Vijñāna Yoga Studio

The Vijñāna Tradition Orit Sen-GuptaThe Vijñāna Yoga School was established by Orit Sen-Gupta in 2002 with a group of established teachers, who had been practising together with a focus on listening from the inside and working with the 7 Vital Principles. Orit Sen-Gupta has a yoga practice spanning 30 years. She studied Iyengar Yoga in Puna and worked with Pattabhi Jois (founder of the Ashtanga lineage) in Mysore in the 80s. She studied and taught alongside Dona Holleman for 12 years and together they wrote the highly-regarded yoga text Dancing the Body of Light. In searching for a way of moving the body as one un-fragmented unit, Orit developed an approach to teaching that gave less emphasis to the anatomical view of the body (which ‘looks’ from the outside) and more attention to adhering to the inner skeletal lines and using the 7 Vital Principles. The latter are not a set of complicated, minute instructions for each pose, but rather an overall philosophy of movement and action. They allow for a simple and precise approach to asana, as well as a way to guide our attitude in practice more generally. This, Orit feels, frees us to celebrate the pure joy of moving and being. Antonia has been practicing yoga for 16 years, and studying zen since 1996. She has trained and practiced with teachers in Australia, and Europe, and has taught locally and internationally. She encountered Vijñāna Yoga in late 2004, while she was completing her first teacher training with Paul Wooden, in Melbourne. She trained over three years with the founder of Vijñāna Yoga, Orit Sen-Gupta, in Germany, and received certification as a Vijñāna teacher in 2011. She continues to study with Orit each year, and was the English language editor for Orit’s 2012 publication, The Heart of Practice (Vijnana Books). Antonia has a PhD in writing, and is Senior Lecturer at Deakin University in writing and literature. Her scholarly work involves bringing French philosophy and practice into productive conversation with each other. Her approach to teaching yoga postures, breath and meditation is precise, steady, and sometimes irreverent. She encourages students to trust the strengthening and startling journey that practice can be, and to integrate this wisdom into their lives off the mat.