First Light Yoga is an early-morning yoga program in Vancouver, BC, running classes 5 days a week. We teach our members a personalized self-practice and empower them to evolve at their own pace.
We practice yoga as a dynamic, meditative, morning self-care routine. It enhances our daily lives and fosters a greater sense of interconnectivity.
Our teaching is guided by the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga method, which we apply as a model, not a strict dogma. We value independence within the structure of a system.
We are located at Bridge & Enrich Lives Society ("BE"), a warm and welcoming sanctuary on Fraser Street. “BE” is home to practitioners from various interest groups, all sharing a space with the common objective: to enrich lives.
Geoff Mackenzie has been practicing yoga for over 20 years. He began teaching classes in 2004. His guidance is informed by his extensive studies with the Jois family in Mysore, India, combined with input from innovative Western practitioners. Modern approaches to strength, mobility and breath-work training feature in his own practice too.
Geoff is a reliable, steady presence in the classroom. You can count on him to apply the Ashtanga Vinyasa method in a way that will challenge you, while still respecting where you’re starting from and what your intentions are. Ultimately, he wants you to breathe well, move well and to focus your mind on what you’re doing.
Geoff was born and raised in the UK. After spending his late-teens and twenties snowboarding and surfing around the world, he has made Coastal BC his home since 2003. One of his greatest passions is motorcycling and he finds riding to be both exhilarating and meditative, simultaneously.
Doors open 5:45am
Latest start time is 7:15am
Class ends at 8:15am
*Every Friday*
Experienced Students Only
Students without prior experience of the method are invited to BOOK A FREE ORIENTATION, where you can come watch the class in action and ask any questions that arise.
Need-based sliding scale fee options are available. Please inquire directly with Geoff.
Please BOOK A FREE ORIENTATION before enrolling for the Full Intro Course
Saturdays: January 27, February 24, March 30
7:00 – 8:45am
These workshops will walk you through the basics of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and lay the foundation for building a longer personal routine, step by step, at your own pace.
In 2017, as part of the ongoing #MeToo movement, the role of hands-on assists in the yoga room came into serious question in the Ashtanga Yoga community worldwide.
This was due to revelations of historical sexual abuse, under the guise of hands-on assists, inflicted by the late K.Patthabi Jois on some of his students.
Jois, who died in 2009, was the foremost modern authority and proponent of the “Ashtanga Vinyasa” method. From the 1970’s, hundreds of dedicated students from all over the world travelled to his yogashala in Mysore, India, to study with him every year. Some of these students received his blessing to teach in their home countries.
While many Ashtanga practitioners under Jois were oblivious to his abuses, to others it was an open secret, even something to joke about. Worse still, incidents involving female students were actively covered up and denied on numerous occasions by Jois’ senior students.
Even now, the Ashtanga Community worldwide continues to wrestle with these revelations.
My response has been to foster an increased sense of safety and a stronger culture of consent in my yoga room. I value the use of hands-on assists in class, but I also understand that they are not appropriate at all times for all students.
As such, I insist on the use of “Consent Cards” by all students. They are a simple, silent indicator by which the student can tell me, non-verbally, at any given time, that they would prefer to be left alone.
In addition to that, even if their card indicates that assistance is welcome, I consistently ask for permission to provide my hands-on support; especially when the student is in a vulnerable posture and may not even see or hear me approach them.
I have also made myself available to discuss any of the above matters and to assure students that they are in charge of their bodies and their practice - not me. If you have any more questions about any of the above, please feel free to ask me.
Geoff
Women are advised to rest from vigorous vinyasa practice for the first three days of their menstrual cycle, but are of course free to do as they feel. Grounding, restorative asana forms can be recommended if preferred. Please ask for more details.
The Full and New Moon days each month are taken as extra rest days. They are the peak and trough, respectively, of a natural monthly cycle. Just like the oceans, human beings are watery bodies affected strongly by the pull of the Moon’s gravity. By resting on these days we avoid the hazards inherent in doing a strong practice at these extreme ends of the cycle.
Join us for a no-pressure 45 min orientation visit and see if First Light Yoga is the right fit for you.
Join us for a no-pressure 45 min orientation visit and see if First Light Yoga is the right fit for you.
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