Welcome to Practice Ashtanga Yoga in English

January 2023 beginners courses and weekly classes open for registrations:
Courses for new beginners
Courses for intermediate beginners
Guided classes: led beginners and beginners mysore practice

What is Ashtanga yoga

Ashtanga yoga is a physical form of yoga also known as Ashtanga Vinyasa that develops concentration, self-awareness, balance and posture, strength and mobility. It is also an universal and comprehensive system of self-development and life philosophy based on age-old experiential wisdom.

Although Ashtanga yoga originates in India and has parallels with the teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism, it is not an Indian religion.

What we will offer to you

The teachers of Ashtanga Yoga School of Helsinki have a long personal experience of practicing and teaching yoga. Based on this experiential knowledge we understand that everyone is different and yoga exercises should be adapted to individual needs. That’s why it’s safe to start practicing yoga with us. Our teaching is encouraging and we support you both in your progress on the path of yoga and in life’s challenges.

What you will learn

  • deep yoga breathing called ujjayi that effectively warms the body
  • the use of body-centered eye focus points, or drishtis
  • training of the body’s core muscle locks, i.e. bandhas, starting from the very basics
  • synchronized combinations of breath and movements, i.e. vinyasas
  • a versatile set of traditional Ashtanga yoga postures i.e. asanas suitable for beginners
  • developing a self-directed yoga practice alongside guided beginner classes

What benefits to expect

  • deep yoga breathing effectively warms the body
  • prolonged equalized breathing balances the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
  • maintaining body-centered eye focus improves self-awareness and develops presence and concentration
  • combining breath and movement makes the yoga practice more effective
  • practicing yoga postures from easier forms towards more demanding ones makes training easier and reduces the risk of injury
  • series of yoga poses help to remember and internalize the exercise
  • practicing at your own pace turns yoga into movement meditation
  • and enables personal teaching in a group class called Ashtanga mysore

Special features of Ashtanga Yoga

In Ashtanga, posture practice is done by lengthening and intensifying the usual breathing (deep breathing). The series of movements or vinyasas belonging to each yoga position are done with the rhythm of deep breathing. This exercise method develops the body’s internal heat, which raises sweat, accelerates metabolism, cleanses the nervous and circulatory systems, and improves the functioning of the digestive system. Ashtanga’s exercise is also effective in its demandingness – in just a few months you can notice improvements in your strength and mobility.

In the long run, one of the goals in Ashtanga yoga is to internalize and remember one’s own yoga practice so that one can do the practice on one’s own initiative and independently. The repeated sets of poses distinguish Ashtanga yoga from most other types of yoga, where the yoga poses vary from exercise to exercise, which is why they are always done only as guided classes. However, in Ashtanga the series of yoga poses help to remember and internalize the exercise. When the practice sequences begins to be memorized, you can participate in Ashstanga yoga mysore classes. There you do your yoga practice at your own pace with the teacher assisting the practice. Then your yoga practice transforms naturally into moving meditation.

How to start practicing Ashtanga Yoga

Come along to the beginner’s course. In the course you will learn the basics, techniques and exercises of ashtanga yoga. After the course, you can participate in weekly classes. Ashtanga’s weekly classes are divided into level groups: at first, we practice with the basics in New beginners classes. You can move from the new beginners level to the next, beginners 1/2 level at your own pace, as the elementary exercise of your level begins to flow and feel familiar, and when you would like to learn new posture exercises. When you are more familiar with your beginners sequence you may attend the beginners Mysore classes.

What is Mysore practice

Mysore practice is a traditional practice method of astanga yoga. In Ashtanga yoga, one of the goals is to remember and internalize yoga poses and sequences so that one can practice them on one’s own independently. Self-paced training is supported by astanga yoga’s set series of postures. This distinguishes astanga yoga from most other types of yoga, where the yoga positions vary from class to class and classes are always guided and demonstrated by the teacher, who thus hardly has time to give personal guidance. In Mysore classes students are practicing one’s yoga series at the pace of one’s own breathing, while the teacher assists students in their poses individually according to the need and situation.

Who can attend Mysore classes

Mysore classes can be attended by yoga practitioners of all levels who can practice their sequence of yoga poses on their own. Ashtanga yoga course for beginners is recommended as a minimum requirement. In Mysore classes, each student progresses at one’s own pace. New yoga poses are taught gradually, when the former poses can be practiced as a continuous flow of breath and poses, and the practice does not feel too strenuous.

The Mysore class does not require advanced level experience or skills. In Mysore classes teaching can be assisting or instructing the posture, so that the student gets a better feeling for how the posture practice could be developed or deepened. You should always ask the teacher for advice on the training that suits you. It is also good to tell about any pains or ailments so that they can be taken into account in the exercise.

Guided Ashtanga classes in English

Courses for new and intermediate beginners

Ashtanga yoga courses for beginners are held at all our locations. There are courses primarily on weekday evenings at Annankatu location. In the course we will practice sun salutations, standing series balance positions, seated series forward bends and hip openings as well as restorative final movements and relaxation. In connection with these, we do various exercises, the purpose of which is to develop and strengthen breathing and the body, control of muscle locks, push-ups, downward facing dog, etc.

The three most important goals of our courses for beginners are:
1) Detailed instruction on the basics of Ashtanga yoga and the things to be aware of to gain the benefits of yoga.
2) Practical instructions for starting safe yoga practice on dynamic movements, or vinyasas, as well as the various yoga postures. 
3) Providing good skills for participating both led vinyasa and mysore style classes.

How to book and pay

Can’t book a course? See the instructions below or send us your course registration with a booking form.

You can first buy a course card from the Price List below and then register for the course. When you register for the course, the course registration window opens, where you can see your own course or credit card under My passes: by clicking on that card, you confirm your registration for the course.
Alternatively, you can buy a course card directly upon registration; see below for instructions on how to purchase a course card when booking.

To speed up course check-in at the yoga hall, we recommend to pay the course by your payment card in advance when registering for the course.
If you have sports benefits available, see the instructions below how you can pay for the course with them.
You can also pay for the course by bank transfer from your own online bank: you can see the details of the Yoga School’s payment account on the course Invoice. Bank transfer does not automatically acknowledge the course payment, but send a receipt/photo of the payment by email to info@astanga.fi and we will acknowledge the course as paid.

How to book, step-by-step guide

  1. First, create your own account in the reservation system. We recommend downloading the Helsinki Astanga Yoga School App. The same reservation ID is used in the app and on the astangajooga.fi website. Remember to log in to the app (Log in) in the Member role. Managing course reservations and canceling classes is easiest through the App.
  2. Book yourself a course card or a package. It takes place in the yoga school’s online store, either via the website or the App. You can pay for the course immediately or later. See below for more information on buying a course card and paying with your eployee provided exercise benefits.
  3. Register for the course with the Book button. If you have a course pass, it is shown under My passes, confirm your registration with the relevant course pass. If you don’t have a course pass yet, you can choose it at this point from the English Course Passes menu.

Our booking application makes using the booking system easy

Download the Helsingin Astanga Yogakoulu app to your phone or tablet from iStore or Google Play. The same reservation ID is used in the app and on the astangajooga.fi website. Remember to log in to the app (Log in) in the Member role. The app is faster to use than through a browser.

The app makes it convenient to book courses (Workshops in the top menu) and classes (Schedule menu in the app) and, if necessary, cancel class reservations (My Bookings).

  • If you haven’t used our Bsport-based reservation system before, do a Sign up in the App and then before the first login to your account reset the password (Forgot password) so that you can set your own password.
  • Log in to the app in the Member role (Teacher view appears empty).
  • The Workshops view that opens on the app’s front page is a course menu from which you can watch a presentation of a specific course, and at the end of the presentation, upcoming course dates are displayed, from which you can choose a course that suits you.
  • Remember to cancel the booking of a class or course in time (at least 2 hours before the start of the class) so that the credits of the booking are returned to your account for booking another class.
  • You can check the validity and monitor the usage of your class or course pass under Studio / My passes.
  • You can also buy new yoga passes in the studio section.

Option: purchase of a course pass when booking the course

If you do not yet have a valid course pass, you can purchase it during registration as follows:

Open the price list by clicking on ”English Course passes” and you will see the course passes suitable for this course and their prices.

Tip: click on the link text ”See more” below the course cards to see all price options. Choose the package you want and proceed to the registration confirmation by clicking the ”Book” button.

Note: choose the course pass corresponding to your own pricing group (regular or discounted price). See the next topic below.

Important: set the correct pricing group information in your booking account

If you create a username when purchasing a course ticket or registering for a course, remember to choose the right price group information for you: Normal price or one of the discount groups (discount price against a certificate, bring the certificate to the course)

• for those under 18 years of age
• for students
• for those on maternity or nursing leave
• for the unemployed
• for pensioners
• for conscripts and civil servants
• For HUS employees
• For members of the Actors’ Union

Tip: You can download a certificate from a discount group or a student card, e.g. as a jpg image, to the information of your booking account.

Paying for the course with employer provided sports benefits

If you have sports benefits Smartum, Virike, ePassi, EazyBreak, Edenred (sports vouchers, payment card or application), you can choose Pay later / On-Site Payment as the payment method.

You can pay the course fee or part of it to the Astanga Yoga School in Helsinki (a free amount of your choice) with the sports benefit application.

After that, send the payment receipt by email to info@astanga.fi, and we will credit the sports balance to the course payment, because the sports  balance payment is not entered into our reservation system automatically.

Payment with sports vouchers at the course location.

Course and class pass prices

Passes and credits Regular price Discount groups
New beginner’s course 8x60min (80 credits) 112 € BUY 102 € BUY
Intermediate beginner’s course 8x75min (80 credits) 123 € BUY 112 € BUY
New beginner’s course 6x60min (60 credits) 92 € BUY 81 € BUY
Intermediate beginner’s course 6x75min (60 credits) 102 € BUY 92 € BUY
Class pass 10x (100 credits) 145 € BUY 124 € BUY
Class pass 20x (200 credits) 249 € BUY 219 € BUY
Eligible for the discount price group with a certificate (shown in the course): under 18 yrs, students, those on parental or care leave, unemployed, pensioners, military or civil service. The validity of the class pass starts after the course from the first weekly class you attend. 10x and 20x class passes are valid for 6 months and compatible for all 60-90 min weekly classes. The validity period of the passes can be extended if necessary for an additional fee. Class passes are now credits: 1 drop in class 10 credits, 5 classes 50 credits, 10 classes 100 credits. Number of credits charged for each class is shown in the class title at the class schedule.

Upcoming courses for new and intermediate beginners

Note: There might be several different types of courses in the list, so it’s worth scrolling down to see all the options.