friday, Nov 3
The Breath of Pleasure & Pain – The anatomy of Our Craving Mind.
6:30-8:30pm
Are you curious about how yoga works? Are you curious about how your mind and body operates below the conscious moment? Then this class is for you. Yoga considers suffering the foundational paradigm of living. Yoga sastra also tells us whatever is ‘sweet in the beginning is bitter at the end’ and vice versa. How are we suppose to understand this pessimistic outlook on life? And what about pleasure? How does comfort, joy and happiness fit into classic yoga’s model for living Through yogic breathing we have the opportunity to get a personal hands-on experience of this and other deep teaching from the ancient yogis. When we embody the underlying layers of yogic teachings, applying it to our lives becomes a natural gravitation. In this class you will experience how pleasure and pain offers direct and one of a kind lessons towards realizing deeper levels of yourself.  All levels welcome.

Sat, Nov 4
Mysore style Class
8:00-9:50am
Named after the city where Sri K. Pattabhi Jois lived, this is is the classic way Ashtanga Yoga is taught. A melting pot of yoga practitioners of all levels from beginner to advanced, this class sets out to offer personalized guidance to every practitioner at exactly where you need it most. Build relationship with yourself, your practice and your teacher in this inspiring energy. Honor the Ashtanga Yoga’s living lineage that dates back nearly five thousand years in a unbroken line of teachers, sages and gurus, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, his son R. Sharath Jois and every Ashtanga practitioner today.

Sat, Nov 4
Gateway Postures of The Primary Series – Bhujapidasana, Kurmasana, Supta Kurmasana, Garbha Pindasana.
2-4pm
The Primary Series, Yoga Chikitsa, is meant to heal and strengthen our body and mind, preparing ourselves for a deeper and more subtle asana exploration in the Intermediate Series, Nadi Shodana. But sometimes we get a bit stuck! the leg just won’t go where we want it to or our knees, wrists or shoulders seems more achy than happy when attempting the higher notes of this series, also called the ‘Gateway Postures’ as they serve as indicators that our body has grown ready for a next level. But what to do when we can’t find our body molding those fancy shapes?  This workshops addresses that issue. Focussing on technique, proper alignment and anatomical insights will help you understand how your body move and how to progress to a next level of your aptitude. We set up for a detailed experience of these difficult gateway postures, slowly peeling the layers that obstructs our view and motion required to find the freedom and power which Sri Patanjali promises in this yoga method.

Sun, Nov 5
Inversions, Headstands & Arm Balances
12-2pm
In this workshop you will learn practical tools to turn upside down with stability, tranquility and grace. You will gain a thorough understanding of the anatomical patterns at play in your body while inverted. Detailing the shoulder mechanics helps you integrate your arms, spine, ribcage and hip to create a solid platform for accessible and pleasurable inversions whether on your head, hands or elbows. All levels welcome.

We encourage those brand new to yoga to start out with classes suited to a beginner’s needs. The following classes offer a comfortable pace, step-by-step instruction, and a supportive atmosphere. Always let the teacher know if you are working with injuries or specific conditions, and whether or not you prefer to receive physical assists.

1. Ashtanga | Mysore All Levels: Times for New Students to start the practice below. 
   • Union Square Mysore Hours: 
     • Monday-Friday: 6:30am, 8:30am, or 9:30am
     • Monday-Thursday: 3:30
   • Fort Greene Mysore Hours:
     • Monday + Friday: 7:30am
     • Monday – Thursday: 3:30pm
2. Fort Greene Basics and All Levels Classes
   • Vinyasa | Level 1
     • Sundays – 2:30-3:45
   • Vinyasa | All Levels
     • Monday + Wednesday – 8:30–9:45pm
     • Thursday – 7:00 to 8:15
     • Saturdays – 9:00-10:05am
     • Sundays – 11:00-12:05pm
   • Community Class by Donation | All Levels
     • Thursday – 8:30-9:30pm
   • Slow Down | All Levels
     • Fridays – 6:00-7:15pm
3. Union Square Basics and All Levels Classes
   • Wind Down | All Levels (Sliding Scale)
     • Tuesday + Thursday – 8:00-9:00pm
     • Sunday – 6:15-7:20pm
   • Wind Down + Meditation | All Levels (Sliding Scale)
     • Monday + Wednesday – 8:00 to 9:00pm
   • Vinyasa | All Levels
     • Friday – 3:45-4:45pm (+Restorative)
     • Saturday – 4:30-5:45pm

SUMMER SOLSTICE EDITION with ashley dorr and maria rubinate

Taking care of yourself is vital to continue to work under challenging circumstances, in a challenging world. We will explore methods of yoga, therapeutic art making, ayurveda, and the importance of connection as a community.

This workshop will be geared toward teachers, therapists, social workers, and care givers, but all are welcome. No yoga or art experience necessary. Art supplies, yoga mats, chai and snack will be provided.

Email with any questions: ashleydorr@hotmail.com

An open-level donation class with Ashley + Domenick

to benefit the True Colors Fund

with music by DJ Lenny Stein

followed by dancing, mingling, snacks + drinks!

Join us in practicing proudly, celebrating diversity + building community.

Come prepared to practice + dance. Please bring a beverage of your choosing. 

Friday, June 2

6:30pm

The Shala

Union Square

$25 suggested donation

Sign up here!

10

*no refunds or exchanges

Liberation from Backbends
saturday, april 29
3:30-6:00PM
the shala union square
$35 in advance, $40 at the door
all levels
for april 29th workshop, sign up here

In the yoga sutra’s, Patanjali describes the perfect asana as one that has the qualities of both stability (sthira) and ease (sukha). Not to take too literal a translation, but it is interesting that he lists stability before ease. In this workshop we will experience how building stability into our joints in poses creates the structural support that opens the door to ease in our practice. Finding stability in our shoulders we can not only limit injury to the joint but also find the means to open up the thoracic spine as a way of alleviating pressure in the lumbar spine. This allows our backbends to become much more balanced thereby increasing our ability to experience sukha (ease), and ultimately, liberation in backbends!

Sunday, April 30th
Mysore Ashtanga
8:00 to 9:50
$25 (can pay difference on class card)
for sunday mysore, sign up here

Ron Reid has been practicing Yoga for over 30 years and teaching since 1988.  He is Co-owner and Director of the Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto, Canada (www.downwarddog.com)

Ron has studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath both in India and North America and was one of the first Canadian teachers to be authorized by Pattabhi Jois.. Along with his studies with his Pranayama teacher Sri Sudhir Tiwari, has also completed an “Advanced Pranayama” training with Sri O.P. Tiwari from the Kaivalyadhama Institute in Pune, India.

Ron is one of Canada’s top teachers, approaching teaching in an inspired, informed and non-dogmatic way.  He places the needs of the students ahead of the demands of the practice.  While continuing to teach and practice the ashtanga vinyasa system as a foundation, he endeavors to blend tradition with innovation, and to balance precision with grace.  Students will find his refined approach to practice both challenging and rewarding.

Marla Meenakshi Joy, (Co-owner and Director of Downward Dog Yoga Centre), first traveled to India in 1988 to study meditation and the philosophy of the Vedas with Swami Shyam, as well as other learned scholars in the Himalayas.  She is a Certified Meditation and Yoga Philosophy teacher from the International Meditation Institute in the Himalayas, and , along with her studies with her Pranayama teacher Sri Sudhir Tiwari, has also completed an “Advanced Pranayama” training with Sri O.P. Tiwari from the Kaivalyadhama Institute in Pune, India. She has been teaching Mysore (Self-Practice) around the globe, Meenakshi has a healing and informative touch.

Arm balances can present an impressive and sometimes intimidating visual quality, especially to practitioners with less experience.

If we take the time to peel away the first few layers of any arm balance, we can see that their main functional foundations rely on open range of motion in our hips and a firm connection to the ground through our hands.

Through seated hip opening postures we are not only able to further explore the motion of our hips, but also gain an even closer connection to our primary source strength…  The ground.

Join Frank Mauro as he guides you through a series of postures both standing and seated that will bring a necessary awareness to the mobility of your hips and build confidence in the strength and technique of your arms, as it all comes together to relate to arm balancing.

This workshop welcomes all levels of experience from basic to advanced students, although previous experience practicing asana will be helpful.

Saturday, June 11:
Day 1 Holding Space : How to create and maintain and strong energetic healing energy in the room. Learning to bring your most authentic self – voice and all – to your teaching and shed teacher “persona”.

Sunday, June 12:
Day 2 Trauma Sensitivity/Restorative : Recognizing trauma and strategies for helping students. Basic restorative and Yin, and continuation of day 1 ethos.

THESE 2 DAYS GO TOGETHER AS A COMPLETE TRAINING.
You may receive 20 hours towards a 200 or 300 hour teacher training certificate

The Scapulo-Humeral Rhythm and Arm Balances

Are you regularly told, or do you tell your students, to take the shoulders “down” or to keep the shoulders blades “on the back” when the arms are up overhead (full flexion)? Learn what you really want to be doing/teaching by studying the wonderful scapulo-humeral (shoulder/upper arm) rhythm in the context of asana practice. You will have a better understanding of how the arm positions in chatturanga, plank, tripod headstand, headstand, handstand and shoulderstand are quite different from each other and ask of us different things. Understanding the scapulo-humeral rhythm is fundamental to a strong and graceful practice.

Translate this information into Forearmstand and Handstand, and see how they differ from Crow and Peacock Poses and how to prepare for these joyful odes to courage and strength.

BIO

Alison West, Ph.D, ERYT, named one of the most influential Yoga teachers in America, is director of Yoga Union and the Yoga Union Backcare & Scoliosis Center. She first established Yoga Union in 1996 in SoHo after studying widely (Sivananda, Iyengar, Astanga Vinysasa Yoga) and teaching in NY for ten years. Her first studies at the Sivananda centers of Munich and NY in the early 80′s have led to a life-long interest in Yoga philosophy and the subtle practices of pranayama, meditation, mantra, yantra and mudra. She is ever grateful to Robert Moses, Kevin Gardiner, the late Mary Dunn, Sri K. Patthabi Jois and others for their selfless teaching and inspiration.

After studying with Bobbie Fultz and completing her Yoga for Scoliosis training with Elise Miller, Alison has gone on to develop new material and create the largest dedicated Yoga for Posture, Backcare, Herniation and Scoliosis in the world and conducts the only 100-Hour Backcare and Scoliosis Certification Program.

Alison conducts demanding “Gold Standard”* 200-hour Three-Pillars of Practice Teacher Trainings and a full 500-hour Mandala of Yoga Masters program in New York City, teaches workshops and master classes nationwide, in Europe and in the Middle East, and group and private classes in Manhattan.

She is currently writing her first Yoga book, Yoga for Backcare, which will be followed by Yoga for Scoliosis.

Note: Prior to her becoming a full-time Yoga professional, Alison obtained her Ph.D in Art History (1985) at NYU’s renowned Institute of Fine Arts under H.W. Janson and Robert Rosenblum. Her now-classic book on French Sculpture, From Pigalle to Prèault: Neoclassicism and the Sublime in French Sculputre, 1760-1840, was published by Cambridge University Press n 1998 and reviewed in all important publications including the New York Review of Books.