|
Welcome to the September Conference Connection.
Namaste,
The Yoga Journal Conference Team
14th Annual Colorado Conference
YMCA of the Rockies
September 20-27, 2009
With the Colorado Conference less than 2 weeks away many classes are already selling out!
If you are thinking about attending, don't delay or you may not get to attend the classes of your choice!
Take this time for yourself and join friends and fellow yogis for an unforgettable experience.
Register now at yjevents.com/ep09.
7th Annual San Francisco Conference
Hyatt Embarcadero
January 28 - February 1, 2010
Registration is now open for our 7th annual San Francisco conference.
In addition to our celebrated Main Conference, we will offer a beginners classes, All-Day Intensives, Continuing Education for Teachers, and a 2-Day Business of Yoga Workshop.
Our highlight events this year include an Keynote by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait and Guided Meditation and Group Savasana with David Swenson.
And for the sixth year, we are pleased to present Saturday Night Ignites Kirtan and dance party with Donna DeLory and DJ Dragonfly.
Click here to register and for more information.
Sponsored by Yoga Tree SF, don't miss this special event with Michael Franti, Seane Corn, Les Leventhal, Rosangela Silverstre and Pabipa Godinho.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Green Room (401 Van Ness Avenue)
San Francisco, CA
Click here for more details.
Editor's Note: Chase will be teaching at the upcoming Colorado Conference
and at the San Francisco Conference.
My first experience with Yoga was in 1991 as a Senior at Colgate University. I was on Colgate's study abroad program in India, which was based in Chennai. We had the great fortune of having Mr. Desikachar as one of the instructors of the program. He taught a semester long course entitled Yoga Theory that covered general Yoga philosophy & practice. We were also taught practices of asana, pranayama and meditation at his clinic and yoga center, the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.
As a philosophy major, I had been interested in Eastern thought, and came to India largely because the program allowed an in depth exploration of Indian Philosophy. But I was not at all prepared for the incredible depth and amazing practicality of Yoga's application in daily life that Mr. Desikachar described with such beautiful simplicity. Here, finally, was an experiential philosophy! A teaching simultaneously descriptive and prescriptive! Mr. Desikachar's teachings presented straightforward and down-to-earth explanations for why I felt the way I did and how my relationships to the world and others were constructed. And most importantly, yoga gave concrete and practical advice for what to do about human conditioning. As I sat there twice a week listening to Mr. Desikachar describing Yoga as a well defined process of consciously creating positive change in your life, I literally felt my life transforming.
And the transformation continues to this day. Since 1991, I have traveled to India frequently and spent almost 4 years in Chennai studying with Mr. Desikachar and his son Kausthub. I am continually amazed by the way the teachings continue to unfold in my life on a daily basis.
My life work has become sharing with others the tremendously life changing and life affirming teachings of Yoga. I strongly agree with the idea that the principal reason for practicing Yoga is that: Yoga improves our lives. Yes, we may develop a more flexible, stronger body, longer breath and/or more powerful concentration. But these are also, in an important sense, peripheral benefits to the main benefits of becoming happier, suffering less and enjoying better, more satisfying relationships. It is an interesting paradox that the point of a yoga practice is more about what happens after the practice (in daily life) than about what happens in the practice. And to paraphrase Mr. Desikachar, "How do we know our yoga is working? Our relationships are getting better."
This practical application of the principles of yoga in our daily lives is what I emphasize in my teachings. I love including stories and practical examples from people's lives that demonstrate what the principles look like in real-life scenarios. And I do my best to make the 'how' of the practice of yoga off-the-mat, clear, concrete and practicable.
Editor's Note: Sonia will be teaching at the upcoming Colorado Conference. Click here for more information
about her classes.
Art and music were always woven into my life from early childhood through college and into my work as a teacher of pottery and folk music to children and teenagers. When I became involved with yoga it was only natural to teach yoga for children which I did or fourteen years at the Oak Grove School founded by J. Krishnamurti in Ojai California. My study of yoga began in 1975 when I was accepted to study privately with T.K.V. Desikachar in Chennai, India, a connection that has been maintained for all of these years. It was my interest in music and his willingness to share what he had learned from his father that set me on the road to study Vedic Chant as a discipline and art unlike any other I had experienced. It is such a precise study and learning to teach Vedic chant to western students brought to the foreground my earlier experience with young children which helped me to simplify and bring a lightness to what can be a complex and often daunting challenge especially when taught by listening and repeating without the printed page.
The desire to share this teaching lead to my establishing the Vedic Chant Center in Santa Fe as an umbrella for teaching both Yoga and Vedic Chant as separate but complimentary discipline that have points of convergence where they are mutually supportive. For example the practice of asana and pranayama improves our ability to sit and control our voice and the practice of Vedic Chant improves breath and focus. In the workshops and ongoing classes we are engaged with each other through listening and repeating and this give us all a sense of satisfaction in the relationships that are created through practicing together. And as my teacher has always said "Yoga is Relationship".
Stay connected with the Yoga Journal Conference community on Facebook & Twitter.
|
|
Upcoming Conferences
14th Annual Colorado Conf.
Estes Park, CO
YMCA of the Rockies
September 20-27, 2009
Register Now!
7th Annual San Francisco Conf.
San Francisco, CA
Hyatt Regency
Jan. 28 - Feb 1, 2010
Register Now!
Save the Date
2010 Boston Conference
Boston, MA
Sheraton Boston
April 6 - 11, 2010
Keynote with Deepak Chopra
Registration opens December
|
|
OmLight Photography
At the Colorado Conference, OmLight Photography will be offering on site yogic portraiture exclusively for conference attendees.
Reserve your spot by Sept. 19 and receive reduced session pricing and a special discount from Prana and Stonewear Designs.
- Share photos with friends on networking sites like Facebook
- Decorate your yoga studio, home or office
- Use images on your website and in your marketing materials
- Celebrate YOU and feel empowered by the beauty of your practice
- Commemorate your Conference experience
See omlightphotography.com for more details, or visit the OmLight Photography Booth in the Vendor Marketplace.
|
|
|
