Teaching Yoga for Couples at a Spiritual Retreat near Philadelphia and Tantra in Pennsylvania
What Happens in Yoga Couples Classes
A lot of people ask how we decided to teach couples yoga. Actually it was because of my sweetie… my best friend, partner and hottie hellenic hubby.
I have been practicing yoga for over 15 years. When we first started to live together I used to practice to yoga DVDs in the living room. Occasionally he would practice with me but then he said once, ” I really want to do the poses where we are touching each other and helping each other get in the poses.”
So I started to research more couples and partner yoga poses. Most of the partner poses that were out there were fairly acrobatic, very challenging and demanding physically and there didn’t seem to be many poses that were geared towards people that were nonathletic and that didn’t want a Cirque Du Soleil audition.
I wanted to find a mix of poses that were silly, giggly, challenging, strengthening, bonding and once in a while a little scary (adrenaline can add really add some spice and passion to a relationship that is in a long rut) and where you could get that sense that you were beyond gravity in some of the poses. I bought tapes, DVDs, book, went to other partner yoga trainings and classes. I practiced the poses with other yoga teachers.
Almost every Friday night we teach couples yoga in Philadelphia.. in Manayunk, a hip, happening part of town and we teach them quarterly at Temenos in West Chester as a couples spiritual retreat as well.
Although it is work for us to promote the classes, set up, clean up, prepare and organize the classes, we mostly do it because the two of us get so much out of it. It has sort of become our date night although we are sharing it with other couples, most of which we have met for the first time.
At the beginning of class there is usually a mix of giddiness, anxiety, nervousness and excitement. I work with a lot of yoga newbies and people that do not have a regular exercise practice.
I never know what poses I am going to teach since I have to gage the ability of the group before I teach a pose. I’m not going to teach a bunch of crazy balancing poses to someone that just had hip replacement. I don’t want to teach a lot of weight-bearing poses, where one partner has to put all their weight on the other’s body if there is a big weight difference or especially if the woman is a lot heavier than the man.
If the couples are pretty athletic then I want to make sure the moves are fresh and challenging enough to keep it spicy so I’ll avoid the easier poses. If the group is really wound up and edgy, I’ll teach a fair amount of yin or restorative poses so they start to become more tranquil.
Teaching Couples Yoga
I also like to position students in class so that two dudes are not looking right at each other, I think men don’t want to appear vulnerable in front of other men so if they are not looking right at each other then it makes for less performance anxiety for the couples at a spiritual workshops or spiritual retreat.
Here is a list of some of the top things to do in the city of brotherly love. I’ve limited my list to thing that are wallet-friendly.
Take a massage class together. The Mt Airy Learning Tree probably has the most economical option. My sweetie and me did this last year and we left all mushy brain since we were so relaxed.
Grab a camera, charge the batteries, put on some nice clothes and ladies spend some time on hair and makeup and go to a beautiful place and take a bunch of pictures together. Don’t worry about asking someone to take pics of you guys. You can bring a tripod and have it go off on an automatic timer, you can grab the camera and stretch your arm out and do a self-portrait.
You can take turns taking pics of each other. Good times to take pics are around sunset, lighting is very flattering then. Mid-day the sun is at its brightest and will be a bit more harsh. Take a walk around Fairmount park or in front of the Art Museum. Best times of year to do this are spring when the flowers are blooming or fall when the leaves are brilliant and falling.
We are going to go to Longwood Gardens, Take a massage class, whale watching at the Jersey Shore, tubing in the river, go on a Winery Tour of Bucks County and even go to the Pennsylvania Ballet for at least 50% off. There are certain restrictions on when you can use these deals so just make sure and read all the terms of the deal noticing any dates you can’t use the the deal. Make sure to notice the expiration as well. I would check out some online reviews though yelp.com, citysearch or their google reviews before you buy as well.
Philly Date Ideas
If you have a Twitter account then I would set up an alert for something like “Stephen Starr Restaurant” if you really want to go to this restaurant but waiting to see if they offer a deal first. Often when these deal sites run their deals they will show up on all kind of social media, especially Twitter. Since no one could possibly read all their Twitter updates, I just set up alerts for certain terms like “yoga philly” or “yoga philadelphia” and Twialerts sends me updates when there is a post out there. So much easier to moniter it this way instead of having to do a search every day or go onto a bunch of different websites to see if there are deals that week.
Want some more recession-friendly date ideas in Philadelphia? I am actually originally from San Diego and had never been to Reading Terminal Market. I’ve never seen a market like this anywhere ( and I’ve traveled to over 30 countries) and was just astounded by the quality and variety.
Check out Meetup.com and do search for a hobby or topic that fancies you. Do you love dogs but can’t get one soon? A fun date would be to go to a dog meetup (I recommend the Pug Meetup) and you can watch the little rolly polly guys chase and frolic…. truly a delight!
One of the biggest reason marriages end in divorce is because couples fail to ask the big questions before they walk down the aisle.
One of my favorite questions is ” How do you think I act in a crisis situation?” A family member of mine, that had been divorced before, would not agree to marry his (now second wife) until he knew how she acted in a crisis situation. If he had asked that of his first wife, or just waited till they were in a crisis situation and seen what a vile lunatic she became, his life would have been mucho, mucho different since he would not have married her. He ended up with a lot of tumult and drama with her since she could not control her emotions when she got upset and got really out of control.
If couples simply spent some time asking each other the questions that really matter, they’d greatly increase their chances of staying together. The great thing about a “question book” is that it makes it easier to ask those uneasy questions and encourages an environment to address them.
But if this “1000 Questions For Couples” is a great list of 1000 questions to ask before marriage the right book for this? In short, yes. Most question books ‘beat around the bush,’ never really providing the important questions, and others simply don’t have enough questions. On the other hand, this book has a fairly comprehensive collection of questions, covering every single topic you’d ever want to know about before tying the knot. It includes tough subjects like money, children & child rearing, career, past and present relationships, religion, morals, convictions & beliefs, personality, and even sex.
RECOMMENDED BY MY PASTOR
“I read a statistic somewhere that if you go to pre-marital counseling before you get married it will cut down your probability of getting divorced by 75%.
I’m not sure if that is true but it certainly makes sense to have some sort of thorough discussion on all the vital topics before you say I do. I had asked my minister at church if he knew of any “tests” we should take before we get married to make sure we knew each other and he recommended this book with 1000 questions to ask my future hubby.
I must say that it was extremely thorough and asked quite a number of questions that I didn’t really feel comfortable answering but in the end drew me and my fiance really close together. Most questions were really fun to answer and I loved hearing my fiances answers – I learned a lot more about him than I thought I would. I definitely recommend this book.”
– T. Cat
But don’t get me wrong while there are many serious and tough topics to discuss, there are also many “lighter” yet just as important topics, including the car and driving, vacations, food & well being, pets, and your favorite things. That’s one thing I really loved about this book. It covered every conceivable topic from the super-heavy to the light-hearted and wacky, making it smoother for couples to start with easy questions and build their way up to important ones.
They make for great conversations starters…. ever feel like you have the same kind of conversation with your significant other every day? “How was your day at the office dear? …Oh…boring and mindless….how was yours.?” This book is a way to keep your conversations fresh and spicy and you will find out all kinds of things about your mate and get to know them on a very multi-faceted level.
It was cool to get 3 – 5 of the questions to my email each day, making everything automatic. I just go about my day and get new questions to ask my loved one, without having to really think about it. In all, there’s nothing really negative I can say about this book, except that I wish my family member would have read this before he got married….I’m sure he wishes that too….. divorce is so gut-wrenching…for the partners and the kids.
I highly recommend this book for everyone. NOT just couples who are thinking of getting married but also couples who just want to feel closer together, or people dating, who just want more things to talk about. For all the details check out the author’s site by clicking this link.
How did it go at our Couples Retreat.. NJ at the Evolve Yoga and Music Festival in New Jersey?
I don’t know if most people would think of the Evolve Music and Yoga Festival as a retreat but a few years ago, my newlywed hottie hellenic hubby and me decided to take a hippie-flavored Couples Retreat ..NJ. It was quite a long drive from Philly, we actually took a wrong turn and it took us about 30 minutes longer to get there. It was fairly loosey-goosey, which suited us just fine. When we got there there was a main music stage that had some pretty decent bands on there. We arrived during the day and there were lots of vendors selling things like raw, vegan, organic food, crystals, incense, clothing, jewelry and it was tough to resist buying lots of tempting stuff. There was also someone there that had a monarch butterfly tent and we got to play with the monarch butterflies at this couples retreat…NJ.
We went up the the yoga pavilion and every 1-2 hours there was a different kind of yoga being taught. I was most excited about the acrobatic yoga that was being taught. I’ve always loved acro yoga and found a studio in NYC that taught this on a regular basis. I am somewhat of an amateur with acro yoga.
It’s always been hard to find a yoga partner since they seem to come on two ends of the spectrum. the brand new beginner that I have to teach the basic moves to like folded leaf or the almost pro acro yogi who can fly people and toss them around on just their feet in the air like they are salad. It’s a lot easier to teach someone to be the flier and a lot harder to teach them how to be the base so when I am teaching someone I always end up basing them for awhile and that ends up hurting my knees if I do this for too long.
The last time I practiced with someone that is actually a professional acro yoga teacher then ended up dropping me on the ground ( fortunately it was the grass) but it was still a solid drop. So I had a quite large and quite painful and quite dark black and blue mark
So we didn’t end up doing too much acro yoga since I can only base someone for so long. Here are some pics though of when we did the acro yoga which is also called partner yoga.
I think we stayed through dinner time at the festival. It was starting to get chilly and we did bring some gear to keep warm but I was getting quite cold. We found a meditation tent and got to go into a sound bath filled with crystal chimes and zen bells. It really transported us…WOW!
At night, it was non-stop music that usually have a techno flavor to it. There were all kinds of bright lights, neon lights and fire spinning at the festival. I think the festival really heated up probably pretty late but since we had gotten to the festival so early in the day I had kind of had enough and was ready to just go to sleep at our hotel. Almost everyone else had camped out but we didn’t have our camping gear and we figured that by the time we bought all of our camping gear we could just get a cheap hotel room nearby ( although nearby ended up being about 45 minutes away).
The next day after our couples retreat..NJ we ended up going to a winery nearby called Warwick. They had the most yum-yum Rieslings there and we ended up buying a case of Riesling… I’ve never bought a case of wine in my life…
What a romantic weekend! What is your idea of a romantic weekend? Write your answers on our Facebook page.
What are ice-breaker questions and conversation topics for new engaged couples that they should ask each other?
After all the googley eyes, cooing, cudding, smooching, incessant texting did you ask more incisive questions about their beliefs, values about topics such as in-laws, finances, how to vacation, savings, thoughts about what religion to raise your kids, how to educate your kids and if you wanted to live in the city, the suburbs or the countryside?
You are probably aware that in many countries of the world engaged couples don’t really know each other before they get married. Well, that actually happens in every country.
Ice Breaker Questions and Conversation Topics for Engaged Couples
I’ve known men and women who “dated” for 6, 12 or even 24 months who were surprised at whom the person they married really was. A woman told me that after she was married for a couple of months, she found out her husband hated kids. A man wrote to me to say that he discovered several years into his marriage that his wife had been in prison.
Ice Breaker Questions and Conversation Topics for Engaged Couples
Other men and women have been shocked to learn what their mate thought about sex, religion, careers, household work, money and the future. In fact, many of these differences have led couples to divorce court.
I believe a lot less couples would get divorced (or even not marry each other in the first place) if they actually knew each other well enough before they got married by asking ice breaker questions and engaging in these personal conversation topics. Engaged couples could cut down on a lot of their clashes if they knew more about their mate’s thoughts, beliefs and emotions. The best way to get to really know someone is with ice breaker questions about their values, beliefs and lifestyle choices.
Whether you have been dating for 5 months or have been married for 500 months, you absolutely must know your beloved’s answers to these questions
You need to use a certain amount of wisdom with these 1,000 questions. Someone who has just begun dating shouldn’t accelerate the relationship by starting off with questions on marriage and sex. If you don’t think you and your partner are quite ready to commit to one another, it would be best to start off with the questions on personality, your past experiences, favorites and perhaps pets. The best relationships are built on a solid friendship, so first address the questions that will help build that base.
Some people will want to answer four or five ice breaker questions in a sitting. Others might like to spend several hours and answer 50 or more. Some people will want to put the questions in letters and mail them to each other on the same day so their answers don’t influence each other’s. Those with computers might find email to be a good way to get to know each other (and even keep the emails for future reference).
Do not avoid certain conversation topics just because you find them uncomfortable or even embarrassing. Break down that communication barrier and learn to talk about those issues with your partner. If someone is unwilling to talk about certain issues, it should throw up a flag for potential problems down the road.
If you don’t think a question applies to you, ask it anyway. Your partner might have some interesting thoughts on the matter. What are some of the probing questions for engaged couples that I really like? Out of the 1,000 questions just will give you a little taste.
Do you have a role model in your profession? What about them do you admire?
Do you screen phone calls before answering the phone? Can you let the phone ring during meals or when company is over or do you feel compelled to always answer it?
How long do you usually take to get ready in the morning?
Would you rather live modestly and retire modestly at 50, or would you rather live more extravagantly and retire modestly at 65?
If I were really bothered about you sharing our fights/disagreements with your friends and family, would you agree not to do it? Or would you agree to discuss it with them only if we couldn’t solve the problem on our own within a couple of days?
What are the pros for eloping? What are the cons? Does it sound appealing to you?
Are there any scents that turn you on?
1,000 Questions for Couples before saying ” I do”
Does a person’s sexual past matter if you really love them?
What do you think is the best way for couples to handle disagreements?
If the doctors detected that your unborn child had a severe birth defect and they could easily abort it, would you still have the baby?
Have you given any thought to how you would want to discipline your children during early childhood, adolescent years and the teen years?
What did your previous partners complain most about you?
Is there anything that you constantly worry about?
If someone tells you a juicy tidbit about a friend or coworker, do you have difficulty keeping it to yourself? Do you ever tell people they shouldn’t gossip?
If you were paid a salary to work for any one charity for an entire year, which charity would you choose?
Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be holding our yoga classes at Amrita in Fishtown near Center City. We are SO excited about this! We have held our classes in many different locations in the Philly metro area, mostly in Manayunk and in other areas as well such as King of Prussia, Havertown, West Chester and Ardmore. Without a doubt Amrita is the most stunning yoga studio I have ever been in ( and I have been in hundreds of yoga studios at this point…. maybe even over 1,000…. you don’t keep track anymore after a certain point.)
If the Four Seasons was designing a yoga studio it would look like this. If you have ever been in the Mandarin Oriental or the Setai in New York or Miami that is a bit of the feeling they are going for. Zen luxury.
Amrita Yoga and Wellness has been around almost four years in the hip and happening Fishtown. Right next to some outstanding eateries such as the Fette Sau and Frankford Hall . I also discovered they are right near Federal Donuts which has some of my favorite guilty pleasure food – fried chicken and donuts. On my way to Amrita today, I stumbled upon Federal Donuts and got the finger-licking spicy chili and garlic chicken and then the chocolate and sea salt donut. Not very yogic at all but a most yum-yum treat!
I’ve been to an aerial yoga class at Amrita earlier this year and was beyond impressed with the facilities, ( showers, changing rooms, cubbies to put your belonging in and shoes in) as well as the actual classroom set up which has water falls and fireplaces and stunning light fixtures that feel very romantic and ethereal. The room we will practice in has a key feature that is almost always missing – a fireplace! Actually there are two fireplaces!
Lighting is a very key thing in a couples yoga class. For daytime classes there are bright and airy skylights which give a heavenly feel to the room. At night the sconces on the side dim. Since you are sometimes lying on your back in a yoga class, you don’t want bright lights to blind you as you are attempting to find your inner bliss.
Since our couples yoga classes are the most popular in the Winter months, we will start up our couples yoga season in January with classes almost every Friday night until March. On Valentine’s Weekend we will have an extra Saturday night class as well.
Almost every Friday night we teach couples yoga in Philadelphia.. in Manayunk, a hip, happening part of town and we teach them quarterly at Temenos in West Chester as a couples spiritual retreat as well.
