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ashtanga yoga

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Journal Post

We hope you survived the New Years Celebrations relatively unscathed? So what have you learned? Not just from the holidays but from the lessons of the past year. Wintertime, the essential time of annual hibernation, is upon us and despite how our LED-powered world removes the enforcement of winter rest, we really are better served to heed her call. 
The progressive series of postures with synchronization of breath work and awareness, Ashtanga Yoga is the key to healthy living for many across the world.
As we enter the much beloved summer season, we are quickly reminded of the quality which dominates it. Summer is evidence of the Fire Element which gives us the capacity for great joy, passion and compassion, but can also ignite irritability and anger.
“Yoga is a science which liberates one's mind from the bondage of the body and leads it towards the soul." – BKS Iyengar, Tree of YogaMany scholars have searched for the date of the first reference to yoga, but BKS Iyengar reminds us in The Tree of Yoga, that Yoga, like Ayurveda, is apauruseya, not given by man. "Brahma is the Founder of Yoga” and also "Lord Siva is the Founder of Yoga, which he first taught to his wife, Parvati." (156). Yoga is one of the six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy, which was organized by Patanjali, in his classical work, the Yoga Sutras.“Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind”
We REALLY want to know. What do YOU want? April feels like the culmination of a great deal of work on many levels. We have made it through a long, challenging Winter where we spent time downsizing and taking inventory of what is working and what is not. We have made some hard decisions and have let go of what is no longer serving us. With the return of Spring is the Return of Hope. , the spiritual quality of the spring in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Over twenty years ago I walked into my first Ashtanga yoga class, a fairly stressed-out, exhausted, toxic, and depressed individual. An hour and a half later, I walked out, feeling relaxed, energized, happy, and cleansed from the inside out. Ever since that first class I've been fascinated by this transformative power of the practice, what I call the alchemy of Ashtanga yoga.
Encinitas holds the distinction of being the American birthplace of Ashtanga Yoga. David Williams began teaching here in the early seventies and sponsored Pattabhi Jois and his son Manju to come here for the first time in 1975. Brad Ramsey and Gary Lopedota, two of David's students, opened their own yoga shala, called the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam, after David moved to Maui.
When and how can you get your students to commit to one practice- and should you even try?
Walk down the street and witness the shapes and sizes of pedestrians, the colors and makes of passing cars, and the dazzling array of merchandise in shop windows. Abundance bombards us from every angle.
This smorgasbord of options also seeps into yoga. Ashtanga, Anusara, Bikram, Iyengar, Sivananda - the list goes on.
At a certain point you need to make some important decisions. Just as you determined whether of not you would be a vegetarian, how you would earn a living, or in what neighborhood you'd live, must you also settle on one style of yoga?
Find out why gender-specific classes can provide an inspiring teaching experience while attracting an appreciate audence.
As teachers, we can be artists who sculpt experiences for our students through words we use to teach a pose, the music we play during class, or even the ways we decorate our studios. We can also create a more meaningful experience by opting to teach to targe audiences.
This is not a new concept. A glance at any studio's schedule offers us plenty of options: Basics, Level 2/3, Hot Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Mysore, Meditation. Rarely, however, do we see options such as Women's Yoga or Men's Yoga listed.
Have you every noticed how noisy we all are? In the last twenty years, we have invented and now need iPods, iPhones, CDs, portable DVD players, louder motorcycles, super jet engines, walkie-talkies, reality TV shows, music videos and Starbucks.
Silence is like a dirty word in the modern vocabulary. When you sit with another person there is an almost irresistible urge to speak. Sometimes you converse about important subjects and sometimes you just talk. This meaningless, friendly chit-chat about light-hearted matters is a kind of social sport. Imagine the awkwardness of a first date where you sit together without this lively banter--a boring disaster.
From Top Chef to Judge Judy's Courtroom Theater to the Tragedy of Tosca drama sells. At its best drama entertains, teaches and makes people laugh. At its worst it brings out division, hurtfulness and hatred. Yet human beings are somewhat enthralled with the ups and downs of their own emotions. You might even venture to say that we are addicted to them. It is all too easy to get dragged down into the habit pattern of the mind's sometimes sordid past when emotions flare and all too hard to choose the higher, more peaceful ground above. There is truth to the notion that our inner world is a kind of jungle in need of healing.
When we begin practicing yoga the deepest part of our consciousness asks for clarity, awakening and truth. What is sometimes the first step in taking positive steps towards the peace that we all yearn for is a recognition of exactly how deeply we are entrenched within our ways of warfare. Yoga for example can sometimes be riddled with fierce competition. You might find yourself competing with a new yoga practitioner in your daily class who is naturally very flexible. Or you might find yourself competing with yourself and comparing your body in a negative light with the way it was last year, last week or yesterday. Yet still you might be competing with your friends and peers.
What's the deal with Kapotasana???
It's intense, yes. I can only assume that even for a relativity flexy body, there's a good level of intensity. On a not so good day, I struggle one arm at a time to catch, pant out five breaths and barely straighten my arms in version B.  On a great day, I easy drop-in, my inner ear pops so no outside sounds comes in and tension in my spine feels radiant.  Most days are somewhere in between.
The new and improved Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville website is up. Check it out at www.ashtangacharlottesville.com
Charlottesville Yoga School is offering free classes to the community. The classes are being taught by our teachers in training. The classes are held at two different locations. The Thursday evening classes are held at the Jefferson Public Library, downtown Charlottesville. 3rd Floor, McIntire Room, BYOMat. The Saturday and Sunday afternoon classes are held at Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville, above MAS restuarant in Belmont. Dates and Times below Please contact Jennifer Elliott t 434-970-7980 or email info@ashtangacharlottesville.com for more information or questions.
We Are Under the Hood of the NEW iHanuman Website. We have a little more work to do, but we have DEFINITELY been Out and About recording new Yoga Media! This summer we Dreamed and Grew. Now it's Time to Reap, Harvest and Let Go! The Autumn season reminds us that we CANNOT do EVERYTHING and We CAN let go of our own timeline to open to something BIGGER. We need a little more time to unveil our NEW site, but we hope you will PRACTICE PATIENCE with us.
Summer is the Pitta or Fire Season of the Year. The time to fully blossom and express ourselves. The time when everything seems to be happening at once! Those of us who tend to run hot need to slow down and cool off. Others may use this time of year to purify by heating the body up to perspire and cool down.  Luckily the practice of Yoga Asana (poses) and Pranayama (breath awareness) offer us ample practices to chill. 

Credit: Woven - Montauk Beach Finally March has arrived and we can begin to wake ourselves up from our long winter's nap. In March, we clear away the clutter from the windy cold winter to allow the new green sprouts to show their color. We plant seeds for what we want to grow and blossom this spring and summer and prune the last of the dead limbs. What remains? What are we bringing forth into the new year to nourish the seeds and tender green shoots? And who are the people in our lives that will support us on this journey?
Credit: Lululemon Athletica Love is in the air this month. And if it's not, we need to ask ourselves, 'Why not?" There have been many a February in my life where I did not have a significant other and often felt lacking and inferior in the days leading up to Valentine's Day. What I discovered is that sense of lack was usually due to missing self love. I had not learned to love myself, so how could I expect to someone else to love me?
dhanurasana (bow posture) Dhanurasana, or Bow Pose, is a fantastic back-bending pose for opening the chest and shoulders and strengthening the back. This pose is challenging as it reminds how important the legs are in back-bending poses. In addition to the strength in the back required for backbends, there is even more strength required in the legs, particularly the quadriceps.
Little Altars EverywhereMy husband and I just returned from our honeymoon in Greece. As a novice traveling in Europe, everything was magnificent. I have been fortunate to have traveled extensively in Southeast Asia and Africa over the last decade and always knew I would explore Europe later in life.
A Guru is a person whose very presence imparts truth and awakening in the disciple. When I traveled to Mysore for the first time at the age of 22 I asked Sri K. Pattabhi Jois where I could find the illusive state of inner peace that all yoga practice seeks to instill. Known as Guruji to his students, he said "You take it practice many years, then Shantih is coming... no problem" and my heart opened to the grace of his teaching. It is my great fortune to consider this amazing man my teacher and I attribute the depth of my personal practice and teaching to the light that Guruji's fire ignited within me.
We are pleased to announce that Kino MacGregor will sell her first yoga video, " A Journey, A Workshop" with iHanuman. From her website: "In this two part DVD certified Ashtanga yoga instructor Kino MacGregor makes the mastery of strength available for everybody. All levels from beginner to advanced will benefit from learning the techniques presented here. Easily applicable to all yoga practitioners, the explanation given will greatly improve your ability to understand and actually do some of yoga's most challenging strength-based postures.
Come immerse yourself in the practice of Ashtanga Yoga with David Garriques and the Charlottesville Ashtanga community !
The 6th Annual Ashtanga Summer Immersion is divided into three parts, held at Belmont and The Barn at Split Rock Farm:
Part 1: Daily Practice
Sunday, July 13 - Sunday, July 27:
Mondays - Fridays: Mysore Practice, 6:30-8:30am, at Belmont
Sundays: Led Primary Series, 9:30-11:30am, at The Barn
Part 2: In-Depth Study and Teacher Training
Monday, July 14 - Friday, July 25; 11:00am-4:00pm, at The Barn
Ashtanga Yoga of Charlottesville invites you to celebrate a magical evening benefiting Children, Youth and Family Services. Saturday Evening, December 8 at The Barn at Split Rock Farm.
8:00PM to Midnight. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Please RSVP to Jennifer Elliott at info@ashtangacharlottesville.com
Charlottesville Ashtanga Yoga Shala
Saturday, December 15, 2007
9:30AM-12:30PM
Restore your Kidney Qi for the holidays.
5th Annual Ashtanga Yoga Sumer Immersion with David Garriques kicks off this Sunday June 17th at 9:30AM at the Yoga Barn in Ivy. The rest of the week will be early morning mysore practice led by David and all day workshops as well as the regular ashtanga yoga classes at the yoga shala in Belmont. Don't miss the pool party in Ivy on June 30th!
For more information on the specifics of the schedule visit the Asthtanga Charlottesville website.
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