Meet Anita
Qigong, Meditation and Yoga Teacher
I have been practising yoga and meditation since the late 1970s and bring to my students, almost 40 years of teaching experience in both the Iyengar yoga and Hatha Yoga styles.
I taught yoga from the mid 1980s at several yoga studios in Sydney's Inner West, eventually opening my own yoga studio in Leichhardt.
I took a break from teaching for a little while to follow my other loves - art and photography, gaining a Bachelor of Visual Art
from Sydney University.
I now teach Modern Qigong,
Meditation and Yoga.
Modern Qigong is a mixture of forms (configurations) taken from the many different ancient forms and adapted for a more Western way of thinking.
The movements and exercises are easy to follow, a lot of fun, and take their names from animals and nature.
In my Qigong classes I also bring in yoga postures with a Qigong twist!
And in my yoga classes I bring in some fun Qigong moves.
All my classes involve Mindfulness Meditation.
So come and join me and clear stress, energise your body, and open your heart!
Anita x
Anita is a registered Senior Yoga Teacher with Yoga Australia,
a registered Meditation Teacher with
Meditation Australia.
and a Lee Holden Qigong Teacher
Qigong
What does a class entail?
A typical Qigong class entails deep slow breathing. Followed by stretching and twisting movements incorporating that deep breathing that warm the body up and stretch it out. This starts opening up our energy channels - as we start moving the body and clearing out stress and tension, we release old energy - then we do some strengthening and toning movements. The body is then ready for the flowing movements. Then we let the gentle flowing movements do their work – allowing our innate energy to flow through those cleared channels – our meridians.
Some of the Qigong movements we do prior to the flows can be very gentle, others a little more vigorous. All are different and have a very specific effect on body and mind. But all movements are easy, fun, and uplifting! And designed for any ‘body’!
Qigong provides a quick and easy system of self-care, inner healing occurs without us even knowing - our own innate healing ability.
What is Qigong?
Modern Qigong is a mixture of forms (movements/configurations) taken from the many different ancient Qigong forms and adapted for a more Western way of thinking and understanding.
The movements and exercises are easy to follow, gentle, a lot of fun, and take their names from animals (tiger, snake, monkey and deer) and nature (trees, water, the earth and sky). Qigong can be practised anytime or anywhere without special equipment or facilities. It also doesn't require a lot of getting up and down from the floor which makes it extremely suitable for those with physical challenges.
A lot of our world is invisible. In fact most of our world is invisible - we cannot see the wind, we cannot see radio waves that carry our phone messages, our tv images around the world. What moves the oceans? What spins our planet? The planets around us? The is not an explanation for it but we can give it names such as 'Qi' or 'Energy' or in our bodies it is 'Bio Electricity' - it is our own 'energy body'. Just as we have a physical body, we have an energy body. This energy body interacts with the energy around us. The air we breathe in - oxygen from the trees - then the trees breathe in our carbon dioxide. We cannot see this but it is essential to us being alive! Just as essential as the planet turning, the sun rising. All this happens without us interfering. There is an intelligence - this intelligence is also in our bodies. Our bodies breathe without our help, our heart beats, our blood flows, we digest our food - all without thinking about it. The body has an innate intelligence and we can tap into that intelligence and the energy that moves it - we can increase how well our body functions and moves and lives within this world. We can tune in to the energy around us and increase our connection not just to ourselves but to our world around us! We can do this with Qigong!
Your body is a complex system of fascia - think transformative liquid/crystalline goo, along with structured water, membranes, tissues and bone AND Qi ⚡️
When we practice Qigong we release tension, soothe the nervous system, regulate the breath and increase the flow of blood and fluids in the body. Its holistic.
What is Qi?
Qi is energy. It is life force. It’s the animating factor in your body.
Out there in nature it’s the movement of the ocean, it’s the energy behind your heartbeat that pulses your blood through your veins.
Qi is the life force energy that moves through the body.
What is Gong?
Gong means to work with.
You put the two together, and you work with your own life force energy.
Working with our 'Qi' our 'Energy' is amazing for our health and wellness, but it is also be for our emotional and mental wellbeing and balance. We become a 'well being' in our entirety.
We work with ALL our life force energy.
We begin to develop a skill and expertise on how to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.
The better that life force energy flows the healthier we feel, the happier we feel and the more connected to life in general.
Qigong also helps release aches and pains that creep up in many parts of our bodies, especially as we get older, particularly in the neck and shoulders, hands and arms, lower back and knees.
Qigong is the art of effortless power and mirrors the movements of nature.
When you do Qigong practice it helps to activate that natural flow of energy within you.
Yoga
Yoga cultivates health and wellbeing (physical, emotional, mental and social) through the regular practice of a range of many different techniques, including postures and movement, breath awareness and breathing exercises, relaxation and concentration, self-inquiry and meditation.
Yoga and Qigong are extremely complimentary to each other and often overlap in the physical exercises. They also have the same aims and use the same principles, namely moving energy through the body, using movement and breath to calm and heal, and to develop a sense of self awareness and appreciation of ourselves, others and the world around us.
They also are aligned in that yoga talks about energy moving through the nadis and storing energy, this is also true of Qigong just the names are different - qigong talks of meridians as in Chinese Medicine.
Qigong Classes
Wednesdays
9.30am to 10.30am
The Bridge Club
26 Yamba Street
Hawks Nest
$12 per class
Please bring a mat.
(Not essential if you do not have one)
Nothing else needed!
Meditation and Mindfulness
Mindfulness is paying attention with intention. When you sit for a formal meditation it helps train the mind and one’s attention to concentrate more fully, whether it is on our breath, thoughts, body, or surroundings – this then reflects back into our everyday life – we become more aware of how we interact with the world around us, ourselves, enjoying all of it right now.
Meditation is the practice of this conscious attention. When the mind is consciously, fully focussed, aware and attentive; that can be called meditation. The ‘practice’ of meditation is when one uses on of these techniques to help keep the mind in that conscious, aware state.
These practices, combined with accepting and calmly and kindly letting go when thoughts arise - which they do constantly - but with regular practice we just learn to watch them and being kind to ourselves we let them go. The practice of meditation then transfers into our everyday life; we learn to understand our thoughts and the emotions that arise from them have less of a hold on us.
A Happy, Healthy Mind and Body Starts Here
Contact Info
Phone
0481 277 136
Address
Pindimar, NSW