"Practice is not something we do; it is something we are. We are not separate from our practice, and so no matter what, our practice is present. An ocean swimmer is loose and flows with the current and moves through the tide. When tossed upside-down in the surf, unable to discern which way is up and which is down, the ...natural swimmer just lets go, breathing out, and follows the bubbles to the surface." -Enkyo O'Hara

Self Care for Living: Riding the Wave of the Breath.  An experiential workshop featuring practical self-care tools drawn from Kripalu Yoga, Ayurveda, and Polarity Therapy—including yoga postures, oil-self-massage, breath work, chanting, kitchen tricks, and more designed to deeply nurture and nourish us in our everyday lives.  Deepen your practice, explore health and healing, and learn to ride the wave of experience with more grace and ease.

Bringing forth New Life: Yoga for Being Born.  For anyone feeling ready to give birth—be that to new life, new ideas, or new ways of being, come experience a dance of will and surrender, dive into a deeper sense of self, and emerge with a body knowing of both your own strength and how deeply you are held.   Though appropriate for pregnant women, this is not specifically a prenatal class.  Men, women, mothers, fathers, elders, and youth are all welcome.

Knowing When Take Your Whole Self Out: Yoga for Sleep and Deep Rest.  Practical self-care tools—from yoga asanas to dream time rituals—for deepening rest and promoting sleep including a depth experience of Yoga Nidra (“yogic sleep”).  Twenty minutes spent in the deep relaxation of Yoga Nidra is equivalent to 4 hours of good sleep.

Sadhana Intensive--The Power of Practice. Sadhana, or spiritual practice, at its root, is a dedicated space set aside for internal connection with the Self or Source and also the resulting movement out into the world.  Some practices are designed to generate the energy necessary to illuminate outworn habits and beliefs that keep us locked in patterns of ignorance, fear, and separation.  Other practices integrate, illuminate, and restore us to the knowledge of our wholeness.  Combining practices that facilitate awareness in the physical body, the mind, the emotions, and the energetic body helps to cultivate deeper self-awareness, stronger connection to the Divine, and a more fluid movement between the inward stillness and the outward action of practice.

Or, design your own workshop for the group you have in mind.  Here is an example:

Inhale-Exhale Repeat.

Take a deep breath in and let it out slowly-- Self-Care for Deeper Connection

On average, workshops are priced based on length.  a 3-4 hour workshop generally costs between $50-75 per person with preregistration (late registration fees may apply).  Cooking workshops may include an additional fee for supplies or an invitation to bring ingreedients (see Nourishment page for Cooking Workshops).  Based on venue and participants, someworkshops may be offered by donation.

Partial scholarships/ worktrade may be available.  Please ask or make an offering.

LONGER DESCRIPTIONS

Self Care for Riding the Wave

“A significant number of spiritual seekers take up the practice of yoga.  Unfortunately, many stop because exactly the right thing happens.  That thing is purification.” –Swami Kripalu

“The highest form of yoga is self-observation with Love”—Swami Kripalu

As the Yoga Sutras begin, “Now the Inquiry of Yoga.”  As we deepen our spiritual practice (sadhana), and as we act as conscious yogis out in our changing world, challenges, transformations, illness, stress, and other “growing opportunities” show up along the way.  These moments—which often feel turbulent, become part of our inquiry on the path of union of Yoga.  While these bumps can be seen as a joyous sign of yogic purification, finding ways to practice the highest yoga—self-observation with love—is especially important in moments when the challenges of life or the subtle purification processes feel intense, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, or new.  In the amidst of excitement, fear, or longing, how do we cultivate compassion?

In Kripalu Yoga, skillfully navigating a transformative experience is liked to “Riding the Wave of the Breath”.  In this experiential workshop we will practice the art of BRFWA (Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow) in the context of a dynamic yoga posture sequence appropriate for all levels.  Then, we will explore its application on and off the mat.  Within this context we will overlay the philosophical framework of personal growth and transformation from several traditions to ground our experience.  Finally, we will dive into the most luscious and important part of our afternoon: practical self-care tools drawn from Yoga, Ayurveda, Energy Medicine, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, and Polarity Therapy that will strengthen and nurture you as you ride the waves of life, transformation, healing, and growth.  Everyone will leave with some inquires for the journey of living in a body in the world and a personalized self-care plan full of fun and practical tips.

Bringing Forth New Life:  Yoga for Being Born.

 As light waxes and wanes, we each begin dreaming with the seeds that become in us new life.  The physical act of pregnancy is but one manifestation of the dance between will and surrender that is involved any time we are gestating a new idea or a new life.  New parents, parents to be, and anyone carrying the baby of dreams and new life—be that body, mind, or spirit—will benefit from this workshop. Using yoga asana (postures), pranyama (breathing exercises) sound, chanting, movement exploration, and yoga nidra (deep relaxation) we will balance physical strengthening, energetic containment, and the sweetest surrender.  We will come to know our own strength and the deep allowing that is rest and relaxation.

We will find and deepen our own strength to move through and ground into the intensity of the birth process, and we will practice softening into the great mystery that is the life that carries us.  Though appropriate for pregnant women, this is not specifically a prenatal class.  Men, women, mothers, fathers, elders, and youth are all welcome.

Knowing When Take Your Whole Self Out (Yoga for Sleep and Deep Rest):  Insomnia, nervous tension, too little time for sleep, and the expectation that we must do more often leave us at a loss as to how to come to rest. In this workshop we will practice self-care tools to recreate and cultivate sound sleep and deep rest whenever you need renewal and rejuvenation.  We will start by arriving in time and space and reconnecting with our bodies.  Then, we will practice simple and playful movements to discharge and rebalance the nervous system.  Having clearly arrived, we will nurture ourselves with touch, sound, and movement, before finally sinking into the stillness of deep relaxation.   Drawing from Polarity Therapy, Ayurveda, and the practice of Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) we will leave this evening prepared to rest deeply and fully when we most need it.  We will step out of the rush of the world so that we can bring our whole selves back out into the world.

Sadhana Intensive--The Power of Practice

Developing, deepening, and (re)committing to regular personal spiritual practice is one of the most profound tools a spritual warrior (or healthy human being) can cultivate.  This intensive--designed as a day long introduction, or longer imersive retreats, draws on practices of diverse traditions including the traditions and practices each participant brings with him or her.  This supports an exploration of different practices, and also offers a chance to refine, deepen, and dedicate to a practice that supports each individual’s temperament and greatest evolution.  Working within the framework of the different Yogas (Jnana Yoga—yoga of Self-Inquiry, Karma Yoga—Yoga of Service, Yoga Asana—the physical practice, Nada Yoga—the yoga of sound, Bhakti Yoga—yoga of Devotion, etc) as paths of Union, we will experience how sound, movement, breath, stillness, mind training, mindfulness, the art of work (seva), community, solitude, deep rest, touch, smell, ritual, taste, and silence all weave together as components for practice. 

Each day will consist of a combination of group experience and individual practices.  Mini workshops including awareness and self care, the aspects of will and surrender, and deep rest drawn from the workshops below and drawn from the lineages of Kripalu Yoga, AyurvedicPolarity Therapy, and Yoga Nidra, will create platforms for experiencing and exploring the components that make for a sustainable growth filled practice.  This includes energy generating practices which loosen up our attachments and out worn beliefs and integrative practices designed to calm and tonify the nervous system to nourish body, mind, and spirit, for balanced growth.

Since each participant comes with their own inquires and practices, there will be ample opportunity to share from this resource as well as personal time dedicated to individually doing ones own practice.  Sharing from the fruits of this practice can then help deepen the individual experience and inspire the group.  The intention of this intensive is to cultivate commitment, integrity, impeccability, and the stance of fearlessness and compassion of a Warrior of Spirit, to foster stillness, creativity, devotion, and balance, and to celebrate and support a depth of relationship to what is whole and holy.