Ashtanga Yoga Sternschanze With Inke Shenar

Inke lives what she teaches. Heart, soul, spirit and body are beautifully inspired, nourished and seen. Thank you, Inke ❤

I had my first Ashtanga class with Inke almost 10 years ago. So when I moved back from Frankfurt to Hamburg, her studio was naturally my first choice. In my former shala I was used to a very dedicated and dynamic Mysore atmosphere. One of my friends would call it full power. I would say traditional and full power. 🙂 I love this way of practicing and I felt like I will find this at this shala. Instead I found something else. I found a very grounding atmosphere with room for individuality. You may call it luna. At first I was startled because I wanted a solar atmosphere for this solar practice. Now, I can see the benefits. One of my teachers told me “Yoga is about nurturing your relationship to yourself”. I feel like Inke provides the required space for that. You just need to use it. 🙂

A super beautiful school in the heart of Hamburg with a relaxed atmosphere, where I feel well taken care of and professionally cared for. Sometimes it can get a bit fuller and warmer, but for that exercise almost feels like in India 🙂

In my 7 years of practicing yoga I have come across different teachers, styles, practice and teaching methods so I learned to stay open and to actively listen to fully comprehend the purpose of the practice. The Inke Shenar class started without the teacher who was being late but that was fine since her assistant was there to take over until she arrived. She gave me some breathing techniques which was also fine and apparently in Ashtanga Mysore everybody does their thing and there is no sort of group synchronization. Everybody was sweating and breathing vigorously in the studio which did not fit the amount of people. So naturally the windows were closed at all times which made them sweaty and the air warm and humid. I was instructed to do sun salutations over and over again which made the practice boring and even though the teacher was in the room I did not feel her presence. Maybe I shouldn't go too much into detail since I want to forget about this experience but I want to warn people who are considering signing up. That woman is a bully and a greedy capitalist, the reason for teaching is not so much to help people improve but to get their money and that really hurts. It started by her asking me to pay for a trial week where I didn't enjoy the class so I would not want to do it again but I would pay for this one class as it is fair. She wanted me to pay and as the quarrel advanced her price started going down. In the end I paid for a class as much as I pay for a month at another general yoga class. I never wish to encounter such studios again but unfortunately they exist and their purpose is clashing with the general attitude of yoga such as empathy, kindness, humility and so on. I never in my life have left a yoga studio in tears, feeling harassed and humiliated. SOME ARE IN JUST FOR THE MONEY FOLKS!

Competent and dedicated instructor, pleasant atmosphere. Highly recommendable for practicing the traditional ashtanga vinyasa yoga style.