Workshops and Special Events
The Blissed-Out Series: Yin & Restorative Yoga with Lila Donnolo
Sundays, May 6, 13 and 20
MOTHERS DAY SPECIAL – BRING YOUR MOM FOR FREE!6:30-8:30 p.m.
Cost: $25 per class or $70 for the series
Yin yoga, as opposed to yang yoga (the kind where you work to your edge and leave all sweaty) is a practice of releasing energy and emotion stored in the connective tissue of the body. Yin practice is said to allow the practitioner to stretch not merely the muscles, but also the fascia (the tissue that sheathes muscles) of the body. In Yin, we experience semi-supported postures that we hold for minutes at a time to engender deep release.Restorative yoga, slightly different, is a series of completely supported passive postures held for minutes at a time. It offers a blissful respite from the demands of daily life. Full of big comfy pillows, warm blankets, and Thai-massage-inspired hands-on adjustments, the practice allows you to slide deeply into the relaxation response. It is the ideal complement to any Yang practice such as vinyasa, sports, or acrobatics. Restorative yoga is sometimes even considered more beneficial that sleep, because it allows the practitioner to rest in an aligned manner.
This practice could easily be required maintenance for being a happy human. Each week we will focus on particularly challenging areas of the body. When we give our attention to those places, we have the possibility of inspiring release. Surrender is an act of will, and in this series, we shall cultivate that will.
Week 1: The Lower Back & Hips
Week 2: The Shoulders & Chest
Week 3: Legs & Spinal Column
with Zhenja La Rosa
Wednesdays from 2-4pm
In this monthly practice, Zhenja will share her latest insights into a life and practice of yoga. This is an opportunity for us all to come together as community to celebrate the fullness and gift of life!
May 16
June 13
July 18
$35 online/$40 at the door
Click Here to RegisterMaster Class with Lois Nesbitt
Wednesday May 30, 2–4pm
Recommit to expanding your practice and join our open-hearted community of yogis growing together on Wednesday afternoons. We are delighted to welcome back Lois Nesbitt, one of Anusara’s most seasoned teachers, to lead us through these two master classes
This practice is perfect for intermediate and advanced yogis and teachers of all traditions.
$35 online/$40 at the door Click Here to Register
Abhaya Book Club
We are excited to launch a series of conversations about some of our favorite yoga philosophy books! Deepen your understanding of various concepts behind our practice as we join together in community for brunch and discussion after Tara’s Sunday class.
Book 3: Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith
Conversation led by Sara Neufeld
Sunday, July 15
More to come later in the year — let us know if you have book suggestions!
Cost: $10 plus an offering for a potluck brunch.
Essential Oils with Kyle Nuse
In this workshop, aromatherapy teacher, Kyle Nuse would like to share her secrets to health and well-being with therapeutic grade essential oils. Essential oils, or plant essence/blood, have life-enhancing qualities that can heal the body, deepen your meditation and yoga practice, and calm or stimulate the mind. She will pass around several of these oils for you to smell and experience while talking about their healing properties in depth. She will also share her favorite oil combinations and protocols for uplifting your spirit, relieving pain and injuries, balancing hormones, shielding your family from illness, losing weight and much more. Be prepared to smell and feel amazing!
$40 preregistration/45 at door
Learn to Float with Phil Lynch
Expand your practice by adding “flight” to your transitions! This workshop will connect upper-body strength and alignments to your lower-body control so that you can explore arm balances with ABHAYA (fearlessness). By strengthening and conditioning the core, you will expand yourself to new levels of development and understanding. By employing mechanics found in physics, applying leverage and focal points, your load will be lessened and stabilization will increase, making more complex arm balances accessible. Through metaphors, demonstrations and a lot of practice, you will learn principles of lightening the hips and legs while tapping into your upper-body power and strength. Your own strength and applied techniques will empower you to explore new levels of your practice. Various arm balances will be broken down in a step-by-step approach so you can work within your limits while exploring your edge. Lighten your load and your practice and learn to float!
Recommended for regular yoga practitioners.
$45 with preregistration, $50 at the door
More Than Broad Strokes: Advanced Asana with Allison Terracio
Saturday June 2, 2-5pmMost of the time, we can achieve what our body, mind, heart and life need in broad, generalized strokes and sweeping words and gestures. We do fundamental principles and postures, and they serve our basic needs as spiritual, embodied beings. But at times, it’s worth approaching our practice with more precision. Join Allison for an afternoon of poses requiring a high level of preparation, awareness, insight and attention. To quote Darren Rhodes when asked about shooting photos for the Anusara syllabus poster: “It’s not about the poses themselves. It’s about the kind of practice required of you. It’s about what it does to you to get there.”
Cost: $40 with preregistration, $45 at the door
Click Here to RegisterYoga Therapeutics Series with Ellen Saltonstall
Come get empowered with information and practical yoga techniques to heal and prevent injuries in this series with renowned teacher Ellen Saltonstall. Classes will include some lecture, the practice of poses adapted for particular conditions or areas of the body, and a discussion of common conditions that cause pain and dysfunction.
Two partial scholarships available for each session based on medical and financial need. To apply, e-mail keely@abhayayoga.com.
Click Here to RegisterWriting Your Practice with Susannah Harwood Rubin
Writing Your Practice combines the practices of asana and writing through a series of four intense and exuberant workshops. Each session we will explore an aspect of Shiva Nataraja from a Tantric point of view, using asana, storytelling, writing, and discussion to unlock and give voice to our creativity. As we weave our way through the beautifully moving story of Nataraja’s Dance, we will find the stories within ourselves, connecting with our innate creativity and generating new written work. All are welcomed – novice writers, seasoned bloggers, occasional journalers, and closet poets. Bring your mat, your notebook or computer, and your willingness to dive into the heart of your self-expression.
Create-Sustain-Dissolve: June 8, 8:15-10:15 p.m.
In order to create, we need to dissolve what isn’t serving us so that we establish a sound foundation for our creative practice. This workshop will explore the first three of Shiva’s five acts: Creation, Maintenance, and Dissolution through a heart-opening practice. We will learn techniques for burning down writers’ block and for establishing effective creative habits.
Nataraja’s arm crosses over his heart, illustrating in its concealing gesture, the way in which we receive the world in small glimpses and moments. In writing, we need to balance our revelatory urge to express with our quieter need to refine our prose, so that we create a vivid experienc: for the reader. Inspired by an asana session focused on twists, we will refine our structure and hone our editorial skills, sculpting powerful sentences and evocative prose. Exploring Your Desire: June 9, 7:00-9:00
What do you really care about? Why do you want to write? Sometimes we get blocked because we fail to recognize the rich subject matter of our day-to-day lives. Through the pivotal tantric story of the Pine Forest Sages and a deep hip-opening practice, we will learn to precisely articulate what matters to us through a close examination of the beauty of the everyday. Telling Your Story: June 10: 12-3:45 p.m.
Nataraja in the Tillai Forest is the story of stories in the Tantric tradition. Beginning where the tale of the Pine Forest Sages ends, it is a stunningly beautiful exploration of desire, love, devotion, and artistry, culminating in Nataraja’s Ananda Tandava, his Dance of Bliss. Encompassing many of the major concepts in tantric yoga, from Karma & Lila, Maya, Adhikara, Kalyana Mittra, and embodied freedom, the Tillai Forest story elevates artistry and the creative process to the realm of myth. In this extended session, we will thoroughly explore the story and its philosophical concepts. We will then open our bodies through a vigorous practice of standing poses and arm balances, as we move deeply into the forest of our own hearts, finding truth and meaning in our individual experiences and personal stories, transforming them into art Click Here to Register
Practice for Pyros with Bernadette Birney
Saturday June 23, 2-5pmFrom India’s great epic poem, The Mahabharata, we inherit the story of the burning of the Khandava Forest. Come for an afternoon of tantric storytelling, and intermediate asana, and discover why—as a yogin—you must be willing to set your own metaphorical forest aflame.
$40 online/$45 at the door Click Here to Register
Be radical: turn the paradigm upside down with Jorja Rivero
Saturday July 21, 2:00-4:30pmCome expand your mind, heart, and body. Only when you agree to see and tell the truth to yourself you assist your growth and break free from the past. Begin to imprint a new pathway in your nervous system. Choose a relationship with yourself that opens you fully to the power of love, of knowing you belong in the world, and to knowing that you are enough. Bring all of yourself, a notebook, and get ready to move, breathe, have fun, meditate, and flip it all on its head! Please feel free to write in with any question jorja@mindbodyexpansion.com
Jorja Rivero is an LMSW, trained gestalt psychotherapist, and yoga teacher. Her passion and extensive knowledge supports healing the mind, body, and heart relationship. She believes that the landscape of your body and senses are a sacred reservoir of unfolding wisdom and insight. With fierce loving support, she encourages you to meet head and heart on the space of possibility for you to expand, know, and embody that you are enough – not when and if – but now. Read more about her at : www.mindbodyexpansion.com
$35 with pre-registration/$40 at the door
Click Here to Register