Irene Lomer is the founder of Antara Yoga and certified (520-RYT) Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Hatha, Pranayama and Mindfulness Meditation teacher in Amsterdam.
Offering online and group classes, private sessions and workshops in yoga studios and the workplace. Antara means creating openness and space. This can be in a physical sense of your body becoming more flexible and open from practicing yoga, but also in a mental sense of finding ways to reduce stress and give your brain a chance to relax and create more space. Irene Lomer teaches regular Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Hatha, Pranayama and Mindfulness Meditation classes at yoga schools in Amsterdam (Tula & Delight). She also offers private sessions tailored to the students individual needs, gives yoga workshops and mindfulness for companies. Irene also teaches online classes, privates and workshops for those living outside of Amsterdam or unable to visit one of the yoga schools. Irene's passion began after being drawn to the therapeutic benefits of yoga for a severe knee injury. She was amazed not only by the physical benefits it brought to the body but also to the calming effect on the mind. Quickly yoga became a major part of her life and source of strength and inspiration. After moving half a year to India she found her daily yoga practice helped find space with a busy city life. On returning to Holland she decided to deepen her yoga practice via a teacher training. Irene is a certified yoga teacher (RYT 520). She has been taught by Robert Boustany / Dorinda Farver (Hatha 200 hours), Katiza Satya / Kevin Sahaj (Advanced teacher training 100 hours, Awakening prana 50 hours), Sandra Carson / Adela Serrano (Vinyasa alignment 50 hours), Claudia Pradella / Eva Ugolini (Path of Ashtanga 100 hours) and Moena de Jong (Pranayama and Assists 20 hours). She has also completed a Mindfulness Teacher Training Level 1 (Bangor University / UK Mindfulness Network), participated in a MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and a 10-day Vipassana course in meditation.
15/10/2024
☺️My favourite thing about teaching yoga is seeing people feel better after class than they did before.
They might feel calmer or relaxed like Maria and her team did after a company chair yoga class. Or it might be a physical feeling, like feeling more open and flexible.
🧘🏽♀️Teaching yoga and mindfulness at companies allows more people to try yoga who might not have time to do it outside of work.
Yoga and mindfulness sessions in the office can help people manage stress levels and feel more energised.
🤸🏾Do you want to bring yoga and/or mindfulness to your workplace?
I offer chair yoga, mindfulness and/or traditional yoga with yoga mats to companies based in Amsterdam or interested in online yoga classes.
🔗You can find more info here: https://www.antarayoga.nl/yoga-mindfulness-in-the-workplace
23/07/2024
I recently had the opportunity to give a chair yoga, breathing, and mindfulness session at Verdantix's corporate sustainability event in Amsterdam.
🧘🏽♀️Over the past five years, I've witnessed a growing interest among companies and corporate event organisers in incorporating yoga and mindfulness sessions for their teams. It's inspiring to be part of this trend!
Given high-stress levels and burnout rates, I think bringing more yoga and mindfulness into the workplace is a great way to improve staff well-being.
🙏🏿Thanks, Verdantix, for the opportunity to share yoga and mindfulness techniques during your corporate event.
And a big thank you to the 150 people attending the event who were open to try this chair yoga, breathing and mindfulness session!
🙆Want to organise a corporate yoga session or event to improve employee resilience?
🔗Check out my website for more info: https://www.antarayoga.nl/yoga-mindfulness-in-the-workplace
16/07/2024
🪑4 Chair Yoga Poses for a Busy Workday
A chair yoga practice has many benefits—you’ll become more flexible and stronger and feel in balance.
✨ And it will help you take short energizing breaks throughout your day.
One of the reasons I love chair yoga is that you don't need any special equipment, making it easy to fit a 5 – 10-minute practice into your busy day.
🖥️ Chair yoga offers a range of benefits, including improved posture and balance while sitting at a desk.
Why not try these 4 chair yoga poses for a short yoga break?
1️⃣ Lengthen your spine, firm your belly and lift your chest as you look up for a chair yoga backbend.
2️⃣ Bring your legs out wide to the side and hands on your hips as you make circles with your torso, moving from your hips.
3️⃣ Lean a little forward with your hands on your thighs, spine straight and gaze looking down.
4️⃣ Interlace your hands behind your back and fold forward from your hips, leaning forward and reaching your arms overhead.
Have you tried chair yoga to help you get through a long workday? If so, what's your favourite chair yoga pose?
23/04/2024
🧘♀️Why should you try a Pranayama and Meditation class?
A dedicated Pranayama and Meditation class gives you the possibility to explore in more detail the connection between your body, breath and mind.
Each class includes:
- Some gentle yoga warm-ups to help you sit more comfortably
- A pranayama (breathing) series of practices
- Guided meditation and relaxation
🙌🏾Just like with the physical yoga (asana, yoga posture) focused classes of the Moon Sequence and Sunshine Sequence, in Vinyasa Krama we work with set sequences and consistent Pranayama techniques that can be adapted to each individual’s needs.
During the Pranayama dedicated classes, you'll be guided through one foundational Pranayama technique at a time that is focused on improving physically how you breathe (during yoga practice and in everyday life) and helping you reduce stress and find more quietness so that Pranayama can be used as a stepping stone towards Meditation.
🧎🏽♂️You'll also be introduced to physical warm-up practices and guidance on how to sit tall and comfortably. As well as support Pranayama practices, restorative and gentle relaxation yoga postures and techniques.
Interested to learn more?
👉 Join me on Sundays at 19:15 .yogastudios
☀️ The Sunshine Sequence (Atapa Krama) is a more dynamic vinyasa flowing sequence that includes a series of active yoga postures (that are held for around 5 breaths) and linked together through sun salutations.
There are some similarities to the Primary Series in Ashtanga, Vinyasa All-Level, and Vinyasa Strong Flow classes, but with some different adaptations to the order and yoga poses that are practiced to suit different constitutions.
🤸🏾♀️The Sunshine Sequence is made up of a series of yoga poses focused on:
- Sun salutations (with optional jumps)
- Standing poses
- Forward bends
- Hip openers
- Shoulder openers
- Upper body strength
- Backbends
- Use of props such as blocks and the wall.
Throughout the practice, you will be guided to keep a slow and flowing breath and to find options that feel appropriate for your body.
💨During a led-class of the Sunshine Sequence class you’ll be encouraged to use your breath as a guide to how deep you go in your physical yoga practice.
Seeing if you can keep a smooth and steady inhale and exhale, while flowing dynamically through your yoga practice. This might sound relatively simple but to breath freely in challenging yoga postures isn’t so easy in practice!
☀️The Sunshine Sequence is a great practice to do regularly to help you create heat, strength, and flexibility.
While also having some focus on slowing down your breath and movement, so that you can flow meditatively through an active yoga practice.
🙌It is great to also balance with a more gentle, calming practice like the Moon Sequence, Vinyasa Slow-Flow, Yin-Yang or Yin yoga.
Want to learn more?
👉 Join me on Saturdays at 10:30 and Sundays at 18:00 .yogastudios
🌙 The Moon Sequence (Chandra Krama) is a gentle and slow vinyasa flowing sequence that includes some active yoga postures (that are held for around 5 breaths) and some more gentle yoga postures (that are held for around 10-20 breaths).
It's made up of a series of yoga poses focused on hip and shoulder openers, while still being a well-rounded complete practice.
🤔What can you expect during a moon sequence class?
- Pranayama breathing technique 1-2-3-pause
- Core warm ups
- Moon salutations (with no Plank Pose)
- Standing poses
- Seated forward bends
- Hip openers
- Shoulder openers
- Backbends
- Relaxing restorative poses.
Throughout the practice, you'll be guided to focus on relaxing easing into the postures, and finding options that feel appropriate for your body.
💨You’ll be encouraged to use your breath as a guide to how deep you go in your physical yoga practice and explore practicing yoga postures at around 70% of your maximum effort.
Each led class will have a slightly different focus and sometimes include different yoga poses from the sequence.
🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘
The Moon Sequence can be a great supportive sequence to practice once or twice a week and is useful to find balance from other days when you might choose to practice a more dynamic yoga practice.
🧘♀️It's also a helpful tool to ease into finding more softness, releasing tension and stress, letting go, and helping to prepare you to be able to sit quietly for pranayama breathing techniques and meditation.
It is a great practice to balance a more dynamic yoga practice like the Sunshine Sequence, or other active yoga practices like Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga.
👉 Join me to practice the moon sequence every Thursday at 18:15 .yogastudios
🙏I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity over the last month to practice vinyasa krama yoga with my teacher Matthew Sweeney in Bali. Where I officially received approval to teach the Moon and Sunshine sequences (after 5 years of studying with Matthew).
A big thank you to Matthew for sharing your deep knowledge and passion for physical yoga, pranayama, and meditation in such a humble and approachable way.
🙌 Thank you to the wonderful international group I had the pleasure of practicing with each day. And of course, thank you to my partner for fully supporting me through my yoga obsession!
🤸🏾♀️I'm back again teaching .yogastudios in Amsterdam from 11th April a new vinyasa krama yoga program:
🌙 Thursdays, 18:15 Moon Sequence
☀️ Saturdays, 10:30 Sunshine Sequence
☀️ Sundays, 18:00 Sunshine Sequence
🧘🏾♀️ Sundays, 19:15 Pranayama and Meditation
https://www.antarayoga.nl/vinyasa-krama-yoga-amsterdam
💛Happy practicing!
12/12/2023
"Advanced yoga poses are complex postures that you can't imagine practicing with ease."
🤸🏾♂️In yoga, we learn difficult yoga poses not only with the goal of being able to one day do the posture. It's also about the process of learning and observing how it feels to try something difficult.
The process of learning a difficult yoga pose can give you insights into your internal dialogue (self talk), thinking patterns, attitude, and feelings that you have towards yourself.
🧘🏽♀️It is therefore interesting, and an important aspect of yoga, to observe how you internally react when you attempt a yoga pose that you can’t yet do and perhaps are unsure if you will ever be able to do.
By practicing an advanced yoga posture it can also help bring you into the present moment rather than doing your yoga practice on autopilot.
💭This can be particularly helpful to help bring your focus to how your body and breath feel from moment to moment.
In the end it doesn’t really matter what the difficult yoga pose is or even if you are one day able to practice it.
✨By taking the time to attempt the asana consistently you will get not only a better understanding of the way to physically approach the pose but also interesting insights into your accompanying thoughts and observations as you try something that feels difficult.
💛 Happy practicing!
14/11/2023
Have you ever noticed that you’re holding your breath in yoga poses with twists?
💨 When you practice yoga poses with twists your ribcage becomes more contracted and your spine has the tendency to shorten. This means that the deeper the spinal twist is, the more difficult it is to breathe fully.
To help counteract this natural tendency of your breath to become shorter and shallower in twists it can be helpful to actively focus on allowing your spine to lengthen and breath to slow down and deepen when practicing yoga twists.
🤔Do you notice that it is still very difficult to breathe in certain yoga twists? Try coming less deep into the posture so that you can still have a flowing breath while in the posture.
Over time, as the pose becomes more comfortable you can then explore moving a bit deeper into the posture while still breathing steadily.
👉🏾 Get more tips about practicing yoga twists in my recent blog post and free guided video 🧑💻 https://www.antarayoga.nl/yoga-poses-with-twists
31/10/2023
🧑💻 Mindfulness tips to try at work
Here are five different mindfulness tools that you can try out at work to help manage stressful situations and be more resilient.
1️⃣ Plan mindfulness moments into your day to pause from your busy schedule and re-energise.
2️⃣ Find a colleague at work to join you in practicing mindfulness techniques to help motivate each other.
3️⃣ Follow a guided mindfulness meditation practice from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.
4️⃣ Take a mindful break and focus for a few minutes on watching your breathing.
5️⃣ Use mindfulness techniques during stressful moments at work. This is a bit more difficult!
But if you start to practice mindfulness regularly you'll also find the techniques easier to use in stressful moments when you need them most.
🤔Did you know that your ability to fold forward isn't only dependent on the length and openness of your hamstrings?
A lot of that restriction that you might feel to folding forward could also come from tightness in your hips.
💡So even though you might feel your hamstring stretching and be approaching the pose correctly, it could be tightness in your hip flexor or outer hip that is preventing you from moving further into the posture.
Therefore it can also be helpful to practice some hip opener poses to help create more space in your forward bends.
➡️Another tip can be to experiment with lifting your hips a little for the seated forward bends so that you can sit up straight in your lower back and have more space to fold forward.
When practicing forward bends in yoga it's worth keeping in mind that for some of these postures, the best version of the posture for you right now might not mean that you feel an intense stretch in the hamstring but instead be focusing more on lengthening through your spine and engaging your legs.
🧘🏾Also, see if you can observe how you feel before, during, right after, and the day after practice.
All of these tips will give you an indication of whether you spent enough time warming up and have approached the yoga poses at the right intensity for your body on a given day.
💛 Happy practicing!
17/10/2023
🙌What to try in your next yoga practice when doing standing forward bends
Forward bend yoga postures will always feel better and be safer to do without injury if your body is warm.
‼️ So make sure you don’t start practicing any deep standing forward bends without first warming up your body!
It’s not a coincidence that most active yoga practices start with a series of dynamic warm ups and sun salutations before moving into standing poses that can be held for longer periods of time.
➡️ When setting up for your first standing forward bends it can be helpful to first come halfway into the posture, keeping your legs and back as straight as possible.
You could come in and out of the halfway position a few times to help create heat and actively lengthen your muscles.
🙏🏿From here, you can experiment with folding deeper into the posture, allowing your knees to bend as much as you need and staying here for 5 - 10 breaths.
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Antara means creating openness and space. This can be in a physical sense of your body becoming more flexible and open from practicing yoga, but also in a mental sense of finding ways to reduce stress and give your brain a chance to relax and create more space. Irene Lomer founded Antara Yoga in 2016 with the goal to help others find this spacious feeling both in their bodies and minds.
Irene grew up in England and moved to the Netherlands in 2010. She is very grateful to live in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. She a certified yoga teacher (RYT 520 hrs) and has been teaching yoga since she first became a qualified teacher in 2015.
Irene teaches Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Hatha, Pranayama and Mindfulness Meditation classes at yoga studios in Amsterdam (Delight and Tula). She also offers private sessions tailored to the students individual needs and workshops to dedicated students and companies interested in improving their staff well-being. Online options of classes, privates and workshops are available for those unable to attend physically in Amsterdam.
From a young age Irene was introduced to eastern health and movement practices, with both her parents being Tai Chi and Chi Gong teachers. Irene's passion for yoga began in 2012 when she was seeking therapeutic benefits for a knee injury. She was amazed by the physical benefits it brought to the body and also the calming effect on the mind. Quickly yoga became a major part of her life and source of strength and inspiration. Irene loves to take her yoga mat wherever she goes and has practiced yoga in India, South East Asia, many different European countries and the US.
Training & Certification (RYT 520 hrs):
Hatha, 200-RYT | Robert Boustany & Dorinda Farver
Advanced Teacher Training, 150-RYT | Katiza Satya & Kevin Sahaj
The Path of Ashtanga, 100-RYT | Claudia Pradella & Eva Ugolini
Mindfulness Teacher Training Level 1, Bangor University & UK Mindfulness Network | Eluned Gold & Bethan Roberts
Irene has also completed a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training with Cecile Mertens and a 10-day Vipassana Meditation course. She has also studied intensively for one month with internationally renowned Ashtanga and Vinyasa Krama teacher Matthew Sweeney.
For Irene continuing her yoga studies as a student are equally as important as sharing her teachings. She feels lucky to regularly assist and learn from her Ashtanga Mysore teachers Claudia Pradella and Eva Ugolini. Later this year she will be returning for a month self practice with Matthew Sweeney. She also intends to continue her Mindfulness training next year in MBSR with Bangor University and the UK Mindfulness Network.
Whether you are new to yoga or more experienced Irene would love to meet you and share this spacious practice with you. Please do get in touch if you are interested in organizing a business workshop, private yoga class or would like to attend a group class or workshop.
