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Welcome to the April Edition of Conference Connection.
With only one week to go before the Grand Geneva Conference and registration now open for our annual Estes Park Conference, we're excited to be part of this amazing yoga community.
Inside this issue of Conference Connection:
- Conference updates with information about Family Yoga and the YouthAIDS Benefit Opening Keynote with Caroline Myss at the Grand Geneva Conference.
- Grand Geneva Conference scholarship recipients announced.
- Baron Baptiste's look at the connection between yoga and golf.
- Registration now open for the 12th Annual Colorado Conference.
- Spring Fever by Diane Anderson, an exclusive article about using the season for our own personal renewal and rebirth.
- And finally, Grand Geneva presenter Matthew Sanford shares his unique perspective how yoga has helped him following a devastating car accident that killed his father and sister, broke his back, and made a wheelchair the main source of his mobility.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Conference Manager
Heidi Hill, Conference Sponsorship Associate
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
Grand Geneva Conference
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
May 4 - 7, 2007
The Grand Geneva conference is next week and many classes have reached their capacity or are close to filling up.
There will be a limited number of day and single class passes available onsite,
but we strongly recommend you pre-register to guarantee admittance.
Looking for something fun to do with the whole family?
Check out the Family and Yoga classes on Saturday and Sunday, led by Leah Kalish of Yoga Ed.
Or, while you're taking yoga your family can spend the day at Moose Mountain Falls
indoor water park at the Grand Geneva Resort. There's also a kid's club at the resort that provides child care.
Even if you're not attending the conference, we invite you to join our YouthAIDS benefit opening keynote, "Entering the Castle",
by Caroline Myss. $10 donation required for conference attendees; $25 donation required for general public.
Click here for more information.
"Be Inspired" Conference T-Shirt
Here's the first look at this year's Grand Geneva conference t-shirt,
designed by Yoga Tribe and Culture.
It's organic cotton and available at the conference for $25!
Yoga and Golf Intensive at the Grand Geneva Conference
Join PGA member, affiliated Anusara Yoga teacher, certified personal trainer and golf biomechanics specialist Bobby Lane on Friday and Saturday of the conference. Improve your game by discovering the biomechanics of golf. In the morning session, you'll learn about correct spine angle, sequence of movement, coil and uncoil, and core stability. The afternoon session will put the practice into action with golf drills on the range and 9-holes on the course. As time allows, we'll return to the yoga room for a closing asana session.
Click here for more information.
Is there a connection between yoga and golf?
According to Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendona, by throwing your goals off the fairway and practicing being present in the process, you can play a better golf game.
Though golf fundamentals like body stance and stroke are learned in the conscious mind, they are stored in the nether regions of the subconscious.
Golfers who don't learn the nuances of the mental game of golf remain frustrated or give up before mastering the sport. Yet by incorporating elements of yoga practice, you can develop the mental discipline that golf demands.
Click here to read more...
Yoga Journal is proud to offer a scholarship program designed to support low income yogis and yoginis who want to attend a Yoga Journal Conference.
Thanks to the generosity of our community, we're delighted to announce the Grand Geneva Conference scholarship recipients:
Peggy B.,
Jai K.,
Elizabeth Maggie S.,
Yvonne S.,
Cheryl Ann B. from Wisconson,
and Gina H. from Illionois.
Each of the recipients was awarded either a weekend pass or a day pass to the conference. Congratulations!
For more information on scholarships, application guidelines and deadlines, visit www.yjevents.com/scholarships.
12th Annual Colorado Conference
YMCA of the Rockies
September 23-30, 2007
Drop Back into Nature at the 12th Annual Colorado Conference.
Whether it's mantra or meditation, Anusara or Ashtanga, we're confident you'll find something just for you:
Get sweaty with intense flow classes, explore yoga and rock-climbing, or discover how to end your back pain.
Come celebrate at our Saturday YouthAIDS benefit concert with Edie Brickell and learn to
incorporate yoga and healing into your life from our keynote speaker Timothy McCall.
In addition to our Main Conference, All-Day Intensives, and Half-Day Intensives, we are pleased to offer three 3-day Intensives focusing on Therapeutics, Ashtanga, and Iyengar. So leave your stress behind, roll out your mat, and allow yourself to drop back into your natural state of ease and grace.
Click here for more information and registration.
by Diane Anderson
Wake up! It's a time of renewal and rebirth. Of moving away from the isolation, insulation, and hibernation of winter and taking steps to greet the wondrous world again. Our asana practice might feel different. Yes, flowers are peeking out, birds are singing, children are laughing. We are once again aware of the world. While winter is a time of introspection, spring means looking outward again, noticing nature and our connection to others. It is a time to assess where we are and where we want to go.
Spring Break. Take a time out. Evaluate where you've been investing your energies. Been working too hard? Let yourself off the hook a bit. Take time for your loved ones. Have you gotten into some habits you'd like to break? Identify them. Once you know where you've been, it's time to look at where you
are going.
Spring Forward. You can't move forward if you're looking in the rear view mirror. Yes, it's good to be aware. But there ain't nothing you can do about the past. Keep moving forward. Focus on steering yourself where you wanna go. You don't have to get there now. And you don't have to be antsy. Just chill and visualize what you want your world to look like so that when you have a chance to make that reality, you can.
Spring Clean. It's time to clean up your act. Literally and figuratively. Grab some elbow grease and make your living situation brighter. Roll up your sleeves and get to work evaluating what stuff to shine up and keep, what stuff to give away, and what stuff to recycle. While you're at it, figure out what else in your life and mind you can lighten up. Let go of any hurt and resentment that weigh you down. You'll feel much better.
Spring Fling. No, I'm not advocating irresponsibility or indiscretion here. But spring is a season of considering alternatives. Be a bit impulsive. Try something new. Indulge in something delicious, whether it's fresh flowers for your table, a new recipe, a different route to work, or something quirky that makes you smile. Say hello to someone you don't know. Call an old friend you haven't seen in a while. Whatever it is, get out of your old patterns-just, well, just because it's spring.
Diane Anderson is a senior editor at Yoga Journal.
Editor's Note: Matthew will be teaching an intensive and giving the keynote address at the Grand Geneva Conferences.
Click here for more information.
The beauty of yoga is that it does not discriminate. I am a paraplegic from the chest down, and I have dedicated the last sixteen years of my life to exploring how Iyengar yoga can travel through both a paralyzed and unparalyzed body. I have investigated the subtle connections that exist between mind and body, connections that will not make me walk again but are profound nonetheless. Any dedicated yoga practitioner will experience these subtle connections, but the way I practice makes them more apparent.
My story of exploring mind and body began at age thirteen when I survived a devastating car accident that killed my father and sister, broke my back, and made a wheelchair the main source of my mobility. I spent the first twelve years after the accident trying to overcome my paralyzed body, trying to overcome my disability. Finally I reached a boiling point. I missed my body. I needed to do something different. I found yoga.
Actually in 1991, I found Jo Zukovich, yoga teacher and founder of the San Diego Yoga Studio. Quite honestly, without her guidance, compassion, and support, I doubt that I would have continued with yoga. She did not take a traditional Iyengar approach in teaching my untraditional body - for example she didn't worry about the number of poses I could do. Instead, she taught me the system's underlying principles, how the poses naturally unfold through heightened attention to alignment and precision. We partnered in a great experiment. Now after sixteen years, we are sharing our work with others. One of our goals is for more people living with disabilities to gain access to the benefits of yoga. To do this we hope to show other yoga teachers how to adapt their own personal practice and teach this special demographic. Our intensive at this year's Yoga Journal's Lake Geneva Conference is an important step in this process.
I began teaching yoga about ten years ago. At that time I also started teaching an adaptive yoga class at the Courage Center, a leading rehabilitation facility located in Golden Valley, Minnesota. My students live with a wide array of disabilities, and the more I share with them the more I fall in love with yoga. The truth of yoga lies not in the finished outline of the pose, but in the depth, the subtlety, and the union of mind, body, and whatever we call spirit. This is true not just for someone living with a disability, but for all of us. For this pioneering work I received a Karma Yoga Award from the Yoga Journal in 2003.
In 2001, I founded Mind Body Solutions, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to the simple notion that minds and bodies work better together. We opened a yoga studio in 2002 that offers over 20 classes weekly to more traditional students. We also have a mind-body based stress relief program for the workplace called Bringing Your Body to Work and offer workshops for medical and rehabilitation professionals on integrating a mind-body approach into our
healthcare practices.
With the 2006 release of my book Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence, the work at Mind Body Solutions emerged on the national map. We specialize in making the benefits of yoga accessible to people of all abilities. We also are a leading voice in bringing a practical mind-body approach into our healthcare system. Currently, we have embarked on a project to make the Courage Center the world's leader in holistic rehabilitation.
I owe my life's work to my daily yoga practice. My experience with paralysis and Iyengar yoga show me the transformative power of not just the physical body, but the subtle body that lies underneath it. This is a truth that needs to be realized on the yoga mat and beyond it. I share my story and my teaching to achieve this end.
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Exclusive Coupons from
Avalon Organics
As a sponsor of Yoga Journal's 2007 Conference Tour, Avalon Organics honors the importance of yoga and organic body care in a healthy, balanced lifestyle. We are happy to offer each of you $1 OFF Avalon Organics Baby, Bath, Body and Skin Care products.
We invite you to visit our site and Print your COUPONS.
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LUNAFEST™ Film Festival
Yoga Journal is pleased to host LUNAFEST™ a national film festival featuring works made specifically by, for, and about women.
The festival will be taking place at both the upcoming Grand Genva and Estes Park Conferences.
$10 suggested donation will benefit the Breast Cancer Fund.
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Taste the Numi Difference
Numi Organic Tea is a proud sponsor of the 2007 Yoga Journal Conference in Grand Geneva so be sure to visit the Numi booth in the Yoga Marketplace for free tea samples.
Click here to download a coupon for $1.00 off any Numi tea.
Visit us as numitea.com.
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Save the Dates
Grand Geneva 2007
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
May 4 - 7, 2007
Registration
Estes Park 2007
YMCA of the Rockies
September 23 - 30, 2007
Registration Now Open
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