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Tiffanie

I remember the first time I came here, my first lesson. At the time, I had been living in Japan for maybe seven years, and in Japan everything is a little lower than it is in France. When I was cooking, my back started to bend a little. In Japan I was straight, I had good posture, but in Japan, slowly, slowly, I started to bend a little, and it was very heavy in my shoulders.

After my first lesson, I was surprised because I felt very light. All the heavy feeling that I had on my shoulders just disappeared, and I felt that it was easy for me to just keep my back straight. That was the most impressive thing for me—all the heaviness was gone.

First, my body was becoming stronger. I started to develop muscle and flexibility, so I got more confidence in my body, in how to use it and how to control it. I was always carrying a heavy bag on my shoulders and it was difficult for me to be straight, so my shoulders were like this. But after practicing, my body became more straight and in line.

Every time I finish, I’m very awake and happy and released from all the stress that I had. Usually I take lessons after work, but when I take a lesson in the morning, I’m ready—in good shape for the whole day. I feel good for the whole day. When it’s after work, I’m tired from all the work and this all disappears. I can go back home and relax better than when I just go home directly from work.

When I tried yoga before, first of all, I felt that the teacher didn’t correct me. When I want to do something, I like to do it properly. I want the teacher to correct me to be sure that I’m doing the right pose, because if I spend half an hour or one hour doing something wrong, it’s not meaningful to me.

First of all, they didn’t really correct me, and it was very slow. I wanted something I could focus on, and for me, focus is also connected with using my body. Just doing the same pose and keeping it is sometimes good, but when it’s only this, for me it was a little boring.

Now with Yoga Jaya, I always feel that I’m very concentrated on what I’m doing, and I know that the teacher will correct me—every little detail that’s not correct—to help me keep the good pose. That’s what I like. When I want to do something, I like to do it properly, because if I spend half an hour or one hour doing something wrong, it’s not meaningful to me. Focus is also connected with using my body.

All the teachers are really looking at all the students and correcting everything. Usually when you have one teacher for all the students, it’s difficult to correct everyone, but I know that they will correct me properly. If I compare with all the other teachers that I was in contact with, I feel that I have more of the teacher’s attention.

When the teacher demonstrates, in other types of sports, even if the teacher is demonstrating something, it’s not very detailed. When the teacher in yoga demonstrates the form, they explain exactly what they are thinking and all the details—like, “Here I’m doing this and this and this”—to help us understand the form better. It’s the focus on us and also the detailed explanation that I really like.

In the masterclasses or the transition classes, we can ask all the questions that we want. When I have just a regular lesson, I can ask the teacher after, but I don’t remember what I felt at the moment. With the masterclass or transition class, we focus on one position very in detail, and if I have a question or feeling at the time, I can ask directly. That’s very helpful.

We work fully on the strength of the body and the flexibility and the awareness of the body—the lines, the gridlines. In my body, I feel light and feeling good.

I came free for a week and I felt my body totally changing. I felt that I was making progress in all the different lessons. Even from Foundation to Strategy, you can feel the difference between just twice a week to three or four times a week in the body. I can feel more strength and better understanding of the forms and the lessons, and I was feeling better.

This focuses on the flexibility, the strength of the body, and the awareness of the body—the lines and how to distribute the strength in the whole body. The thing that I like is that my whole body is working at the same time, because when you go to the gym, you focus on only this spot or this spot.