Nadja Refaie
Nadja Refaie studied ballet as a child and into adulthood but found that she sought other types of movement. She took her first yoga class in 1997 with a friend at the gym and loved it immediately. It felt wonderful and provided the artistic and physical release she was seeking. She soon became a regular and began exploring different styles of yoga.
Nadja left the corporate world in 2002 to teach yoga and Pilates in Boston and surrounding communities. She is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher and a STOTT PILATES® Instructor Trainer, and she continues to study with and assist senior Iyengar teacher Patricia Walden in Cambridge. Nadja enjoys the precision and freedom of movement that yoga and Pilates teach us and encourages her students to find the grace and steadiness that a yoga practice can bring.
Nadja chooses a focus or theme for each class and tries to link the poses so students can see how each pose affects the next in the sequence. She focuses on alignment and gives a lot of instructions about what you should do to get into a pose, maintain a pose and come out of it. She often uses props to explore a pose more deeply.
Outside her yoga practice, Nadja says she is very laid back and doesn’t obsess about how things are aligned in her house.
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Iyengar: Standing Strong • Nadja Refaie • 38 minutes
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Iyengar: Simple standing Twists Nadja Refaie 30 min
In this short sequence, we use the wall and a chair to prepare the legs, upper back, and sides for twists. We prepare for and do parivrtta trikonasana, revolved triangle pose, with the chair.
Level: All Levels
Suggested Props: 2 Blocks, a Chair and Blanket -
Iyengar: Simple leg stretches • Nadja Refaie • 16 min
This sequence focuses on stretching the legs, primarily the hamstrings and inner thighs. The sequence also focuses on bringing length to the spine and lift to the pelvis. It can be practiced on its own, to prepare for a longer practice, or to stretch the legs after a run or other activity.
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Iyengar: Let's Twist Again • Nadja Refaie • 30 min
In this sequence, Tristan and Nadja take you through 4 seated twists. We focus on maintaining length in the spine as we twist and show different ways to work in the poses. The sequence finishes with two ways to do Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle pose) and a symmetrical standing pose.
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Covid recovery sequence: Introduction • Tristan Binns • 8 min
Recovering from Covid-19, even the "mild" variant, can be challenging. This sequence is built on the work of Lois Steinberg, and the Iyengar yoga Association of the UK Therapeutics Committee. They both produced resources in spring of 2020, links below. (I highly recommend especially the booklet t...
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Iyengar:3 Ways to do Trkonasana, Triangle pose • Nadja Refaie • 15 min
Explore woking with different props to deepen your understanding of triangle pose, trkonasana. We teach 3 versions of trkonasana focusing on stability, mobility and creating length. This exploration finishes with a standing forward bend.
Suggested Props: wall, chair, blocks
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Iyengar: Inversion Practice for Beginners • Nadja Refaie • 30 min
Join Nadja for a sequence that prepares you for headstand and shoulderstand. Please have some knowledge of these poses before trying them on your own. Tristan and Heloise demonstrate 2 ways to practice each pose, one with more support, one with less.
Suggested props: blankets, blocks, belt
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Introduction to Iyengar: Leg Stretches • Nadja Refaie • 20 min
This sequence is geared toward students new to Iyengar yoga. Join Nadja for a sequence to stretch the legs by learning the common actions in some standing poses and downward facing dog.
Suggested Props: 2 blocks, wall
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Iyengar: Prepare Shoulders and Groins for Back Bends • Nadja Refaie • 50 minutes
This sequence focuses on opening the armpits and lengthening the groins in preparation for back bends. Includes one chair back bend. Geared toward students with some Iyengar yoga experience.
Suggested props: blankets, belt, blocks, chair -
Iyengar: Using the Wall as a Prop: Part 1 • Nadja Refaie • 40 min
This class explores how we use the wall as a prop in Iyengar yoga. The wall can help us use our arms and legs more effectively and help us develop proprioception about our body’s placement. We will explore using the wall for Adho Mukha Svansana (downward facing dog), some standing and seated pose...
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Iyengar: Standing Poses for Strength & Stability • Nadja Refaie • 45 min
Enjoy this sequence of standing and seated poses to bring firmness to the legs and stability in the hips. Explore how these actions create length in the sides and freedom in the body and mind. This class is for all levels.
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Iyengar: Using the Wall as a Prop Part 2 • Nadia Refaie • 50 min
Join Nadja Refaie for Part 2 of this two-part series exploring ways to use the wall as a prop in Iyengar yoga. The wall can help us stabilize our body in twists as well as help us develop proprioception about our body’s placement. In this video we’ll use the wall to explore parivrtta trikonasana,...
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Iyengar: Backbending Actions – A First Step • Nadia Refaie • 45 min
Explore the actions needed for safe, easeful backbends with Nadja. We will open the shoulder joints, lengthen the sides and elongate the hip flexors to prepare the body to arch backwards. We will focus on these actions and practice virabhadrasana I (warrior I), urdhva mukha svanasana (upward faci...
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Iyengar: Refining Parsvottanasana • Nadja Refaie • 20 min
Learn how to work with your legs to bring stability in the hips and length in the spine. We’ll work with the same geometry in 3 different poses to focus on using the legs to stabilize the hips, balance the pelvis and keep the sides of the body equal in length.
Suggested Props: 2 blocks
