Happy August! I hope you are enjoying your Summer, and taking some vacation time or at least some quiet city time for yourself.
If you are around NYC, I am teaching my regular schedule through Monday, August 21 as well as subbing numerous classes both at UWS Yoga & Wellness and Integral Yoga (IYI). Please see my schedule listing for all those additional classes and hopefully I will see more of you yoginis and yogis this month!
This Thursday evening, Aug. 3, I will be teaching a fusion class of “Gentle Yoga and Qigong” at the serene yoga center and ashram, Integral Yoga, in the heart of Greenwich Village. If you have not attended class at Integral Yoga, I encourage you to visit this historic yoga center. It is housed in a beautiful town house with multiple yoga studios, all adorned with different pastel colored walls and candle-lit alters. Integral is one of the oldest yoga centers in the United States, and its’ founder, Swami Satchidananda, was introduced to NYC by the artist Peter Max to bring his yogic teachings to the West in 1966. Swami Satchidananda even addressed the crowds at Woodstock, stating that “The entire world is going to know what the American youth can do for humanity. America is helping everybody in the material field, but the time has come for America to help the whole world with spirituality also.” Those sentiments are still relevant today, and I hope our country can at some point soon live up to the Swami’s plea. Although Swami Satchidananda is no longer with us in human form, when one enters this yoga center, his peaceful legacy is palpable. It is a true spiritual oasis in NYC and I am grateful to be teaching and studying at IYI.
IYI Level 1 Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Graduation in 2006
IYI Gentle and Chair Yoga Teacher Training Graduation in 2008
Also, I wanted to share that my Tai Chi Easy™ teacher and mentor, Dr. Roger Jahnke, will be teaching at Kripalu in the beautiful Berkshires this August, and I encourage you to study with him if you are able to get to Kripalu. Studying qigong (energy cultivation) and Tai Chi Easy™ with Dr. Jahnke opened up a whole new path to personal healing and teaching for me. Everyone can benefit from these practices derived from the ancient Chinese masters, and anyone can do the trainings. You can see in the photo below from my training at Omega that the student body is very diverse in all definitions of the word. Even if you don’t want to teach, you can learn for your own self-growth, as qigong enhances one’s life in so many ways. I also find that it is a wonderful complement to yoga, and so I created my Chair, Chi & Prana class, which I teach at IYI, to combine the modalities.
These are Dr. Jahnke’s east coast courses this August:
“Healer Within Practice Leader Training: Medical Qigong Certification with Dr. Jahnke”: August 18-20, 2017 Kripalu
Learn to practice and share mind-body energetics in your community as a Healer Within™ Practice Leader. Healer Within Medical Qigong is accessible, easy to practice, and can be woven into any existing mind-body practice to maximize powerful healing, stress mastery, disease prevention, and life extension.
“Qigong and Tai Chi Easy™: Master Stress, Enlighten the Mind, and Tap Universal Energy with Dr. Jahnke”: August 20–25, 2017 Kripalu
This transformational program explores ultra-accessible Tai Chi Easy™ and the Nine Phases of Qi Mastery—a profound Qigong method for experiencing your ultimate nature, or personal alchemy.
Tai Chi Easy™ Training at Omega in 2007