a-young-girl-discovered-yoga-in-her-early-20s

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE: A young girl discovered Yoga in her early 20s.

If you had only one word to describe what yoga is to you, what would it be?

“Inspiring. I am 22, I am a front office manager from one of the motels in Bundaberg. I started practicing Yoga in 2014. It is just simply what I love doing now, I started feeling and seeing the benefits in yoga. I feel amazing, will only continue to improve and grow in my yoga journey.”

“Yoga has taught me a whole new way of being. I learn to relax and manage stress. Yoga teaches me to control my breathing which helps me control my body and stay focus.“

When did you start doing yoga and what makes you want to continue?

“I started practicing yoga with Carmen in late 2014. I can definitely feel that I am getting stronger, my mind is so much clearer through regular practice.”

How often do you attend yoga classes?

” I am doing 2-3 classes every week as well as all the workshops and yoga challenges with Carmen. I have also just booked my first yoga retreat with Carmen in Cambodia next year!”

Print

(I completed the 30-Day Yoga Challenge with Carmen! Yay!)

What is you next goal or challenge?

“At the moment I am mainly still working on the basics to build a strong foundation like deepen my forward fold and warrior poses as I feel that I need to have the basics right to be able to move forward in my practice. I like to work on my inversions(headstand/tripod headstands), I like the feeling of being upside down. Improving my core strength to be able to control my inversions well. It is important to me that through asana, I can see just how powerful and purposeful my body is. Yoga is one of the few things that bridges my body and my mind. I would like to step out my comfort zone, and challenge my body. I have never stood up and really done something that I REALLY enjoyed before, especially any physical activity because I was not active when I was young. I have found a new me and being able to spread my wings through regular yoga practice. It’s an awesome feeling, I am very proud of myself.”

“Carmen is AMAZING! She is very helpful, kind and truly beautiful. It is so lovely to be around her.”

 

“Carmen is very inspiring me with her strong practice and all the things that she can do with her body, simply beautiful control and confidence. (whilst talking and teaching us all through it!) ”

Would you like to share something with those who might be thinking about doing yoga in the near future?

“Don’t just give up after the first couple of classes, give yourself some time to get to know well about yoga. It is hard at the beginning but your body will thank you in the future.”

Kirsten Neller
BUCCA , QLD

it-was-a-fantastic-night-at-our-2015-christmas-get-together

It was a fantastic night at our 2015 Christmas Get-Together.

c3christmas 2

Laughing with others

Makes Our Time Together

More Enjoyable.

13/11/2015, Friday.

Thank you so much to everyone for joining us at the Christmas Get-Together and making the night so special. Everyone looked fantastic!

A big thanks to the supportive husbands who participated in our little yoga game. You guys rock! 😉

The Oodies team have done an amazing job. Beautiful atmosphere, super friendly staffs and delicious food. We couldn’t have asked for more.

Congratulations to all the winners of our lucky draw prices!

It was a lovely night and we hope everyone left with a big smile.

 

Namaste,

Love Life. Live Yoga. Team

Video: How practicing arm balance changed my life

The first time I walked into a yoga class with a couple of friends in Malaysia, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and simply followed the group. I used to be very active back to school, but after I started working as a fashion designer with long hours everyday in front of the computer or the sewing machine, I didn’t do much to look after my body for over 5 years. I couldn’t even touch my toes during forward fold and had never done a proper handstand before.

So I went to my first yoga class thinking I was there for some relaxation and stretching. It turned out I was sweating in ways I never knew possible from just yoga postures. The first arm balance pose the teacher showed us was Bakasana. It looked so easy but I failed over and over again. How could she balance just on her palms, and with her knees on her triceps? Next, when she got us to do handstand. I thought that won’t be hard since I had done many cartwheels before. So, surely I could do a simple handstand! But what do handstands have to do with yoga? So I tried and kept kicking my legs up against the wall repeatedly. I couldn’t believe it when I realised that I wasn’t even able to stay in place for more than two seconds. I was exhausted. Physically and mentally. How could the lady next to me do it all so peacefully and with her eyes closed for over a minute? My arms were shaking while I was trying to catch my breath again. My face was red as a tomato.

After an hour-long yoga session the teacher called for Savasana. I asked myself what the hell that meant? So I just did what everyone else did, lay down and rested on my mat.

Unexpectedly, I felt relaxed. I felt like I didn’t just do a workout with my body, but my mind as well. I walked out of the room with a brand new body, all the clutter in my mind had disappeared! After just one class I felt like I had pressed the reset button and felt totally peaceful and calm.

Focusing on arm balance in my yoga practice has changed my perspective of life. It is so important in life to find balance, to let go, refocus, to increase your confidence and to start seeing all the possibilities that are waiting for you. But the most important thing is to have fun in life. Fun makes us happy and keeps us young. And when you’re having fun, those good vibes and positive energy will spill over into the lives of the people around us, which in turn will increase happiness and well-being for all of us. Don’t take life to seriously. Have fun and yoga on!

“Live your life and risk it all. Take some chances, take the fall. Take your time, no need to hurry. Have some fun and never worry. Stay young!”

 

Namaste,

Carmen

Yoga Pose: Monkey Pose (Hanumanasana)

Monkey Pose/Full Split (Hanumanasana)

There are few ways to practice, you can always do your pose variations. Modified arms and hips with using props (block or rolled blanket/towel).

It is one of my favourite poses that I will practice it everyday. It makes me feel open and prepare my body into other poses for example Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Standing Split, Eka Pada Koundinyasana II, kick up to handstand and many others.

Benefits:
-stretches the thighs, hamstrings, groins.
– stimulates the abdominal organs.

Happy practicing!

 

Namaste,

Carmen

share-your-experience-an-inspirational-self-employed-lawyer-sharing-her-experience

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE: A wonderful self employed lawyer sharing her experience

If you had only one word to describe what yoga is to you, what would it be?

“One word to describe yoga is Compassion. I am 51 and a self employed lawyer. Since I have started this more regular yoga practice I feel much more confident about growing older. ”

“I can feel my body able to do things better now than when I was in my 30s and 40s.“

When did you start doing yoga and what makes you want to continue?

” I started practicing yoga with Carmen in April this year. Whilst I have been dabbling in yoga for many years I feel that I have only just started really learn yoga since finding Carmen’s classes. I have so much more to learn and every class takes me a tiny bit further on the journey.”

How often do you attend yoga classes?

“I like to attend classes at least three or four times a week when I am not out of town for work. I know that there are women in their 70s and even 80s who still practice yoga. I admire that tremendously and I want to be able to still practice yoga into my 80s if I am fortunate enough to still be here. I have been a very busy professional with all the usual stresses and pressures that come with that and with having a busy family. That kind of life ages us and makes us short tempered and too tired to enjoy all that we work for. Yoga has given me back my own sense of self and a feeling of wellness and peace.  I have learned that just one hour of yoga can cut through all the craziness of life and that 10 minutes of savasana is the best thing any woman can do for her self and her wellbeing.”

What is you next goal or challenge?

“I am not yet ready to claim that I can actually do a tripod headstand, but I know that I will be able to do it in the future. I have been in the pose near the wall and this was a milestone. It felt great. Carmen’s classes take us further than we think we can go. Her passion for inversion poses and her enthusiasm has changed my expectations of myself. My current goal is to master Bakasana. (I want to stand up on my surfboard – so bakasana will help with that too.)”

“Carmen is the strongest person I know. She has an amazing ability and it is inspiring to have her as a teacher.”

“Carmen is very encouraging. I feel I will never stop learning in her classes and I never want to stop learning.”

Would you like to share something with those who might be thinking about doing yoga in the near future?

“Classes from Love Life. Live Yoga offer something for each one of us, no one is under pressure yet there is always the invitation to go further.”
Susan O’Sullivan
Moore Park, QLD

the-symphony-of-life

The symphony of life: 5 ways to living in harmony

“The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.”
~ B.K.S Iyengar

I always thought a beautiful life meant having the power to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. In reality it is so much more than that. It is a feeling that you need to create, and one that only you can create. It isn’t until our mind, body and soul are in perfect harmony, that we can experience true happiness.

I used to get upset and disappointed when things went wrong. I started blaming my outer world and finding excuses to make myself feel better. This blame however, is the exact opposite of harmony. Don’t look for the faults around you. Start looking inside you, for unhappiness is not created by events, but by the way you respond to them.

Here are few things that I have learned over the course of my life that I use daily as I work on improving myself to become the best version of myself that I can be.

1) Pause before you act

It is hard when anger and fear suddenly appear inside us. I have learned to pause and stop myself in any situation before I respond. I step out of the danger zone and do one thing that I know will make me feel better in that given moment. When I discovered yoga 8 years ago, it had a huge impact on my ability to control my emotions. It started brightening my mind and I felt less tense in my body. Practicing yoga was one of the things that taught me to pause and let go. When the positive side of me returns, I can rethink the situation and make a conscious choice of how to react. So, find one thing that helps you deflate anger and fear that makes you happier again before you react. The beauty of life is that we have the ability to choose. We are like stars in the universe and can decide in which direction we shine our light, and where we cast our shadows.

“Carmen Lee-Schneider – Koh Samui Yoga Retreat 2015”

2) Life is not all about me

live in the moment with the people who are here before you right now. We need to let go     of the idea that we are the sole protagonist and give others a chance to be the main character in our lives sometimes. Listen. Let them feel that you are there for them. I am still finding this very hard at times. We tend to purely focus on our own needs and the things that make us happy. But the moment we start focusing on the needs of others, miracles start to appear, because we are now creating precious moments together that make us feel whole again.

3) Disconnect to reconnect

I truly miss catching up with real people, face to face, and with eye-contact. I slowly realize that we are doing this less and less. But it takes time to nourish a friendship. When we get too busy, we rather send our friends emails, text messages or have a shallow chat on Facebook. We need to learn to step away from technology every now and then to look into peoples’ eyes and have a real conversation. A conversation where we use all our senses, our body language. When you have real conversations with your closest friends again, you will feel revitalized and more connected. If you are looking for more purpose in your life, start with creating more purposeful friendships.

4) Be open to change and question everything you do

Just because we believe it’s right, it doesn’t mean that it’s our best option. Think about the different outcomes you get when reacting to a certain situation in different ways. Expand your vision, look for new angles and greater opportunities. I find surprises and wisdom all around me. Don’t be afraid to try new things. New ways of thinking. Don’t expect new results, if you keep doing things the same way. Be bold and invite change. You can only grow. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

5) Never stop challenging yourself

Every day we have the opportunity to make small changes that allow us to become a better version of ourselves. Look at everything you do and consider eliminating one bad habit at a time that doesn’t benefit you. Replace these habits with new ones to fill the void and to avoid reacting in a subconscious way. Do something new every now and then, that will make you feel proud. Something that excites you.

After putting it off for a long time and a big push from my loving husband, I have finally decided to open my laptop and start writing this first blog post. English isn’t my first language, and I never considered explaining myself to others as a strength of mine. So why should I even bother to write? I used to say ‘no’ to anything that I had never done before. Until I started feeling a sense of disappointment inside me because of the lack of excitement in my life. I also felt I wasn’t only holding back myself, but also the people around me that I loved the most. So, here I am writing my first blog post from my heart.

We are solely responsible for creating the excitement in our lives that we all crave. It’s only through excitement that we find fulfillment and joy in life. Let’s push each other and keep rolling together to create the life that we have always been dreaming of.

It really is in our hands.

Namaste,

Carmen Lee-Schneider

People sharing their experience with Love Life Live Yoga

A short while ago we asked a few of the amazing people, whom I had the joy of practicing yoga with, about their experience and how yoga has benefited them. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to help people become the best versions of themselves and witness the benefits that come with a regular yoga practice.

The way I like to describe yoga is this:

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

Yoga is a deeply personal journey. It doesn’t matter where others are at in their practice. What matters is that you make time to reconnect with yourself. Do what you can in each given moment. Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel. Surely, yoga can be challenging, especially when first getting started. Just remember that if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you. When was the last time you challenged yourself?

What you are looking for is not out there, it is within you. If you are thinking of giving yoga a try, but don’t know where to start, make sure to check out our 30-day Intro Offer for a full 30 days of UNLIMITED yoga classes. Enough time to find out if yoga is right for you, to make some new friends, and you might already see some progress. If you try it and don’t enjoy it, at least you tried. But chances are, it might very well change your life.

See you on the mat!

Namaste,

Carmen

5-things-every-yoga-teacher-wants-to-share-with-you

5 Things Every Yoga Teacher Wants To Share With You.

We are not there to judge you, we are there to guide you through practice. It is not about how you look, it is about how you feel. However, there are some things that may not be communicated during class.

yoga class 5

1) You are a beginner. And that is OK.

We were beginners just like every one of you before. Enjoy this journey, because you won’t be a beginner forever, but while you’re there… enjoy it! Soak up everything you can from each practice.

2) We don’t judge your flexibility.

Yoga isn’t about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down. Focus on making small progress and enjoy it at each given moment.

3) There is no such thing as a typical yoga body.

You can be curvy, slight, young, or old—yoga is for everyone! There are so many different types of Yoga, go with the one you enjoy the most.

4) We don’t think you are weak if you start shaking in a certain pose.

Shaking is a sign of hard work and persistence. You are putting in effort and your body is going through change in a good way if you practice mindfully.

5) Ask us for assistance when you plan to try a new pose.

Don’t be shy to ask, nothing is more exciting than when a student comes to us and wants to find out more! We are here to help you.

In the end all that matters is: Does the practice help you to improve your mood, calm your mind and improve your energy?

If so, you’re on the right path. Keep going!

Happy practicing!

 

Namaste,

Carmen Lee-Schneider

the-connection-between-our-mind-and-body

The Connection Between Our Mind and Body.

I have never been to any gymnastics or dance school. I have always been very sporty though because I wanted to keep my body fit (I could easily gain weight if I didn’t move enough). Until I discovered yoga. Besides getting my workout, I started feeling a sense of calm and peace. Lots of small miracles started showing up in my daily life and I gained so much focus in everything I do.
But I truly fell in love with yoga when I saw a beautiful yogi practicing at the park one day. It looked like magic to me when she was standing on her hands in the middle of the park, moving so gracefully.

It didn’t look like sport or a show for me. I could feel the connection between my mind and my body and the trust in myself.
The human body will keep exploring new possibilities and slowly erase all limitations if you just believe and trust in yourself.
Love your life.

Live yoga.

are-you-an-absolute-beginner-thinking-about-trying-yoga

Are you an absolute beginner, thinking about trying yoga?

 

Are you thinking about trying yoga? … so what’s next? Just show up, head into your first class with an open mind and have fun. 😉

First timers are absolutely welcome to any of our classes, especially the “Yin & Yang” and “Rise & Shine” classes. All classes are for all levels, they are different types of practice. No matter how much you do, try your best and listen to your body you will always receive the benefits from the class!

Here are 7 tips so you can have a positive first time:

1) Arrive at least 10 minutes earlier to the start time of your first session. Introduce yourself to the coach and ask if you have any questions.

2) Avoid eating a big meal about 2 hours before class and drink plenty of water before.

3) Try to wear something light, fitted and comfortable to the class.

4) Bring your own yoga mat(we have some spare mats if not), a large bottle of water and a towel.

5) Remember, you can always find a comfortable pose to rest during the class. However commit yourself to stay for the entire class, focus on what you can do and take it at your own pace. Remember, you are always welcome to rest in any comfortable position and skip the advance poses if you need to.

6) New to yoga or not, there will always be things you can’t do yet, but there is always something you can do now.

7) It is normal to dislike and uncomfortable in your first class. It can take a couple of sessions to get used to the coach and the yoga practice.

We look forward to seeing you on the mat soon!

 

Namaste,

Love Life. Live Yoga.

Chat with Carmen
Let's Chat!
Available