Barn Yoga

Kaiut Yoga Online and in Person Classes in Boulder

What’s In A Name?

By

Ever wonder why we are called Barn Yoga?

As the “old-timers” know well, we offered our very first Kaiut Yoga classes at Kelly’s Barn, a one-of-a kind landmark in north Boulder, located just a few blocks from our current location.  We didn’t have an official name back then; everyone just referred to us as “barn yoga”.  When the time came to choose a legal name for our business, we decided to make our unofficial name official — and thus Barn Yoga LLC was born.

Then came the pandemic. The barn closed and we became a “virtual barn”, literally overnight, and remained so for more than a year. When we reopened in our new location above Lucky’s Bakehouse in June, 2021, we had already established a reputation for ourselves as Barn Yoga, and we also still felt a sentimental attachment to the place where it all began.  And so we decided to keep the name Barn Yoga, no doubt to the puzzlement of some of our newer students.

Nowadays it is likely safe to say that we the only “barn” in the entire world which is located upstairs above a bakery!

Reflections On Teaching… Five Years In

By

On May 17, 2017, a few friends were kind enough to come to the barn to take the first Kaiut Yoga class I ever taught — and thus Barn Yoga was born!

The first anniversary of Barn Yoga’s creation was celebrated with great fanfare, likewise the second and third anniversaries.  The fourth anniversary slipped by almost unnoticed in the midst of the pandemic, and the fifth might easily have done the same, but five years into this great adventure, it does seem appropriate to mark this milestone with some reflections on teaching…

I believe I was originally drawn to Kaiut Yoga because it was an embodied experience of principles that I already felt to be true.

What seems to have happened as I have continued to explore Kaiut Yoga is a strengthening of my belief in these principles, belief based on the lived experience in my mind/body of these principles, and belief based on the observation of these principles operating in the minds/bodies of my students.

These are some of the understandings I hold with greater conviction as a result of my exploration of Kaiut Yoga:

As a human being, I am not separate from nature, but rather am an intrinsic part of nature.

Nature is lawful.

The laws by which nature operates are highly intelligent; these laws are wise, kind, economical, efficient, and oriented toward restoration, preservation, and growth                                                                               .

Because nature is abundantly kind and wise, I can trust nature as it expresses itself in my system. 

To align with nature is of necessity an act of kindness toward myself, kindness that expresses itself not only in my yoga practice but also my way of being in the world.

To the extent that I can align not only my yoga practice, but my entire way of being in the world with the laws of nature, I can benefit from this wise, kind, economical, efficient way of being and can experience optimal restoration, preservation, and growth.


Although the dis-ease may be presenting in my body, the primary agent of restoration, preservation and growth is my nervous system.  The most efficient gateway to my nervous system is often my body.  For this reason, in my practice I am always aiming for the nervous system via my body and from the nervous system back to my body via a feedback loop.

Just as is the case in all aspects of my life, when I oppose the forces of nature, this causes me harm; when I am able to align with the forces of nature, those forces can be powerful allies.  

One of the most elemental  forces of nature is gravity, which when engaged with intelligently, can be a great ally in restoration and healing, but when engaged with improperly, can be a source of degeneration, injury, and illness.

All of these are things that I bring not only to my personal practice but to teaching my students as well.  The underlying principles are the same for all of us because we are all a part of nature and are therefore all subject to these these same principles. 

Having had all of these convictions strengthened by the direct experience of them in my Kaiut Yoga practice, and having a nature that is inclined toward being both a teache and a healer, how could I not want to share this practice with others?

And that is exactly what I am doing — now five years in, and with the good fortune of being able to continue to study and teach this beautiful practice.

 

Meet Our Students – Nada Diachenko and Whit Carman

By

Nada and Whit met when they were both working as professional dancers in New York and have been together ever since.  Whit is now retired after leaving the dance world for a 30  year career sitting in front of a computer.  Nada is a professor of theater and dance at the University of Colorado and a movement therapist specializing in the Alexander Technique.

One of  Whit’s goals in retiring was to be able to dance again.  He credits Kaiut Yoga with enabling him to get back to dancing, “just for the joy of moving my body through space”.  Nada has had a very long dance career and has “put a lot of miles on the body” resulting in having had both knees replaced.   She explored other types of yoga periodically in the past but found some of the poses too extreme.  When she heard Kaiut Yoga described as a practice of going to the edge but not forcing past the edge, she decided to give it a try.

The permission, the space, to work my body, which I know really well, and being able to pull back when I need to or now I can go, it’s helped to not only get greater recovery in my knees… I’m doing stuff now that I haven’t done in years… I’m getting my dancing body back…at age 73!

Great to have you both in class Nada and Whit. Keep on dancing!