About Yoga Synergy

Simon Borg Olivier and Bianca Machliss have been friends and business partners since 1989, and established Yoga Synergy in the sincere hope of bringing more yoga to more people in a safe and nurturing environment. The aim of every practice at Yoga Synergy is to enhance one’s life by nurturing and generating the internal fire and life force that keeps us alive. We welcome you to Yoga Synergy and look forward to meeting you.

Yoga Synergy is a team of professional teachers, trained personally by Bianca and Simon, with years of experience teaching the Synergy style of yoga.

Yoga Synergy was established in Newtown in 1984, and then in Bondi Junction in 1997, and Manly in 2002. This dynamic style of Hatha Yoga, devised by the directors, who are both qualified physiotherapists, Simon Borg-Olivier MSc BAppSc (Physiotherapy) MAPA & Bianca Machliss BSc BAppSc (Physiotherapy) MAPA, represents a synthesis between Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Tibetan yoga and modern medical science.

The Hatha Yoga taught at Yoga Synergy is derived from the work of Professor T. Krishnamacharya. Sri Krishnamacharya, who died in 1989 at the age of 101, was the teacher of three of the most influential yoga masters alive today. These yoga masters are Sri B.K.S. Iyengar (author of “Light on Yoga”); Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who teaches Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and, Sri T.K.V. Desikachar (author of “The Heart of Yoga”).

Yoga Synergy style of yoga is an Ashtanga based Vinyasa flow-style meditative practice, linking postures with the breath while maintaining an awareness of anatomical and physiological alignment, and allowing students to progress with guidance at their own pace.

Yoga Synergy style is a dynamic moving meditation, that improves cardiovascular fitness, strength and flexibility.

Every 9 weeks a new sequence of yoga postures and exercises are presented and taught in the Synergy style Open classes and pre-booked courses. Design of these sequences takes into consideration the time of the year, the level of the group being taught, and that each posture must have a simple version and full or hard version that the practitioner can choose to attempt with the level of intensity that practitioner desires. A sequence sheet of the postures in each sequence is available to assist students in their own practice.

By regularly attending Synergy Style Yoga Classes, the student is able to learn a yoga sequence enough to do self-practice and yet still be stimulated every 9 weeks by a new set of postures and exercises. Yoga Synergy is a team of professional teachers, trained personally by Bianca and Simon, with years of experience teaching the Synergy style of yoga.

At Yoga Synergy, we aim to teach our students to work intelligently with their bodies, and to use the practice of yoga to enhance their lives, to bring energy and vitality, and to work at the level appropriate to their needs on each particular day, developing a responsive rather than an automated practice.

In it's full advanced form the synergy-style yoga is as challenging and dynamic as any of the traditional yoga styles can get and in it's simplest and easiest form, it is as gentle and soft as one may need or desire – it is up to the individual how hard one works in a Yoga Synergy style class.

The aim of every practice at Yoga Synergy is to enhance one's life by nurturing and generating the internal fire and life force that keeps us alive.

Synergy Style Yoga Class Levels:

Classes are structured so that students learn a specific sequence of poses over a 9 week period. Synergy style yoga classes are a synthesis of the style taught by BKS Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Sri T.K.V. Desikachar and western physiotherapy. A new sequence is taught every 9 weeks. Different levels of the sequence taught in each type of class.

Open Casual classes

(i.e. no pre-booking required) , beginners to advanced students are welcome. The class is structured such that each posture has an easy version and a full or hard version that the practitioner can choose to attempt with the level of intensity that practitioner desires. The sequence of postures that is taught in the courses is also taught concurrently in the open classes. Classes are 1.5hrs duration; please arrive 10-15 min before class, (see timetables at all schools for class times).

Beginners

are welcome in the Open classes (see above) or can enrol in Beginner Level 1 Courses (see timetables at all schools)

Beginners to Intermediate level

students may attend Open classes or enrol in a Beginner Level 2 Morning Course (Bondi, Newtown & Manly), Beginners Level 2 Evening Course (Newtown Wed 7pm only) Or Intermediate Level 1 Evening Course (Bondi, Newtown & Manly).

Intermediate students

may attend the Open classes or enrol in an Intermediate Level 1 (Bondi, Newtown & Manly) or Intermediate Morning Level 2 Course (Bondi & Newtown with Simon), or Intermediate Evening Level 2 Course (Newtown Tue 7pm only).

Advanced students

may attend the Open casual classes or enroll in an Intermediate Morning Level 2 Course (Bondi & Newtown with Simon), or Intermediate Evening Level 2 Course (Newtown Tue 7pm only) Course.

Shanti (Peaceful) Yoga

(Wed 10am Bondi, Rm 1, 115 Bronte Rd entrance): Gentle yoga for those beginning yoga. The Shanti Gentle Therapy Class is designed to gently guide students who have not practiced yoga before, or those with injuries, to improve strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness, whilst maintaining a flowing meditative practice. Each posture taught has a simple version and a complex one that the yoga practitioner can choose to attempt with the level of intensity that practitioner desires. This is an Open class and does not require pre-booking, please arrive 10-15 minutes before class time,.

Pre-Natal Yoga

(Thurs 6.30pm, Sat 10am Bondi, Rm 1, 115 Bronte Rd entrance): Prenatal women are also welcome to attend Open classes or Beginner Courses if the times or level of these prenatal classes do not suit you, please see timetables for class times at the school nearest you, Bondi, Newtown or Manly. All Yoga Synergy teachers are trained to safely teach pregnant women in these classes. Prenatal classes are “Open” classes and do not require pre-booking, you may attend at any time during your pregnancy. Classes are designed to help mothers towards a healthy and less stressful birth process Yoga practice during pregnancy creates a sense of well-being and helps prepare a mothers body for the birth of her child.

Yoga Synergy Class Costs

To attend open classes casually cost is $17/$15 concession or unemployed (card must be shown)

We have a membership system that is designed to make class attendance easier and cheaper. Yoga Synergy Membership (have a link here) costs $27 for one year, and as a member class prices are reduced to:

• $15 for the first class of the week
• $12 for the second class you attend in the week
• $10 for every class thereafter in that week (Mon-Sun)

When you are attending a Yoga Synergy Course you must become a member in order to receive the discount rate we offer for joining a course.

Course costs are $135 for 9 week (attendance X1/week day or evening courses) and $243 for 9 week (attendance X2/week morning courses).

Yoga Synergy Chant

The chant's text (pdf)
The chant (mp3)

About Yoga

Yoga is for everyone. The only prerequisite is being able to breathe. Even difficult looking postures have very simple variations that anyone can do. You don't have to be flexible or strong to do yoga. Yoga teaches you how to enjoy living in the present moment. A natural by-product of doing yoga over a period of time is that one becomes flexible, strong, fit and healthy.

Yoga gives you energy and vitality. It corrects your posture, cures disease, clears the mind, reduces stress, can be done anywhere, does not require any expensive equipment and it makes you feel good by bringing you in touch with yourself

Yoga has a recorded history of at least five thousand years. Hatha yoga involves the physical aspect of this ancient Indian science.

Some of the elements of Hatha yoga include:

• aerobic conditioning,
• isometric and isotonic muscle strengthening,
• stretching exercises and postures (asanas),
• relaxation,
• breath control,
• concentration, and
• meditation.

Yoga is literally a holistic system. The word 'yoga' means union, joining, or to link together an one whole. Feuerstein, (1996) describes the yoga approach as simplifying one's consciousness and energy to the point where we no longer experience any inner conflict and are able to live in harmony with the world. Hatha yoga is a physical method which uses the breath to link the various parts of the body and the mind and to allow them to behave as one functional unit. In practice, some, or all, of the elements of Hatha yoga listed above, may be performed concurrently. For example, one muscle may be stretching, another muscle contracting, and another relaxing, while there is an ongoing concentrated awareness of the breath.