcasts and Spotify.

#yogaforeverybody

Media Queries
Please contact Marion Courtney on 0852544535 or by email marion@yogacorkireland.com for any media queries in relation to this news release.

Press Release 14th May 2019

‘Yoga in the Park with Himalaya Yoga Valley’ is back again this summer in the beautiful setting of Fitzgerald’s Park and the Regional Park Ballincollig. The weekly summer event has raised over €62,000 for charity over the last five years, with the team hoping to raise even more funds this year!

The first outdoor class of the summer will take place in both parks over the bank holiday weekend on Saturday 1st June 2019. All funds raised at Fitzgerald’s Park will go towards Cork Simon Community, while Pieta House will benefit from the funds raised at the Regional Park Ballincollig. The class at Fitzgerald’s Park will take place in front of the bandstand and run from 10:00-11:15am. The class at the Regional Park Ballincollig will run from 10:15-11:30am.

Every Saturday from June 1st-September 7th, yoga enthusiasts and novices will stretch it out and improve their own physical and mental health while supporting those in need! Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre will host this weekly donation yoga class. Last year, over 400 people joined the Himalaya Yoga Valley team across both parks for Yoga in the Park and this year they hope to make it an even greater success!

Cork Simon’s Director, Dermot Kavanagh, said “This is what community is all about – people believing in people; coming together to support men, women and children in our community who are suffering from the exclusion, isolation and devastation of homelessness. The support of Himalaya Yoga Valley and all those participating in this very popular event over the last five years have helped us to keep our doors open for every person turning to us for help – it’s Cork at its best.”

Kieran Brady Director of Funding & Advocacy, Pieta House said “Pieta would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude for the generous donation and continued support from Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre Cork. The Yoga in the Park is a really rewarding and beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative for all involved. The funds received will help us provide our nationwide services which are free of charge and freely available therapeutic services to people who are in suicidal distress, those who engage in self-harm and those who are bereaved by suicide”.

We welcome you to join members of the Himalaya Yoga Valley team, Cork City Council, Cork Simon Community and Pieta House at the launch of this wonderful fundraising initiative on Saturday 1st June 2019.

Marion Courtney, Business Manager at Himalaya Yoga Valley said “All of our team get great satisfaction from helping others through yoga. We encourage everybody to join us each Saturday of the summer months in either park to help raise much needed funds for these organisations whilst looking after their mind and body through yoga! To see over 400 people from all walks of life, ages, fitness abilities and entire families practicing yoga together every week for charity really is something special. We are so grateful to our team, members of our community and Cork City Council for making it such a great success”.

To take part in ‘Yoga in the Park with Himalaya Yoga Valley’ all you need to bring along is your yoga mat, donation (minimum €5), water and sunscreen. All ages and abilities are welcome and this is a family friendly event. Follow Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre Cork on social media to keep up to date on weather updates each Saturday. For more information log onto www.yogacorkireland.com, email info@yogacorkireland.com or telephone 0214279696.

We look forward to seeing you at the launch of this wonderful community initiative!

Picture Caption: Fitzgerald’s Park, July 2018. Yoga from the Sky! ‘Yoga in the Park with Himalaya Yoga Valley’ starts back on Saturday June 1st! This class by donation will take place every Saturday over the summer months in Fitzgerald’s Park and the Regional Park Ballincollig. Photo Credit: Loose Skies