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Namaste and welcome to the July edition of our Conference Connection.
The countdown to the Estes Park Conference has begun. This year, Yoga Journal will be hosting a 3-Day Anusara Yoga Grand Gathering with John Friend.
If you haven't yet reserved your spot, we encourage you to do so soon. Only a limited number of spaces are left.
To celebrate this historic event, we're pleased to offer an exclusive biography of John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga who will be leading three days of master classes.
Also this month, Dayna Macy shares how her recent camping trip to Lake Siskiyou, at the base of Mt. Shasta, brought her moments of santosha.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
Elana Maggal, Conference Director
Renee LaRose, Senior Conference Manager
Alden Conant, Conference Coordinator
Sara Mesing, Conference Sponsorship Associate
Audio recordings from the Boston conference are now available for free download. Listen to Dr. Dean Ornish, Donna Karan and more.
Estes Park 2008
September 21-28, 2008
Please note: The Anusara Grand Gathering with John Friend is almost sold out!
Register Now!
Anusara Yoga Grand Gathering
The first North American Anusara Yoga Gathering will be held September 22-24, 2008, in Estes Park, Colorado. This extraordinary three-day event will feature Anusara Yoga founder John Friend and many of the top Anusara Yoga teachers in the United States
Each day, the Gathering will feature a master class with John Friend, inspiring philosophical talks by the Anusara scholars, early morning meditations, break-out classes with top Anusara Yoga teachers, live music by Shantala (Benjy and Heather Wertheimer) and Special Guests, and evening entertainment.
Just ADDED! - Anusara Gathering Talent Show and Follies
On Wednesday, September 24, at 7:30pm we invite you to take the stage to showcase your individual talents in various fields such as comedy, dance, singing, playing music, poetry, and more. This very informal and fun night of entertainment will help us to celebrate the wide variety of unique talents in our Anusara Yoga community.
If you are interested in participating in the show, click here or visit the
special events section of Yoga Journal's website. The deadline to be considered is August 15th.
Application details are within the application. We look forward to seeing your act!
Main Conference
Stay with us for the full week as the conference continues through Sunday, September 28 with a Beginners Track, Thursday All-Day Intensives including the Eight Limbs of Yoga and the Yoga & Rock Climbing Intensive, and the celebrated Main Conference.
Other highlights include:
- Opening Keynote with John Friend
- Lecture, "The Yoga of Money" by Brent Kessel
- Walking Meditation with Shannon Paige Schneider
- Panel Discussion: with John Friend, Judith Hanson Lasater, Aadil Palkhivala, and Rod Stryker
- Concert by Deva Premal and Miten
- YouthAIDS benefit concert with Trevor Hall.
- Closing Meditation and Kirtan with Dinabandhu Sarley and Alanna Kaivalya
Florida 2008
November 14-17, 2008
The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
Hollywood, FL
Register Now!
Registration for Florida is open! We hope you will join us for this incredible event. Accommodations are luxurious and right on the beach. Classes are top-notch and innovative. The special events are riveting and relevant, including one of the country's most sought-after speakers, activist Trudie Styler!
- Beginner's Conference
- Yoga & Ayurveda
- Yoga and Golf
- Community Connection Gathering
- Yoga As Medicine Intensives
- Vatsu
6th Annual San Francisco Conference
January 16-19, 2009
Hyatt Regency
We're back in the city with yoga luminaries from around the world, innovative programming for all levels, and yoga classes for every style of practice.
- Keynote speakers: Wes "Scoop" Nisker and Matthew Sanford
- Ashtanga track
- Teacher's track including All-Day Intensives
- Yoga and Activism events including a panel discussion and intensive with Julia Butterfly Hill, the iconic environmental activist.
- Yoga as Medicine Intensives
- Two day Business of Yoga Workshop
- Weekend Community Yoga classes -- Free and open to the public!
- Urban Zen Intensive: an All-day intensive with Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman, Richard Freeman and other special guests
- Friday evening after-work yoga classes
- Saturday night Kirtan with Jai Uttal and Trance Dance with Shiva Rea and DJ Dragonfly
Registration opens in August!
by Dayna Macy
I always wanted to like camping. I tried it a few times as a kid and later as an adult. At best you could say I put up with it. I may love nature -- but the dirt! The mess!
But then we were invited to go to Lake Siskiyou, at the base of Mt. Shasta, and camp with some families from my kids' school. My husband Scott and our sons Matthew and Jack wanted to go, and I wanted them to. But me? What if my inner diva emerged while trapped in the wild? Could I keep her muzzled?
Maybe if I do a lot of yoga, I grumbled, as we finished packing up the car.
We drove for nearly five hours, much of it through the haze of the Sacramento Valley. We've been having wildfires here in California. There's a drought, and the earth is dry.
When we arrived at the campsite, the other families greeted us warmly. The children (all fifteen of them) shrieked yelps of welcome to our boys, who joined them as they ran off to set free
their inner savages.
Scott and I began setting up our tent, inflating the air mattresses, and unrolling sleeping bags. After we were done, I was hot and dusty. I walked to the nearby water fountain, and drank the cleanest, coldest water I can remember. The water comes from glacier melt off Mt. Shasta, and every gulp was a miracle.
At dinner that night we ate tacos with beans, rice and cheese. The ingredients were ordinary, but the food tasted uncommonly good. Even better, the kids washed the dishes. ("Child labor camp," Matthew moaned.)
When we settled into our tent that night, my sons gave me extra long, warm hugs. They were happy. And, to my surprise, so was I.
The next morning, another mom and I did a short asana practice together. But it was hot and I was uninspired -- and this was vacation, dammit! So much for yoga this week, I thought.
We all headed to a park in town to collect water from a bubbling spring. I plunged my hands into its icy coldness. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the rushing water. The air smelled of piney loam.
In the late afternoon, our sons threw themselves into the lake. Joy rippled across their faces.
That night, one of the parents baked fresh olive bread over hot coals. The crust was hard, the inside doughy. Fresh baked bread any time is a wonder, but while camping? I asked him where he learned to bake bread this way and he told me from Bedouin in the Sinai.
My friend Ginny broke out her guitar, and we all joined in a medley of Beatles, Dylan and Joni Mitchell tunes. My husband encored with Credence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." I paid homage to Tina Turner by shimmying something fierce.
The night had a million stars. We snuggled into our bags. Mt. Shasta loomed above us -- majestic, huge. We were surrounded by big trees. The moon was yellow and full.
I felt small in the very best possible way -- like I had a place in the world and I wasn't the center of it. I saw the excesses and habits of my usual life stripped away, leaving instead only what was important -- clean water, exercise, good food, music, and plenty of camaraderie.
As we packed up to head home, I realized I might have only done ten minutes of yoga, but my years of practice had still paid dividends. I experienced moments of santosha,
and for the first time in a long while, I felt content.
Dayna Macy is a musician, writer, and the communications director of Yoga Journal. She can be found at www.daynamacy.com.
Editor's Note: John will be leading a master class each morning at the Estes Park Anusara Yoga Grand Gathering.
He will also be presenting the main conference opening keynote.
Click here for more
information.
The day that U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated, November 22, 1963, I was sick with the flu, so I spent the whole day lying on the couch at home in Chicago watching TV. I was 4 years old. For the next few days I watched the dramatic news coverage surrounding the President's death while in a feverish, altered state of consciousness, especially since my mother was feeding me spoonfuls of whiskey and honey as a cold remedy!
The tragic event of the President's death sparked my deep inquiry into the nature of life and death, and the purpose of life. My mother did her best to explain the metaphysics of life to
me from her Christian upbringing and her intellectual, eclectic studies of comparative world philosophies, yet my dissatisfaction ignited a deep desire within me to understand the deepest mysteries of life.
When I was 8 years old, this inner fire was seriously stoked when my mother read to me amazing stories about yogis in the Himalayan mountains who had supernatural powers. These yogis could dematerialize, know the future, and heal sickness through their willpower. To me they were more powerful and magnificent than any of my favorite superheroes like Spiderman, Superman or Batman.
Something inside knew that these extraordinary beings knew all the answers to the profound philosophical questions that blazed within me. It was at that time that I decided to be a yogi when I grew up and to help guide people to realize their ultimate purpose in life.
Just 5 years later, while living in Youngstown, Ohio, I went to a local bookstore to buy books on eastern philosophy. As I roamed around the shelves, the cover of one book caught my eye,
and I was drawn to buy it. It was the Bhagavad Gita translated by Juan Mascaro. I took it home and read it in one sitting. The profoundly wise and devotional teachings of Krishna touched my heart so deeply that I was moved to tears. This was a defining day in my life since I recognized that the path of Bhakti Yoga, the yogic path of the Heart, was the one for me.
In that same year, at 13 years old, I started practicing asana, pranayama, and meditation in my bedroom every day. Also I began to intensely study a variety of scriptures and books on
yoga, Wicca, Theosophy, and paranormal phenomenon. Even now as I approach my 50th year, this passion to know and discover the essence of life and my own heart continues to burn brightly.
This journey to the highest knowledge has led me to a most fulfilling career of teaching yoga worldwide for the past 28 years and to experience the most exquisite beauty and magical delight of the splendor of life.
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Veda Holistic Beverages is proud to be a Gold Sponsor for the Yoga Journal Estes Park Conference. At Yoga Journal's Boston Conference we debuted our new line of Ayurvedic Herbal Beverages and had great response.
Be sure to come by our booth to receive your free sample pack and taste what Himalayan yogis discovered thousands of years ago as a natural way of reviving energy and restoring harmony.
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Upcoming Conferences
Estes Park 2008
YMCA of the Rockies
September 21-28, 2008
Registration Now Open
South Florida 2008
Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa
November 14-17, 2008
Registration Now Open
Save the Dates
2009 Conference Tour
San Francisco 2009
Hyatt Regency
January 16-19, 2009
Registration opens August '08
Grand Geneva
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
March 26-29, 2009
New York City
Hilton New York
May 15-18, 2009
Estes Park 2009
YMCA of the Rockies
September 20-27, 2009
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