Chi Power

Chances are, you've heard of chi. No doubt you've experienced it, even if you haven't named it.

Whether it's written chi, qi or ki, we're talking about the ancient concept of a life force that flows through us and everything around us. When this internal energy is high and flowing freely, you feel strong, alert, vital and have a terrific sense of well-being. Everything flows.

Many cultures have described this energy and developed specific practices to cultivate it. Yoga, the martial arts, meditation, acupuncture, Reiki and so on - they all offer techniques for developing health and wellness by strengthening and channeling.

Beginning Monday, 2 April, Algernon Williams will be leading a new class at Healium designed to do just that: develop and focus your Chi Power!

Al has drawn on a rich history of healing arts to create a 45-minute class that combines conditioning exercises, martial arts - including tai chi, qi gong and karate - and moving meditation that together strengthen your body, enhance your mobility and develop your internal energy for greater health and vitality. It will help you become

• more flexible
• less stressed
• more alert
• more in tune with your true nature

The class is designed for people of any physical shape or fitness level. It is simply about starting where you are and moving forward step by step. As forms and patterns are learned the class will take on a progressive nature.

Classes run on Monday and Thursday mornings from 11:15 am to 12:00 noon. Be sure to book your class through our Ezybook page. Remember, you can use your concessions (four classes for $40, etc.) for Chi Power as well as yoga and Feldenkrais. And if you have any questions about Chi Power or any of our other offerings, contact us at hi@healium.co.nz!

For more information on Al Williams, visit his website at http://www.awakening-wellness.net.

Coming Soon, Chi Power Is!

Classes start Monday, 2 April!

New Yoga and Movement Classes at Healium!

This week we've been sharing the results of our yoga survey and all the exciting new developments happening at Healium. Today we have a first look at our newly expanded class schedule, which goes into effect Monday, 2 April.

And now - apart from the Group Private Classes - you can use your concession (4 classes for for $40, etc.) for any class on the schedule! Mix and match your classes, times and teachers - have fun and go crazy! Just be sure to book your classes through our Ezybook page.

Over the next week or so we'll be going into more detail on our new classes - stay tuned! For now, here's a quick summary of all our class offerings:

Chi Power. A blend of conditioning exercises, martial arts including tai chi, qi gong and karate, and moving meditation that strengthens your body, enhances your mobility and develops your internal energy for greater health and vitality. With Algernon Williams.

Elemental Yoga. Explore the energetic elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether through yoga postures that release, invigorate and rejuvenate the whole person - you! With Elissa Jordan.

Feldenkrais - Awareness Through Movement. A mindful practice that creates new connections between body and brain, facilitating ways to move with greater freedom. With Oli Wiles.

Fertility Yoga. Explore yoga postures and breathwork that support fertility. Postures focus on the endocrine system, and you'll have time to discuss your unique situation and gain insight from other students into the process of supporting fertility naturally. All women welcome! With Jenifer Parker.

Gentle Yoga. Using props and a gentle sequence of yoga postures, this class is designed to release tension and develop deep relaxation. With Valerie Love and Jenifer Parker.

Group Private Class. A private yoga (other other movement) class designed specifically for the needs of your organization. (If you'd like one of these for your group, let us know and we'll work something out!) With Jenifer Parker.

Postnatal Yoga. Bring your babies and enjoy a fun yoga class where we work on realigning and strengthening the hips and pelvic floor, reducing the "mummy tummy" (including healing the diastasis recti) and relieving tension in the neck, shoulders and upper back! Mothers and babies up to one year old are welcome; breastfeeding and laughter encouraged! With Jenifer Parker.

Pregnancy Yoga. While all of our classes are prenatal appropriate, we now offer this special women's-only pregnancy yoga class to facilitate your body's comfort and balance during pregnancy, as well as prepare for labor and birth. With Jenifer Parker.

Power Yoga. A flowing sequence of postures and breathwork to develop physical and mental integrity and agility. With Jenifer Parker.

Power Yoga Basics. This class offers the benefits of power yoga but goes into greater depth on the alignment of postures, breathwork and philosophy. Great for everyone, perfect for beginners! With Jenifer Parker.

And finally our special free "off-the-grid" class, held the second Saturday of every month, starting 14 April:

Power Yoga Exploration. Deepen your practice! A 75-minute class for exploring how yoga works, having fun with your postures and relaxing. Held the second Saturday of every month; available free of charge to any student who has been coming to the studio for six months or more and is on a current concession or is a regular drop-in. With Jenifer Parker.

Free Stuff!

Hi, all!

This is our second blog post in response to the yoga survey, and while you didn't ask for it, I was thinking about ways to THANK YOU! for being such amazing clients - dedicated to your practices and providing us with the opportunity to do work that we love!

So, I thought I would create opportunities for you all to get some more yoga and other movement offerings at Healium!

First, as I said in the last blog, we'll be offering a Free Yoga Class once a month to any student who has been coming to the studio for six months or more (October 2011 or prior) and is on a current concession!

This class will be one hour and 15 minutes, held on the second Saturday of the month. The first one is 14 April at 9:00 am until 10:15; and if that class fills (18), then we'll hold a second class from 10:30 to 11:45!

Please let me know if you are coming to this class so I can book your spot!

Second, so many of you are inviting your friends to join in class, we thought we'd give back to you for your recommendations.

If four of your friends sign up for four classes for $40, then you'll get four classes free (one per week for four weeks) in addition to your current concession! This means you'll be on your normal concession, but you'll get one free class per week!

And third, as the classes have gotten larger and we are adding more to the schedule, I need a bit of help making sure that our studio stays neat and tidy! I'm looking for volunteers who will dedicate themselves to a given class each week to tidy the mats and vacuum the room, if needed, at the end of class. The job should take only a few minutes - 10 at the most - because the teacher will also help you sort it out. The class that you work is the class that you get for free.

Volunteers must be students for three months or more as well as still maintaining a concession.

All classes are eligible, so if you are curious about Chi Power or Feldenkrais, those are options for you too!

This is a great way to extend your practice into a second, third or fourth day!

Be sure to let me know if you want to participate in any of these programs. If you have recommended a friend, be sure that your friend tells me your name so I can keep a record. If you're coming to the free yoga class, let me know as soon as possible - as we already have a couple of spaces booked! And if you want to volunteer, you can start next week with one of the classes currently on the schedule, or I can set you up for a class that's coming in April!

55 Monkeys!

A great big Thank You to everyone who participated in our yoga survey! The information you provided and your unique insights have given us a wealth of information on how to move forward. Today's post is the first in a series of blogs that we'll publish over this week and next to let you know how we are implementing your suggestions.

For me, the most exciting development is how we are expanding the class schedule. It's not simply expanding into new times, but really responding to a common sentiment: more diversity!

Foremost, everyone wanted more lunchtime offerings. So we are expanding from the current 5 lunchtime sessions up to 12.

I know, right? From 5 to 12? How can that be?

We're adding four classes at 11:15 am and opening two former classes to the pubic. And, our Feldenkrais - Awareness Through Movement class will now be open to you under the current concessions, rather than being a separate course.

Two of those 11:15 classes will be Gentle Yoga, and the two other 11:15 classes will introduce Chi Power - a blend of conditioning techniques and movement exercises from karate, qi gong and tai chi that provide a powerful energetic boost!

To diversify the Power Yoga classes, three of the lunchtime sessions will be Power Yoga Basics. These classes will take our normal all-levels Power Yoga and provide more detail on the practice. It's perfect for beginners, but those of you who have been doing yoga with us for awhile will benefit too!

The remaining four lunchtime yoga classes will be our all-levels Power Yoga classes - adding in more postures, trying new directions and sequences, and essentially providing a more diverse, fun practice!

In addition, we'll be starting our family-focused classes. Monday mornings at 10:15 am, we'll be starting our Antenatal Yoga class for new mothers to come and practice with their babies. Wednesday mornings at 10:15 am we'll hold our Prenatal Yoga class for those mums to be! And finally, on Friday mornings at 10:15 am, we'll hold Fertility Yoga - a class designed to support fertility and a place for those women trying to conceive to come together and share their experiences.

The diversity doesn't end there! We are bringing in new teachers as well! Al, one of our amazing massage therapists and energy workers - as well as a karate sensei - will be teaching Chi Power. Valerie Love will be taking on Gentle Yoga - but because of her extensive travel schedule I will be sharing the class with her until July, when she takes on the class full time. Elissa will continue to teach on Mondays at 5:30, now leading Elemental Yoga, an exploration of the energetic elements of Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Ether through yoga postures that release, invigorate and rejuvenate the whole person!

But, wait! There is one more class we are adding to the schedule!

With a great deal of gratitude, I want to give something back to those of you who have been here and supporting us over the past year. I feel very grateful to have each of you in my life - those new to us and those who have been with us from the beginning.

As a further opportunity for you to explore the yoga practice in more (and intermediate!) ways, I am offering a FREE once-a-month yoga class for students who have been with us for more than six months (if you started coming to us with the the last Groupy deal from October of last year or before) and who are currently on an active class card (or a regular drop-in). It also includes those of you who are corporate clients!

These free classes will be held the second Saturday of each month from 9:00 to 10:15 am. Classes are one hour and 15 minutes so that we have enough time and space to really explore and have some fun with our postures. We'll also get a longer relaxation time and a bit of time to go deeper into the practice - how yoga works and why we practice!

If the 9:00 class fills (you'll need to let me know that you're coming - we won't be using ezybook since we pay per booking), then we'll hold a second class from 10:30 to 11:45 am on the same day. If the first class doesn't fill, then there's no second class. Just let me know as soon as you know that you want to come!

So when are all of these things starting?

The new schedule begins the first week of April, with the first FREE class on 14 April. Look out for our new printed schedules - as well as the updated timetable on our blog and website (coming soon!), as well as on ezybook so you can make your bookings!

I hope you are as thrilled as I am - and look out for more blogs about our new developments right here . . . based on your suggestions!