“Yoga (for me) is about allowing that bright, shiny incredible spirit inside you, out! Allowing yourself to be BIG, to be joy, to be free. To be love, embodied in this human shell. At first, you only catch glimpses of this person, flashes of who it is you could be. This spirit, what we call our ‘True Selves’ is often hidden under the layers of life and memory. Hidden under complex quilts of trauma, pain, and fear; beneath all the masks we wear and all the stories we tell. So, yoga, is a beautiful and gentle process of peeling away these layers we use to protect ourselves so we shine through.” ~Makena~
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| The Alpine Yoga Centre was created by Kelly Aikins - a ski bum with a dream!
Kelly is a Yoga Alliance certified Ashtanga teacher, certified AcroYoga, Pilates and Power Yoga teacher who is passionate about the human body and mind, about spirit, nature and humanity; and certainly mountains, sport and wellness.
Kelly has a degree in Psychology and Human Kinetics from the University of British Columbia; and along with running and teaching at her studio in Chamonix, France, she is a student at the Swiss Interational College of Osteopathy.
Kelly discovered Yoga as a teenager living in Montreal, and became so inspired by the way the practice subtly pervaded all aspects of her life that after a couple of years of intense study in Vancouver she began teaching at friends’ houses in Whistler as well as studios and gyms in the city. After graduating from UBC Kelly moved to the south of Crete to immerse herself more deeply in yoga practice and lifestyle. During 7 months living at Triopetra she had the amazing privilege of studying and teaching with some of the most renowned teachers in the world.
The diversity in Kelly’s training as well as her knowledge of physiology makes her teaching highly adaptable to people of all ages and abilities; and her ability to interpret the energy of a given class and instruct accordingly helps ensure her students leave feeling great. 2008 Update from Kelly: It's been another magical year full of laughter, joy, love and learning! Last year's phenomenal season in Chamonix was followed by a kind of spiritual retreat in the Finnish wilderness; a new exploration of the Canadian West coast - biking, surfing and camping with my wonderful big sister and mom; and then one of the most phenomenal times in my life - a couple of months living in the slums of Nairobi (Kenya) with the beautiful, talented and inspiring youths I work with there - before returning to the snowy alps. Sometimes I feel like my life is almost too good to be true and that I may explode with love and happiness!
Let Go,
Give,
LOVE,
Rejoice in everyday life
and Share
~Lama Surya Das
2011 Update from Kelly
Well clearly I’ve been busy, considering the time lapse since my last update!! The latest news is that in autumn 2010 I began a 5 year graduate degree at the Swiss International College of Osteopathy. It really is a dream come true to immerse myself in such an amazing science that I feel achieves a perfect balance between medical and scientific knowledge and research, and a beautiful philosophy of the human being and how to approach optimal health and healing. I have a great respect for Osteopathy and I feel no less than honoured to have been accepted as a student.
So what does that mean for Alpine Yoga? Rest assured the studio will still run year-round. I won’t always be your teacher, but it’s good to try new things and we are a great team that have been developing together for years (teacher bios for Sanna, Marie-anne and Roland are coming). It also means that I’m dedicating a lot more time to manual therapy so here’s your chance to cash in on the new ‘pay what you want’ system: come try a treatment and you’ll get at least an hour of therapy without having to make a financial commitment and give me what you want depending on how you feel when it’s over (minimum is 10euro while I’m in 1st year, 20 during 2nd year, 30 during 3rd year and so on...which compared to the 60 euros per hour I charge for massage is a steal of a deal!! Of course, please call me if you’d like a massage as well). Click here to book!
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A big thanks to Hotel Gustavia, Le Vert Hotel, the Bean family, Eva at Le Salon, Erlend at Steepcam and Richard at Webbelief for all the help and support.