Living Your Moksha - Week 5 - Outreach

We asked our Moksha Yoga Orleans community what the sixth pillar, Outreach, means to you. Here's what you had to say!

Reach out to someone in need. 

Ask someone how their day is. 

Do something that is out of your comfort zone.

Reach out to someone you wouldn't usually reach out to.

Take action on something you've been putting off.

Failure = opportunity.

Smile to a stranger. 

Help someone before being asked. 

Look further than your life...imagine others'.

Open your mind and heart. 

What is Sangha?

Sangha is a community of people that comes together to support one another in their practice. Moksha Yoga Orleans is special because when you come in, the person greeting you is your teacher. Now that I have been practicing for a few months, when I walk into the studio, I always see someone I know. I recently realized that since I’ve joined this studio, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I am part of a community.

I often come to class early so that I can sit, enjoy some herbal tea, and chat with the teachers. I truly value the fifteen minutes that I spend before class sipping my tea while listening to the buzz around me.

The yoga is amazing and the community, the sangha, is warm and supportive. We are all there for the same love of yoga. Even if you don’t really know someone, you will often receive a kind word of support in the change room because the members of the studio are eager to support each other in their practice.

It’s wonder to practice in such an environment. Sangha support and renewed connection to others is one of the most important reasons I love Moksha yoga so much!

Some of the Moksha Yoga Orleans' sangha! Photo by Alex Mattar

Sangha Support - Flash Mob & Picnic

Today is the last chance to sign up to partake in this super fun crazy exhilarating event while building community and awareness! The only thing you have to do is sign up at the reception desk and show up for 4 minutes of YOGA on a certain day at a certain place to be announced.....


After the flash mob, the whole Moksha Yoga Orleans community is invited to Petrie Island for a pot-luck picnic in support of our sangha! We'll be there from 2-5pm. Please bring your own re-usable utensils and plates. We can't wait to see you there! 

SOAR BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

SOAR BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT: JUNE 9th

Moksha Yoga Orleans is proud to be putting a team together to partake in the SOAR (Support Orleans Area Rotary) volleyball tournament on June 9th at Petrie Island.  Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. If you are interested in playing, come and see us at the front desk.

Yoga on the Hill - with RENEE!!

Come one! Come all!

Join Renee and Lululemon for an all levels yoga class on Parliament Hill. Rain or shine we'll be there. Bring your mat, water and smiles! 

This community building event is F-R-E-E and will continue every Wednesday at 12pm throughout the summer. Come for the experience and show your support. 

Can't wait to see you on the mat!


Sign up on Facebook!

Living Your Moksha - Week 4 - Sangha Support

Thank you for sharing what Sangha Support means to you, our Moksha community!

Helping friends, family and neighbours.

Putting time aside for someone even though work is busy.

Volunteer. 

Join Moksha Yoga's Flash Mob.

Call your mother. 

Support each other's goal. 

Eat at least one meal together each week without the TV on.

Appreciate your support system. 

Always take the opportunity to tell your family you love them. 

How is Moksha Yoga Orleans green?

As you know, it is the “Live Green” week of the Living Your Moksha challenge! As this is one of the 7 pillars of Moksha yoga, we thought we would share with you how we have incorporated this pillar into our studio!

Pre-existing Features
The space that we chose was an accounting firm prior to our arrival. We used most of the doors from the existing space.

Reclaimed Wood
When you come into the studio, you will undoubtedly notice all of the beautiful wood. This is all reclaimed wood from Renee’s father’s property near Mont Tremblant.  A mini tornado knocked down 125 acres of trees which we sas salvaged and dried, kilned and milled in order to use in the studio.  This includes the benches, the hallway wall, baseboards and chairs.

Cork and Concrete Floors
The floors in the practice rooms are cork. Many chiropractors and other health practitioners know cork as a flooring alternative for those with low back pain (think Birkenstock-floor!). It is comfortable and healthy to stand on. Also, because it is harvested from the exterior of a living tree, cork contains natural anti-microbes that prevent bacteria from entering the floor. From an environmental perspective, cork is a sustainable product as cork trees continue living and producing after the product is harvested. Cork tree protection is highly legislated in Portugal, where we order the product from, allowing some trees to live well past a century.

The floors outside the practice space are made simply of concrete, which means less consumerism on our part and cleaner air!!

Low VOC Paint
Most paints contain VOC's (volatile organic compounds), which once in the atmosphere, react with other chemicals to form ozone, a major component of pollution. Even paints that start out VOC free take on some VOCs when colorant is added. The paint used by Moksha Yoga studios is completely VOC free, including all colorants. Since much of a Moksha class is focused on breathing, this choice is also optimal from a health perspective.

Energy Saving Appliances
Our washer is a front loader built for low water consumption. It uses less than one third the water of a regular washer its size and we use less than half the soap of a regular washing machine.  Our dryer is also highly energy efficient and we even compost the  “fluff”!


Enviro Cleaning Products
As with all Moksha studios, we use Benefect for all of the studio cleaning. The products are hypo-allergenic (contain no perfumes, dyes, formaldehyde preservatives, ammonia or other common allergens). They are plant-based and thus can biodegrade very efficiently. They also do not off-gas preventing the inhalation of the chemicals released from standard household cleaners.

To keep the rental mats clean we use Benefect, a disinfectant made of plant products such as Thyme, Clove and Lemongrass. It naturally accelerates the germ-killing processes within plants; similar to our immune system. Benefect is certified by Health Canada as an 'anti-fungal' agent, proven to kill over 99.99% of bacteria, mold and mildew using aroma-therapeutic biodegradable plant extracts. It is strong enough to use in hospitals and safe enough to drink! Benefect will also be used for some cleaning.

Filtered Water System
Water filters are placed on taps to provide clean and pure drinking water. The Ametek Carbon filtration system filters out chemicals such as chlorine, lead and other dissolved heavy metals, rust particles, sediment, silt, as well as other VOC's and pesticides.  We encourage all our students to bring their own water bottles - in fact, we only sell glass bottles. No plastic bottles here!

Heating System
The studio uses Radiant Heating Panels that were designed by the Environmental Protection Agency for Energy Efficiency. The panels can be used in homes or commercial environments and can often cut energy consumption (or costs) whether gas or electric by up to 40%.

Healthy Choices, Green Choices

When the Dalai Lama came to Ottawa, he stressed the importance of protecting our environment. In some Zen Buddhist prayers said before eating, a commitment is made to stop global warming. Governments worldwide are starting to recognize the damage that we've done to our planet and are taking steps to try to reverse the effects of exploitation.

What are we doing to help our planet?

In Moksha Yoga, one of our 7 pillars is "live green" and limit our impact on the earth. There are many ways we can do this ranging from a changing a small daily habit to major lifestyle changes.

I find that in coming to yoga, I feel healthier. After an hour of breathing deeply and becoming more in tune with my body, I don’t have any desire to turn to junk food to satisfy my hunger. Junk food, with its packaging and processing, also has a much larger impact on the environment than an apple from a local orchard or local freshly baked bread.

When we feel healthy, we make healthier choices. Doing yoga makes me feel healthier which in turn leads me to make choices that are friendlier for the environment. 

We're on YouTube!!!

Come in for a virtual tour of the studio! Video courtesy of Shop St. Joseph!

Living Your Moksha - Week 3 - Live Green!

Here is what living green means to the Moksha Yoga Orleans community!

Compost more.

3 minute showers.

Reduce consumerism - buy less. 

RRR (reduce, reuse, recycle).

Shop at local markets.

Don't have long distance relationships. 

Hit the lights. 

Walk or bike instead of driving.

If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.

Grow your own veggies. 

Organic everything.

Learn to understand nature.

J'utilise des sacs re-utilisables pour mes emplaintes.

Teach your children to be kind to the earth.

Opening your heart

This weekend I attended a Mindfulness retreat. This is something that is completely new to me and before December, when I first starting practicing Moksha Yoga, would have been a bit beyond my comfort level.

After practicing mindful movement for a few months at Moksha Yoga Orleans, and inspired by their view of practicing yoga in all aspects of life, I decided to explore meditation and bring mindfulness off the mat.  Through this exploration, I found a local sangha which gave me the opportunity to pursue these two very complementary practices.

This journey has also brought me to wonderfully inspiring and positive people. I am full of gratitude for the joy that they have brought into my life.

For the last day of “Be Accessible”, I thought it pertinent to share how my practice with the studio has empowered me to become more accessible to the greater community. 

LYM Week Two at Moksha Yoga Orleans

What does “Be Accessible” mean to Moksha Yoga Orleans?

It means that when you walk into the studio, you will be greeted by your teacher. If you’ve been to our classes before, you’ll even be greeted by name! The teacher is always available before and after class for any burning questions that you may have. Want help with a pose? Have an old running injury that keeps flaring up? Feeling a little more internal than usual - or maybe you have extra energy to burn! Let your teacher know and she’ll give you tips and pointers to get the most out of your class.

Moksha Yoga was designed to be accessible to anyone and everyone. No matter what your background - yoga or otherwise! - we want Moksha Yoga Orleans your yoga home. So, come on in, and tell us how you’re feeling. Have some tea, and do some yoga!!

How have I done to “Be Accessible” this week?

This week all yoga challengers can bring a friend for free! I invited a co-worker to come to class with me to share the joy that yoga brings me. Also, with this being a particularly demanding work week, I was “accessible” to myself by making the time for my yoga class. Taking 60 minutes out of the day to breathe and be one with my body can counteract the hustle and bustle of the week and bring me back to calmer mind and a gentler spirit. 

Bring Mom in For FREE Yoga!

There will be 2 FREE gifts for Mom this Mother's day. Absolutely ALL Moms get a free class on Mother's Day. Make sure to come in early to reserve your spot! And....are you curious as to the second gift? :)

Come in to Moksha Yoga Orleans and find out!

Living Your Moksha - Week 2 - Be Accessible!

What does "Be Accessible" mean to our Moksha Yoga Orleans community?

Be open to new possibilities. 

Don't be a fair weather friend. 

Be genuine and easy to talk to, especially with your kids. 

Show your humanity by showing your vulnerability. 

Listen. 

Let people into your life and open yourself to others. 

Walk with a smile. 

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. 

Let new people into your life. 

Empathy for others. 

Live life in a broad sense - not just about yourself. 

Share an energy of love, tolerance and acceptance for what is. 

When one door closes, another one always opens. Just make sure 

that you don't get stuck in that closed door.

Friday Night Out at Moksha Yoga Orleans!

Are you looking for a fun Friday night out close to home? Have a group of friends, but can’t figure out what to do? Want to have fun and build up positive karma in your life?

Come join us at Moksha Yoga Orleans for charity yoga! Every Friday night from 8-9pm we have a charity yoga class - it’s a traditional Moksha Yoga class.  Minimum donation of $6, some people donate $8, sometimes $10.  All of the proceeds from these class go to various local charities. For the next seven weeks for Living You Moksha, May 1st to June 18th, proceeds are going to www.freethechildren.com

These classes provide accessibility for our community.  It’s also great for those coming for the first time. You can try a class and at the same time know that you are contributing to helping those in need!

Why do we do this? Moksha Yoga is founded on seven pillars, one of them is “Reach Out.” It is  important to us to support our community and one of the ways we do this is by offering classes by donation. Each year Moksha studios worldwide raise $400,000 and growing!!

No registration required.  We look forward to seeing you on Friday night!  

Living Your Moksha - Week One - Be Healthy!

Have you seen the Living Your Moksha signs around the studio? The check list near the change rooms. Have you checked out the website (livingyourmoksha.ca), but still aren’t quite sure what the challenge involves?

On Thursday, we kicked off the challenge with a meeting of some of the LYM challengers. We discussed how we are approaching this exciting challenge and some of the steps we have taken already.

Moksha Yoga is based on seven pillars.  The idea of the challenge is to take one of the pillars off the mat for a week. Seven pillars, seven weeks. Each day, do something that embodies the pillar of the week. The first week is Be Healthy.

Each challenger had their own take on this week’s pillar and it was interesting to see the different interpretations of Be Healthy. Some of us wanted to focus on developing more healthy eating habits, while others hoped to say good-bye to some less healthy habits.

We also discussed how being healthy is not always about what we put into our bodies, but also about how we view the world around us. Putting out positive vibes makes us happier and that leads to a healthier lifestyle.

Check in each week to see which pillar we’re focusing on - don’t be shy! Share your ideas with us and the rest of the Moksha Yoga Orleans community! 

Be Healthy - Your Take!

Before the Living Your Moksha challenge started, we collected your thoughts on each of the seven pillars. Here the first pillar, "Be Healthy" means to your, our Moksha Yoga Orleans community.

Heal yourself with good energy.

Balance life and work = mental health.

Eating right.

Eat slower and chew my food.

Be truthful and live what I feel is right.

Eat fresh fruits as much as possible.

Take time to be yourself. 

Be active everyday.

Love and nurture your mind, body and spirit. 

Sing every day and nourish your soul.

Eat real food and exercise as much as I want. 

Practice Moksha as much as I can. 

Be interested in everything and everyone. 

Self love. 

Be healthy. Namaste!

Living Your Moksha - Moksha/Yin & Be Healthy!

Living Your Moksha kicked off yesterday with a fabulous new addition to the schedule! Moksha/Yin is a combination of a Moksha flow class and a yin class. From the Moksha Yoga Orleans website:

This class will blend an invigorating and strengthening flow from the standing sequence of the Moksha series, followed by a gentle, restorative, and relaxing stretch. Yin postures focus on long holds, which stretch beyond the muscle fibre into the denser connective tissues of ligaments, tendons and fascia. This class is a perfect way to wind down your day. Suitable for all levels. 

In honour of the first week’s pillar, Be Healthy, I tried this class. In fact, I was so excited, I kept thinking about it during the day and I was not disappointed! The flow was a perfect pace, and the yin was a welcome respite after working through the flow. And of course, the class finished off with Edith’s beautiful voice. It was the perfect way to kick off this challenge.

As the first week is Be Healthy, we’d love to hear what some of your challenges are for the first pillar of Living Your Moksha. We’re super excited to see so many people signed up for the challenge and can’t wait to help you bring your yoga practice off the mat! Share your Be Healthy goals with us in the comments or on our Facebook wall!

Living Your Moksha - Week 1 - Be Healthy

The Pillar of focus this week is "Be Healthy".
If you haven't signed up yet, you can at www.livingyourmoksha.ca
If you have any questions please call us at the studio at 613-424-8221.

We can't wait to see you!

Compassionate Practice

Today I went to see His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, speak. It was my second opportunity to be in the presence of such a great man and once again, his words moved me many times during the hour and a half that he spoke.

After his talk, there was a Q&A session with the final question on the nature of compassion; can compassion be learned or must we be born with it? The answer was this: we are born with the ability to have compassion for those who surround us with affection, those whom we love and those who love us.

Going beyond our circle, particularly for those who may wish to harm us or those who wish to harm others, compassion must be learned. Practiced. This type of compassion can take a lifetime to develop.

At the beginning of each Moksha yoga class, we are asked to set an intention for the class. Sometimes this intention is to stay with the breath, for example. For your next class, I invite you to set an intention of compassion - for yourself. Because compassion for ourselves, while seemingly self-centered, is absolutely essential for creating compassion for others.

The next time you look in the mirror during eagle pose and feel the judging mind about to critique your stance, smile and thank yourself for coming to class in the first place. Thank yourself for making the time to nurture your body and soul and for understanding that you are worth it and you deserve that attention. Once this base of compassion towards yourself is solid, you will feel yourself opening up to others.

Namaste.