Yoga Or Pilates Classes?
Yoga Or Pilates Classes?
Anyone know of any Yoga or Pilates classes taken in English close to the centre of Helsinki. Thanks.
There is no such thing as a weird human being. It's just that some require more understanding than others.
Ha, tricky question. Here are the results of my personal search:
http://www.studioyama.tripod.com
located in luotsikatu, katajanokka offers iyengar based classes. Last winter every wednesday and friday they had a Czech teacher who taught in English. I went there a couple of times. Unfortunately the site is all in Finnish (and yeah, misleading as the school is also officially a dance school, even though I've never seen any dance classes). But phone ANNELI RAUTIAINEN on 050-549 0770, she speaks english and will be able to update you.
For ashtanga yoga check out http://www.astanga.fi/english/index.html
They mention teacher Cole Dano, native speaker of english. However, judging from their timetables he doesn't teach there anymore.
BUT he now teaches at SHANTI JOOGAKOULU http://www.jooga.fi/index.html : he has some astanga pages IN ENGLISH. Again it could be useful to get in touch with him. Both of the above schools are in central helsinki.
Apparently http://www.manipura.fi is english-speaker-friendly, no course in english, but the teacher speaks english. This is just something I heard.
Sorry I can't help more
. I arrived here a year ago and was desperate to find some class in english. I decided to concentrate on home practice, partly because of the language problem, partly because I'm still nostalgic about the yoga routines from my old studio in China (yeah, long story...)
Needless to say if you come across anything else, let me know!
Good luck
http://www.studioyama.tripod.com
located in luotsikatu, katajanokka offers iyengar based classes. Last winter every wednesday and friday they had a Czech teacher who taught in English. I went there a couple of times. Unfortunately the site is all in Finnish (and yeah, misleading as the school is also officially a dance school, even though I've never seen any dance classes). But phone ANNELI RAUTIAINEN on 050-549 0770, she speaks english and will be able to update you.
For ashtanga yoga check out http://www.astanga.fi/english/index.html
They mention teacher Cole Dano, native speaker of english. However, judging from their timetables he doesn't teach there anymore.
BUT he now teaches at SHANTI JOOGAKOULU http://www.jooga.fi/index.html : he has some astanga pages IN ENGLISH. Again it could be useful to get in touch with him. Both of the above schools are in central helsinki.
Apparently http://www.manipura.fi is english-speaker-friendly, no course in english, but the teacher speaks english. This is just something I heard.
Sorry I can't help more
. I arrived here a year ago and was desperate to find some class in english. I decided to concentrate on home practice, partly because of the language problem, partly because I'm still nostalgic about the yoga routines from my old studio in China (yeah, long story...)Needless to say if you come across anything else, let me know!
Good luck
micky
How did you find the classes at studioyama (http://studioyama.tripod.com/), I was considering going there. They are now on holiday, so no classes until 01.08, when the schedule is:
ma = monday 01.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Lämpöjooga
ti = tuesday 02.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Yama-jooga
ke = wed 03.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Ashtanga-vinyasajooga
to = thursaday 04.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Iyengarjooga
ma = monday 01.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Lämpöjooga
ti = tuesday 02.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Yama-jooga
ke = wed 03.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Ashtanga-vinyasajooga
to = thursaday 04.08 klo 17.30...19.00 Iyengarjooga
I went there only twice. The first time was a iyengar yoga session with Anneli as a teacher. My background is vinyasa flow yoga (I swear I'm not trying to be clever, I just mention it just in case it makes sense to you... if you've ever come across videos by shiva rea, that's what I mean), I'm used to a yoga session with a first part which is a bit sweaty and aerobic acting as a warm-up, then a slower part with deeper stretches. The session at yama was rather good but there was not enough warm-up for me, so it felt a bit strange to go into deeper stretches. Having said that there is a strong emphasis on safety, so Anneli will check you often and suggest modifications. That's good. The same I can say about the Czech teacher.
Also, I quite liked the atmosphere there. People seemed friendly and smiled at me. I'm emphasising this cause I had a totally different impression when I went to the ashtanga school (the main one). That didn't really suit me, and there was too much pressure to stretch towards the perfect pose. Not my style at all. Currently if somebody asks me to recommend a yoga studio in helsinki I feel ok to recommend yama. The reason why I'm not going there myself is partly lazyness, partly attachment to old habits.
May I ask, how long have you guys been practicing? 1 and half year for me, still a beginner. A finnicky one though, as you can see.
Also, I quite liked the atmosphere there. People seemed friendly and smiled at me. I'm emphasising this cause I had a totally different impression when I went to the ashtanga school (the main one). That didn't really suit me, and there was too much pressure to stretch towards the perfect pose. Not my style at all. Currently if somebody asks me to recommend a yoga studio in helsinki I feel ok to recommend yama. The reason why I'm not going there myself is partly lazyness, partly attachment to old habits.
May I ask, how long have you guys been practicing? 1 and half year for me, still a beginner. A finnicky one though, as you can see.
micky
Thanks for the answer, it seems I should check out studioyama. I've been doing hatha yoga for about 3 years, but not so regularly in class and I'm too lazy to practice regularly by myself, so I'm also a beginner 
I'm going to classes organized at the work place, the good part is they are free and the instructor is nice, but since it's free people don't come regularly and I don't feel I'm progressing much. Also the style of hatha is quite mild, excellent for restoring energy and relaxing, but sometimes I feel like building more strength through yoga, and I think iyengar would be good for me (ashtanga somehow does not appeal to me, but I never tried it). How is vinyasa flow yoga, similar to ashtanga? The other place you mentioned, shanti, also has iyengar classes, so I might check those also, esp. since their schedule would suit me better.
As for pilates I don't know any classes in English, in FinnBody (http://www.finnbody.fi) there are pilates classes, in Finnish though, and the instructor of the class I attended, Fatima Witick, speaks English (sometimes she was giving instructions in English when requested) and is very good in my opinion.
I'm going to classes organized at the work place, the good part is they are free and the instructor is nice, but since it's free people don't come regularly and I don't feel I'm progressing much. Also the style of hatha is quite mild, excellent for restoring energy and relaxing, but sometimes I feel like building more strength through yoga, and I think iyengar would be good for me (ashtanga somehow does not appeal to me, but I never tried it). How is vinyasa flow yoga, similar to ashtanga? The other place you mentioned, shanti, also has iyengar classes, so I might check those also, esp. since their schedule would suit me better.
As for pilates I don't know any classes in English, in FinnBody (http://www.finnbody.fi) there are pilates classes, in Finnish though, and the instructor of the class I attended, Fatima Witick, speaks English (sometimes she was giving instructions in English when requested) and is very good in my opinion.