Morning Practice

The Courage of the Early Morning

Many Montreal yogis are moving into spring by with the help of early morning workshops. Here is a report on various programs being offered in the city.

The Courage of the Early Morning

Many Montreal yogis are moving into spring by with the help of early morning workshops.

Last week, Joanne Ransom offered an Early Morning Sadhana at Yoga on the Park, in NDG. a 75-minute led class from 7AM to 8:15.

Yoga on the Park was comfortably full. The room vibrated from the practice of two dozen active and dedicated yoga students; and Joanne guided this energy with deft and gentle certainty, towards open-ness and reaffirmation.

Each day's practice had a focus, in terms of asanas, twists, backbends, heart and hip opening; and a theme reflected through a short reading and a few moments of meditation. Pranayama during the week emphasized uddiyana bandha and nasal laterality: balancing right and left lobes of the brain, sides of the lungs, aspects of the person. There were variations on alternate nostril breathing, as well as bastrika, flowing into a variation of naulis.

Earlier in March, Hart Lazer offered a morning master class, which filled the 3rd floor space at the Sattva Yoga Shala, again with over 20 participants. Hart, with a long experience as a yoga teacher, has become one of the premier yoga teacher trainers in Canada. Hart is a longtime student of Ramanand Patel, and has studied yoga widely from its vedic underpinings to the physiology of yoga -- what is happening to the body in a yoga posture.

Running from 6-9 AM, Hart's classes presented this practitioner with the challenge of growth: to work outside the established biorhythm; to appreciate all of those wonderful qualities of the time before and shortly after dawn (that my mother has praised, to my absent enthusiasm, for so many years).

Despite some resistance, I found the morning practice with both Hart and Joanne to be conducive to practice and meditation -- with the mind, uncluttered with a days' experience, and the body, moving to ease and openness for the day. Each week progressed into earlier bedtimes -- trading sedentary late nights (tending to dissipation) for early bright mornings of exercise, deep body-mind work, growth and healing.

If you are looking to practice in the morning:

Beyond one's own practice, there are still numerous opportunities for early morning practice this spring in Montreal.

Hart Lazer's master classes continue through the year, at United Yoga Montreal. The nest session is in May. Check the yogamontreal events page for more details.

Lawrence Lefcourt offers an early morning sadhana of a led Ashtanga Vinyasa class (April 24-28, May 1-5), that will take place from 6 AM to 8 AM. This session can also be found on the yogamontreal events page

Mysore classes offer a space where the student in self practice moves through the Ashtanga series, with a teacher to guide and answer questions. Both Sattva Yoga Shala and Ashtanga Yoga Montreal offer daily morning Mysore classes.

Moksha Yoga also offers early morning practice: the studio has several 7 AM led classes during the week, in this evolved style of hot yoga