Improvers › Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Mimi Kuo-Deemer

In Tibetan, there’s a mantra known as Om mani padme Om, or Hail the jewel in the lotus heart. The mantra suggests that through our practices, we can begin to polish a jewel that resides inside the lotus petals of our heart. When this polished jewel begins to reflect radiant light in all directions, we begin to awaken our innate qualities of wisdom and compassion. This mindfully paced gentle practice will integrate vinyasa yoga, qigong and mindfulness practices that can help the jewel of our lotus heart shine.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

The Buddha emphsised using right effort in our actions and intentions in meditation and life. This practice looks at how we can approach strength building practices, especially in the legs, using right effort so that we create more space for awareness and less reactivity. We’ll also explore the idea in qigong of using intention, not force – or yong yi, buyong l – and apply it through a blend of yoga and qigong forms to explore how we can harmonise effort and ease.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Feel centred, grounded and start to fine tune your awareness with this gentle and beautiful fusion of yoga, qigong and mindfulness class with a focus on twists and forward folds. With a gentle start, working with mindful movement, this is a practice exploring how we might work with twists as a way to discover greater ease and space in our physical, mental and emotional experience of being human. With twists, we are invited to curve our awareness inward and we grant ourselves space to learn to respond to whatever experiences arise. From this, we allow ourselves time to build better resources to meet the business of our outward lives.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

This well-rounded full body stretch, gentle yoga class has a focus on luscious side bends. Side bends are a fabulous way to move the whole body. They help open space in the lungs and respiratory muscles but are also highly therapeutic for the spine, back, and core. When these areas are less tense and more free, maybe you might feel that you can slide into that precious soft side of life. Although the class is gentle, you may find the moves tough!

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Take a short break from studies or your work. Much of our body’s tension is muscular, but actually, what the muscles and our body crave when we feel tight is deep, satisfying breaths.This short practice releases tension by focusing on exhaling fully and uses Burmese qigong, chest and shoulder openings and forward folds to calm and sooth the mind. Perfect for taking a break to release tension during the day, but also great after a hard day's work. Clothing by Rumi X.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

In doing yoga, we can learn from the Buddha’s wisdom of working with right effort. This practice will look at how we can move through a practice and learn to identify when we’re putting in healthy effort, or when our effort feels a bit more like a struggle! There will be some strong arm balances like one-legged crow (eka pada galavasana) where we can play our edge, but also moments of surrender. Hope you enjoy it.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A beautiful flow to open the heart, warm the back and still the mind. In the Yoga Sutra, the busy mind is described as quieting down through a number of ways: lengthening the breath, concentration on objects, or on experiences in deep sleep or dream states. It is also suggested that the mind can be quieted by concentration on the ever-present source of light that is believed to dwell inside the human heart. This light grows brighter when we do practices – like polishing a jewel that begins to shine and reflects the light all around it. We’ll look at ways to work with sunlight and moonlight in this fluid vinyasa-based sequence, and help awaken the source of light within each of us.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Featuring moon rather than sun salutes, this more nourishing practice is a beautifully nurturing slow flow and a nourishing sequence for the heart and soul. Great for when your body needs a little extra support, but you'd like to keep your movement practice. The human heart circulates the most oxygen rich supply of blood to itself first before it moves it out to the rest of the body. As humans we can also learn to care for our own bodies and experience, and use this care as a springboard to cultivate greater care for others and the world. “It is not arrogant or egotistical to feel good inside. You had nothing to do with it. It's simply the honest response to clearly perceived Reality.” – Erich Schiffmann

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Hanumanasana is a challenging pose – it’s the “splits” – but named after the monkey king Hanuman, who in one giant leap stretched across the continent of India to help save his Lord Rama’s wife, Sita. His act is one of devotion. When we practice Hanumanasana, it can feel really challenging, but if we consider what makes us act in the service of our highest self, or our volition in life – like Hanuman’s devotion and love inspired him to take that immortalized leap – the pose can perhaps be understood in a new light. In this practice we’ll look at Hanumanasana and consider the ways in which can embrace its difficulty with skill and insight.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A short sequence that will leave you refreshed and energised. Includes twists, stretches, side plank for strengthening and backbends to open your heart and help you look forward.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

This qigong flow practice starts with some warmups for the joints, cultivation of qi between the hands, and then moves into what we think of as “water salutations” – fluid movements that feel like the equivalent of yoga’s sun salutations. It’s a practice that warms the body, actively stimulates, guides and moves the qi, and helps to quiet the mind. Enjoy!

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A gentle sequence with no standing poses, perfect for when you want to feel close to the earth. You'll find a little bit of everything including hip openers, twists, ham string stretches and back bends.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

Yoga and QiGong for kindling the inner fire. Movement and circulation for warming the body in the cooler months. With Sun Salutations and twists for firing the spirit up. This class will do the trick for any time you feel like you need a little extra fire in your life and is perfect for morning time.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A steady, calm but strengthening class with a focus on standing poses and keeping fluidity through the movements. This class is perfect if you have shoulder or wrist issues and you want to keep your fluid practice going, but with no vinyasa. Feel grounded and steady in this beautiful, mindful movement practice.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A little bit of everything in this delicious fluid flow to get you steady and grounded in the morning. Gather qualities of clarity and calm for your day ahead with hip openers, shoulder openers and sun salutations all at a steady, mindful pace.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

A grounded, slow vinyasa which has some surprising challenges as well as a little qi-gong, for extra centering. This is an amazing class for those times when you need to just 'check in' with yourself - and from a rooted centre, you can grow wings to fly up to half-moon pose, crow and twist away your day. A very cleansing and calming class, although you will be asked to pay attention to your alignment as you fly!

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

This mindfully-paced most-levels vinyasa class is great for sorting yourself out and stretching out to start your day at the beginning of the day. This class includes gentle stretches, sun saltutes, standing poses, hip openers, forward bends, a bit of everything to stretch out in the morning.

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Mimi Kuo-Deemer

The third part of the immune series focuses upon internal cleansing. This class uses gentle movements, breath practices (pranayama), some QiGong as well as twists in order to give the body a deep cleanse. This class truly takes yoga as a purification practice to it's full meaning.

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