ABOUT
ANCIENT INDUS PHILOSOHY THROUGH ART, MUSIC, RITUAL, WELLBEING AND ECOLOGY
Creating spaces dedicated to the integration of music, art, yoga, holistic health and consciousness. I create retreates, escapes and experiences for the spiritual journey of yoga across the globe. With the help of co-founder, Tunde Jegede, our aim is to create lasting impressions for the soul's memory. I believe that we all have a life mission, a purpose, a calling and that until we find it we are lost and searching for it. Each and every one of us is loved, cherished and special and have a valuable contribution to make to the world that only we can make. Learn to listen to the wisdom of the heart and let love guide you along the path of life. Listen and honour that quiet voice that speaks of life and healing. This will in turn lead you gently down the path of awakening to your life's true purpose. All you have to do is believe that you are worthy of it all and say yes. A calm mind, a flexible body and a courageous spirit are the result of many years of practice. They are yours if you choose to claim them by getting on your mat every day with sincerity, humility and devotion. You can be as strong as your spirit is bright. You can be as powerful as your heart is full of love. All you have to do is practice every day for many years.
KORA YOGA
Kora Yoga is a new yoga system bringing together music, movement and meditation. The system combines the unique music of the West African kora tradition with the timeless philosophies and movement practice of India and the East. Each class brings together 21 core poses that correlate with the 21 strings of the West African kora (harp-lute) using music for reflection, stillness, motivation and inner calm. Progressive and challenging sequences, accompanied by therapeutic soft tissue release in every savasana.
Kora Yoga binds breathing, balancing, spine strengthening and stamina building to give practitioners the chance to achieve the ultimate blend of strength and flexibility for body, mind and spirit. Ultimately leading to mind, body and breath connection. Based on classical hatha yoga, ashtanga yoga, kundalini yoga and sequenced in ways that adhere to ancient yogic principles as well as modern methods on attaining optimum results. Kora Yoga is a unique series of five different classes based on the same core poses and principles, but each with a different emphasis, duration, intensity and approach.
From the yoga reluctant, shy or the injured to the most ardent yogi practitioner, the five classes – Kriya, Classic, Core, Chakra and Kora Yoga are designed to be accessible and effective for everyone. The variety of classes gives practitioners different options to suit their experience, ability, schedule and mood whilst still working together as a whole. Show up to any class and you will still get the core poses leaving the session understanding more about what your body needs!
OUR STORY
Kora Yoga is a new system of 5 interconnected yoga classes brought to you by Sunara Begum, a practitioner and teacher of hatha yoga in Europe, Africa and Asia. The Kora Yoga system draws on classical yoga systems, such as ashtanga yoga, kundalini yoga, vinyasa flow and classical hatha sequences, but with new sequencing and modifications tailored to the needs of individual students.
The 5 classes are our opportunity to explore different ways to work in yoga and explore who we are. There is no one way. We are too complex. Our energy, moods and needs change every day. During class, strength, flexibility, power, surrender, softness, effort, focus, oblivion, difficulty, pleasure, intensity and ease all play together, one coming to the fore, then receding. Some classes or days are more one aspect than another, like a piece of music with different instruments taking the lead while the others support. So to truly practice yoga, we need different opportunities and different emphases to experience these different aspects of ourselves and allow yoga to strengthen and balance us completely. Practiced this way yoga gives us the tools for enormous growth, enjoyment and expression. To be stuck on the idea that yoga is just for the body is to miss a world of experience and pleasure, an opportunity to purify unprocessed emotions, burn off mental anxiety, or to enjoy the freedom of mindless pleasure.
SUNARA BEGUM
TUNDE JEGEDE
Sunara Begum is a certified yoga teacher, a lover of art, film, travel, design and the healing arts. Since her very first class she fell in love with yoga and has been practicing ever since. Having completed her 500 hour teaching training certification she is dedicated to continuing her yoga education. She practices several styles including Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yin and Restorative Yoga. She incorporates a mix of all styles in her classes helping to balance effort with ease, strengthening with stretching and breath with movement together in a fluid like flow. Sunara encourages students to find their own unique rhythm while synchronising the breath with motion in a moving meditation, helping to connect to that inner intuitive nature within us all that has the power to transform our lives.
Sunara’s journey into yoga began in January 2004 where she practiced her very first yoga class in London and this discovery ignited a fire to dwell deeper into other styles of yoga. Having come from a visual arts and performance background, she has always been interested in movement ofthe body in her films and was instantly intrigued with the flow of breath and focus points that yoga instills. Yoga has guided her by tearing through the years of layers that had barricaded her from discovering her true self. Sunara believes that all those layers were removed by doing one simple thing, which was to step on her mat regularly.
After several years of regular practice she embarked on the teacher-training programme with Patanjali Yoga Foundation in India. She hopes to connect with many students and spread the notion that yoga is not merely about touching your toes it is meditation in motion. It is about rehabilitating and being kind to yourself so you can be kind to others. It is about letting go of your fears that have paralysed you from achieving the impossible. It is about slowing down and recognising the beauty in the simplest things that you would normally dismiss. It is a connection and a union-ship with all things great and small.
Tunde Jegede is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound healer who is uniquely placed between the worlds of Contemporary Classical, African and Pop music. He is a prolific producer/song writer and has worked across several genres both as a performer (Cello, Kora, Piano and Percussion) and producer. A renaissance man of the harp-lute, his work is a unique synthesis of classical, jazz and traditional music and embodies the legacy of the idiom; African Classical Music.
Tunde’s work has changed the face of classical and contemporary music in Europe and Africa. He is one of the only composers in the world to be steeped in both Western and African music and rooted in both cultural musical legacies. Tunde studied both Western classical music and the Griot Tradition of West Africa from a very early age, attending the Purcell School of Music in London and learning from a Master of the Kora in the Gambia, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh. This unique cultural inheritance has since informed his life and work as a composer and multi-instrumentalist, creating links between European classical music and that of Africa. With his music he has created a set of mirrors between the old and new world, between compositions for solo cello and kora. Tunde is, in himself, a dialogue between contemporary classical music and a renewed vision of an oral tradition rooted in Malian culture - the Griot vision. He is truly a C21 renaissance man.
Inspired by his transformational experiences, Tunde is immersed in the musical, cultural and spiritual work; sharing his knowledge of the Griot Tradition, Movement Meditation, Sound Immersion and Kora Hypnotic Trance Therapy. Tunde has over three decades experience performing, teaching and sharing the ancient wisdom of the Kora. He facilitates workshops and masterclasses in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Tunde shares his vision and knowledge by offering healing workshops and courses on the importance of self-knowledge and bringing the light of awareness to whatever is present inside of ourselves and through understanding, acceptance and love, allowing the real growth to happen. Tunde has several meditative albums of solo kora (harp-lute) music which explores moments of stillness, bringing a more peaceful state of being.
We are open to collaborations. Contact us, if you want to organize a workshop in your city, or want to cooperate with us in another way.