ATHA YOGA – now yoga
by Isabella Welsch

Athayoga is much more than a practice confined to the yoga-mat at home or in a yoga studio. Athayoga is a spiritual lifestyle, which supports you to deepen your awareness and sensitivity and to live in a more harmonious and connected state.

The unique approach of Athayoga by Isabella Welsch is an energetically balanced blend of Hatha- and Flow-Yoga:
Isabella Welsch, yoga-teacher, yoga book author and psychotherapist in Austria and Spain, developed Athayoga in around 30 years of experience with different yoga-schools. You will partly recognize the yoga-styles that influenced the creation of Athayoga, such as Iyengar-Yoga, Ashtanga-Vinyasa-Yoga, Yoga of Energy (by Boris Tatzky), Kripalu-Yoga, Shadow-Yoga, Kalari-Yoga and Kundalini-Yoga (by Dhirendra Brahmachari), but Athayoga is more than a fusion of these styles.

Athayoga is fully rooted in the indian system of the 5 elements and suits all constitutions:
After having studied closely the old texts of yoga, Isabella Welsch found a modern way of interpreting the old Indian system of the 5 elements. The sequencing of Athayoga is based on the 5 elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and space. The well balanced use of the energies of all elements within these series harmonizes the flow of energy in the organism, no matter which constitution.

Athayoga series are flexible:
The Athayoga series can be adapted according to your capacities and needs. You are shown dynamic as well as static variations of many postures and you will learn how, when and why to apply them and – very important – how to enjoy them!

The length of maintaining a posture and the numbers of repetitions are also individual and you can choose the level of acrobacy according to your own physiological and psychological structure. The form of each posture is adapted individually and Yoga-props can be used if necessary. Variety of breathing techniques and the bandhas (energetic locks) are practiced.

On the Athayoga workshops and retreats we practice on an intermediate level. You can often chose between more simple and more challenging variations. It is always a plus to gain some Yoga-experience before attending a workshop and practice more intensely.

Athayoga meditations combine eastern wisdom with western psychology:
In our Athayoga meditations on the elements, the chakras and the bhavanas (spiritual feelings as described in the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali) you will experience, how Yoga, buddhistic meditation and western psychotherapeutic methods are essentially one and flow together in full harmony.

Athayoga is not dogmatic:

Best of all: Athayoga is a non-dogmatic approach to Yoga. It is simply a tool, a concept that shows you how to understand and integrate the many – sometimes also seemingly contradictory – experiences that you can make on your vast journey of understanding yoga with different teachers and styles.