About Isie & Sanatan Yoga
Namaste and welcome to YogIsie. YogIsie is a Yoga Alliance Professional qualified Sanatan Hatha Yoga Teacher who holds your health, happiness and harmony as the core structure for her sessions online, in groups or personally tailored therapy sessions. Using the breath, movement and relaxation techniques, each class provides an opportunity to release, relax, and rebuild.
Hi, I have been practising Yoga for over 10 years before deciding to become a Yoga Teacher. Yoga has always been my go-to thing to relieve stress and unwind every day. During and after my pregnancy, I found that synchronising my breath with the movements created a sense of ease that I hadn't experienced before. As a result, I experienced deeper and more subtle energies in my practice. I was keen to expand on this and enrolled on the 300 hour Sanatan Yoga Teacher Training Course. This involved monthly residential stays at the beautiful Yoga Satsanga Ashram in South West Wales, as well as continuing self-practice and studying at home.
I have continued to develop personally and professionally since I began to learn about the many different aspects of Yoga from my amazing teachers, Yogacharaiya Jnandev and Yogacharini Deepika at the Ashram. I always knew there was much more to Yoga than just moving the body!
As a result of such close learning during our residential stays, our teachers and the students built a Yoga Family. We thoroughly enjoyed our monthly residential stays delving deeper into our Sadhana (personal yogic journey) and teacher training. I began teaching as a trainee in my local Community Centre every few weeks from late 2019. As a result, I gained first-hand experience and put my learned theory into practice. However, this was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything in everyone’s lives became disrupted. A deep sense of gratitude was felt for being on the Yoga Teacher Training Course. I was learning and experiencing the self-care tools that were taught month by month and keeping, not just physically, but mentally healthy. It was a delight to be able to meet in July 2020 to receive our certificates and complete our training in a socially distant way.
Since July 2020 I have been studying as a Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited 200hr Yoga Therapist. This has given me an in depth insight in supporting individuals to find ease, peace and balance in their busy everyday lives. Together we can work through past or present experiences, to help harmonise your mind and body. I am looking forward to extending this qualification by embarking on the BCYT Yoga Therapist Course beginning September 2021.
Transitioning to Online
Our Yoga Family became even stronger once our monthly Sadhana was moved online. As a result, this gave me the confidence to transition my own classes online. It is evident that this has been a real learning curve for all yoga teachers. Consequently, doors have been opened for people who wished to practice yoga but were unable to attend a class for many different reasons. My own Sadhana has helped me through so much. The tools I have learnt are so valuable and it is my passion to help other people feel the same. It is truly amazing to be able to continue to teach people and hopefully help them as Sanatan Yoga has helped me.
Yogacharaya Jnandev and Yogacharini Deepika have now opened a new door in my Sadhana. In June 2020, I enrolled on a 200 hour Yoga Chikitsa Course. This is the perfect CPD course that reflects the needs of the wider community following the COVID-19 pandemic as well as my own interests of helping people in a more personalised way.
Following their own ancient teachings in the Gitananda tradition, Yogacharaya Jnandev and Yogacharini Deepika (pictured left with their three beautiful boys and Anandraj of Ananda Ashram) developed and founded the amazing Sanatan Yoga and teach it through the Yoga Satsanga Ashram Wales, UK. The word Sanatan comes from the Sanskrit word "Sanatan Ananta" and "means that which is Anadi (beginning-less), (endless) and does not cease to be, that which is eternal and everlasting." To me, this means that Sanatan Yoga is forever, touches every part of our lives and soul and has ever-expanding benefits. Sanatan Yoga is not just something we do, it is a lifestyle, a life path, a duty to ourselves to live better, healthier and happier. The way the teachings are taught is authentic and amazing as they are applied to your very own life, making learning about Sanatan Yoga a truly transformative journey. More information about Sanatan Yoga can be found here.
Yogic Lineage
The Gitananda tradition comes from Swamiji Dr Gitananda Giri of Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India. His beautiful and in-depth teachings strongly follow the Guru and Shishya Paramparai traditional lineage. He spent his life being Yoga, living Yoga, teaching Yoga. He was taught through the Guru Shishya Paramparai by Yogamaharishi Swami Kanakananda Brighu and Srilla Sri Kambali Gitananda Desiga Swamigal.
Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani is the son and heir of Swamiji Dr Gitananda Giri and is the lineage holder of the Gitananda tradition under the loving guidance of his mother, Ammaji Yogacharini Meenakshi Bhavanani. He continues what his father began, living Yoga, being Yoga, teaching Yoga, at the Ananda Ashram in Pondicherry and more recently, online during the COVID-19 pandemic. His teachings are unique and outstanding where he provides the original teachings but also the science to prove them. Much of the science was already being taught but Dr Ananda explains the teachings in such a way it is easy to understand.
At the Ashram in India, Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani has developed the International Centre of Yoga Education and Research as well as the Centre for Yoga Therapy, Education Research in Puducherry. One of my favourite Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani quotes is "sharing is caring". More information about this amazing and traditional living lineage can be found here.
Yoga Chikitsa means Yoga Therapy and is nothing different from the Yoga we all know and love. It is another beautiful petal on the outstanding flower that is Yoga. It uses all the same techniques but the understanding goes much deeper. My understanding is enhanced through developing a deep relationship and getting to know the care-seeker using a loving and caring relationship as well as some Auyrvedic tools. I am able to design and provide sessions around peoples' individual therapeutic needs. It is empowering people to take control of their own lives and be healthy and happy. More information about this course can be viewed here
"Health and Happiness is our birthright"
- Dr Swamiji Gitananda Giri
More than just Asana...
Yoga is not just the physical aspect of performing postures, it goes much deeper, subtler into the very foundations of our lives and existence. As the translation of Yoga suggests, yoga is the union of the self with the higher and spiritual self.
Sanatan Yoga has been built and based on many authentic and ancient yogic paths: Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Pranayama Yoga, Vyayama Yoga, Classical Ashtanga Yoga, Laya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Swara Yoga, Yantra Yoga and Dhyana Yoga
"Sanatan Yoga is based on an approach of Complete Personality Development (Body, Mind, Soul) based on the ancient teachings of Yoga (Hatha, Jnana and Raja Yoga)"
- Yogachariya Jnandev and Yogacharini Deepika