Weekend events: Take Flight Workshop & Benefit Class
TWO great events this weekend!
Daniella kicks off our April workshops with Take Flight: A Physically Challenging Workshop on Saturday April 2nd at 4 pm.
Angela, Christina, and Steph are co-teaching a benefit class on Sunday, April 3rd from 7 – 9 pm. Suggested donation is $25 and all proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross fund for Japan.
Sign up on-line through your MBO account. Please note you can’t pay for the benefit class online, since it is a suggested donation. Please pay in-studio. Thanks!
Untangling the Yoga Sutras: Meditation with Jen Whitney
Part of the Finding the Present in the Tradition Series
with: Jen Whitney
when: Saturday, April 30th; 4:00- 6:00pm
cost: $30.00
level: all levels welcome; this is not an asana class
Yoga and meditation. The two practices are often presented as separate enterprises, brought together by the meeting in the West of Buddhism and Yoga. Through an overview of the scope of meditation in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, as well as an overview of some of the common meditation practices, this workshop will start to explore an understanding of yoga as meditation, and meditation as yoga.
From there, we will investigate in detail the specific sutras in Book Three of the Yoga Sutras that concern the meditation stages of the 8 limb path of Patanjali Yoga. We will also touch on meditation in the yoga texts of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Bhagavad Gita. Combined with the initial overview, this workshop will ground attendees in a firm understanding of the place meditation has in yoga, and yoga in meditation, as well as specific practices to take home.
As the study of yoga is routed in experience, there will be an optional meditation session after the formal workshop. This will run until 6pm.
If you own a copy of the Yoga Sutras, please bring it. Handouts with the relevant sutras will be provided.
Vibrant Living, An Ayurvedic Workshop with Ali Cramer
Part of Mala’s Bright Minds; Big Hearts Series
Vibrant Living, An Ayurvedic Workshop with Ali Cramer
Time & Date: Saturday, April 16th; 4:00 – 6:15pm
Cost: $40.00
Level: Open to all levels
Ever wonder what Ayurveda really is? Or how to apply it to your daily practice? Then join Ali in this introductory workshop to the science of Ayurveda for spring cleaning your body.
Come tune in to your own inner harmony, where we use the ancient practices of Ayurveda, the sister science to Yoga, to keep our bodies and minds in a state of health and wholeness. This workshop will give a quick overview of the Ayurvedic Calendar, and then focus on cleansing Spring Practices. Practical, easy to follow advice for daily living including diet, asana, breath, rituals, and self care.
Please bring a journal and wear comfortable clothes.
Alison Cramer believes in the power of the practice to transform, heal and guide us all towards living a life of freedom! Alison is honored to be one of the Co-Creative Directors of Laughing Lotus NYC, as well as a part of the Teacher Training Program. Her classes are inspired by her past life in dance and choreography, the practice of wise Earth Ayurveda, the energy and community of New York City and the ever-unfolding creative pathless path that is Lotus Flow. Eternal gratitude to Jasmine, Dana, and the whole Lotus family for their support, guidance and love! “Now is the time to know that ALL we do is sacred.”-Hafiz
Costa Rica 2011
Greetings Mala-Brooklyn!
We have arrived in the beautiful setting of Blue Spirit, Nosara, Costa Rica and all is well. I remember Stephanie saying how amazing this place was last year and I spent the next 3 months nodding my head just not getting it. Having never been farther South than Florida, how could I? But when Christina and I stepped off our second plane and got in a cab to travel on the twisty roads to get to our third plane I was starting to get it.
This place is beautiful and as everyone was arriving the same comment came up, “the pictures just don’t do it justice.” Everybody here keeps saying how lucky we are and how grateful we are to be able to be here at Blue Spirit where you’re clock is set to morning monkey wake-up calls, afternoon soaks in the sun and the dinner time bell is the closing of the sun at sunset. We all arrived on time with luggage intact and as we are well into this retreat we only have a few bumps, bruises, bug bites & burns, so we are all healthy and as said before, full of gratitude.
So as we start our 3 hour morning practice or sit in meditation on the beautiful beach we have been bringing this gratitude that we feel to the surface and then recognizing all the people in our lives who have made this possible for us and we offer the fruits of our practice to them. But it doesn’t stop there… Gratitude is something that can be easier to find when you are in a beautiful environment, like Costa Rica or when you are in a happy place, like a leisurely Sunday afternoon. And can be challenging when things are not quite going your way or when everything seems in chaos. It’s why one practices gratitude, kindness & compassion when they are in a “good” place, when these feeling arise with much more ease so that when life gets challenging we already know that these qualities exist within us. That’s when the practice jumps off the mat an into our lives.
So with this gratitude & compassion we extend out hearts out to you all and to those in Japan who are struggling from the tsunami and it’s aftermath.
With Love & Gratitude,
Angela, Christina & all the Mala Yogis in C.R.
Down Dog of Love: Dispelling the Myths of the Heart Chakra
Down Dog of Love : Dispelling the Myth of the Heart Chakra with Lindsay Sullivan
When: Saturday, April 9th; 4pm – 6pm
Cost: $30.00
Level: Open to anyone with 6 months yoga practice
Yogis call it love. Modern psychologists call it self actualization. Ancient Yogic texts — from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali — describe the heart center as the most elusive chakra point to unravel — and the most powerful. Often misunderstood, this critical point holds the key to realizing profound, deeper levels of your practice. Through heart opening asanas, meditation and discussion, we will explore how the subtle body chakra system, psychological stages of development and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs align to reveal the path to unconditional love.
By diving into the ancient holistic practices of Yoga and Buddhism as well as Modern developmental Psychology you will
- Gain an understanding of the subtle body chakra system (particularly the heart chakra) in order to go deeper into the physical yoga practice. We will explore this through a back-bending series.
- Learn how to use both the physical and subtle body for personal growth on and off the mat.
- And you will discover how to use the practice of Yoga to improve their relationships and even learn to create the one you want.
Take Flight: A physically challenging workshop
Part of Mala Yoga’s Adventure Series
Take Flight: A Physically Challenging Workshop with Daniella Rosales-Friedman
When: Saturday, April 2nd; 4pm – 6pm
Cost: $40.00
Level: Intermediate to Advance: Suitable for students with 1.5 years of consistent practice.
Space is limited to 12 please sign-up in advance.
When the more challenging poses come up in class, do you go into “watch-asana” or perhaps look to the bathroom door to see if anyone else has beat you to it? If so, then let Daniella help you awaken the playful adventurer in you!
This workshop will work to demystify the more challenging poses that are offered in a regular class setting. The focus will be on Parsva Bakasana (Side Crow), Eka Pada Koundinyasana I and Chin Stand (a.k.a. Super-Fly!). While these poses might seem intimidating or inaccessible in our minds, the body can be taught to make sense of them. In this focused setting we’ll educate the body with a strengthening and warming asana sequence specifically designed to reinforce the body’s memory and natural intelligence. And we’ll educate the mind by identifying repeated shapes and physical alignment cues as we move.
At their “Yoga Journal” cover best, these poses are impressive party tricks. But on the path to these poses lie our perceived limitations, as well as our greatest accomplishments. Challenge yourself to step close enough to your limitations so that you can gently kiss them goodbye!
In this intimate environment you will learn
- What “basic” poses will set you up for these “advanced” poses.
- Where your personal strengths lie and how to use them to help your practice.
- How to use what you’ve got, and develop what you don’t in order to turn every yoga class into a personal workshop experience.
Advance your yoga practice to advance your life practice.
New Buzzer System!
You’ve been watching and waiting the past few weeks as the new buzzer system was getting wired into the building and now it’s official – you need to buzz Mala Yoga to be let into the building!
Massage and Bodywork for Babies with Ellynne Skove
Part of the Bright Minds; Big Hearts series.
When: Saturday, March 26th; 4–5:30pm
Cost: $30
Age & Level: 6 weeks to pre crawling/ No Yoga Experience Necessary – Sign up through your MBO account!
Active touch can greatly enhance development….particularly in language & social development. Touch is one of the primary sources of pleasure. Being lovingly held and touched is a great spur to development. The muscles relax, the breath deepens, tension is dispersed, and the baby’s heart rate synchronizes with the caregiver developing heart coherency, a vital element in health and wellbeing.
This very gentle bodywork approach can help little ones with calming and integrating the nervous system resulting in improved sleep, digestion, and resolution of birth stress. We work with attunement, breath, heart coherency, and a slowed pace to match the baby’s nervous system encouraging deeper bonding and attachment between parents and baby. No massage experience necessay!
Bring two baby blankets. Massage oil and creams will be provided but if you prefer to bring your own you may….no mineral oil please
Ellynne Skove, LCAT, BC-DTR, RPP, NCC
Ellynne is a licensed Movement therapist, yoga teacher, certified counselor, and body worker. She founded and developed the GoGo Babies programs for babies 6 weeks to walking incorporating developmental movement, yoga, bodywork, breath, and music. Ellynne has used massage and bodywork with babies to help parents better attune to the unique needs of their babies, and to increase bonding and attachment. She is the mother of two and has been a resident of Carroll Gardens for 25 years. Ellynne has presented her work and taught at Families First, Birthday Presence, Realbirth, Fit Mama NYC, BAX, Spoke the Hub, Mary McDowell Center for Learning, Brooklyn Hts. Montessori/ The Little Room, Packer Collegiate Institute, Area Yoga, Mala Yoga, Vira Yoga, The American Polarity Therapy Association, and the American Dance Therapy Association. Ellynne also maintains a private practice at True North Wellness, in Brooklyn, offering somatic based counseling and bodywork for babies, children, adults, and families. Ellynne is completing graduate studies in birth psychology.
Yoga Tools for Parents with Bija Kids
Part of Mala Yoga’s Family Series
Date & Time: Saturday, March 19th: 4:30-6:30pm
Cost: $30
Level: Basic knowledge of yoga poses and philosophy are suggested. Sign into your MBO account to register.
This is a workshop for parents with youngsters at home.
Join Bija Kids director Lauren Maples for an in depth look at how the ancient art and science of yoga can offer tools and techniques to help in the modern home.
Learn how to:
• Make bedtime routines a breeze
• Use breathing techniques to calm tantrums.
• Play simple yoga games to get out the door easily in the morning.
• And create remedies in your kitchen to stop that chronic runny nose in it’s path.
All the tools and techniques presented are easy to use.
Lauren Maples is the founder of Bija Kids and teaches many of the weekly classes. In addition, she runs Bija’s teacher trainings, workshops and retreats. Lauren stumbled into teaching yoga for kids almost by accident (or so it seemed at the time). In 2005, she had worked her way through college as a full time nanny, completed an adult yoga certification through Integral Yoga
Institute, and already retired from a successful career as a professional ballet dancer. She was intrigued by the profound change that children experienced from even the most brief yoga practice, so she started incorporating more and more yoga into the creative movement classes she was teaching at the time. Thus began her journey to create a program for children that incorporated not just asana and yoga games, but tools that students can take out into the world. Lauren has been fortunate to work with many wonderful teachers along her path (too many to count!) but ultimately she considers the children she works with the greatest teachers of all.
Thai Yoga Massage with Marcus Berardino
Part of our Adventure Series Workshops.
Thai Yoga Massage with Marcus Berardino
When: Saturday, March 12th, 2011; 4-6pm
Cost: $25.00 per person*
Level: No yoga experience necessary
Space Limited to 8 people; sign up in advance through MBO or at front desk.
*This is a partner-oriented workshop so you may want to sign up with a loved one or a friend you feel comfortable working intimately with.
Do you or a loved one suffer from neck strain, headaches or computer-asana?
Then come explore the healing art of Thai Yoga Massage. The focus of this workshop will be on the upper body (neck, shoulders, back). Through the basic principles of the Thai Yoga Massage technique we will explore
• active stretching,
• compressing and
• massaging of the body.
Participants will learn basic techniques that they can use at home to bring more comfort, relaxation and relief from pain to loved ones. Please wear comfortable clothing such as sweat pants and a T-shirt.
It is recommended to bring two pillows and if you have knee issues, please bring knee pads for protection.
Marcus Berardino is a New York State Licensed and Nationally Certified Massage Therapist, graduate of the Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, NY. He has been practicing massage since 2004. Massage modalities range from Swedish, deep tissue, acupressure, reflexology, craniosacral, advanced sports massage certification, and Thai yoga massage through the Lotus Palm School of Thai Yoga Massage. In 2008, he attended yoga training and received his 200hr certification to teach through Laughing Lotus Yoga School in San Francisco. He is continuing his 500hr advanced yoga training with Prajna Yoga and Tias Little. His wonderment of the healing arts, which merges the disciplines of bodywork and yoga asana and philosophy, freeing the transmission of physical and emotional wellness with peace of mind, are a continual source of inspiration and joy to behold.