Author Archives: The Branches

Formerly Queen Street Yoga Yoga & movement. Rooted in community. We’re here to create a better world with Yoga as our common ground. We lead down-to-earth classes, expert teacher training, and an engaged intergenerational community. We opened our doors in 2005, and have become known for our highly experienced teachers, our innovative approach to movement, and our efforts in community care and social justice. Our aim is to make the practices of yoga and meditation more inclusive, more accessible, and more relevant for your day-to-day life.

SACRED JUSTICE – Exploring Yoga, Awareness and Social Action as a Community

One aspect of our vision statement at Queen Street Yoga is “Growing Community”. By this we mean that we are committed to seeing our practices as a bridge to awareness and action in our local community and our wider world. We also endeavour to support intelligent change-making and social responsiveness, and to co-create inclusive, diverse, and playful spaces.Continue reading “SACRED JUSTICE – Exploring Yoga, Awareness and Social Action as a Community”

Adjustment Cards: Keeping you Comfortable in your Practice

At QSY we are continuing to work to make our studio a fun, safe, and comfortable place for all people to come and practice in. As part of this effort we are introducing Adjustment Cards to help make our classes more welcoming. What are Adjustment Cards you ask?

THESE are consent cards
These are Adjustment Cards

Continue reading “Adjustment Cards: Keeping you Comfortable in your Practice”

Flight Club! aka Acro Yoga

I went to my first Acro Yoga class last week. After seeing Leena and Emma’s faces light up when they talked about it, I thought it just had to be a wonderful thing to try! I feel like Acro Yoga is like a jacked up version of some trust game you might play at the beginning of a company retreat or something. The trust that you need to put in the other person that is lifting you up into the air is incredible, and also the personal boundaries that are crossed when you let a stranger put their hands and feet on you and push you up is something else as well. But wait, I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself. You may still be wondering, what is Acro Yoga?Continue reading “Flight Club! aka Acro Yoga”

Queen Street Conversations: Talking about Climate Change

I didn’t know what to expect when I came for the chat: what we would talk about, the emotions that would arise, how involved people would get. As a home body, I often struggle with getting involved in activities outside of work hours, but at the same time I also have a desire to connect with the community that resides beyond my home and workspace. When presented with the opportunity, I often pass over such events, but this time something deeper drew me to come. For a long time I have struggled to participate in conversations surrounding climate change. When someone mentions the documentary they just watched about floods, extinctions and the like, I am paralyzed by fear: fear of the unknown, and by feelings of hopelessness, and powerlessness. What are we going to do? How will I survive? What’s going to really happen?Continue reading “Queen Street Conversations: Talking about Climate Change”

Open Letter to the Kitchener-Waterloo Community and Local & Provincial Government Regarding the Smart Growth Plan of Waterloo Region

Have you heard that our region’s Smart Growth Plan that supports healthy urban densification and curbs suburban development that is harmful to our forests and farmland is UNDER THREAT?! Check out Smart Growth Waterloo Region and take a moment to share your voice with local and provincial officials. This is an environmental concern that we CAN take positive action on. Below is a letter that Queen Street Yoga has written to leaders and the community on the Region’s Smart Growth Plan and our battle with the Ontario Municipal Board. Continue reading “Open Letter to the Kitchener-Waterloo Community and Local & Provincial Government Regarding the Smart Growth Plan of Waterloo Region”

Mindfulness in the New York Times

Mindfulness in the New York Times

In Mindfulness, a Method to Sharpen Focus and Open Minds

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

Michael Baime, director of the Penn Program for Mindfulness teaches a class in mindfulness and meditation.

LIKE most people, I have my share of tension and anxiety. And I’m happy to find ways to cope that don’t involve illegal drugs. So when the term mindfulness began cropping up everywhere, I became intrigued.Continue reading “Mindfulness in the New York Times”

the habit of love

 

This post was written by past QSY teacher Danette Adams. Danette writes thoughtful and sweet reflections on her own blog, “Overcoming the Overwhelm.” Danette offers life coaching that combines some of the practices she learned and honed in yoga and meditation, with new approaches to language, goals and gratitude.

the habit of love – originally posted on danetteadams.com on January 18, 2013

Without exception, she consistently, unabashedly expressed her joy daily when seeing me. She listened to my rants and rages without judging. Remained impartial and didn’t give unsolicited advice.Continue reading “the habit of love”

bhijavrkshanyaya: the seed contains the tree

This post was written by Emma, and is cross-published on Thinkerpoet, her personal blog.
 
I was at a yoga and philosophy retreat this summer when a teacher introduced this concept. My ears perked up and I carefully wrote it down in my notebook. Bhijavrkshanyaya. The seed contains the tree. There wasn’t a great deal of discussion about it, but it was already growing little roots in my mind. Bhija (seed) vrksha (tree) nyaya (logic).
 
The symbol of the seed is one of our most universally compelling images as a human culture. No one is unaffected by the seed. The seed symbolizes potential, growth and nourishment. It invokes a sense of the Earth and its sacredness. It brings with it echoes of initiation, of reproduction, of the great cycles of creation and dissolution. It promises provision, hope, and abundance. The saving of seeds represents our very survival as a species that no longer forages for food but must rely on organized agriculture to feed us. Continue reading “bhijavrkshanyaya: the seed contains the tree”