24 Dec YOGIS: YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS THIS Q&A WITH POPULAR TEACHER DICE IiDA-KLEIN
Written by Katie Fowler ・ 5 mins
If you’ve been as excited as us for Dice’s upcoming vinyasa workshops in January 2019, here is a little peek into the inspiring and master teachers mind.
Power Living: You discovered yoga in 2007. Since then, how has your approach to practice changed?
Dice: It’s constantly changing, but one idea I try to practice everyday is that the forms/modalities I begin to learn and be inspired by will continuously bring up new weakness and challenges for me, so I try to seek these out, as a way to further myself and realise that I’ll never be able to know everything. It’s a beautiful realisation that what I do/say/think now will most likely change or morph into something else. I look forward to these changes and realisations.
PL: Is travelling for your teaching something you find easy?
Dice: I wouldn’t say “easy” is the word, but enjoyable, fortunate, and grateful are words I would use for this instance. It’s an honor to do what every human loves…learning about SELF and sharing that with others as a job. I am truly, truly fortunate.
PL: How do you make yourself feel at home wherever you go?
Dice: Home is where my heart is. My heart is with my son, and we FaceTime as much as possible when I’m away. My heart is with music, so I make sure to bring a ukulele, guitar, or rav drum wherever I go to reconnect to that feeling of home. Home is where you make it.
PL: Your workshops are very much around challenging fears and habitual patterns. How does yoga enable this?
Dice: Yoga is a tool, like anything else, that asks you to look deeper into yourself. That could mean looking deeper into the darker corners and acknowledging that they exist, or possibly diving deeper into the light and happiness that tends to radiate more easily through all of us. It teaches you that every situation, both simple or complex is an opportunity for growth and reflection. It’s a beautiful practice for discovering SELF, but one must also remember, it isn’t the only method either.
PL: What do you love about teaching masterclasses for teachers and for students?
Dice: I love masterclasses because they allow me to share with yogis around the globe the way I would teach if I were able to have more regular classes back home. I often travel and teach workshop style practices, where things are constantly broken down and dissected. Whereas a masterclass allows me to mildly workshop while teaching an extended full spectrum class. It’s my favourite.
PL: What benefits do inversions have on the mind and body?
Dice: Inversions teach us that the impossible is possible. It also takes us back to a time when we were children. Being carefree, falling, walking on your hands, and enjoying the moment/process. As far as the body is concerned, it teaches us full body engagement and connection, tying one end of the body to the other like a chain link, as well giving us the ability to understand our centre line and capability to tap into our inherent core strength.
PL: Your “Free Your Heart” masterclass asks us to open our hearts. When have you struggled to do this and when has it changed your life?
Dice: Free your heart to me physically means opening the chest, the ribs, the front line of the body and feeling supported by what we can’t see, the back line of the body, but trusting that we will be held up and supported by our own innate fortitude and strength. I struggle on the regular. Everyday. It’s easier to move into a state of fear and close off. When someone closes in conversation or argument, you can see the physical body literally fold inward. Arms cross in front, the heart space gets smaller, etc. Working to keep the chest open, heart high, arms relaxed in complex spaces is what we’re aiming for, and backbends are one metaphor or way to explore this sensation.
PL: What might be holding people back from doing twisting poses correctly and how will you work on that in masterclasses?
Dice: I don’t think anything is holding them back. I think a deeper understanding of how the entire body works to create the twist is what we will elaborate on and work through. The nature of the legs to pelvis, the pelvis to the torso and corset of the body, the arms relationship to the spine and so on.
PL: Where and when do you do your own practice now and is self-practice important?
Dice: Self practice is FOREVER important. Now that definition of what the “self practice” is, should be open for change. One who began with a more physical outlook on their own practice might shift to a more meditative practice over time, then go back or mix the two. That is the beauty of our self practice. What I think is non-negotiable, especially for teachers, is this urge to be a student first and foremost. To continuously learn, question, and practice the things we share as teachers. This is important. At least in my eyes, my body, my heart and mind.
PL: What do you hope masterclass attendees get out of your sessions?
Dice: I hope they learn a little, feel a lot, find some sense of happiness, and maybe leave a little of what isn’t working for themselves on the mat (in the form of sweat most likely)!
See below what Dice will be bring to your studio (grab your notebooks!):
MANLY STUDIO:
Teachers only masterclass – 18th January 2019
Childs play – 18th January 2019
BONDI BEACH STUDIO:
Free your heart & your mind will follow – 19th January 2019
NEUTRAL BAY STUDIO:
The ABC’s of the inverted yoga practice – 20th January 2019
FITZROY STUDIO:
Teachers only masterclass – 25th January 2019
Standing on your head – 25th January 2019
ADELAIDE STUDIO:
Twist & shout – 27th January 2019
For full details and to book your spot go to our workshops page here.
