New Year and New Changes to 2018 classes!

Visit our Class page to see what's in store for 2018.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Seven Years!

I'm amazed that the Heart of the Village Yoga is coming to the end of its' seventh year. It seems very auspicious to me, as we quietly move along touching lives. Many people have made their way to our door and even though not everyone stays, most feel blessed or expanded in some way. 

The main style of yoga promoted in the studio is called Svaroopa, which means the "bliss or essential essence of your own being" and it can be felt in just a few breaths when we settle into the stillness that yoga can bring. 

Svaroopa is not an athletic style of yoga. It is a gentle, mindful style that leans in the direction of less is more. We spend more time in the pauses, so to speak, slowing down and allowing the body to shift and tap into its own healing source.

Svaroopa® Yoga is multi-dimensional healing. Your physical changes are profound and reliable, yet the inner transformation that gives you a new way of seeing is much more important. Your own life and the world begin to look perfect even though it is the same world that used to drive you crazy! 

The studio is happy to have other yoga styles taught as well: Hatha, Yin, Astanga and Somatics, with some very fine teachers. (Contact me to find out more info, if you'd like). We have a Meditation group as well. So we are filling out the space with a variety of energies. 

Last February I did a renovation to divide the studio into a Yoga side and a Therapy Treatment side.

David Hubenig and Marcia Moncur, Registered Massage Therapists, joined me and are doing their magic on the Therapy side. To book with them, visit: heartofthevillagemassagetherapy.com. We also have some great counsellors working there as well. 

I have upgraded my Zero Balancing skills and do Yoga Therapy and Embodyment® Therapy in the studio as well. Weekly Svaroopa® Yoga classes are ongoing. Check out the Class page on the website. 

Focus Magazine runs a bi-monthly ad for us. This month, it said: "A delightful yoga studio in the heart of Oak Bay". We specialize in gentle yoga for 50+ (but we love having younger folk as well. It is a yoga for those who appreciate a slower pace to settle into Svaroopa). All are welcome! 

So for now, thanks for reading and looking into the Heart of the Village Yoga Studio! 

Cheers,

Deborah - Director and CSY Teacher 

New Year, New Class Schedule!

Visit our Classes page for an updated 2017 schedule, which runs from January to June. 

Any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Welcome to Heart of the Village Massage Therapy!

We are Marcia Moncur and David Hubenig, two Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs), who have set up practice at Heart of the Village Yoga in Oak Bay Village. For your convenience, on-line booking is available or please call us at 250.508.5649.

David studied registered massage therapy at Algonquin Collage in Ottawa and Marcia took the RMT program at the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy (VCMT) in downtown Vancouver. 

After years of hands on practice, we have many skills to address a clients' treatment goals. From treatments to promote relaxation and decrease stress (relaxation massage) to those that target specific injuries and deep rooted tension in the body, headaches, jaw pain, prenatal massage, sports massage and more. 

We are passionate about yoga, nutrition, gentle activities to strengthen the body, meditation, breath work and more. We love sharing empowering tools to help clients find balance and stay on the wellness path. We love learning from you too!

We look forward to working with you and being part of your wellness team. 

Please contact us if you have any questions: 

• EMAIL: heartofthevillagermt@gmail.com
• PHONE: 250.508.5649
• WEBSITE: www.heartofthevillagemassagetherapy.com

Private Sessions Available with Deborah Moncur

Deborah, Director of Heart of the Village Yoga is also available for private sessions: yoga therapy, breathing and posture tutorials, zero balancing and Embodyment® (the hands on healing that comes form Svaroopa® Yoga). 

Some words from Deborah:

I have always had this longing to know myself...I suppose I started out early with the hard stuff-- loss, pain, fear and anxiety were regular companions. So I became a "seeker" in my early teenage years asking the question, "What is this life all about?", I just felt that there must be more to life than what I was currently seeing and feeling and I was already on empty. I did my share of trying to fill up this empty place in all kinds of ways, from church going, to relationships, to sex, drugs and rock and roll, it was the times as well, being the 60's. 
I think this a very important point for anyone to come to, to ask the right questions and then life has an amazing way of opening up the answers for you. My search brought me to the "knowing" that looking on the outside to fill myself up would never work, I just needed to stop and "be still", and look into my inner Self, and it was there that I found the peace and harmony that I had been looking for...a reliable benevolent radiant essence was present and it was me. All the qualities I was searching for were already there, ready to be unpacked!! This is yoga!
I thank all my teachers along the way. I appreciate all the workshops and trainings I have been to over the years starting with a most significant one when I was 18 years old, called an Art of Living Course. It lit meup and set me on a better course. Yoga has been called an Eight Limb Path, the first two limbs are called Yamas and Niyamas. Yama could be defined as how to live in harmony with others, Niyama, how to live in harmony with yourself. The Art of Living course put me in touch with these values so I guess I started doing yoga from then on. Shortly after I found a paperback book on Yoga and dove in, I loved the philosophy, and dabbled with the physical postures for a while. I was very drawn to sitting quietly in meditation. For years I would make myself a cup of tea and end up dropping into meditation, I learned to love drinking cold tea. I have discovered that there are really only two directions to go in life, one is based in love, the other is based in fear, I began to study myself and what drove me. 
My primary practice at the beginning was simply bringing myself to the present moment over and over, becoming aware of my self in that moment and what my crazy mind was doing. I learned to "hold steady" and to "breath" my way through the feelings and sensations that I experienced, through fear, anxiety, shame, joy; the list is endless! I didn't disappear or explode...I found there was something deeper than thoughts and emotions. I found a place or ground of being that I call "the essence of my own being". 
When we learn to live in connection to our Essence our lives make sense. Our lives can be wonderful and richly varied. We can truly be happy, grounded and optimistic. I did all the regular things, I worked, married (many years now to a great man) and raised two wonderful daughters. I love animals, art, music, books, gardening, travelling and feel awestruck about our beautiful planet. I was even athletic and enjoyed doing various sports, up until my mid-forties giving it up because I was collecting too many injuries, achey hips and shoulders and I suffered with migrane headaches from a neck injury. So I decided to try yoga postures again. My first real yoga teacher was Lynn Wylie, Lucky for Me! because what she taught me was to see the practice of yoga in a natural way, not forcing myself into a position but exploring it and finding space and ease. I began to learn how to undo the tensions deep in my own body, and my injuries melted away. My love for this practice inspired me to teach yoga to others, so I did my first yoga training in 2000 and have been teaching since then. It has been a wonderful journey and along the way I completed a Kripalu Yoga 500 hours Professional Level Yoga Teacher Training, and registered with the Yoga Alliance. I certified as a Reiki Master, and as a Zero Balancing® Practitioner and learned other styles of Body Work in my desire to understand and help people heal. 
When I discovered Svaroopa Yoga® I felt I really hit the jackpot. I saw the changes in my own body and decided to take on another training of 700 hours and Certified as a Registered Svaroopa® Yoga Teacher and Svaroopa®Yoga Embodyment Therapist. I continue to upgrade my training and studies each year. 
After teaching yoga in recreation centers, and private yoga studios for over 10 years, I decided to open a yoga studio in Oak Bay, Victoria, BC. The vision for "Heart of the Village Yoga" studio is that it can be a safe place where people can come and do yoga and find the "stillness" in themselves in the midst of their lives. My hope is that it feels like a home, a place to Breath, Relax and Replenish, to heal body, mind, heart and spirit. 
In love and blessing, Deborah

Meet Kathleen Kovach

Kathleen has been practicing various styles of yoga, energy practices and meditation for over 25 years. She became a certified yoga instructor to share her passion and interest. She has earned two certifications: Hatha Yoga and Svaroopa® Style Yoga.

Kathleen shares her experience and her joy of teaching at recreation centers, gyms, private studios and group facilities around Victoria. She truly believes that yoga is for everyone at every age and stage of their lives and offers classes that encourage students to develop and explore at their own pace.

Kathleen has taught special classes for kids and couples and continues to teach Hatha classes for beginners and advanced students. She also teaches Svaroopa® Style Yoga – a meditative style of yoga that relieves tensions and associated pains stored deep in the body. 

"Yoga is not about touching your toes but what you learn about yourself on the way down!" Mark Nepo