Flora D.H. Ojanen, M.AmSAT, RYT
Flora D.H. Ojanen is a German-American Alexander Technique educator, movement specialist, martial arts aficionado and registered yoga teacher with teaching offices in San Francisco and Berlin.
Flora is well known for her warmth, enthusiasm and commitment to her students, and truly loves teaching and empowering people to find freedom from stress, pain, and physical restrictions, and more of their individual potential.
Born in Berlin, Flora holds a degree in Sociology (1994), Massage therapy (1996), and is registered with Yoga Alliance since 2006. In 1997 she began taking private Alexander lessons due to a painful back condition and a more general search for positivity and elation in daily life.
Alexander lessons provided not only relief from the pain but also opened the door to an unknown joy and empowerment. She decided to join a 3-year Alexander Technique teacher training after moving from Berlin to San Francisco in 1999.
Being a long-time student of traditional chinese Martial Arts, Flora's teaching is strongly influenced by the brightness, directness and ease of Daoist thought and philosophy. She started teaching Tai Chi with a focus on alignment, balance and inner strength in San Francisco in 2013.
Flora is a member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique and has been teaching since 2003. In addition, she became a Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher in 2006. The fact that "off the mat" habits and daily tensions show up "on the mat" as well has inspired her to create new ideas to integrate Alexander into yoga and make it accessible for any body shape, age and ability.
In recent years, Flora has been a guest teacher at the Alexander Educational Center in Berkeley and at the Alexander Technique Centre in Galway, Ireland. She has taught workshops at the 10th International Alexander Congress in Limerick, Ireland in 2015, at the 11th International Alexander Congress in Chicago, US in 2018, and in her hometown Berlin, Germany.
Flora is offering HOME OFFICE POSTURE online workshops with the goal of balancing, nourishing and energizing tech workers 'Work From Home' (WFH) experience. These successful workshops include valuable virtual, spacial and mental self-awareness skills, body design teachings, ergonomics and movement studies, all aimed at supporting the individual working at a computer all day.
Starting the summer of 2021, Flora will again be based in Berlin and available for online lessons/ workshops, as well as private, in-person work.
Considerations
As an educator, Flora does not diagnose or treat specific physical conditions. She educates her students in the principles of the work of F.M. Alexander and helps them to develop the awareness necessary for constructive change.
Theory and practice of the Alexander Technique is supported world-wide by the medical community, and research in neuroscience and education is ongoing.
Doctors familiar with this work recommend it to their patients. If your doctor does not yet know about the Alexander Technique, Flora will be happy to provide any information upon request.
Tai Chi Chuan
Alignment, Balance & Inner Power
Classes in SF
Effortless Power: Yang Tai Chi Instruction
Where: SF Golden Gate Park/
Walk In Balance Alexander Technique Center
When: Upon Appointment
Tai Chi is a wonderfully calming and stress-reducing activity, naturally counteracting our fast-past, modern life-styles. When you learn and practice Tai Chi, the benefits are multifold. Besides cultivating internal power and a more easy-going attitude, benefits of a regular Tai Chi practice include better posture and flexible joints, balance and co-ordination, relaxation, clarity of mind, reduced stress and improved body tone.
Your internal structural system gets a tune-up and reset each time you practice, which can prevent injury and pain associated with a sedentary life, too much stress and computer overuse.
Alexander's principles of effortless power, self-cultivation and grace in movement are the cornerstone of this unique and mindful way of learning Tai Chi. Even though functional alignment and precision are emphasized as important keys to a successful and long-lived practice, we are not necessarily concerned with how flexible you are, but rather how to bring ease and fluidity to your movements.
