Asheville Yoga Festival 2018

Let’s strip it down and focus our attention solely on standing on our hands. In this 2-hour workshop we will investigate a multitude of aspects that allow us to hold a safe and stable handstand. The feet, the hips, the core, the shoulder girdle, the wrists and hands all play an important role in getting and staying upside down. We’ll open, strengthen and integrate through an intelligent flow of foundational poses to build the strength and body awareness needed to fly. We’ll then move towards wall-work, partner work, and ultimately to solo flight. All levels are welcome and variations and modifications will be given to beginners and seasoned handstanders alike.

Explore these four approaches to wholeness in a gentle flowing āsana sequence. Our session will begin with a brief lecture, then move into an all-levels practice with specific techniques that come from each type of yoga. Karma yoga is an approach to selfless service that allows us to live fully in the present while helping others without attachment to a future reward. Jñāna yoga is a way to purify our intellect of logical fallacies and to equip our selves with thinking tools that can help us better see the big picture as well as the details in order to make better decisions. Bhakti is the yoga of relationships, with 9 ways that can empower us to improve our half of every relationship. Rāja is the yoga of meditation, which begins by turning inward to help us heal and then turn outward to better care for our family, community, environment and future generations.        

There are several connotations of the word power and many, (for good reason), can be triggering. But we all hold within us an innate sense of power that stems from a knowing of self and a dedicated connection to a bigger picture. While we all possess this type of power, often the pathway to that source can become blocked or shadowed from life experiences unprocessed or un-actualized. Unapologetic Power is a workshop designed to move deeply into the practice of mindfully and reverently creating, holding and directing our power in the name of and in service to Love and is a critical tool in the development of both our individual and collective wellbeing. It is an exploration and application of movement, breath, meditation and writing exercises designed to remember and refine our innate ability to tap into the source of all things so that you can bring the power of your presence into all that you do. Asana, lecture, journaling. All levels welcome.

Yoga is the process of disrupting and disorienting the body so as to discover new pathways towards change. Around the world yogis are reinventing the rules of engagement – showing up in ways that are more conscious, compassionate and creative. Navigating this time in our lives and in the world does not require us to cultivate more security, rather it calls us to buckle up and embrace the chaos. Only then, can we know where we are so that we can know where we are going. The beauty is in the breakdown.

This workshop will introduce and analyze the importance of psoas/quadratus lumborum dynamics in relation to spinal mechanics.

The Yoga Sutras tell us that there is a light at the heart that is beyond all sorrow. This light is eternal and unchanged by circumstance. Together we will journey to the cave of the heart with dynamic asana, yoga nidra and chanting sequenced to bring you towards a remembrance of your own inner radiance.

We all have a few things stored away… Secrets, loss, negative self-talk or regret. But what happens when our inner landscape is piled high with this kind of excess baggage? Not only does the build up become tension and stress in the body, but also the route of clear seeing, right knowing and courageous doing can become blocked. Join Carrington Jackson, for a unique and liberating experience… Fire Practice: The Art and Ritual of Letting Go. This session is centered around the energy of purification and transformation of body, mind and spirit. We will focus on building heat to rid the body of excess toxins and tension on both the physical and energetic levels. We’ll unblock the pathways that lead to understanding and self-trust and work to break through habitual patterns that historically disconnect us from purpose or passion. The practice will begin with a meditation on the obstacles or clutter that we’re holding on to, followed by a detoxifying sequence that will focus on twists, backbends & core work designed to rinse away tangible & intangible toxins. Towards the end of our practice we’’ll ritualize our letting go by tossing into the flames that which no longer serves us. Asana, lecture, journaling. All levels welcome.

The spiral is a pattern we see often in nature, from the microscopic to the universal - DNA, the zygote, the nautilus, tornadoes, planetary rotations, orbits, and galaxies. It is also the framework of our pranic bodies, and when consciousness spirals unobstructed upward through the chakras, we are said to have the experience of yoga, the merging of the two twisting opposites. Twisting in an asana class detoxes the body. Twists tone the abdominal muscles, squeeze out impurities, wring out ignorance, and flush out the internal organs. Come to de-stress, detox, detach, and delight!