Name: Kara Kokopu Wednesday 5.30pm YOGA
Start: 2025-10-08T07:30:00+13:00
End: 2025-10-08T08:45:00+13:00
Location: Kara Kokopu Community Hall, 527 Kara Rd, Maungatāpere

Kara Kokopu hall is a perfect venue in the country on Kara Rd, Maungatāpere, yet only a short drive from Whangarei CBD.
Shraddha Yoga and Meditation is offering an 11-week term for Term 4 on Wednesdays, from Oct 8 'til Dec 17. We fairly closely follow school terms (our 2 week holiday breaks after Terms 1, 2 and 3 are the same as for the schools), for the 4-term year.
This class is from 5.30 until 6.45 pm. It is a 75-minute weekly general hatha yoga class - asana (postures/exercises), sometimes a little pranayama (specialized breathing techniques), a short yoga nidra (deep relaxation).
General classes are open to all, as students work at their own pace and level.
Move, breathe and relax for flexibility, strength and balance.
🌞🌞🌞Try your first class with us for $10 - half the adult casual rate - any time, without any obligation to return. Note that ongoing casual attendance is almost never the preferred method of payment by our students, as concession cards are much better value ... the 11-class card still remains the most popular - it keeps the fee at $10 per class, does not expire until it is all used up and can be shared with your partner/friend/whānau.
For more info on payment choices, see FEE OPTIONS (below).
INSTRUCTORS:
The Kara Kokopu class is expertly facilitated by Rādhe and/or Rishi.
Rādhe has been a yoga instructor for more than 40 years and has a gentle, insightful approach, enjoying teaching workshops in other practices - such as pranayama, yoga nidra and meditation - as well as asana. She has taught pre-natal yoga workshops and classes and is open to doing private or small group sessions on this or any other specialized yoga area. Rādhe has a long association with Satyananda Yoga and Ashram Yoga, also with earlier quite in-depth experience in Iyengar Yoga, attending regular 2-hour classes with Nicky Knoff - and also workshop with visiting Iyengar teacher, Martyn Jackson - at the rec centre when studying at Auckland University; she also attended classes with Mike Byron and several of his teachers after he set up the first Iyengar studios in NZ. She has also attended classes and courses with other schools of yoga over the years, e.g. classes at Yoganandham in Rishikesh, India in January, 2019.
Rādhe and Rishi were at the Satyananda Yoga Lifestyle Immersion weekend with Swami Ratnashakti from Monghyr, India held at Aio Wira Retreat, 10-12 January, 2025.
Rādhe had to have a break from yoga teaching for most of the 2024 year hence is happy to have been able to get back into offering a few regular weekly classes, including this one and the Tamaterau one.
Rishi has done his first yoga teacher training through Prema Heart School of Yoga on Waiheke Island. He also has a BMus(Hons) from Waikato University, in classical singing at Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. Rishi has a particular interest in Sanskrit, mantra and all kinds of music. He taught all of the Shraddha Yoga and Meditation classes in 2024 and had trained/worked extensively with Swami Anandaradha Saraswati prior to this. In 2025 he still teaches most of Shraddha Yoga and Meditation's classes.
Both Rādhe and Rishi are registered with Yoga NZ and are trustees of Shraddha Yoga and Meditation, a registered non-profit charitable trust.
BENEFITS OF YOGA:
Yoga can have huge benefits for body, mind and emotions (all benefits are interconnected - hence experienced in no specific order - and sometimes can be noticed in a very obvious way and other times more subtly).
Some benefits may be:
🧘‍♀️ strengthening and toning of muscles (note that stronger abdominal muscles also help the back ... and the back muscles need yogic strengthening, which is a totally different feeling to just having tight back muscles from our normal stresses!);
🧘‍♀️ stretching to reduce over-tight muscles and rotations and bending/stretching movements to increase flexibility in joints (very important for all joints, including the spinal vertebrae);
🧘‍♀️ balance improvement in standing poses, both still and moving (this also transfers to improvement in day-to-day activities, such as walking and turning) and overall enhancement of physical coordination and posture;
🧘‍♀️ more energy through energizing holistically and releasing energy blockages;
🧘‍♀️ improved function of the body's systems (skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive);
🧘‍♀️ balance and harmony of mind and emotions;
🧘‍♀️ clearing and focusing of the mind;
🧘‍♀️ stress release and relaxation;
🧘‍♀️ recovery from injuries/improving healing;
🧘‍♀️ improved sense of holistic wellbeing, cosmic belonging and wairua (spiritual body)
…
COMING TO CLASS:
Whether a complete beginner or someone who has experience in home yoga practice/different yoga classes, you are always welcome to come along.
All students work at their own pace and level, to suit their individual capabilities and needs. You can do a different variation of a pose if that suits you best when learning - only where necessary, of course - or even another pose altogether. If proficient, you may well choose to do more than what is suggested.
Some asana are repeated, a few are a part of a flow and some may be held (for a number of breaths), such as a balancing pose.
However, there is no need to go further than what is manageable for you in any asana. If a complete beginner, there will be some asana that you will still find relatively easy to do right from the first class and in other poses you will notice improvement over time.
FEE OPTIONS:
🍀🍀🍀$10 for your first class with us,
just to give it a go. 💚💚💚
CARD (All have no expiry date)
$14 per class on a 5-class concession card ($70).
$10 per class on an 11-class concession card ($110).
~$9.50 per class for 22 classes ( 2 x 11-class cards for $210).
You are welcome to share a card with partner/whānau/friend/friends.
CASUAL (cash or internet banking)
After your first time at $10, the regular casual fee is $20, reduced to $15 with a Community Services Card or Super Gold Card. This per class, casual/drop-in fee is based on a rate of $15 per hour for all of our classes, masterclasses, courses and workshops, hence is $20 for a 75-minute class.
🧡Please always feel welcome to contact us privately if you need to make a special arrangement to be able to manage to come.
WHAT TO BRING:
Bring your own yoga mat (or ask us if you need to borrow one), water bottle and a blanket (or cotton/light throw in the summer) for covering yourself during the relaxation.
QUERIES?
For any queries re the classes, or to request bank account details for fee payment, please contact us.
You can message via Facebook or by email:
[email protected]
For calls or texting:
Radhe 027 392 8220
ZOOM?:
You can also attend via Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81935407762...
Meeting ID: 819 3540 7762
Passcode: 574898
PREFER A DIFFERENT EVENING?:
NOTE that, if wanting a class on another evening, there is also the Poroti yoga class within the district on a Monday evening at 5.30pm, in the upstairs lounge at Mangakahia Sports Complex. You are welcome to attend both or whichever one of the two classes suits you in a particular week.
We also have another 5.30pm class at Tamaterau on Thursdays and a 5.15pm on Tuesdays in the city in the hall at St John's Church Centre, 145 Kamo Rd, Kensington.

MORNING CLASSES:
Currently, our 3 daytime classes are all in the morning in the city.
See the Events on https://www.facebook.com/shraddhayogaandmeditation/ for more info on these and any of our other classes.
Om 🕉️
As Shraddha Yoga and Meditation is a registered charitable trust, any donations are tax deductible. Save receipts for all donations that are over $5 made to us or any other approved organizations. 1/3 of the total value of donations, up to the level of your taxable income, are tax deductible.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/.../individu.../donation-tax-credits