Class Descriptions
Start Up Yoga
This class is an excellent introduction to yoga for anyone who has been curious but intimidated or put off by what they’ve heard about yoga or by photos of advanced yoga postures. Truly yoga is geared toward the individual, making it accessible to anyone regardless of size, shape or fitness level. In these classes instruction will be gentle, detailed and slow paced - ideal for those with injuries or who have been inactive for any reason, or anyone who just prefers a slower moving, more meditative practice.
Beginner
Provides a thorough introduction to basic seated and standing poses. You will practice mindful movement, learn principles of safe alignment, build strength, flexibility and stamina while laying the foundation for a deeper yoga practice.
Level I
Build on your foundation, deepen and refine your basic poses. Begin to explore more challenging poses including preparation for inversions and backbends, while cultivating mindfulness, sensitivity, courage and equanimity.
Level II
Progress into a deeper more introspective practice. Learn to attend to increasingly subtle cues of your body. Explore more challenging variations of the basic poses and learn more complex poses. Refine inversions and backbends, while continuing to cultivate mindfulness, sensitivity, courage and equanimity.
Gentle
Designed for those interested in this life enhancingpractice but put off by pretzel-like images. The practice of yoga is meant to be adapted to the individual needs and capabilities with focus on developing self awareness. You will use props and adapted poses to create a safe experience suitable for those who wish, for any reason, to move slowly and intentionally.
Assisted Independent Practice
In this class you will be given a written sequence to practice. The first class of the session will be taught. Each subsequent week you will come in, pick up the sequence, we'll begin together then you will practice on your own (with assistance available during the practice), then we'll close together.
class themes
As the class descriptions indicate, the main objective of class is the practice of the physical yoga poses known as asana. In addition, during each session the classes will be woven around a specific theme. These themes serve to keep the practice fresh and interesting and also provide exposure to the richness of yoga. Sometimes the theme will focus on a specific type of pose such as twisting or balance or on developing a specific attribute such as core strength. Other times the focus may be on breathing practices, known as pranayama. We might look at Ayurvedic principles and how they influence our practices or the eight limbs of the yogic path called Ashtanga.
To give you a better idea . . . At the end of a session in which we studied mudras (hand positions) the information at the link below summarized our work.
Mudras