All in Consciousness
By Leyla Ahmet
Unresolved trauma stays locked in the body. The body holds onto painful memories that are not dealt with and we can hold stress in our bodies as well. Many even hold armor around the heart to protect it from loss and hurt. This is where the power of yoga can help us heal, the magic gets to happen. As we stretch and strengthen the body, we begin to create space for movement, space for letting go and space for change...
By M Ryan Saldiver
Another special highlight of the festival was a children's dance performance put on by
the Toodayamangalam Shri Krupa Dance company. This group of young girls between the ages
of 6-12 were doing a dance piece called the Bharatanatyam - which is symbolic of the devine
dance of Shiva...
By Courtney Aldor
Kia Miller is a world renowned teacher and devoted Yogini, who imparts her wonderful passion for life and well-being in her teaching. Her style pulls from multiple yogic disciplines, and she is especially known for making Kundalini Yoga accessible. This July, she will be teaching at Wanderlust...
By Autumn Feldmeier
I came from a stressful job in a stressful industry. I found that the the only way for me to keep sane was to practice the Sudarshan Kriya technique. This technique ended up completely transforming me physically and mentally...
By Erika van Gemeren
After taking Saul David Raye's class at Shakti Fest this year, I wanted to know more and I wanted to dig deeper. I was curious to see what Saul had to share outside of the yoga room! He is a humble teacher who emanates love, it seems as if he lives and breathes his practices in all aspects of his life...
By Casie Danenhauer
VAGINA OWNERS ARE PRETTY RAD. It's true... we are pretty incredible beings. What better way to celebrate how amazing we are by coming together to learn, grow, move, and create in community...
By Courtney Aldor
I first met Ford Peck in Fairfax at one of his Meditation workshops. This led me to his yoga classes, which brought me to his energy healing sessions, which are more like psychotherapy (in which he’s trained), where he draws upon techniques from NLP, Yoga Nidra, various bodywork methodologies...
By Colleen Crowley
Noah Levine's spiritual path began on the floor of a padded jail cell at 18. A veteran of the punk movement, he spent his youth addicted to drugs and rebelling against pacifist parents whose peace approach seemingly resulted in a world of capitalist propaganda, government corruption, and fascist oppression. As detailed in his best-selling book “Dharma Punx”...
By M Ryan Saldiver
In our Yoga mat practice, it’s important to remember we’re not pushing for perfection, but excellence. Aristotle said “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly...
By Courtney Aldor
Ok, so I’m in NYC right now, missing the Bay Area every minute of every day. Which is why, when I heard about Devaa Haley Mitchell’s free online Inspiring Women with Soul event on the Shift Network, I jumped at the opportunity to connect with that NorCal yogi spirit and inspiring women everywhere. My alarm went off for Shiva Rea’s talk...
By Colleen Crowley
Tucked away in one of those unassuming single-story white wooden Presidio buildings is SenSpa, one of SF’s hidden gems. Recently, Monica Parks, a Lead Massage Therapist at SenSpa, gave a talk on how to incorporate spa-like treatments and therapies into our daily lives to maintain health and wellness between visits through a feeling of abundance...
By Courtney Aldor
When I asked Tarika Lovegarden - author, meditation coach, nutritionist, and all-around badass chick - if I could interview her, I was going to write about her profoundly deep Heart Meditation classes. That is, guided meditation specific to strengthening the energy of the heart chakra: that which relates to love, confidence, compassion, hope and healing...
By Colleen Crowley
Overall, Sat Nam Fest was a rich experience of divine music, delicious food, and all the Kundalini Yoga you could hope for. It was one potent workshop after another packed into 5 days in the beautiful desert of Joshua Tree. From Wha Kundalini Dance classes to holding space with Jai Dev Singh, there seemed to be a common theme for this year’s festival: how to heal trauma.
By M Ryan Saldivar
With so many conclusive studies about the positive aspects of meditation - strengthened immune response, increase in grey matter density in the brain, more even emotions and better memory - the practice is gaining popularity. In my own classes, a question I get often is: how to clear the mind of stress? The answer is simple: Don't.
By Courtney Aldor
When Lisa Rueff, who leads those beautiful yoga hikes you can read about here, told me she’d created a game, I was intrigued. A game? I wondered why anyone would need games in a city like SF with endless things to do indoors and out, but as soon as she told me how it came about, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one...
By Leyla Ahmet
When I open my eyes the morning seems brighter, clearer. I roll out my mat and move into my yin practice. I am starting the practice centered, focused and relaxed. It is blissful. The practice floats on a new found energy of calm. As I emerge from savasana I set an intention to remain relaxed as I go about my day. To be able to be efficient but still relaxed.
By Courtney Aldor
The first time I met Rachael Breeze, we didn’t technically meet at all. In line at the grocery one afternoon, I was in awe of an absolutely radiant woman in front of me. I said to myself, ‘I want to feel the way she looks.’ A few weeks later, at EarthSpa for my first Ayurvedic consultation, I almost jumped when Rachael came to the door - she was the woman from the store...
By Nick Krieger
There were six of us (plus two facilitators) in the room for the Diversity Training for Yoga Teachers workshop at Yoga Tree. Six. A tiny number, minute for a city that boasts progressive values and a fervent yoga community of avid practitioners,
By Colleen Crowley
She said that when people feel despair, the best thing to do is take action. Getting locked into despair is not helpful. To give our vote away, she noted, is to give our power away, and to give in to despair...
By Peter Walters
I live a zen life of immense happiness, health and, quite frankly, bliss. And you can have it too -- today. It took me about 8 months to learn, but I found that the skills below only take commitment to be successful and are easily repeatable...
