Paola La Falce
My first encounter with yoga was about 28 years ago when I came to Paris to work for major record companies (promoting French artists abroad). Yoga soon became my tool to keep balanced in a very busy and hectic life.
I felt the urge to go deeper in the understanding of Yoga and in 1998 enrolled for a Teacher Training with the Sivananda School. Once back from the training I felt there was so much to learn that, while I was still working for Sony Music travelling around the world, I would never miss the opportunity of studying with all the inspiring teachers I would find in the countries I was travelling to.
Ashtanga and all the more dynamic styles of yoga appealed to me but I often felt that they took me into a ‘competitive zone’ which I was trying to master. Therefore, I softened my practice and was keen to understand the mechanics of the human body (thanks to Blandine Calais German for her inspiring anatomy classes) and also tried to understand the body on a more energetic level (thanks to Angela Farmer for her beautiful way of using Iyengar knowledge mixed with her ‘shamanic feminine’ way to better unfold into a living piece of art).
And then back to Ashtanga with a different approach. While exploring, testing, studying and practicing different styles of yoga I have enjoyed teaching corporate and private classes
.In 2010 I was very happy to go through an Ashtanga Teacher Training with Gerald and Linda and started teaching at Ashtanga Yoga Paris just after completing the course.
The Ashtanga classes at AYP, aim to give the tools to safely and joyfully start the journey into Ashtanga and get to the point where this demanding practice becomes like a moving meditation, when the sequence of well aligned postures feels effortless and the mind gets quiet and refined by the melody of the breath.
In soft vinyasa classes, I propose different ways to go through a well balanced and softer yoga practice if you do not feel like going into the more demanding Ashtanga but also if you want to explore other possibilities of sequencing your own yoga practice when you have less time.
Restorative classes aim to reconnect you with your capacity of opening up and receiving the effect of a total relaxed yet present mind and body’. This is obtained by using gravity and body weight on different supports while being guided into a very relaxed yet present state of mind. A perfect practice when you just feel like slowing down and balance a practice which gets too yang (meaning : extreme or over challenging ) or when the more physical practice seems inappropriate (moon days, injury recovery, pregnancy, burn out…).
Looking forward to accompany you into your yoga path.
Paola is also a registered Relax and Renew Teacher.