Darwin Yoga Space in Coconut Grove | Gym/Physical fitness centre

Darwin Yoga Space

Locality: Coconut Grove

Phone: +61 8 8948 2299

Address: Studio 11 & 12, 10 Caryota Court, Coconut Grove 0810 Coconut Grove, NT, Australia

Website: http://www.darwinyogaspace.com/

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• Sport & recreation
• Gym/Physical fitness centre

25.01.2022 Indeed our Darwin Resort Retreats are such great value, no wonder they are so popular. It's one of the best way to have a holiday, especially at the moment when even travelling interstate is a bit risky. This January 2021 retreat is especially tailored for students with 6 months to 3 years of yoga experience.... Yoga, meditation, breathing techniques, fantastic food, lots of time off to nap, swim, read and hang out with like minded people. Doesn't get much better than this . Book now to get the early bird offer ending on 7 December! https://www.darwinyogaspace.com/events/2021retreat

24.01.2022 Happy New Year - I trust that you all had a lovely break. I am grateful for this family time. Slowly travelling up the Queensland coast. Look forward to seeing you all back on the mat at the end of January. Namasta Anja

24.01.2022 One of our long term student attending morning classes.

22.01.2022 Thanks to the brave ones who fronted the camera to wish us Happy Birthday and tell us why they love DYS. Our first entry below is from Natina. Natina is a psychologist who has a long history with yoga and always appreciative of what we have to offer at DYS. Natina and I (Carole) go a long way back: I taught Natina a few yoga classes 30 years ago in Sydney. Wonderful to have known each other over such a long period of time..

20.01.2022 More 25th party photos... What a beaut afternoon/evening we had.

20.01.2022 Here is our first entry for our 25th anniversary draw. Thanks to the brave ones who fronted the camera to wish us Happy Birthday and tell us why they love DYS. Natina is a psychologist who has a long history with yoga and always appreciative of what we have to offer at DYS. Natina and I (Carole) go a long way back: I taught Natina a few yoga classes 30 years ago in Sydney. Wonderful to have known each other over such a long period of time..

17.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 17 ‘Interior decoration’... Waiting to get the building finished was one thing but then came the ‘furnishings’ phase. Blinds, benches for props, towel racks, shelving, reception desk. the list went on. I was at Bunnings every day for months and thank goodness for the Freedom Furniture shop that has since closed its doors. The main ‘coup’ was stumbling across an artists’ shed in Coconut Grove run by a couple of two eccentric wood artists; Wayne and Pedro (I learned years later that Pedro was not his real name at all). They were making the most stunning furniture from recycled wood. For some reason they had found a way to get access to some of the boats coming from Indonesian with refugees. The boats were meant to be burned at sea but somehow for a while they were getting first pick. Wayne and Pedro were passionate about their work, friendly and very generous of their skills and time. We shared a taste for attention to details and though yoga was not even part of their vocabulary they were keen to help me capture the right ‘mood’ for the place. We owe these guys a lot. By sheer luck again I met two German brothers who had lived in Sri Lanka for a while and they suggested that I get bamboo panels for the ceiling to cut down the industrial feel of the space. A friend of mine, Tess and I spent the first of January 2001 varnishing them all. Wayne and Pedro framed them and we used scaffold to install them. It was a project bigger than the famous Ben-Hur and there might have been some cursing at times, but 25 years on and they are still there.. in hindsight quite a good investment of time, energy and money.

17.01.2022 Book now to get the early bird offer ending on 7 December!

16.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 5 Us yoga teachers are first of all yoga students. I don’t think any of us would teach if we did not have a passion for the subject and practice of yoga. We are eager to keep on learning.... Some of us travel to India regularly to study with the Iyengar family and attend workshops or retreats interstate and overseas (we used to anyway..). Mr Iyengar himself started this tradition of travelling to teach ‘abroad’ since 1954. He has since taught on most continents. His daughter Geeta and granddaughter Abhijata have followed in his footsteps. The three of them have come numerous times to teach in Australia. The last time that Geeta came was in 2009. A bunch of us from Darwin Yoga Space went along to attend a full week of yoga on the Sunshine Coast. It was such an exciting time for us all teachers and the few keen students who came with us. The celebratory mood transpires in the photos; it was pure joy experienced by all. Learning and sharing in the joy of together what a treat! A retreat planned for May 2020 with Abhijata Iyengar to be held at the same venue had to be cancelled due to Covid. Many of us had booked for it already. God only knows when we will be able to repeat these events again, making the memory of the 2009 event even more treasured.

15.01.2022 Leigh has taken to yoga like duck to water. This is his entry in our DYS 25 year anniversary competition.

14.01.2022 This is what Suzan thought of the October retreat. It's filmed on the last day.

14.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 12 Anja Many teachers have taught at Darwin Yoga Space and gone. Anja has come and stayed earning the title of the most experienced DYS teacher by far. ... She has been with us for 20 out of our 25 years of existence, starting classes in 2000, teacher training in 2006 and got her certification in 2010. She first started yoga to help with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, it worked and the rest is history. Anja trained as a physiotherapist in Germany before love brought her to Australia. Her qualifications were not recognised here and she shifted into advocacy work which she excels at, including advocating for people with disabilities and now working for the Down Syndrome Association. She also gets involved in community groups as a volunteer when she can. Anja is a woman of many talents who has built some of her furniture, is a deeply loyal friend. She is the life of the party and would not miss a social event for anything. She adores camping with her family and friends in remote locations (often), is second to none when it comes to organising birthday parties and German gatherings, including nothing less than a typical German Christmas market at the Darwin ice rink that will be on in a few weeks -no kidding. Anja has been helping DYS hugely behind the scene for many years (till she ‘retired’ recently) especially in the Forward Planning and Rostering departments. Oh and she is not a bad shopper either. Ask her where you can find anything in Darwin: she knows! She was our ‘shopping officer’ for a while, finding things from bathroom mirrors, to rubbish bins and glasses and cups and many such indispensable items. Anja is married to Michael (thanks Michael!) and a very devoted mum of two gorgeous girls.

14.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Rami A Hindu priest was introduced to me by a friend who lives in Sydney. Rami is fully versed in all to do with yoga history and philosophy and vedic rituals. His grasp of Sanskrit is second to none. He is also an expert in the Bhagavad Gita. But what is exceptional about him is that Rami is a middle aged Australian man, a down to earth, colourful Aussie man and he uses the Australian colourful language to describe these ancient eastern philosophical conc...epts. At the beginning of 2001 we had just moved Darwin Yoga Space to its new (current) premises and I was hoping to have space blessed but by who? Back then I was spending some time meditating at the Buddhist temple but I was hoping to ask someone from the Hindu tradition -which yoga stems from- to bless the space. And that’s when I met Rami. So I asked him to come and do a blessing ceremony (a puja) for us and I was over the moon when he accepted. We spent that day gathering what he needed for the ritual, things like fresh frangipani flowers, camphor, matches and candles, a fresh coconut, water and a few more bits and pieces. The rest he had brought from Sydney. It was a truly magical evening. The ritual was quite involved and Rami translated and explained what he was doing every single step of the way to small crowd of keen and curious teachers and students. Before he left town I invited him to teach workshops at DYS to share with us the fundamentals of yoga philosophy to help us understand better our asanas practice in its philosophical context. He came in 2008 and 2009 to teach us about the yoga sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita, the mind and the nature of Reality from a yogic perspective. And he taught the kids too. His depth of knowledge and wit, his extraordinary gifts as a teacher and orator delighted and inspired us all. And of course these teachings remain within us. Up to this day, I think that Darwin Yoga Space’s strong healing energy has got something to do Rami’s blessing ceremony.

13.01.2022 Try yoga Tomorrow For Free 9.30-10.30amTry yoga Tomorrow For Free 9.30-10.30am

10.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 16 The new building... Very few students would know that our current location was just dirt until our studios were built. We had been operating from a tiny shed on Aralia street for five years when a dedicated student (Phil) spotted this new opportunity for us. Caryota Court didn’t even exist back then. There was only a small dirt road (I think it was a dirt road) leading to the current swimming pool next door which was hosting a nursery back then. I’d agreed to get one of the warehouses for the yoga school. The year was 2000 and it was a pretty big deal to undertake this project, keeping an eye on the building process and pray all along that it would all work out. DYS was the first business to occupy the complex which was the only complex on the whole of Caryota Court at the time. I was a bit shocked when I came one morning and saw that the walls had been painted a screaming bright yellow, but it turned out to be a very good thing as it caught the eye of people driving on Dick Ward Drive. There was nothing between Dick Ward Drive and us at the time. In fact I remember being so pleased to see and hear a lot of magpie geese in the empty block next door in November/December. The construction seemed to take forever. And then it was the time to make decision about fans, light fittings, bathroom fittings and flooring. The project was completed in December 2000 and when the owner told me I couldn’t move in yet because the paper work would only be completed by mid-January (I was not ‘au fait’ about these things back then), I looked at him and said: ‘But this can’t be! I need to have access to the place to do my practice, start moving props and teach an End of Year workshop at the end of December!!! By then Mirto and Caroline had become friends and they said: ‘OK then. You can move in’. During that End of Year workshop one of the students was pregnant. She went to the bathroom, came out, and said to me: ‘my waters broke’!. I didn’t even know what that meant at the timehahaha.. She actually finished the class and I stayed at the studio for a while. On my way home I drove by her house to check on her. She was young and didn’t have much support. Her labour was quite advanced by then so I accompanied her to the hospital and ended up assisting her with the birth.But that’s another story.

10.01.2022 Just got this from Will who is holidaying in WA..... looks like he might be having a beer on the porch thinking it would be such a nice spot to do yoga

09.01.2022 Her is our own Kelly who will give birth in the next couple of weeks. We can’t wait to welcome a little baby into our Darwin Yoga Space community.

07.01.2022 Tuesday Teachers Practice

07.01.2022 INTERESTED IN YOGA? Come to our Free Trial Class* on Sunday 10th January, 9:30-10:30am to see how yoga can work for you. Our next 6 week Beginner Course starts on Tuesday 19th January, and it’s our last Buy One, Get One Free to celebrate our 25th Birthday in 2020.... #darwinyogaspace #darwinyoga #yogaaustralia #yogaschool #iyengaryoga #yoga #yogaeveryday #yogadaily #yogajourney #yogapractice #yogaforlife #yogaflow #yogafun #darwin #darwinnt #ilovedarwin *for people new to Darwin Yoga Space

07.01.2022 HAOm! HAOm! HAOm! The shop is packed to the rafters. Because yoga props make great Christmas presents. To give. Or receive.... Thanks Christine for ordering, unpacking, displaying.

07.01.2022 Our full timetable is back on. Pranayam class is tomorrow Thursday 6.15am.Our full timetable is back on. Pranayam class is tomorrow Thursday 6.15am.

07.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 15 Pregnant women... Everyone know I love kids. I actually love them from the time they come as one with their mum. I love teaching pregnant women. Pregnant women move slowly and carefully. They are gentle with themselves.They have their wellbeing at heart for the sake of their unborn babies. Teaching pregnant women gave me the opportunity to bathe in their soft, nurturing, peaceful bubble. And gave me a chance to witness the extraordinary power and adaptability of the female body. These photos convey exactly this: the power of the human body in its full glory and the spirits that live in them! Pregnant women have taught me how to offer them individual assistance, whether they had a lot of yoga experience or none, strong bodies or not. Some women can have a lot of different symptoms like diastasis recti, fluid retention, varicose veins symphysis pubis dysfunction and thankfully Mr Iyengar has taught us how to deal with these situations. And of course every woman in a prenatal class is at a different stage of their pregnancy and it's a pleasure to guide them through these different stages. After I taught pregnant women for a while Anja took the mantle and I know she enjoyed it as much as I have. She was quite disappointed that we couldn’t start the class again after covid. You can say that our prenatal class has sustained covid collateral damage and hopefully we can start it again in the future. In the meantime pregnant women can attend our regular classes as we know very well how to modify the asanas for them. The photos are of a few students who attended prenatal classes over the last 25 years. Some are of Kate Anja, Domonique and Kelly (all teachers who have used yoga during their pregnancies). It’s always been such a pleasure to welcome a new baby into our DYS family and we are about a week away from welcoming our latest, Kelly's baby.

07.01.2022 Tomorrow is the last day to send us your testimonial video clips. The prizes will be drawn at noon on Monday.Tomorrow is the last day to send us your testimonial video clips. The prizes will be drawn at noon on Monday.

06.01.2022 Took a night off teaching tonight. I think my second since March. Who doesn't love a Darwin sunset on the foreshore?

06.01.2022 Darwin Yoga Space is a sanctuary. Thanks Cherie for this beautiful testimonial.

06.01.2022 Try yoga for free This Sunday 9.30-10.30amTry yoga for free This Sunday 9.30-10.30am

05.01.2022 Story 7 This image is SO Darwin! It deserves a showing on its own because I love this photo which was taken at the end of one of the first Iyengar Yoga workshops in Darwin. On top of being in love with yoga I had just fallen in love with Darwin and the photo represent so many things that people love about Darwin. ... The ‘city’ has modernised a lot since the 90’s to the chagrin of many. But it hasn’t lost much of its community spirit (1-3 degree of separation between people I reckon) and the feeling that there is enough for everyone. We don’t need to fight over things like jobs and space and not even toilet paper in dire times. We feel closed to each other. Many of us still love Darwin because it is so unpretentious. The place and its people are down to earth and not hung up on social class structure in general too much. We are not fussed and don’t mind getting dirty and love our four wheel drive utes for what they were designed for: to go out bush. So here we are, in 1996 or 7, after Peter Thomson’s workshop (he is leaning against the wall). Rian who’s ute it was is holding the sign. And Phil is there leaning against the bonnet. Phil was a student who believed in Yoga and the good it could bring the community. He was instrumental in getting us moving from Aralia street to our current stunning studios. He crushed the numbers for me and assured me with beaming confidence: ‘You can do it’! We are in the dirt car park outside our little yoga shed in Aralia street. The exuberance is palpable! That’s because not everyone has the interest aka financial incentive (and it’s got no glamour) in coming to Darwin to teach us, play music for us, dance for us. So when someone comes we tend to appreciate it more. I couldn’t believe my luck to be hosting such a workshop, to share this amazing gift that is Iyengar yoga with ‘so many people’ and that Peter Thomson would come for actually such a small group of people. Everyone was so happy!

04.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 6 This is where it all started in 1995. A small shed in Aralia street next to the supermarket. ... We shared the space with Shauna who was teaching kids to dance. We had very different needs, sense of aesthetics and cleaning standard but we made it work. The yoga classes had been started by Emmanuelle Decoust, a real character with the best sense of humour known to man. She just handed her classes to me in the hope I would set up a school so she could learn from a certified iyengar teacher. The floor was half concrete and half black rubber until we got enough savings to put in a plywood floor. I am forever grateful to a hand full of women I had just met through Emmanuelle who helped me in every way they could: cleaning the space (thanks Nicky Fearn and Therese Ritchie), putting up a shelf for Patanjali and Mr Iyengar (thanks Judith), finding a second hand mirror for the bathroom (thanks Lisa Patamisi), running around with me finding whatever I needed (thanks Rian Rombouts) and much more. 25 years of friendships and counting.

03.01.2022 25 years/25 stories Story 14 Christine... Christine started yoga at DYS in about 1998 when we were still in Aralia street. As it is the case for many students, yoga was an on again/off again affair for her. She came back to yoga ears later, after the birth of her daughter and started teacher training in 2015. Christine says through her on and off years she always carried a deep respect for the Art of Yoga and its ability to inspire and nurture her holistically. During her teacher training years Christine would tell anyone that she did not intended to teach, let alone go for her teaching exam. She never missed an occasion to remind me that she was doing Teacher Training just to learn more about yoga and deepen her practice, not for teaching. And as it turns out, of course, this approach is the best way to become a very good teacher and she did get her certification in 2019. Christine is very dedicated to her family (a partner and a now pre-teen daughter Ruby) and teaching on weekends is off limit if she can avoid it and she is not available early mornings as she looks after Ruby’s two ponies until Ruby is old enough to take care of them by herself. But apart from that, she is right there and ready to contribute to DYS and support me and the other teachers any time and in any way that she can. Christine looks after the yoga shop and our candles and incense supply amongst other things. She is the one who prepares dozens of incense bundles that we give away to students at the end of each year, no matter how much I insist that we all chip in with that, she insists on doing it by herself. In her other life Christine is an exceptional masseuse, a true healer who taps into the energetic aspect of things. She has the knack for tuning into her clients’ physical, emotional and spiritual needs and for knowing how to respond to these needs, a quality that she also brings to her yoga teaching. She says that she teaches ‘just because yoga feeds her so much and she enjoys planting the seed of yoga in other people’.

03.01.2022 Darwin Yoga Space's teachers taught Jackie how manage her back injury. wow!

01.01.2022 Laura has been coming to Darwin Yoga Space for nearly two years and is very steady in her attendance.

01.01.2022 I truly believe we would have a healthy society if more Men Do Yoga! Tell your.... Brother Partner... Son Father Mate It’s not just a women’s activity - Joel Selwood, Geelong Cats Captain.