The practice of yoga is commonly classified as the following of one of four paths –Ashtanga-yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma-yoga and Bhakti-yoga. All four aim at realizing one’s divine essence. This talk will help clarify what separates these paths and what unites them, how it all relates to asana practice, as well as which elements of these paths are most practical for deepening one’s own yoga practice in today’s world.
Kaustubha Das has a special way of making the teachings and practices of yoga very approachable and relevant. He serves as Senior Educator & Creative Director of The Bhakti Center in Manhattan. Between the ages of 21 and 34 he lived as a Vaishnava monk, traveling and studying in ashrams in India and America. He teaches

bhakti-yoga philosophy and meditation, which he has practiced for over 30 years in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

Kaustubha is not only incredibly literate in yoga teachings and practice, but he has imbibed them and lives them making his presentation both authoritative and heartfelt. – Raghunath Cappo

Part I : How You Hold Space:
An Overview of How Trauma and Anxiety Intersect
An Advanced Teacher Training

Saturday, May 28th and Sunday, May 29th
12pm-6pm
The Shala, Union Square
Cost: $250 for the weekend
Early Bird: $225 if signed up before May 1st

(Part I will be offered again in Fall 2016)

Whether they know it or not, many of your students are coming to your yoga classes in search of relief—from trauma, anxiety, a shitty week, or a broken heart. If you want to serve your students effectively, what skills do you need in order to teach in a way that creates a safe space for everyone?

+ Recognize how trauma is expressed—physically, behaviorally, and energetically
+ Understand your own relationship to trauma and anxiety

+ Learn protocols for a safe space

+ Sequence and apply asana and pranayama that are trauma sensitive

This is a weekend workshop for all yoga teachers who want to expand their awareness and strengthen their skill-set in a way that they can immediately apply to all of their teaching.  It is also a prerequisite for those who wish to go on to the more in-depth intensive for addressing trauma.
Part II : Trauma: How Yoga Heals

A Deeper Look at How the Body Holds Trauma and An Introduction to Work in Traumatized Communities

(Offered in Spring 2017)

SANSKRIT CHANTING
ALPHABET & INTRO TO GRAMMAR
with Jenny Meyer

The Shala Union Square
Saturdays: April 23, June 11, June 18
12:30 to 3:00pm
$25 per workshop, $65 for three workshops

Tune into your center by exploring the serene and joyful sounds of Sanskrit chanting.

Feel the meditative benefits as your brain activity patterns align through concentration on sound.

In these classes we will explore the basics of ‘sandhi’ (the euphonic combination of sounds). Maheshvara, a name for Shiva, means ‘Great Lord.’ But what’s the ‘e’ doing in between ‘maha’ and ‘ishvara’? Sanskrit vowels don’t like existing side by side so the ‘a’ and the ‘i’ have blended.

He Radhe! means O Radha! The name of the shakti of Krishna is altered because we use the ‘vocative case’ when calling out to her.

Selections from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and Sanskrit drama will be enjoyed.

Jenny Meyer has studied Sanskrit and ashtanga yoga in Mysore, and at Columbia University in NYC. She is a regular guest at Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York where she happily imbibes Sanskrit with Professor R.K.Sharma and with eminent scholar Bharati E. Balmes. Jenny is an adjunct professor at Long Island University. She practices yoga with Eddie and Jocelyn Stern in Brooklyn.

 

The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali is a foundational text on Yoga mind, and Yoga practices. This text has been especially important to the seminal Yoga master T. Krishnamacharya and his influential students B. K. S. Iyengar and Sri K.
Pattabhi Jois. Over my seventeen-year study with Pattabhi Jois he probably shared from this text more than any other, and often answered students’ questions in Sanskrit, quoting the Yoga Sutra, and then translating and further expounding. We will discover how this body of thought is applicable to our daily practice, as well as our teaching. In chanting the Yoga Sutras, we will experience an exhilaration and clarity that allow for an enhanced understanding of the Sutras.

I began my Yoga studies in 1982 and in 1993 I began my practice with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in his groundbreaking classes in New York City. I traveled to Mysore, India a dozen times to study with him over a seventeen-year period. 15 years ago, he sent me off to learn Sanskrit chanting, and since that time I have also been a student of Dr. M.A. Jayashree. My main focus of study with Dr. Jayashree has been the
hanting and discussion of the Yoga Sutra. I produced two CDs for her, one a recitation of the Yoga Sutra, along with other Stotram and chants. The other, a call and response CD of the entire Yoga Sutra that exceeds five hours that she and I recorded over two long Bangalore weekends.

Today I teach workshops and trainings around the world, with a focus on the Yoga Sutra as well as Ashtanga Yoga. I host a popular podcast on the Yoga Sutra on SoundCloud. I create Yoga programming for Spinal Cord Injury and MS, and I share natural lifestyle and Yoga as a blogger on YouTube as Kiki Says.

I am happy to be returning to the Shala for this unique opportunity to share the entire Yoga Sutra.
www.kikiflynn.com

www.cdbaby.com/Artist/DrMAJayashree1

You’re a yoga teacher. You know your stuff, but when a pregnant woman shows up to your class, you say, “Umm, don’t do any twists or belly down poses and…uhh…modify as best as you can.”
In this workshop you will learn:

• Appropriate ways to language your class to accommodate pregnancy

• A clear understanding of 4 trimesters and how they differ.

• Anatomy logic of why a pregnant woman should avoid certain poses

• Confidence to support pregnant students through all trimester

• Experience giving adjustments

• Modification for poses to “avoid”

• Skillful ways to use props

• Knowledge of really comfortable poses for pregnant women

Summer Quashie is a E-RYT 500 and E-RPYT, Reiki Master and long time student of Tibetan Buddhism. She started Sacred Shape prenatal training in 2011, several years after the birth of her daughter, when expectations were high for her to “just squat and pop the baby”. She has been teaching yoga since 2002, co-created the Greenhouse Holistic YTT and Yoga Sukhavati YTT, taught at the NY Open Center, the Rubin Museum of Art, Lineage Project, has led countless retreats around the world. She currently lives in NJ, homeschools her daughter and offers extraordinary opportunities for others to connect with source. www.summerquashie.com

Jan 12 Adho mukha svanasana (Down dog)
Jan 19 Chaturanga dandasana
Jan 26 Virabhadrasana (Warrior) 1
Feb 9 Virabhadrasana (Warrior) 2
Feb 16 Padmasana (Lotus)
Mar 9 Ardha matsyendrasana (Seated spinal twist)
Mar 16 Urdhva dhanurasana (Wheel)
Mar 23 Sirsasana (Headstand)
Mar 30 Salamba sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)
Apr 6 Ujjayi pranayama (Victorious breath)

Offering restorative yoga to others is a profound gift of compassion and healing. The recipient experiences the rare and precious opportunity to “just be” in their bodies and minds, fully supported and relaxed, in the warm presence of a caring guide.

Restorative yoga is a deep and subtle practice of fully supported yoga postures that stimulate the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. This active relaxation results in a physiological and psychological quieting, which soothes the negative effects of chronic stress, and returns one’s system to balance.

In this hands-on, experiential training, participants will learn the essential principles and practices of restorative yoga:

• Practice and receive constructive feedback on setting-up effective restorative poses, including twists, back bends, forward folds, inversions, and savasana variations

• Learn the key ingredients to creating a restorative environment for clients,

and how to sequence a restorative class or private session

• Understand the energetic qualities of the postures and how and when to use them to obtain desired therapeutic results

• Uncover greater centeredness, clarity, and expansiveness within yourself through direct somatic experience in the postures
throughout the workshop

• Skillfully incorporate breath work and meditation into your restorative teaching

• Learn appropriate adaptations and modifications for restorative practice for pregnancy, physical limitations, and other challenges including working with clients in a hospital or office setting
MARLIE MCGOVERN, E-RYT, RPYT, MA, teaches meditative and somatic practices from the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Buddhism, informed by contemporary insights from Western psychology.

With an educational background in cultural anthropology and psychology, Marlie explores how we experience ourselves and others in the world. She specializes in restorative yoga, a deep and nuanced practice of fully supported asana that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and facilitates exploration of the subtle limbs of yoga.

Marlie is the Administrative Director of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, Program Director for the Institute’s Yoga Psychology Training Program, and a graduate of the Institute’s Certificate Program in Contemplative Psychotherapy.

Today, more people are living with cancer than dying from it, and more will survive cancer while still facing a life-long relationship with the debilitating long-term side effects of treatment. There are 14.3 million Americans living with cancer today. By 2024 there will be 19 million. What this means for yoga teachers is that more survivors will be coming to your yoga classes with high expectations for what yoga can do for them to manage the long term side effectsof cancer and its treatments. Many yoga teachers are already seeing this happen. All yoga teachers need to prepare. This workshop will explore facts, tools and precautions every yoga teacher should know in order to address special needs and provide a safe, effective yoga class for cancer patients and survivors.Ongoing research demonstrates how yoga provides physical and emotional support during and after cancer treatment. Survivors want and need yoga. But what kind? The yoga4cancer (y4c) method is scientifically based and developed specifically for survivors and patients. Wise yoga teachers know that to bring the healing benefits of yoga to those touched by cancer requires more than compassion. It requires facts, training and experience. Presenting the practical science based y4c methodology, this workshop:

• starts with knowing what cancer patients and survivors really need and want,

• challenges misconceptions about yoga for cancer survivors,

• will analyze the benefits of an active yoga practice,

• demonstrates what poses to use and avoid,

• offers language that motivates and creates courage.

Come with curiosity and compassion; leave with clarity and confidence. Teachers and teachers in training only.
Includes: Discussion, asana and lots of demonstration.

ABOUT TARI
Tari Prinster, a cancer survivor, yoga teacher, and author of Yoga for Cancer, developed the yoga4cancer (y4c) methodology using contemporary research on cancer and yoga. Since 2003, Tari has trained over 1,500 yoga teachers and worked with thousands of survivors through classes and retreats through her organizations. She was featured in the documentary, YogaWoman. In 2015, she was honored by winning the Yoga Journal’s Good Karma Award and the first ever Yoga Journal People’s

Rangoli is a meaningful and meditative art form traditionally created with chalk on entrance ways in India to welcome good energy in and protect the home. Join Ashley as she shares what she learned from her Rangoli teacher in Mysore. This workshop will include a little movement and mainly art making but no art experience is necessary.

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friday, may 20th

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS ANDPATANJALI’S YOGA SUTRA’S
With Marla Meenakshi Joy
7:30-8:45 pm, $25

In this workshop we will explore Buddha’s Four Noble Truth’s and Patanjali’s exposition on the obstacles that arise for each yogi on the path. Understanding how the mind functions, how to liberate the mind, and accessing that freedom through chanting the sutra’s will be our focus for the evening. No previous yoga philosophy is necessary!

MARLA MEENAKSHI JOY:
Marla Meenakshi Joy, co-owner, and co-director of Downward Dog Yoga Centre, first traveled to India in 1988 to study meditation and the philosophy of the Vedas at the International Meditation Institute, in the Himalayas, India, and is a Certified Meditation teacher.

She has been teaching in teacher training programs in Toronto and internationally since 1999, as both a teacher of Philosophy and Sanskrit, Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga, and Restorative Yoga. She also leads Kirtan (call-and-response chanting) with her band SWAHA, with inspired musical compositions with her husband Ron Reid. She has produced four CD’s of Sanskrit chanting entitled “Prayer’s”, “Salutations”, “Vishnu’s Dream”, “Bolo!”, “Shanti Pulse, and their newest CD “Gone Beyond”. Marla brings her love of yoga philosophy, creative vinyasa sequencing and a sense of fun to her classes. She endeavours to bring both intelligent and challenging alignment cues as well as a nurturing softness to each class, and loves to close the circle with a chant in shavasana. www.downwarddog.com • www.swaha.ca

saturday, may 21st

MASTERING ARM BALANCES: PILLARS OF STRENGTH
2:30-4:30 pm, $30

Arm balances help us to develop the strength, stamina and focus to truly energize our practice. Finding stability through proper placement and alignment of the hands, arms and shoulders in arm balances.

By learning how to build from the ground up we will find the means to master these challenging poses and transform struggle into ease. In this workshop we will embrace the work in more exhilarating arm balances (such as headstands, handstands, and forearm balances) to feel a shift towards a stronger, healthier, more confident and more stable experience in our practice.

ASSISTING ARM BALANCES
5:00-6:30pm, $25

In this workshop we will explore both giving and receiving hands on adjustments. We will see and feel how these adjustments can bring a better understanding of the role that alignment can play in deepening our experience, bringing strength where needed while reducing the risk of injury in our practice.

sunday, may 22nd

MYSORE STYLE ASHTANGA
8-10:00 am, $25

MASTERING BACK BENDS:DEEP AND STABLE
2:30-4:30 pm, $30

In order to liberate our energy in backbends, we first need to discover ways of working that allow us to find balance through the whole body. This requires stabilizing and strengthening in some areas, and extending and opening other areas. We will be exploring some of the poses from 2nd and 3rd Series, as they contain all of the components necessary for developing both deeper and more balanced backbends. This can also lead us to the exploration of dropping back and standing up!

ASSISTING BACK BENDS
5:00-6:30pm, $25

In this workshop we will explore both giving and receiving hands on adjustments. We will see and feel how these adjustments can bring a better understanding of the role that alignment can play in deepening our experience, bringing strength where needed while reducing the risk of injury in our practice.

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 25TH AT 8-9:00PM
THE SHALA UNION SQUARE
(SUGGESTED DONATION)

Join Authorized Level II teacher and Author, Taylor Hunt, for an evening discussing the newly released book A Way from Darkness. He will share his story and how the practice of Ashtanga yoga helped him find his true path. Learn how this transformational and healing practice can work in your life and how to overcome some of theroadblocks along the way. This is an interactive discussion you will not want to miss!

SATURDAY, MARCH 26th AT 2-4:00PM
DONATION CLASS FOR THE TRINI FOUNDATION
THE SHALA UNION SQUARE
(SUGGESTED DONATION $25)

Taylor Hunt will guide you through a meditation and the fundamentals of Ashtanga yoga in this donation based class. This class will be focused on creating new patternsin our bodies and talking about the key principles of Ashtanga yoga. Come preparedto explore the basis of the Ashtanga method known as tristhana. Tristhana means the three places of attention: breath with bandha (internal energy locks), asana, and dristhi (gazing point). When practiced simultaneously, the tristhana method becomes a toolto steady the mind transforming the physical practice into a moving meditation.In this workshop, we will explore the internal elements of the practice while taking a deeper look at the fundamental poses of the vinyasa sequence.

Taylor Hunt is a devoted student of Ashtanga; a system of yoga originally transmitted by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. Taylor makes yearly trips to India to further his studies at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) under the guidance of his teacher, R. Sharath Jois. In 2013, after several extended trips, Taylor was granted Level 2 Authorization to teach from KPJAYI and had the honor of assisting his teacher in India on two separate occasions. Taylor is dedicated to sharing the transformative and healing practice with others. Seeking to preserve the traditional method, Taylor teaches daily Mysore classes at Ashtanga Yoga Columbus and offers workshops around the country. He continues to inspire others through his own dedication and accessible approach to the practice.