Yang to Yin: Isolating Intention

Saturday, August 27 . 3-5:30pm
Sunday, August 28 12-2:30pm

The courses are accessible to all levels, new students will gain a strong foundation for their practice + advanced yogis will expand their knowledge of Bhandas, Mantra + energy movement through Asana + Pranayama – the physical practice + the discipline of the breath.

Offered for an investment of $60, Individual workshops $35/each.

More information and registration online at Transformation Yoga . Fitness . Massage

Saturday, August 13: 2:30-5:30pm
From Earth to Sky + Home Again: Cultivating Confidence + Ease in Inversions

Chrisandra Fox has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996. A student of hatha yoga, Tantra + Ayurveda, Chrisandra teaches classes + trainings that skillfully weave the practices of hatha yoga to cultivate prana + remove obstacles within, so you may remember your natural state of meditative awareness, ease of heart + path of growth.

Chrisandra is an E-500 RYT registered with Yoga Alliance who trains + mentors aspiring teachers. She models + writes for Yoga Journal + is the voice of Yoga Journal’s Livemag. You can practice with her in Gravity & Grace DVD with Peter Sterios + Yin Yoga DVD with Paul Grilley.

Both workshops offered for a $60 investment. Single-day workshop $35.

Joe Barnett Workshops

This special class is offered for $30. Register HERE

This class offering is different from Joe's last workshop at the bar, this one will be more practice-focused, with a simple anatomy refresher added on. Suitable for all students.

Yin Yoga is a very simple, deep and meditative practice. We settle into an asana for 3-7 minutes and slowly relax our muscles to allow the deeper drier tissues--the connective tissues that wrap our muscles and make up our joint capsules--to be safely and therapeutically stretched, stimulated and strengthened. The alignment rules of the postures are simple: we listen to our bodies and lead ourselves into the shape that follows the natural contours of our spine, pelvis and hips. However, bringing ourselves into this simplicity can be quite challenging. The practice of being still and quiet for minutes at a time can be trying enough, let alone while dropping into a deep and often burning stretch across wide sheets of connective tissue. And listening to our bodies to find the natural, organic alignment of the pose requires a discrimination, an understanding and familiarity with the moment to moment changing sensations in the body. A little discussion, a few slide shows and of course diving into the practice will help shed light on Yin Yoga; but the backbone of this training is the living study of skeletal variations. An understanding of the joints through direct experience. Feeling the full range of motion in ones own body as well as the bodies of ones fellow students is a crucial step toward building the Shapes of Yoga Asana. Joe Barnett has been teaching for over a decade. He teaches many styles of movement and has certifications in Yang (Vinyasa) Yoga, Yin Yoga and Acro Yoga.  However, his main focus of study is the techniques in Functional Anatomy for Yoga Asana. Joe is a senior student of Paul Grilley, a true Yoga Scientist who is largely responsible for the current rise in the popularity of Yin Yoga and Functional Alignment. Using Paul’s Taoist Analysis of Yoga and the Body, Joe recently began traveling the country training yoga teachers and students how to understand and feel the full range of motion of their joints and their students’ joints; and how to use this wisdom to effectively and therapeutically build the postures in yoga.

SPECIAL OFFER - register online for both events and use code DRUMS at checkout to receive $5 off the combined total.

Awakening through Music Retreat Program Series

Expanding the Self: A Paradigm Shift to Unlimited Possibilities 

Saturday June 18, 12-5pm. Offered for an investment of $40

REGISTER HERE

The purpose of this one-day seminar is to introduce the ancient practices of music and 

drumming as powerful tools that heal our emotional, physical, and spiritual being. Through an 

adventurous and meaningful day of drumming ceremonies, speaking presentations, music 

performances, and symbolic activities, participants are guided to expand the self through a 

paradigm shift that opens their perception to the unlimited possibilities in life. Participants will 

creatively explore the core of who they are, reach deep levels of reflection, release old stories 

and perceptions that no longer serve them and experience music and drumming as powerful 

tools that unlock the doors to their own inner wisdom. 

No drumming experience is necessary! 

The Rhythms of Life Workshop 

Designed to support a deep surrender to our spirit and to promote an active participation in the 

magic of life. Participants learn how to use sacred rhythms to release their innate potential to 

heal. Each workshop is comprised of a dialogue with the facilitator, hands-on drumming 

instructions, and a powerful drumming ceremony. 

Sacred Drumming Ceremony 

We use the drum as a tool for spiritual awakening and transformation. Participants are led 

through a simple yet powerful drumming ceremony through which they are able to transcend 

physical and emotional limitations and release their full potentials. With this ceremony we create 

a bridge between the physical and the spirit worlds. It unites you with your spirit and releases 

your spirit to freely navigate the path of life. 

The Shaman's Drum Guided Meditation and Relaxation Sessions 

We utilize both ancient and modern energy-building techniques to facilitate deep meditation and 

complete relaxation. Using the Native American pow wow drum, the didgeridoo, ceremonial 

shakers and bells, these live music meditation sessions help you to move into and maintain a 

newly-focused awareness. 

Drums of Transformation Trance Dance

Saturday, June 18 7-9 pm. Class offered for $15  - REGISTER HERE

Honor the Divinity and Free Spirit within your-self through drum and dance in this ceremonial 

celebration of life. In the liberating vibrations of sacred drumming, you will get in touch with your 

inner drummer and inner dancer, and experience the boundless energies in your inner being 

through a powerful meditation of sound and movement.  

Weekend offered for $300 double occpancy/$375 single. Meals, accommodations and instruction included. Or register for individual days: Saturday $125, Sunday $75.

Event Itinerary (Subject to time and location changes, weather permitting):
Saturday May 21
8:30am Meet in the atrium of The Westin Hotel
9-11 Morning Yang Yoga at The Taft Museum
11-12pm Tea and Tour of The Taft
12-12:30 Picnic lunch provided by Soho Sushi
1-3:30 Love Where You Are workshops with Staci Sims
3:30-4:30 Hotel check-in/Meditation in the CAC Art Installation
4:30-6 Evening Yin Practice CAC
*6:30-8:30 Cooking demonstration and dinner with Chef Mark Stroud - Rooftop kitchen of The McAlpin Lofts (* for overnight guests only)

Sunday May 22
8:30am-10:30 Morning Yang Yoga at The National Freedom Center
10:30-11:15 Brunch/Lunch by Taste of Belgium
11:30-2pm Love Where you Are Workshop II with Valerie Louis
2-4 Yogic Takeover of Fountain Square
4 Retreat ends but Yogic Takeover events continue

Yogic Takeover of 

Fountain Square 

Sunday, May 22: 1:00-5:00 pm 

Please join us to celebrate yoga, satsang, music & life at the "Yogic Takeover of Fountain 

Square"!  This event is free and open to all. 

Individual workshops offered for an investment of $50.
Save $5 when you pre-register online before the day of the workshops.
Or sign up for both workshops for just $75!

ANATOMY FOR YOGA DESCRIPTION:
Yin Yoga is a very simple, deep and meditative practice. We settle into an asana for 3-7 minutes and slowly relax our muscles to allow the deeper drier tissues--the connective tissues that wrap our muscles and make up our joint capsules--to be safely and therapeutically stretched, stimulated and strengthened.

The alignment rules of the postures are simple: we listen to our bodies and lead ourselves into the shape that follows the natural contours of our spine, pelvis and hips. However, bringing ourselves into this simplicity can be quite challenging. The practice of being still and quiet for minutes at a time can be trying enough, let alone while dropping into a deep and often burning stretch across wide sheets of connective tissue. And listening to our bodies to find the natural, organic alignment of the pose requires a discrimination, an understanding and familiarity with the moment to moment changing sensations in the body.

A little lecturing/discussion, a few slide shows and of course diving into the practice will help shed light on Yin Yoga; but the backbone of this training is the living study of skeletal variations. An understanding of the joints through direct experience. Feeling the full range of motion in ones own body as well as the bodies of ones fellow students is a crucial step toward building the Shapes of Yoga Asana.

Joe Barnett has been teaching for over a decade. He teaches many styles of movement and has certifications in Yang (Vinyasa) Yoga, Yin Yoga and Acro Yoga.

However, his main focus of study is the techniques in Functional Anatomy for Yoga Asana. Joe is a senior student of Paul Grilley, a true Yoga Scientist who is largely responsible for the current rise in the popularity of Yin Yoga and Functional Alignment. Using Paul’s Taoist Analysis of Yoga and the Body, Joe recently began traveling the country training yoga teachers and students how to understand and feel the full range of motion of their joints and their students’ joints; and how to use this wisdom to effectively and therapeutically build the postures in yoga.

---

In Acro Yoga (Montreal), we plant a seed of Yogic Consciousness in the Field of Partner/Ensemble Acrobatics and watch what grows.

As with all of Yoga, the practice has Sun (Ha) and Moon (Tha) aspects. The Moon practice includes therapeutic applications such as Flying Massage and Assisted Yin Yoga Stretching. The Sun practice is dynamic and playful: sometimes full of vigor, inversions and core strength; sometimes effortlessly fluid and creative; and always a good time. Both approaches develop connection, trust, and communication.

Both approaches can be very aesthetically pleasing to observe, on the streets and in the park we tend to draw a crowd. Yet both approaches are at the core a Functional and Experimental Practice more than an Aesthetic one. In the first steps, we learn a foundational language and certain functional principals, the final steps are to see what happens when a group of Yogis gather with their unique physical proportions and energetic beings to build Yoga Asanas which are much bigger and more beautiful than one body can create alone. The bridge between these steps we build together by smoothly juggling moments of observation, discussion and full-steam action.

It is not required to come with a partner. We encourage you to bring a friend. But please know: the Acro Yoga experience is one of community development. Everyone will work with everyone.

ACRO YOGA BIO:
I have been playing Acro Yoga since 2006, the year my teacher Jason Magness came to Tucson. Magness is one of the original seeds of Slackline Yoga (yogaslackers.com) and a senior student of Jenny Sauer-Kline and Jason Nemer, the founders of AcroYoga San Francisco (acroyoga.org). Magness’ class blends his expertise in Ashtanga Vinyasa, Slackline, and Acro Yoga. I was devoted within the first few gatherings.

In July 2010, I traveled to Montreal to meet the original Acro Yoga Kula, led by Eugene Poku and Jessie Goldberg. I received both levels of Teacher Certification offered by Acro Yoga Montreal (acroyoga.com). Through this group I found a very different dimension of creative expression in the form, an expression that invites all forms of art to integrate with its organic expression of Asana.

I continue to train with Magness and Poku & Goldberg. However, I have gathered much of my Acro Yoga from the random Acro Yogis I have met at various beaches and parks over the past 5 years. The ever growing and evolving matrix of fellow Bases and Flyers throughout the world is my greatest source of wisdom (and joy).