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Welcome to the February edition of Conference Connection.
A big thank you to everyone who made the recent San Francisco Conference such an amazing experience. From the presenters to work exchange volunteers to the hotel staff and the over 1,600 yogis and yoginis who attended, it was truly a moving event.
We're also pleased to announced that the Saturday Evening Event, Kirtan with Jai Uttal followed by Yoga Trance Dance with Shiva Rea
and DJ Dragonfly, raised over $1,800 for Trees for the Future - that plants 18,000 trees!
Photos of the conference, along with several audio recordings from the event are available for free download on the Yoga Journal website.
Click here for photos.
Click here for audio recordings.
This month's teacher spotlight is on Natasha Rizopoulos.
A Harvard graduate and teacher at Yoga Works, she found through yoga the orienting principle that had been missing from her life since she stopped dancing as a teenager.
Have you ever had a teacher in your life that truly inspired you?
Diane Anderson, senior editor at Yoga Journal, shares her story in Teach me, Guide me, Walk Beside Me.
Finally, don't forget the New York Teacher's Conference is only two weeks away, and the early bird discount for the
Grand Geneva conference ends Friday, March 16th.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Conference Manager
Heidi Hill, Conference Sponsorship Associate
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
New York, NY
Continuing Education for Teachers
March 7 - 8, 2007
Only 2 weeks left to regisiter for Yoga Journal's 2-day Continuing Education for Teachers Conference.
- Learn effective elements for teaching yoga.
- Gain in-depth knowledge of how to adjust your students and safely teach inversions and backbends.
- Explore the fundamentals at the basis of every yoga class, and develop unique and insightful sequences.
- Deepen your yoga practice to infuse a new awareness, insight, and intelligence in your teachings.
Presenters include: Eddy Marks, Natasha Rizopoulos, Sianna Sherman and Rusty Wells. Panelists include: Cyndi Lee, founder & director of OM Yoga and Sharon Gannon, co-founder and co-director of Jivamukti Yoga School.
This program will fulfill 12 Contact Continuing Education Units for Yoga Alliance.
Click here for more information and to register.
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
May 4 - 7, 2007
Join us at the Grand Geneva conference at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin! Come practice with the world's top teachers,
improve your golf game with yoga, or bring the whole family for family and kids yoga.
Click below for more information:
- Friday, May 4: All Day Intensives
Saturday, May 5: Main Conference (Day 1 of 2)
Sunday, May 6: Main Conference (Day 2 of 2)
Monday, May 7: All-Day Intensives
Beginners Conference - almost sold out!
Continuing Education for Teachers Program
NEW—Yoga and Golf Intensive
NEW—Kids and Family Yoga
NEW—Business Success for the Wellness Industry Intensive
Click here to register and for more information.
Early Bird discount ends March 16th.
by Diane Anderson
She was insane. In fact, she had been institutionalized. In asylums. More than once. Rosie Sleigh was my honors humanities teacher during my freshman year in high school. Her class was unconventional; she had us read all kinds of esoteric books that were way
beyond our grade level comprehension. We largely resented her difficult assignments—we struggled through them as we watched other kids breeze through much easier classes. Many students grumbled and talked about how much they hated her. But, at the end of the
year, Rosie was the most beloved teacher. Why? Because she never talked down to us and still unfailingly convinced us we could do more than we thought we could. We were stretched beyond our preconceived notions of ourselves and loved that she invited us to
expand.
No, we don't like to face conditions that are unpleasant or uncomfortable. But these are the very engagements that represent the greatest opportunities for personal growth. You probably have a similar teacher—you know, the one who taught you so much. We've all
learned from people and situations that we didn't like at first. We may even hate them so much that we avoid them at all costs. But those are the very teachers we would be wise to tune in to.
Important teachers aren't just our elders. They are our friends, our lovers, our enemies. Your child can be your guru. A car crash can be a mentor. Conflict can inform you. Look around, and you'll find yourself surrounded by opportunities for enrichment. Yep, even
those ugly, yucky, gnarly nightmares you'd rather run away from—be open to learning from them.
Think back on your life. You, too, probably realize that you've gained the most from those teachers that questioned you, challenged you, pushed you to your edges—in a compassionate way, of course. As students, we should remember to listen to our teachers—whether
they are living, breathing yoga masters or strangers or simply life circumstances—and give them a chance to enlighten us. And, you teachers out there, remember to be tough and loving at the same time.
Diane Anderson is a senior editor at Yoga Journal.
Editor's Note: Natasha will be teaching at both the Continuing Education for Teachers Conference in New York and the Grand Geneva Conference.
Click here for Natasha's New York classes or
here for her Grand Geneva classes.
I began practicing yoga when I was 29, and remember so clearly the feeling of delight and relief that I had finally found the orienting principle that had been missing from my life since I had stopped dancing as a teenager. Because both ballet and yoga are
disciplines with strong physical components, there was a welcome sense of returning to a way of understanding and organizing my life
through the lens of the physical body that was familiar but that also held the promise of something bigger and better. Over the last decade or so, that initial sense of the promise of yoga has deepened and evolved, but in many ways my early feeling of having
finally come home is as true now as it was then. I believe that the physical practice of yoga is an incredibly potent gateway to a
journey of self-discovery that looks and feels different for each person, but that has a transformative effect upon almost everyone it touches.
Over the years my relationship to asana has become a forum for self-study and for learning to examine and shift some of the habits that are revealed on my yoga mat. When I practice, my objective is to use my asana as a way of honing my powers of observation and
improving the quality of my attention. This is easier said than done. As a former dancer with a serious perfectionism streak,
there is always a pull to get caught up in the achievement aspect of asana, instead of seeing it as a means to an end, that end
being a steadier and more focused mind. The challenge is to find a way to practice with tremendous interest and commitment, to be completely engaged in the process while letting go of the results.
I believe that the details of breath and alignment are powerful tools in negotiating this relationship between action and surrender. Many of us spend a lot of time out in the world being reinforced for what is often a fairly frantic level of activity, usually
described as multi-tasking. When we are doing many things simultaneously this creates a mind-state that is diffuse and scattered,
full of the fluctuations that our yoga is designed to calm. The physical practice is the perfect vehicle for cultivating
one-pointed focus and training our minds to settle in the present moment, either so that we can be more truly alive to what is
actually happening (as opposed to the chatter that is often going on in our heads) or in preparation for developing some form of a meditation practice.
Both as a teacher and a practitioner, then, I am tremendously interested in the "how" of poses. Because when we are thinking about how to place a foot or engage a muscle or more evenly distribute a backbend or a twist, we are not thinking about the laundry list of
matter that usually cycles through our brains. This is the gift of asana, and particularly of asana that is challenging, whatever
that means for a given person. When we are focused on the details of our breath and alignment, when we are concentrating on the
nuance of a difficult action, then we are practicing yoga, as opposed to when we are mindlessly performing a pose that looks fancy
but doesn't actually fully enlist our attention. Part of my journey in yoga is re-learning this every time I practice, so that the asana is not an end in and of itself, but an opportunity to develop my mental muscles as much as their more obvious physical
counterparts. We teach what we practice and (I hope!) practice what we teach, and this emphasis on alignment as a conduit to a quieter, steadier mind is central to all aspects of my yoga.
The best way to learn something, of course, is to teach it, and this for me is the great reward of teaching. I love teaching and
love having the opportunity to share what I discover in my own practice with students. But just as importantly, I love the process of learning and discovery that occurs each time I teach. We are all on this journey together.
Namaste
To find out more about Natasha, please visit her website at www.natasharizopoulos.com
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Yoga Alliance
Leading the way in establishing educational standards for the yoga community by recognizing dedicated teachers who have achieved essential standards of training and experience. Become a Registered Yoga Teacher at the 200- or 500-hour levels.
Visit our website at yogaalliance.org for applications and to locate teachers and schools or call 877.964.2455 for more information.
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Save the Dates
New York 2007
Marriott Marquis
March 7 - 8, 2007
Registration Now Open
Grand Geneva 2007
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
May 4 - 7, 2007
Registration Now Open
Estes Park 2007
YMCA of the Rockies
September 23 - 30, 2007
Registration opens April '07
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