Jonathan,
wow you're good. I feel great. I've been "unwinding" thrice daily and it's already making a huge difference in my back pain, posture and breathing. Excellent stuff.
Jennifer

Hi Jon,
Thank you very much for the session yesterday, it was a simply natural
conclusion to the four workshops. It was a pleasure to run them all with
you! ;-)
I'm currently making notes about daily practice and looking forward to
further exploration with you.
Justin


I hope you will be pleased to know that I am trying to imprint the concepts of back heart, skin/diaphragm and front heart into my mind and body! I thought that was a very clear/helpful way of teaching the movements yesterday and my limbs are certainly feeling worked today. Which is a nice feeling!
Thanks again.
Sheri


Jonathan - just wanted to say thanks to you and Liz for the help and
attention that you both gave me in last nights class (I am the pregnant
one!) - I totally didn't expect it - & I found it really useful and
learnt a lot!

I cant tell you enough how much I am enjoying your classes - I feel such
a sense of release following the class (the best way I can describe it!)
and really light and happy - It is great!
I am looking forward to continuing as close as possible to my due date.

See you on Saturday.
Cass


"I have lots of qualifications to print after my name, but they carry a great responsibility. Teaching mind and body disciplines, like Pilates and yoga, has kept me young but I have nearly two decades of experience behind me.

We live in a world of suffering and injustice, as well as beauty and happiness, and yet the world was created with the innocence of a child and should be a place where the real Self can be expressed, and where belief can be pure. Man is made by his belief! This is what I encourage in my students of all religions and cultures - belief in themselves - and my words and actions come with my help on a mechanical and anatomical level - as the body is the vessel of the soul and we need to look after it. The aim is to make their suffering not an obstacle to happiness but the instrument for the appreciation of the Self from where the healing process can spontaneously begin!

My mission in life is to liberate my students from pain and suffering, allow them to discover their real Self and as free as possible from physical limitations, lifted by the compassionate energy within which will never vanish even with the destruction of the temporary matter of the body. Powerful words! I did not feel this way before I met Jonathan Monks, and my qualifications were simply window dressing backed up by vast knowledge- nothing compared to the reality of self discovery and the acceptance of true consciousness – the missing link I have now found, proving Desikashar right –"yoga exists in the world because everything is linked".

Many times in my practice I felt only movement. I did not know the teacher within myself, who I have now discovered. This is what every yogi needs to find. Conventional "Teacher Training" allows us to become qualified, shows us how to teach, but does it really reveal the teacher within us? After having trained with dozens of famous and advanced teachers, it took Jonathan Monks to find the teacher in me, to allow me to see things differently, and to understand and analyse the facts.

Jonathan is like a monk and spends hours in painful physical and mental self inquest. He is arguably the most talented yoga practitioner in the UK. His practice translates into physical strength, but his true strength is the understanding of the creative space within all of us, and the ability to let you find and release it with a gentle touch, a calming voice, and a caring smile. All you need to do is to practice with an open heart and open mind, and you will find that you can begin on an infinite journey.
Jonathan cares about all his students and is modest and respectful, and he will have my devotion and respect long into the future.

I am always grateful to and devoted to the many teachers who have helped me along the path to find peace, taught me so much and offered me the opportunity and knowledge to bring balance to mind and body for myself, and then for my students and patients. I thank them because they paved the way for me and prepared me to meet my master Jonathan Monks.

So whether you are beginner, or a "true yogi" with no expectation or judgment, go to Jonathan's classes and let the "magic" begin. Remember the funky pose you will find yourself doing is not the highlight of the class, but it is the "action -v- non action" underneath and outside the body which will switch on a new universe made of space and freedom of movement and thinking. I hope that you can find what I found, and I urge you to make the effort."
Dr Elena Voyce RYT 200, E-RYT, RYT 500, REPs Level 3, Pilates Foundation Comprehensive Teacher, Shiva Rea Assistant.

Dear Jonathan,
It's Camille here: I was in your workshop on Sunday, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your approach, and was glad to be able to get a glance at your work and feel things I hadn't really felt before (First time I felt space in a cobra for example!!!). I also wanted to tell you that this notion of space made it very easy for me to be in touch with my practice on a deep level, which is quite difficult for me at this time where my body has lost all its strength and most of its internal connections... I am connected outwards towards my baby but not much else!
With Gratitude,
Camille xx
Co- Artistic Director Indian Runner Production
Artistic Collaborator Out Of Inc

Thank you for yesterday's workshop! It was really interesting and I am sorry that I had to leave half way through. Fortunately, as chance would have it, my class on sunday is probably going to be moving to a new time of 5pm which means I should be able to stay for the whole of the next one.

It was so interesting and useful to go over the front heart and back heart energetics. Also the flowing of energy through form will definitely help. Over the past year I occasionally feel a spaciousness, emptiness, nothingness... like I don't really know who I am.... which is not condusive to operating and living in the world and a little scary... so the idea of the front heart, of being in the form and allowing energy to run through that, is good. Allowing energy to be within me and flow through me not to remove me....
Darya, Sept 2007

Masterclass testimonials

Sunday - the commonality of why we were all there - so there was a natural shift from being in a class of people to want to do a yoga class to being a group of people who felt something. We all felt it differently but we felt - principally before we wanted to yogically exercise as is often the case in a studio class. Also we are all Jon's students which is different to the workshops at the Light Centre -
For me, pulling everything apart so slowly and being able to question everything so intently without feeling you are interrupting a whole class situation is the best and easiest way to learn. And I think everybody else felt at ease with being able to ask questions at any and all the time! I think everybody was hungry for each others feedback.
Collette, from Masterclass

The mini-workshops embodied both the careful thought and planning that you would expect in a four hour yoga class with a spontaneity that gives the student the feeling that they too are discovering something right there - in the present moment, together. We went over and over routines, breaking down, having another go and eventually finding a flow. We made up routines together - like a group of art yogis in the middle of Plaistow - creating out of infinite possibilities, what we could do, discover, learn from this body we live inside. The space was small enough to keep the feeling intimate and special, yet there was always enough space - even when we expanded beyond our own boundaries into the collective space of experience.

The best part was savasana. If you're a seasoned yogi, you'll be thinking that's a very obvious thing to write - but savasana in Jon's class isn't about lying down and thinking of the gorgeous dinner he has prepared for us in the room next door... We stand. Feet apart, sinking. Spine in a blissful state of extended relaxation. Being. Alive. Whatever that is.
T.L Jackson, 2008

For me, a class which lasts for an hour and a half with Jonathan always flies by. I am always so immersed in what he’s teaching us, that it often seems that we’ve no sooner started than it’s time to take our 3 bows and leave – often with a thirst for more! The workshop was different. It was like a piece of music was being composed by Jonathan. As students, we were rehearsing gradually more and more of the piece of music until it sounded just perfect. That’s not to say that we had “perfected” the actual movements. By mindfully repeating the sequences and building upon them, we arrived at the end of four hours at very different place from where we started. This was a place where we’d absorbed what we were doing so completely, so fully, that it felt as though on some deep level we’d always known it.

The smaller number of students also meant that we had the luxury of more personal attention from Jonathan than is usually available to us in a larger class - that made a big difference to my ability to see, hear and understand what was being taught.
J.Lynch 2008

The workshops are a great addition to your class teaching and really help me understand your approach. For me the week-day classes are an intense experince of all the elements of your philosphy and techniques, which often leaves me with a slightligy frustrating but positive information overload.

By going into depth with one or two elements the master class allows enough time and personal attention to really understand and embrace each core element of your approach. I felt i came away with a 'yogamonks tool box' to start adding a few magic tricks in my own practice.

This has completely changed my experience of the weekday classes. I now use the classes to apply what i learned in the workshops and although the information still overloads, it feels like i've moved further after two workshops than i had in one year of just doing classes.

Also the declicious food at the end is a real treat. it is nice to sit down and talk about peoples experiences and get to know all the people i see every week but usually just have quick chat with.
A.Molhave 2008