East Yoga

Intermediate Workshop

Looking to fine-tune your practice, transition from beginners’ classes or just want to learn how to approach more advanced poses?

This workshop’s for you!

In 3 evenings you’ll learn how to really get the most out of open level classes and take your practice to the next level!

Class 1 - Perfecting your Vinyasa, Mastering the Sun Salute: Sun Salutes are the foundation of any yoga class. You’ve done them a million times, but are you doing them correctly and getting all the benefits? Come master the Sun Salute. We will break down these vital vinyasas so you move through them with impeccable alignment; building strength, flexibility all while keeping your body safe. And don’t worry, there will be plenty of sweat, flow and great music!

Class 2 – Bhandas, Breath & Backbends: Bhandhas are “locks” you create in your body to contain and channel prana. Learning how to use them is critical for advancing your practice, conquering more challenging poses and moving with grace and ease. Come learn how to use your bhandas, combine them with your breath and develop a safe backbend practice geared at opening your heart and improving spinal health. Watch your asana transform!

Class 3 - Inversions and Arm Balances: We all want to do inversions and arm balances but they can be scary and seem impossible. We’ll show you step by step how you can conquer your fears, get upside down and fly like a crow!
This workshop is taught by two fabulous teachers - Megan Murphy and Abby Allen – so you’ll get lots of personal instruction and adjustments.
 

Monday, March 8th, 15th and 22nd
8:15 - 9:30pm
with Megan Murphy and Abby Allen
$75 for all three sessions*

Sign-up now, either on your next visit to the East Yoga studio or online at www.eastyoga.com (via the online scheduling system under the 'workshop' tab)

 
*Must sign-up for all three sessions. There are no make-up dates if a session is missed.

Heart Opening Workshop

Reverse the effects of slouching over your computer all day long and hunching to fight the bitter cold.

One of the best ways to open the heart is through backbends. This workshop will allow you to slowly open the chest and shoulders to approach and express full wheel pose.

To improve spine health and flexibility, we will explore several backbending poses, including locust, cobra and sphinx.

 
We’ll teach you ways to maintain an even, structurally sound backbend to increase endurance, prevent back bend ‘hangover,’ and better align hips and shoulders.

Come open your heart! You’ll never know what you might find until you try.

Sunday, March 21st
2:00 - 4:00pm
with Phil Lynch
$25 per person

Focus of the Month:

Fearlessness

Written by Kari Harendorf

What makes a king out of a slave?
Courage!
What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
Courage!
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
Courage!
What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?
Courage!
What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
Courage!
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the "ape" in apricot?
What have they got that I ain't got?
 

- the Cowardly Lion The Wizard of Oz

There is a proverb that says ”Fear and courage are brothers”. I like that. Because when you think about it courage doesn’t mean an absence of fear. On the contrary, it means being scared and going ahead anyways. There can be no courage UNLESS you are scared.

 
Fear is one of the truly universal experiences. From the tiniest insect to the mightiest warrior, we all have felt fear at some point in our lives. It is a natural reaction when faced with the unknown, with loss, with death. Pema Chodron says that “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth”.

If we can stay with that fear, really sit with it, without trying to run or hide or numb ourselves to it then we can truly be in the present moment. And that is what we are trying to do in our practice again and again.

Fear can be our greatest teacher if we let ourselves become intimate with it. The problem is we hardly ever do. On the contrary, we dissociate from fear at the slightest glimpse of it. Instinctively, we run. And by running, ironically, we stay “stuck”. Stuck in a rut, in a dead end job, in a bad relationship because they are all more comfortable and safer than the “unknown”. What if, instead, we opened up to fear? Like the crocuses that brave the threat of frost and fear of freezing and still burst through the newly thawed ground? What would unfold in our lives if we were truly fearless? (or at least “feared less”)?

Lululemon has all these taglines on their bags and bottles and my favorite one is “Do One Thing Everyday that Scares You”. That is how you become familiar with fear. By meeting it head on again and again. And that is where courage comes in.

The Cowardly Lion was the biggest coward of all. But he faced his fears again and again to save Dorothy and at the end of the movie the Wizard awards him with a medal for bravery. He is quoted “Read what my medal says: "Courage". Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth? ...

We are all warriors. Spiritual warriors.

Namaste, Kari

Teacher of the month:
Kari Harendorf

We are thrilled to have Kari back teaching at East!

Although 3 months of maternity leave felt like forever to all of us, it flew by for Kari and her baby boy Bodhi.

Kari, the founder and owner of East Yoga, is now the proud mom of 3 kids - Karma, Lotus and Bodhi.

Please join us in welcoming Kari back to East. She is teaching 3 classes during the week:

Tuesday, 6:30-8:00pm Open level
Wednesday, 10-11:30am Open level
Friday 10-11:30am Open level