What is minimal yoga?
Yoga in Berlin has become louder, faster and more complex.
More styles, more music, more stimulation.
My approach is the opposite. While I appreciate the diversity of yoga styles, for me as a neurodiverse, highly-sensible person, it is hard to relax in Shavasana when music is playing. My mind often felt more agitated rather than more calm after a class, when the goal of yoga should be to reduce the fluctuations of the mind.
Minimal Yoga is about reducing everything that distracts, so you can actually feel what is happening:
• Clear, canonical poses instead of complex sequences
• A consistent structure — same beginning, same ending
• Pranayama in every class
• Little (Yin Yoga) to no music (other classes)
• Focus on mindfulness in cueing
Less distraction.
More awareness.
That’s the practice.
Youtube videos of me teaching:
- 8min Kapalabhati with hollow hold: https://youtu.be/sZfMv5FJI7w
- 60min Hatha Yoga with focus on mula bandha: https://youtu.be/_CrIiEsaa48
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minimal_yoga_with_paul/
How does a typical session look like?
A typical 60min Hatha or Vinyasa class has the following structure:
• 10min Welcome + Pranayama (always!)
• 15min Warm up and sun salutations
• 25min Asana practice
• 10min Relaxation
Physical intensity is medium to high. 🔥
In Yin Yoga, there is no warm up, so the Asana practice is longer and positions are held for 1-4minutes each.
Who am I?
Hey, I am Paul!
I am originally from Luxembourg and after years in endurance sports, I started with yoga in 2019 and with meditation in 2022. It has personally helped me a lot with mental health and connection to myself.
That’s why I decided to dive deeper and take a yoga teacher training in Thailand in January 2023 which turned out to be very insightful and gave me a strong urge to give things a try and share my own version and experience of yoga with people.
I am particularly into the mental side of practice and the non-dual philosophy behind yoga and I think it can potentially offer substantial long term benefits for mental health. Be prepared, it will be quite a bit different from the more physical-workout-first practices that we are used to from Youtube and most studios in Berlin.
Please if you are interested to know more, read the texts linked below about my philosophy and yoga styles! And of course, if you have any questions feel free to just ask me 🙂
And thanks to all the people who came to my classes so far, the sessions were very fun! 🧘
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