Yoga Series

We bring awareness to aspects of life that we do not see clearly, to the places where we feel stuck, seek their causes, and work towards restoring flow in those areas.

The chakras are a traditional yogic system that helps us recognise our emotional, mental, and physical states and understand aspects of ourselves and our lives that do not flow with ease. According to this system, illness, conflict, and confusion often appear where energy cannot move freely. A central purpose of yoga is to encourage vitality throughout the whole system so that we can live with greater ease and function better in close relationships, in our relationship with our body and health, and in how we relate to work, money, and our surroundings.

In this series of seven individual workshops, we move through the seven chakras, each associated with a particular aspect of our being. In the introduction, we discuss the meaning of the chakra and use guided questions to help reveal why a particular area of life may be causing discomfort, difficulty, or illness. Through yoga, meditation, and affirmations, we gain practical tools for meeting ourselves and beginning to work with what we have recognised.

Every Saturday from 10 am to noon, we explore one chakra through theory and practice, over seven weekends from Saturday, 2 April, to Saturday, 14 May 2022.
Each workshop includes energy exercises, a guided conversation and questions about the chakra, guided meditation, asana practice, and affirmations.
Price: HRK 190 for one workshop or HRK 1,200 for all seven workshops.

The workshops are led by Izabela Marić, a certified yoga teacher and holistic life coach, and Tena Rebernjak , a certified yoga teacher and long-time mindfulness meditation practitioner.

Everyone is welcome. To register and arrange payment, contact us at info@tena.yoga

The workshops are held online via Zoom, and an indefinitely available recording is emailed to you after each class.

Flow through the liberating current of your chakras using mindful movement, focused meditation techniques, and specific introspective exercises drawn from chakra psychology. More on the blog…

This complete programme invites us to bring awareness to the body, one area at a time, and notice its energetic and emotional responses. We explore which emotions, connected with situations, relationships, and people, are holding us back and which beliefs we carry. We also aim to cultivate self-compassion, a genuine medicine for forgiveness and acceptance once we have uncovered the heart of the difficulty.

A SERIES OF SEVEN SATURDAYS

Chakras are often illustrated as coloured points of light, mandalas, and vortices, which can make them seem mysterious. Yet beneath the imagery lies a simple physical basis: different parts of the body, including their glands and organs, are connected with how we act in life, with emotion, and with will.

Different body regions and tissues carry out different transformations. The chakra model arranges them into seven principal centres of energy production. 
How a particular part of the body produces energy, and how effectively it does so, is reflected in health and capacity, or in their absence. Read more on the blog… READ THE BLOG

SATURDAY 2 APRIL – FIRST CHAKRA

When the pelvic-floor muscles have stability and strength, the rest of the body can rely on them and remain light. They are like a sound foundation supporting an entire house: when the foundation is unstable, the house is not secure. Through this aspect, we explore our need for safety and bring awareness to our fears. More…

SATURDAY 9 APRIL – SECOND CHAKRA

Through this aspect of our being, we express creativity, relationships, sensuality, the impulse to reproduce, and the need to connect with others. Learning to work skilfully with sexual energy is like taming the dragon within and bringing its strength to our side. More…

SATURDAY 16 APRIL – THIRD CHAKRA

Here we develop self-respect, confidence, willpower, intention, and ambition. Manipura is the aspect of determination and the sense that we can manage, put things in order, and solve a problem. This Saturday, we work with the body’s central, transforming FIRE. More…

SATURDAY 23 APRIL – FOURTH CHAKRA

It is the bridge between the three lower chakras, which ground us, and the three upper chakras, which open us to a sense of wholeness and unity. Through this aspect, we express love, compassion, joy, empathy, and connection. In the workshop, we explore the source of unconditional love. More…

SATURDAY 30 APRIL – FIFTH CHAKRA

It relates to our capacity for expression, clarity of speech, communication, honesty, and creativity. When this aspect is blocked, it can be difficult to express our honest feelings. We may become quiet and withdrawn or feel compelled to evade and lie so that our truth remains hidden. Honesty heals the fifth chakra; falsehood blocks it. More…

SATURDAY 7 MAY – SIXTH CHAKRA

It relates to intuition, perception, concentration, imagination, and awareness. When open, it can strengthen wisdom and insight into the true nature of reality, helping us see clearly. Are we aware of our truth, do we know our purpose, and is the light switched on in our lives? More…

SATURDAY, 14 MAY – SEVENTH CHAKRA

Sahasrara relates to spirituality, connection with higher consciousness, unity, self-realisation, inspiration, wisdom, understanding, idealism, selfless service, perception beyond space and time, and the continuity of awareness.  Individual identity falls away and we become a fully realised being, aware of the breadth and possibilities of existence. More…

Change is constant; everything flows and passes. How fully we surrender to that natural movement depends on how much we still look through old habits and fixed images of ourselves, the world, and our relationships. Fortunately, that apparently unchangeable picture of reality is a habit that we may not yet know how to release. 

MOTIVATION:
To surrender to the natural flow, we learn to meet every moment as a new experience, never lived before: the Zen concept of beginner’s mind. 
We know that the most effective change happens when body and mind work together. The body is a storehouse of habits, memories, and unconscious activity. It experiences the world around us, while the intellect interprets that experience.

HOW:
To release an old image of ourselves, we need to feel safe, so that once we let go of the past we have been holding, we still have a foundation on which to stand.

INTENTION:
To understand clearly what we are working with, we set an intention for the series. We choose one aspect of life, such as a habit, relationship, or project, that we want to view from another perspective and pass through the fire of transformation. A skilful intention helps us dedicate our effort and act from love, without demanding a result or rejecting things as they are now.

In this summer series, we transform old habits through body and mind:

Transformation is conscious, intensive change supported by effort, will, and a clear aim.

PROGRAMME:
The series has two aspects: “The Fire of Transformation” and “The Wisdom of Transformation”. In the Fire, we work with the body through dynamic yoga; in the Wisdom, we breathe, contemplate, and meditate. 
In the first week of the series, the Fire aspect awakens the centre through strong legs, rhythmic pelvic movement, and grounding that creates a stable base. In the Wisdom aspect, we practise forgiveness meditation and contemplate releasing the past.
​In the second week of the series, the Fire aspect focuses on opening the heart, spontaneity, freedom, and openness to new possibilities. In the Wisdom aspect, we learn to see experience through beginner’s mind and practise gratitude and loving-kindness meditation.

We remember that real transformation grows from love and joy, not guilt and rigidity. 

The series is intended for everyone, regardless of previous yoga experience. Every technique and exercise is explained in detail. The series is led by long-time teacher Tena Rebernjak.

Yoga philosophy describes energetic locks within the body. The two primary locks are Mula bandha and Uddiyana bandha. In Sanskrit, Mula means root, Uddiyana means flying upwards, and bandha means to stop or lock. 

Working with Mula bandha grounds us and builds strength and stability. We develop Mula bandha by strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor and, more broadly, through the active use of the legs and stability in the feet.
A strong pelvic floor supports the abdominal and pelvic organs, which exert downward pressure every day, and supports healthy muscular function of the anus, urethra, and vagina. 
Exercises that improve the function of the pelvic-floor muscles through both strength and relaxation are practised to help prevent or relieve incontinence, constipation, haemorrhoids, and difficulties associated with pregnancy.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika:

There is no doubt that through the practice of Mula bandha, complete perfection is attained.

Working with Uddiyana bandha encourages ease of movement, including jumps in yoga practice, as well as fluidity and mobility. Uddiyana bandha is located in the lower abdomen, below and around the navel, involving the abdominal muscles and small intestine. 

It is practised by massaging the abdominal cavity with the abdominal muscles themselves, through Nauli kriya, and with exercises that strengthen the centre. The health of the abdominal cavity and all its organs is essential for whole-body health, good circulation, strong immunity, and healthy digestion.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika:

Even an old person can become young if they regularly practise Uddiyana bandha.​.

Strength with ease combines these two forces in the body and gives us an inner source of strength without stress. The greatest enemy of vitality in these two energetic centres is prolonged passive sitting. During this two-week online series, we explore techniques for developing, sensing, using, and connecting these two energetic locks.

In the first week, we work with Mula bandha , building strength in the legs, pelvic-floor muscles, and glutes, and learning to separate strength from stress. In the second week, we play with Uddiyana bandha, stimulate metabolism, strengthen the centre, and cultivate ease of movement. The series is open to everyone who wants to discover the body in a different way, regardless of previous yoga experience. Every technique and exercise is explained in detail and repeated often enough for you to bring it into your daily routine.

After a long, quiet winter, we awaken the intestines and circulation and breathe in the energy of spring.
During this three-week early-morning series, we work systematically to establish practices that support detoxification, strength, and a sense of openness. We learn foundational yogic kriyas that stimulate digestion, together with yogic breathing, asana, and meditation. In just 40 minutes each morning, we give ourselves focused attention, rediscover ease and mobility in the body, and establish a morning yoga routine.

A healthy body moves with ease and allows substances to move through it through digestion. The ability to digest every experience is also an aspect of mental and emotional health. The hypothesis behind this detox series is:

When I fill up on fresh prana, I need less food!

A hypothesis is a theory that needs to be tested, so join this unique series led by a long-time teacher and practitioner of yoga, Tena Rebernjak.

The series is for anyone who wants to establish healthier habits and awaken digestion, breath, and body. Complete beginners are warmly welcome. Every technique is explained in detail and repeated often enough to be understood. The series is not suitable during pregnancy or for people with serious abdominal conditions, and modifications are used during menstruation.

Some of the practices we learn and repeat regularly during the series include:
– kapalabhati
– nauli kriya
– nadi shodhana 
– spinal breathing
– squats
– sun salutations
– yoga asanas.