Details for Workshops Feb 6-7 2010, No Place Like Om Yoga Studio, Danbury CT
"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
Feb 6: Saturday Evening, 4-7pm: 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.
Feb 7: Sunday Afternoon, 1-4 pm: 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.
Sunday Evening: 5-7pm 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.
Sarah will be available for private consultations and one on one sessions in Self-Care, as well as for Yoga, Polarity Therapy, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and Reiki Sunday morning and Monday 2-8-10
Pricing--contact Marc To Register:
$60 each hour workshop prepaid by Jan 31 ($75 late registration)
$150 Pre-paid by January 31st for all Three Workshops ($200 late registration)
Partial scholarships available. Please e-mail Sarah.
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.
BIO:
Rev. Sarah Michelle Cutler, RPP, RYT, is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and Yoga Alliance Member; her practice has been evolving for over 12 years. She is a Reiki Master, Registered Polarity Practitioner (R.P.P.) and Cranial Sacral Therapist. Sarah’s bodywork training informs her physiological and anatomical understanding of the body and the nervous system; her yoga practice interweaves into everything she does. a passion for local whole-foods and Ayurveda build a foundation for deep nourishment of the whole being. An ordained minister in the Eternal Life Church, Sarah’s ministry is dedicated to embodied living. Sarah’s delight is to join you on the wild adventure of inhabiting your body and your life. Please visit www.laughingtreespace.com for more Resources for Embodied Living.