Info Gathering October 26

Adaptation Workshop October 27

Yoga Sutras & Info Gathering November 18

October 26 - 7:30 PM Info evening October 27 - 2:00 PM Info Workshop Wake Up Yoga    Assessing students needs & adapting practices to fit. We welcome yoga students who are dedicated to sharpen their personal practice, devoted teachers who would like to help students with difficulties, and health care professionals who are committed to know about practicing yoga safely. Yoga can target our desire for comprehensive health in the physical, mental and emotional realms. Additionally, Yoga can focus, encourage and nourish our attention toward revealing our innermost hidden nature by increasing our spiritual light. In working towards ‘whole being’ health, we may often encounter specific problems. When we do, there is a vast array of means to alleviate these obstacles. We must begin with the increased clarity and focus that our whole practice brings us to help understand our needs so that we can begin to properly adapt our practice toward our desired outcome.  Physical and mental differences require unique approaches to our practice and studies, as do the wishes that motivate us. As teachers and practitioners, we can benefit from the insight and the creativity it takes to develop practices that address individual needs. From the ancient perspective the possible adaptations are endless.  It is essential that we consider a persons age, body type and physical condition before we impose yoga on their body and mind. Observation plays a key role in how we design an effective sequence for people at different stages of development, ability, and interest. Common aches and pains, chronic disease, condition of the spine, vertebral discs, hip, shoulder, elbow, knee, wrist and ankle, joints, hyper-mobility, inflexibility, muscular weakness, strain and asymmetrical imbalance along with emotional health are some of the issues we will need to consider for the adaptation of a practice. Both debutant and experienced practitioners may also suffer from dysfunctional movement patterns and need to effectively manage pain in their body. As professionals and practitioners we should help ourselves and our students to increase strength, alignment, stability, range of motion, and symmetry, and decrease muscular tightening, pain and dysfunctional movement patterns. We will look at how we practice and what we teach. Rather than replace it, we will build and adapt it to better assist our needs. This workshop will be interactive as we study our practice and our teaching then rearrange them to redirect our outcome. Please bring examples of difficulties from your practice or your teaching to share with the group. We will explore those examples which have the most relevance for the class.   It was a pleasure meeting you and attending your yoga workshop for teachers at the Integral Yoga Institute this evening. Not only were you inspirational but have helped me to reframe my concept of what one’s yoga practice should be. Individualization/customization of the asanas in one’s practice is a concept that is so overlooked in most of the yoga schools that I have attended. I would like very much to take classes with you and or attend any workshops that you offer in the near future. Om Shanti, Diane Charlton   May 2003                                                                                 KITHUA@aol.com                  Integral Yoga Institute Teacher                                                                        718-243-0968   Paul has been credited with a verbal Viniyoga Certificate by Gary Kraftsow of the American Viniyoga Institute. He travels to India yearly to intensify his relationship with the teachings of T Krishnamacharya, by his son TKV Desikachar. Emulating his teachers, Paul is noted for using adaptation in order to properly apply the methods of Yoga to the unique individual rather than demanding an individual to adapt to a unique Yoga style. He is invited to teach various seminars and workshops for established and debutante teachers in prestigious Yoga schools throughout America, as well as being highly respected in India for his awareness of Vedic systems. Paul is the founder of "YOGA for ALL:® Any Body. Any Condition. Any Age."®

Teacher Training in YOGA for ALL YOGA for ALL ® Teachers Training.. .. is offered so that students who understand their practice may help others learn. Students that have practiced for many years and those that have taught for many years in this or other traditions, may apply for our program. This personalized instruction will deepen your ability to work with students and understand their differing needs. At YOGA for ALL ® teacher training's considered an ongoing life process. We are not so concerned with how one gets a piece of paper and into the marketplace as how one conducts oneself for the improvement of their own practice as a means of teaching others. How to create a practice that reverberates so intensely in your being that it pours over into the people who learn from you. At the same time respecting where your student is rather than trying to bring them to where you are or think that they should be. Teaching is a part and parcel of your practice. It does not replace your personal practice, but enhances, taking it to a higher level. In other words, you must practice on your own and teach - in combination. One alone without the accompaniment of the other will not offer the higher realization of your purpose. Probably it takes about 10 years of practice to make a worthwhile teacher. Logical reasoning may cause us to suspect a teacher that claims to have been teaching since they began study. However, the attempt to teach what you have learned will make you a better student. Therefore teach whenever anyone asks you for help or insights even when you have seemingly something small to offer, but be cautious in referring to yourself as a teacher or attempting to teach what you vaguely understand. Preferably remain a student for the rest of your life, allowing people to learn from your studious attentiveness. Look for teachers that claim to be students. Honor their humility. Look out for the self proclaimed masters and stay far away.

November 18 - 12:00 - 3:00 PM Info Workshop 3 PM Free Info gathering for 500 Hour Certificates Wake Up Yoga   Practicing Yoga Asana with reflection on the ancient Wisdom of Patanjali.   Yoga is mostly associated with the practice of asana referred to as Hatha Yoga or simply as exercise however, it is a major underlying influence for spiritual practices throughout the world. Because of its tangibility, asana is the least apt of the eight limbs, to mislead and delude us. Nonetheless, in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, Yoga is synonymous with Samadhi or Dhyana (Meditation). Since ancient times Chanting accompanied by reflection on meaning, was the means to develop the frequencies of the mind for better understanding of the self, a practice referred to as Svadhyaya. Patanjali mentions this Svadhyaya in chapter II as the means to have contact with one’s divinity.   By Chanting and Meditating on key Sutra-s from the third or fourth chapters of Patanjali's vital text amidst the movement of breath into asana and pranayama, we aim to transcend our normal practice awareness and delve into the state that is Yoga. After all it is Patanjali who has reiterated the practical way to experience the philosophical means to reach the highest state of enlightenment.    Chanting in the ancient and vibrant Vedic Sanskrit style while enjoying the ecstatic sensory reverence of Asana we will connect with the source of present day Yoga by aligning our concentration upon the auspicious reasoning of Patanjali. Having our full focus of mind on the meaning and purpose behind the practice we encourage the magnificent prospect to enlighten our awareness toward our essential goal.  ************************* Paul's chanting, asana practice, and his teachings on the Sutras have changed my personal practice and my classes profoundly. Thanks to his teaching, I can help my students with breathing and asana, much more coherently and clearly than before. I understand the principles behind class planning better and I have a firm grasp of the theory behind adaptation of poses. Exposure to Paul's Vedic chanting is not only a pleasure; it has also radically changed my consciousness, my practice, my day-to-day happiness.  Susanna Nicholson                                                             susannanicholson@hotmail.com  Union Yoga Charlottesville, VA     Paul has been credited with a verbal Viniyoga Certificate by Gary Kraftsow of the American Viniyoga Institute. He travels to India yearly to intensify his relationship with the teachings of T Krishnamacharya, by his son TKV Desikachar. Emulating his teachers, Paul is noted for using adaptation in order to properly apply the methods of Yoga to the unique individual rather than demanding an individual to adapt to a unique Yoga style. He is invited to teach various seminars and workshops for established and debutante teachers in prestigious Yoga schools throughout America, as well as being highly respected in India for his awareness of Vedic systems. Paul is the founder of "YOGA for ALL:® Any Body. Any Condition. Any Age."®   Tirumalai Krishnamacharya... (PHOTO AT TOP) was the teacher & father of TKV Desikachar who gave the name 'Viniyoga' to his fathers teachings. He was also the teacher of famous BKS Iyengar and Patabi Jois. The Ashtunga method originated from Mr Jois's training with Krishnamacharya. Basically he has made his influence on Yoga as it is taught today. His main contribution to the practice of Yoga was that it should be adapted to the individual, and not the individual to Yoga. He was born in 1888. He traveled throughout India studying from the best teachers he could find. He had mastered Ayurveda (ancient life & healing system of India) and Sanskrit. When he was 28, he had learned of a great Yogi who lived in the Himalayas, on lake Manosarovar at the foot of Mt. Kailash. Penniless he went there to learn Yoga from Ram Mohana Brahmacari who was his teacher for 7+ years. Then his guru asked him to leave and to teach Yoga in the cities of India. This was the demanded payment from his teacher. Krishnamacharya lived for a hundred one years. He is not with us today but his spirit permeates our teachings.