Title: An Embodied Practice: Finding Your Center All Day Long

With Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., PT
And Mary Richards, MS, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

For most of us, our yoga practice is a big part of our life. But how do we carry the fruits of our practice into daily living in the world?

 In this five-day live workshop, we will begin each day with a discussion based on the teachings of yoga philosophy. These teachings will then be woven into the rest of our day to help us deepen our focus, and thus deepen our practice itself.

 We will practice Active asana, Restorative yoga, pranayama, and meditation, using one of three specific focal points. These focal points are Awareness, Compassion, and Being, as they manifest through the body-mind, not only during our formal practice, but at other times in our life as well.

 This way of practicing will help us to bring our embodied focus into the world where we live and act with others, thus allowing us to live with more grace and presence as we do.

The engaging and insightful Mary Richards will be co- leading and teaching three evening programs to help us integrate the newest scientific discoveries which support and explain how our yoga practice supports our health.

This training will be held at Yoga Flow, Ocean. Here’s the address:
385 Ashton Ave, San Francisco, CA 94112

A note about the schedule: the retreat starts in the evening on July 31st. The last class is the afternoon of August 6th followed by dinner and a celebration, making August 7th the departure day.

Our special focus for this workshop will be on pranayama, the practice that uses the breath as a vehicle to carry us “toward our center” in a subtle and powerful way.

Both our Active and Restorative poses will, therefore, be selected specifically to open us to our breathing. While it is not well-known, in traditional yoga training pranayama practice was much more important than asana practice. We will approach the topic first from breathing awareness techniques that are suitable for all levels of students and then move into traditional pranayama practice. Classic yoga teachings state that pranayama is the gateway to meditation.

In addition to the classical techniques of practice, we will explore ourselves through discussion, short writing assignments, and the cultivation of an introspective attitude.
This intensive is for you if:

~ You regularly practice pranayama.
~ You do not presently practice pranayama regularly, but really want to.
~ You are curious about the effects of the regular practice of pranayama.
~ You want to understand better the relationship of the effects of asana on pranayama practice.

Please note: this workshop is also offered in February.

Our special focus for this workshop will be on pranayama, the practice that uses the breath as a vehicle to carry us “toward our center” in a subtle and powerful way.

Both our Active and Restorative poses will, therefore, be selected specifically to open us to our breathing. While it is not well-known, in traditional yoga training pranayama practice was much more important than asana practice. We will approach the topic first from breathing awareness techniques that are suitable for all levels of students and then move into traditional pranayama practice. Classic yoga teachings state that pranayama is the gateway to meditation.

In addition to the classical techniques of practice, we will explore ourselves through discussion, short writing assignments, and the cultivation of an introspective attitude.
This intensive is for you if:

~ You regularly practice pranayama.
~ You do not presently practice pranayama regularly, but really want to.
~ You are curious about the effects of the regular practice of pranayama.
~ You want to understand better the relationship of the effects of asana on pranayama practice.

Please note: this workshop is also offered in March.

We work very hard in our lives, and while we may sleep, we rarely take time to rest. Restorative Yoga poses help us learn to relax and rest deeply and completely. During deep relaxation, all the organ systems of the body are benefited, and a few of the measurable results of relaxation are the reduction of blood pressure and the improvement of immune function, as well as improvement in digestion, fertility, elimination, and the reduction of muscle tension and generalized fatigue.

In this 30-hour Level 1 workshop, you will learn the art and skill of teaching Restorative Yoga. All aspects of the subject will be covered, including the physiology of relaxation, the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of Restorative Yoga, special poses for menstruation, pregnancy and menopause, and how to sequence and teach a class in Restorative Yoga. At this time, more than 900 teachers have been trained in Restorative Yoga in the United States, Japan, Canada and England.

We work very hard in our lives, and while we may sleep, we rarely take time to rest. Restorative Yoga poses help us learn to relax and rest deeply and completely. During deep relaxation, all the organ systems of the body are benefited, and a few of the measurable results of relaxation are the reduction of blood pressure and the improvement of immune function, as well as improvement in digestion, fertility, elimination, and the reduction of muscle tension and generalized fatigue.

In this 30-hour Level 1 workshop, you will learn the art and skill of teaching Restorative Yoga. All aspects of the subject will be covered, including the physiology of relaxation, the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of Restorative Yoga, special poses for menstruation, pregnancy and menopause, and how to sequence and teach a class in Restorative Yoga. At this time, more than 900 teachers have been trained in Restorative Yoga in the United States, Japan, Canada and England.

Would you like to improve your ability to see what might be impeding your students’ Asana practice?

Do you want to better understand how the body actually moves and what we as teachers can say and do that will help our students stay safe? This workshop will focus on learning alignment principles based on anatomical reality.

We will cover all the basic types of asana.:

Day 1: Stop tucking your tailbone: standing poses, headstand, backbends
Day 2 Free your shoulders: plank, chaturanga, up dog, down dog, shoulder stand
Day 3 Bending and twisting: standing and sitting forward bends and seated twists

Join us to explore this Asana practice we love so much so that we can deepen our own practice and help our students practice effectively and safely.