Workshop Descriptions

Main conference fee does not include pre-conference intensives; see registration info page for fees.

Getting Present & Being Powerful In Your Practice & Life (A01)
Baron Baptiste
In this intensive you develop technical knowledge and make distinctions in both asana movement and in your mental paradigm that will allow you to bring about positive and permanent shifts in the quality of your body, mind, and life. These shifts are the direct cause for a new and unique kind of effectiveness, freedom, and power. Explore how Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, proper technique, and mindfulness can create a personal revolution. All levels. CE credit available.

Spiritual Activism: Using Intuition, Mysticism & the Yogic Journey to Cultivate Inner Awareness & Initiate Global Change (A02)
Seane Corn
In this vinyasa flow intensive we explore the three realms of consciousness: the physical/mental, the energetic/emotional, and the psychic/symbolic. These realms create a holistic pathway for self-investigation and personal transcendence. Through asana, chakra exploration, meditation, reflection, and prayer, we create a ritualistic journey initiating the mystical into the practical by bonding mind, body, and spirit. The intention of this intensive is to reconnect to our bodies, gain emotional insight, explore our soul’s purpose, and cultivate skills, both physically and psychically, to spiritually assist each other, our students, and the planet we inhabit. All levels. CE credit available.

Anusara Yoga®: Rocking With Shakti (A03)
John Friend
Learn to align your body, mind, and heart with the pulsing life force within and all around you by applying Universal Principles of Alignment in a wide variety of asanas. This will be an uplifting, profound, fun, and deeply transformational intensive. All levels. CE credit available.

Secrets of Sequencing & Adaptation for Yoga Therapy (A04)
Gary Kraftsow, M.A., L.M.T.
Explore the principles of combining and adapting postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to create a safe and effective therapeutic practice. We focus on how to make appropriate selections from among these three modalities, and discover what is useful and what may be harmful in specific therapeutic cases. We also learn to modify the forms of the classic asanas and the patterns of breath in asana practice for different therapeutic needs, as well as how to use pranayama and meditation in a therapeutic context. The intensive includes lecture, discussion, and practice. All levels. CE credit available.

Yoga Body, Buddha Mind: An OM Yoga Meditation & Asana Workshop (A05)
Cyndi Lee
Explore how the mutual support of hatha yoga and Buddhist meditation helps us bring our bodies and minds into balance. This intensive includes a mindfulness meditation practice, a dharma talk about working with obstacles, and two asana sessions. The spaciousness, as well as the challenges of yoga, provides an ideal opportunity to apply the Buddhist meditation techniques of watching our mind, recognizing our habits, and opening our hearts. Our investigation looks at how we integrate these practices by letting them inform each other, as well as the rest of our daily lives. All levels. CE credit available.

Yoking the Shoulder Girdle (A06)
Tias Little, M.A.
This intensive aims to open the hands, arms, and shoulders to free up the heart and lungs inside the chest. We review the common ways that the shoulders displace forward resulting in pain in the neck region, tension between the shoulder blades, and numbness in the arm and hand. We look at the physical and energetic components of the shoulder girdle, including a review of the primary muscles that hold the shoulders in place and the subtle channels in the heart and throat chakras. Morning practice includes pranayama, while the afternoon focuses on postures to open the upper chest and shoulders. All levels. CE credit available.

Teaching Purna Yoga™ (A07)
Aadil Palkhivala
Purna Yoga™ balances asana and pranayama with applied yoga philosophy, meditation techniques, Ayurvedic principles, and transformative spirituality. This complete approach emphasizes Sri Aurobindo’s maxim that "all life is yoga." Learn how to teach the basics of Purna Yoga™ in this brief introduction to the sold-out, two-year teacher training courses offered at Yoga Centers College of Yoga in Bellevue, Washington. Please note: Bring a sticky mat, two blankets, one belt, and one block. Advanced Students/Teachers/Teachers In Training. CE credit available.

Insight Yoga: Blending the Insights & Practices of Yoga & Buddhism (A08)
Sarah Powers
Promoting the body’s natural equilibrium depends on the balance of one’s prana, which in turn diminishes our psychosomatic obstacles, enhancing the natural state of contemplation. In this intensive we explore a balanced practice of both a yin style that nourishes the meridian system and connective tissues with a yang (flow) practice, allowing time for mindfulness meditation. In this way, our practices can encourage enhanced vitality, clarity, and awareness. All levels. CE credit available.

Prana: The Power of Yoga (A09)
Rod Stryker
The science of tantra describes keys-agni (fire) and nadi (energy pathway) -as ways to access limitless power through the practice of yoga. By understanding how to apply these two principles, we can transform asana and the whole of hatha yoga. Deepening practices (vinyasa, pranayama, and internal concentration techniques), along with some discussion, leads us into the technology of empowered practice. All levels. CE credit available.

Reach Out & Touch Someone: A Look at Hands-On Adjustment Techniques (A10)
David Swenson
This intensive focuses on the basic techniques of applying safe and practical methods of hands-on adjusting. We do this through partner work and the exploration of several asanas, starting with the downward dog. It is a fun class for everyone and there is much to learn about our own practice when we assist others. All levels.

The Gateways of the Body (A11)
Rodney Yee
In this intensive we explore and open the gateways of our primary energy channels to let the vibrations of the present moment resound through the instrument of the body and mind. This workshop includes lecture and practice that further our knowledge of the energetics in the body and enable us to sequence better and understand how therapeutic yoga is mapped out. By vigilantly observing the gateways of our body, we can ensure the free flow of energy and find a new perspective on ourselves that is an essential part in continuing our studies and our teaching. All levels. CE credit available.

Journey to the Heart
John Friend
Yoga is a great journey to the heart. Any means to an awakening of our heart can be considered a path of yoga.

Within the expanding modern world of yoga there are an ever-growing number of styles and schools of hatha yoga that differ considerably in many regards, yet all can help us experience the same inner awakening of our spiritual essence.

In this keynote, John Friend explores how this conference is a celebration of the diversity of many of the leading modern yoga styles.

Open Up to Backbends (B1A)
Mary Dunn
Backbends are rejuvenating, provide energy and courage, and combat depression. They open the chest, make the spine flexible, and the arms and shoulders become stronger. In this class we practice, learn, and connect the elements of backbends into a circle outside ourselves. Intermediate. CE credit available.

The Transformational Power of Opening Your Heart Through Kundalini Yoga & Meditation (B1B)
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
Ultimate love is devotion where you see God in all. This is very different from the finite love we usually experience in daily life. This ultimate experience of infinite love, born out of infinite gratefulness and not out of insecurity, is the source of real happiness awakened through the ancient techniques of Kundalini Yoga and meditation, dance, chanting, and deep relaxation to the sound current of the gong. All levels. CE credit available.

Happy Hips (B1C)
Cyndi Lee
Hip openers are an opportunity for transforming habitual patterns of aggression toward ourselves. We don’t like to be pushed or pulled before we are ready, and neither do our hips. As we learn to relax and trust the flowing stillness and tiny openings of hip openers, we observe how that creates space in our minds and hearts. All levels. CE credit available.

Anxiety Reduction Through Yoga (B1D)
Tias Little, M.A.
It is all too common for yoga students to slip backward in their yoga practice due to tension and stress that build up "off the mat." This class explores the classical definition of yoga as the practice of reducing "vritti," or mental agitation. We review the ways in which anxiety becomes embedded in the tissues of the body and how stress affects circulation, immunity, respiration, flexibility, and equilibrium. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Dharma Yoga Shiva Namaskar Hatha Raja (B1E)
Sri Dharma Mittra
This challenging and physically absorbing vinyasa series reintegrates the flow of prana through the spinal column and emanates deep into all areas of the physical, metabolic, intuitive, and bliss body. It promotes harmony within all the layers so an integrated state of radiant health is achieved. The highest crowning meditation asanas, pranayama (breathing techniques), and yoga nidra (psychic sleep or deep relaxation) are embedded in the deep roots of Dharma Mittra’s teaching. All levels. CE credit available.

Power & Humility: The Purna Yoga™ Practice (B1F)
Aadil Palkhivala
The sacrum and the pelvis are designed to be sources of power. Asana often cultivates only the masculine aspect of this power. In this class we learn how the asana practice of Purna Yoga™ balances power with humility, the masculine with the feminine. The emphasis of this class is standing poses, twists, and relaxation. Please note: Bring a sticky mat, belt, a block, and two blankets. Intermediate. CE credit available.

Surya Namascar: Start Your Day With Joy (B1G)
Natasha Rizopoulos
The sun salutations are some of the most beautiful and exhilarating groups of poses in yoga. In this class we explore the individual postures and the breathing system that illuminates them. Yoga practitioners can begin their day energized and with a deeper relationship to these foundational sequences. All levels. CE credit available.

Asana & Bandha: Gateway to Glory (B1H)
Rod Stryker
Bandha is the bridge between asana and the deeper practices of the yoga tradition. Each of the four bandhas refine and profoundly shape the effect of practice. Building creative and healing power, and awakening a pathway to self-mastery, bandha leads to spiritual and worldly capacity. In this class we explore the refinement and application of bandha for particular effects. The class also includes practice in vinyasa, asana, pranayama, and meditation. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Breathe to Beat the Blues (B1J)
Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500
This class leads us through pranayama and kriya breathing exercises. These practices are a way to clear the obstructions that keep us from feeling the free flow of our healing and creative energy. We learn breathing techniques from both classical yoga and tantric yoga to work with our moods, and a method of self-inquiry from which our own positive affirmations arise. Beginners. CE credit available.

Pranayama as a Doorway to Meditation (B1K)
Rodney Yee
In this class we explore a basic pranayama practice through lecture, discussion, and practice. Through a daily simple practice of pranayama, we find ourselves at the threshold of meditation. Concentration on the receptivity and absorption of the vital life force is the main ingredient of both a pranayama and meditation practice. We learn to channel this vital force in pranayama and then we ride inside the river during our meditation. All levels. CE credit available.

Transformations (B2A)
Baron Baptiste
Discover the foundations of effective alignment in basic asana flow. We coast into a transformative vinyasa practice using your unique personal make-up as the laboratory for your practice. You leave this session with a renewed sense of what’s possible in your body and in your life. All levels. CE credit available.

Stranded in a Wilderness (B2B)
Kofi Busia
In the Ramayana or Tales of Rama, Sri Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, raises his mighty bow and, in a supreme act of concentration, slays the wild and golden deer of manifest illusion, this being his ever-moving mind. This class offers an examination of how the yogic practices of posture, breath, and concentration can help convert even the most modern of frenetic urban wildernesses into an inner sanctum of quiet, natural beauty. All levels. CE credit available.

Detox Flow (B2C)
Seane Corn
This unique and challenging class focuses on cleansing the vital organs through a special vinyasa sequence. By utilizing the three internal components of compression, decompression, and twists, we stimulate the purification process within the body. This class includes sun salutes A and B, a detox standing pose sequence, breathing exercises, and meditation. Intermediate. CE credit available.

Greeting the Day in a Sacred Way (B2D)
Lilias Folan
In this class we gather in the sacred circle to wake up our chakras with this meditation in movement. We dance and sing to raise the sun and light in our lives. This ritual holds the vibration of Native American, tai chi, and Brahma Murta traditions. All levels.

Anusara Yoga®: Align With the Divine (B2E)
John Friend
Experience a quintessential Shakti-rocking Anusara class with John Friend. Combining a life-affirming tantric philosophy with Universal Principles of Alignment, Anusara Yoga is a profoundly transformational style of hatha yoga. All levels. CE credit available.

The Art of Yogic Assists (B2F)
Sharon Gannon, David Life
Working with partners, this class explores the art of touch as it applies to yoga asanas. Touch should help facilitate energetic direction and result in more muscle ease and joint spaciousness. Pushing or forcing a student into a posture is not appropriate and can result in injury. This class concludes with a deep relaxation and specific yoga-massage techniques that can help a student deeply release, detox, and heal. Please note: Bring massage lotion. All levels. CE credit available.

Practicing Yoga for Emotional Equilibrium & Maturity: Yin Yoga & Mindfulness (B2G)
Sarah Powers
Meditation imbalances in the energy system dramatically affect our emotional experience. Yin yoga postures harmonize the meridian system, allowing a balancing of disturbing emotions. The Buddhist path of awakening describes emotional maturity through the teachings on the “four immeasurables.” These are equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy. During the yin practice Sarah Powers discusses these Buddhist themes and the practices that can be adopted into our yoga sessions to enhance living from these values. All levels. CE credit available.

Ashtanga Prep (B2H)
Natasha Rizopoulos
The Ashtanga Primary Series is an extraordinary sequence that coordinates breath and movement through a series of sun salutes and standing and seated postures using universal principles to enhance any vinyasa practice. Whether or not you are a regular Ashtanga Yoga practitioner, discover how this system can deepen your connection to breath and alignment in ways that can transform your practice. Intermediate. CE credit available.

Exploring Pranayama (B2J)
Sankara Saranam, M.A.
This class offers methods in the science of pranayama (energy control, sense-introversion). Pranayama yields mind control, breath control, control of the autonomic functions of the body, physical and mental health, happiness, balanced emotions, and self-knowledge. We explore tension-relaxation methods, energy seals, and methods to magnetize the expansive heart. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

The Practice: Advanced Practice for Beginners (B2K)
Mark Whitwell
This workshop is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners who wish to adapt their yoga to the principles of the renowned and revered yoga master T. Krishnamacharya. These principles are efficient, powerful, and safe, while being clearly defined and easily applied for every body. Practices are given to experience this powerful yoga, culminating in meditation. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Ahimsa, Yoga & The Vegetarian Lifestyle
Neal Barnard, M.D., Sharon Gannon, David Life, Ingrid Newkirk
What is a yogic relationship to all life? What does it mean to be a vegetarian or a vegan in terms of our spiritual and physical health? You are invited to join a panel of four remarkable practitioners of ahimsa (harmlessness) — David Life, Sharon Gannon, Ingrid Newkirk, and Neal Barnard — as they discuss yogic culture, spirituality, health, and the implications of our kinship with all life.

The Power of the Original Power Yoga (B3A)
Beryl Bender Birch
Many people take up yoga for relief from tightness, injury, stress, or pain—or just to relax. So you take a class and work your butt off, sweat, and use muscles you didn’t know you had. And when it’s over, you feel relaxed, more flexible, calm, and centered. Why is that? Get your attention in present time through your yoga practice and become a more worthwhile, healthy, happy, compassionate, and conscious human being. Beginners. CE credit available.

Introduction to Jivamukti Yoga (B3B)
Paisley Fenyes
Discover what makes Jivamukti Yoga so special. Through a playful and energizing practice, we explore the five tenets that make up Jivamukti Yoga and find out how this practice has the capacity to transform ourselves. Beginners. CE credit available.

Super Shoulder Openers (B3C)
John Friend
Open the wings of your heart by applying Anusara alignment principles through a wide variety of extraordinary shoulder-opening exercises. Let your spirit soar in this uplifting and Shakti-filled class. All levels. CE credit available.

Chakra Tuning (B3D)
Sharon Gannon
The chakras provide us with a model for therapeutic transformation. A healthy mind and body is a sound mind and body. In this class we explore how asanas can address the possible root causes of emotional and physical difficulties in our lives and how to use mantra as well as positive intention together with asana to instigate deep and lasting healing. All levels. CE credit available.

Understand the Power of Intention Through Kundalini Yoga & Meditation: Experience Life as a Miracle (B3E)
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
Nothing in this world will make sense if you do not live your intention. When you do, the impossible will become possible, bringing you into your personal power of total creativity. Through the science of Kundalini Yoga, you experience intention and infinity as one, as you move, dance, chant, meditate, and relax to the sound of the gong. Lecture/Meditation.

Refining the Art of Observation: Diagnosis & Prescription for Yoga Therapy (B3F)
Gary Kraftsow, M.A., L.M.T.
In this class we refine our ability to perceive what is happening to our own body and the bodies of our students during practice. The focus is on structural diagnosis and prescriptive application in asana practice. Choice of postures, adaptation and sequencing, and the appropriate use of the breath are explored through a combination of practice, demonstration, interaction, lecture, and discussion. All levels. CE credit available.

Dharma Yoga Divine Purification: The Yamas (B3G)
Sri Dharma Mittra
This class is an invaluable cleansing and detox program that helps purify the mind, the gross physical body, and the subtle astral body of toxic impurities. Dharma Mittra also elaborates on the laws of karma, the dietary laws of yoga, the yamas, and yoga nidra. The practice includes ancient breathing and sound techniques, mantra japa, yoga asanas, relaxation, and meditation. This purification leads to higher states of physical and mental health, and reduced stress culminating ultimately into blissful self-realization. All levels. CE credit available.

Mandala Namaskar: The Healing Power of Circular Movement (B3H)
Shiva Rea, M.A.
In an increasingly grid-like world, we can experience the healing power of a mandala (sacred circle) within a namaskar or moving meditation vinyasa. We learn four of Shiva Rea’s mandala namaskar sun salutation sequences. These unfold in an integrated circular flow for embodied wholeness, vitality, and creative resonance with nature. This class includes mandala mudra meditation, and visualization. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Budokon (B3J)
Cameron Shayne
Budokon is a new blend of Ashtanga and Vinyasa Yoga, meditation, and martial arts. Cameron Shayne’s body-mind method is endorsed and practiced by some of today’s high-profile celebrities and Olympic gold-medal winning athletes. Budokon combines the effects of high-intensity, low-impact, and total-body cardio plus strength training, yoga, and mental-focus techniques. It creates lean muscle without bulk and is said to "leave you feeling invincible." All levels. CE credit available.

Twists: Unraveling the Vital Pulse (B3K)
Rod Stryker
Tantra is an ancient approach that uses asana as a way to unfold the soul’s greatness. The action of twisting rotates the outer body, freeing limitation in the neck, shoulders, hips, and vital organs. The inner life of twists opens us to our core’s pulse, inviting us to expand into intelligence and limitless aspiration. This class includes theory on the transformative approach to practice, asana, vinyasa flow, holdings, internal concentration techniques, pranayama, and meditation. All levels. CE credit available.

Arm Balances & Hip Openers (B3L)
Rodney Yee
This slow vinyasa class is designed to help us bring skill and courage into arm-balancing and hip-opening poses. We learn to enjoy ourselves while building strength and understanding in these challenging asanas. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Foundations (B4A)
Baron Baptiste
Weave your beginner’s mind into a flow of foundational asanas done with a focus on sound alignment, biomechanics, and opening up to new possibilities. Learn how to adapt, modify, and refine your personal practice for optimal results. Come discover a renewed personal force. Intermediate. CE credit available.

Padmasana: The Lotus (B4B)
Mary Dunn
Uncover your freedom and discover yourself in padmasana. This profound asana, the “lotus pose,” represents the entire yogic system. Often performed as a technique of focusing, breathing, and meditation, padmasana is said to destroy all diseases and awaken the kundalini. Intermediate. CE credit available.

Age is Better With Yoga, Yoga is Better With Age (B4C)
Lilias Folan
In the great tradition of yoga, midlife is the ideal time to restore health and vitality, and soften the aging process. In this class we develop a multileveled and heart-centered practice with the three R’s of stretching (resist, relax, and restretch), key asanas, breathing, and guided relaxation. All ages, sizes, and shapes welcome. All levels. CE credit available.

Ultimate Hip Openers (B4D)
John Friend
Learn how inner spiral can revolutionize the world of your pelvic floor. Experience the unimaginable delight of opening the reservoir of your creative energy at the root of your spine by learning an elegant set of Anusara alignment principles in a fun array of forward bends and hip-openers. All levels. CE credit available.

Patanjali’s Keys to the Art of Personal Practice & Self-Transformation (B4E)
Gary Kraftsow, M.A., L.M.T.
In this class we explore the transformational techniques of yoga as presented in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. We look deeply into the mirror of our minds, attaining new levels of understanding and compassion for ourselves and others, as well as tools for modifying our action and accelerating our growth. We use the text as a structure to deepen the inner aspect of our yoga practice and examine conditions and patterns in the body and mind. Lecture. CE credit available.

The Yogi & Time (B4F)
David Life
In this vigorous Jivamukti vinyasa asana class we explore the concept of time from the yogic perspective. Minute, meter, and measure are all words that share common roots in the idea of maya as the great concealer and revealer. Experience the passage of time in the beat of the heart and the movement of the breath. All levels. CE credit available.

Karma & the Legs (B4G)
Tias Little, M.A.
This class explores the ways that habitual patterns of tension become embedded in the musculature of the legs. We look at how the structure and muscular tone of our legs hold our own personal history. At quite a young age, the legs may begin to hold significant tension due to psychological or emotional stress. We focus on releasing strain in the buttocks, hamstrings, quads, and feet as a way of freeing the karma of the legs. All levels. CE credit available.

Moving Into Meditation: Exploring How & Why to Meditate (B4H)
Sarah Powers
When we start our exploration of the wisdom traditions, it is helpful to begin with the physical dimension because this provides a certain degree of understanding. To go deeper, however, it is necessary to work on the level of prana (vital energy), while the most important aspect to engender freedom is the training of the mind. In this class we explore meditative awareness and how to begin a daily mindfulness practice. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Prana Vinyasa Flow: Becoming One With Prana (B4J)
Shiva Rea, M.A.
Experience the uniting power of the five movements of prana underlying all of creation, our embodiment, and asanas. In a dynamic sadhana, we learn specific navigation methods within prana vinyasa flow—an energetic approach to vinyasa—to release the "doing of yoga" and transform challenges and bring greater ease and vitality into "being yoga." All levels. CE credit available.

Ashtanga Yoga: An Introduction (B4K)
David Swenson
This class is an introduction to Ashtanga Yoga. The basic elements of breath, bandhas, and flow are explored. Short discussions are followed by partner work, and then an introductory flow through the sun salutations and an abbreviated sequence from the first series. All levels. CE credit available.

A Sequence of Twists (B4L)
Rodney Yee
In this class we learn to prepare for and move through a wonderful sequence of twists. We also discover techniques for twisting deeply without torquing the body. All levels. CE credit available.

Deva Premal & Miten
Deva Premal, Miten
With CD sales topping the half-million mark and performing to packed concerts around the world, Deva Premal and Miten are two of the most popular singers and writers of songs and chants of spiritual devotion. Their music has touched the hearts of thousands of seekers around the world. This evening promises to be a beautiful, inspirational, and unforgettable event.

The Sacred & Powerful Dance of Vinyasa Flow (C5A)
Beryl Bender Birch
As has been done in India and most ancient cultures for thousands of years, we begin the day with puja (ritual), acknowledging Surya, the primordial Sun God. Then we generate the cleansing heat and life supporting prana from the stimulating flow of the sun salutations. We then stream through the sacred dance of asana as meditation, making a mindful effort through bandha, drishti, and conscious breathing to keep our minds focused, present, and quiet. All levels. CE credit available.

Karma Flow (C5B)
Seane Corn
In this inspirational and creative vinyasa flow class we practice asana, meditation, and reflection, while exploring the spiritual themes of outreach and service. Learn how to take the philosophy of yoga out of the classroom and into our daily lives where it can truly make a difference in the lives of others. All levels. CE credit available.

Learn to Love Yourself Today, Tomorrow & Always Through Kundalini Yoga & Meditation (C5C)
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
Experience self-love that dissolves the ego. Love is the nourishment for the soul, and without love, the soul is weak. Love makes you rebellious, revolutionary. Love gives you wings to make you soar high. Experience this sense of divine, infinite love using the techniques of Kundalini Yoga, meditation, chanting, dancing, and deep relaxation to the ancient sound of the gong. All levels. CE credit available.

How to be a Warrior (C5D)
Cyndi Lee
Take your seat as a yogini or yogi warrior. Armed with the tools of tapas and ahimsa, precision and gentleness, openness and natural intelligence, let the heat of this hot, juicy class cut through your fears and purify your body. Inversions, big backbends, jumpings, balances, and any requests you may have—all in one asana class. Come ready to sweat and have a great time. All levels. CE credit available.

Kriya, Karma & Diet (C5E)
David Life
The yogic guidelines for dietary restriction are few. Kriya, or actions that eliminate misidentification and karma, which make us aware of how we contribute to the suffering of others, are two pillars of yogic diet. Health is not the primary focus of diet for the yogi. Instead, the yogi uses diet as another limb of evolutionary movement. Bring your questions, facts, and comments about diet, health, environment, and vegetarianism for a rousing class debate. Lecture/Meditation.

Twists & Turns (C5F)
Tias Little, M.A.
Twists bring tremendous energy and vitality to the body. When fatigued or depleted, twists can be the medicine to rejuvenate. This class emphasizes spinal twists that have a wringing effect on the internal organs and promote abundant circulation of blood through all the spinal nerves. Please note: Bring a block and a strap. All levels. CE credit available.

Free Your Spine: Bending & Twisting for Beginners (C5G)
Natasha Rizopoulos
Discover how liberating it can be to backbend and twist with ease. Learn the fundamental alignment principles that will safely introduce you to these families of poses so they can be a regular and beloved part of your practice. Modifications and variations will be offered throughout the class. Beginners. CE credit available.

Exploring Pranayama (C5H)
Sankara Saranam, M.A.
This class offers methods in the science of pranayama (energy control, sense-introversion). Pranayama yields mind control, breath control, control of the autonomic functions of the body, physical and mental health, happiness, balanced emotions, and self-knowledge. We explore tension-relaxation methods, energy seals, and methods to magnetize the expansive heart. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Intermediate Budokon (C5J)
Cameron Shayne
Join Budokon’s creator, Cameron Shayne, for an in-depth study into the Budokon Martial, Yogic, and Living Arts System. Budokon conditioning classes include asanas, striking techniques, jiu-jitsu/judo, nutrition, MRI (motion/reason/intuition), belief systems, meditation, and sparring concepts. If you are looking to build a masterful foundation for your physical and emotional health, this master class will change how you move through the world. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

The Principles of Personal Practice: Individualizing Your Practice (C5K)
Mark Whitwell
Yoga is the means by which each person directly absorbs the nurturing force of life. Asana came from the great tradition of tantra. But what does this mean? How does your asana become what it was originally intended to be? This class includes a short talk with practices culminating in yoga meditation with the powerful use of sacred mantra and yantra. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Harmonizing With the Earth (C5L)
Rodney Yee
Break down the illusion of our separateness by realizing our connection to the earth. Let us examine the foundation of our yoga postures to further understand how the vibration of the earth can harmonize with the vibration of our foundation. We continue to search for ways to deepen our connection with the earth until we feel that the earth is our foundation. We practice primarily standing and seated poses to explore this connection. All levels. CE credit available.

Bending Backward to Leap Forward in Your Life (C6A)
Baron Baptiste
In this class we focus specifically on backbends, with an emphasis on seamless, effortless, and frictionless flow. Uniting biomechanical precision, a focused mind, and an open heart, we ignite a purifying fire and generate healing vinyasa heat to synergistically dissolve energy blocks, holding patterns, and limiting perceptions. Advanced. CE credit available.

Decoding the Yoga Sutras (C6B)
Beryl Bender Birch
Reading through a translation of the Yoga Sutras can often be fruitless and a little discouraging. Join with fellow practitioners as we discuss the deeper meanings of these terse, but incredibly rich messages hidden in the ancient aphorisms known as the “sutras.” Bring your favorite copy and see how helpful it can be to read from different translations. Discover the amazingly clear and contemporary solutions offered by this ancient and illuminating text. All levels. CE credit available.

Pratyahara: Threshold of Meditation (C6C)
Mary Dunn
Yoga facilitates a deep process for examining and shaping one’s life. In this class we access an inward state through perceptive connection with our sense organs. Learn to maintain your connection and restrain outside influences and movements of the mind to deepen a quiet state of inner peace. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Flying With Hand-Balancings (C6D)
John Friend
Defy gravity and amaze family and friends by learning how to align with the Shakti in a full gamut of hand-balancings. By applying Anusara principles of alignment, you learn how to root to the earth so you can rise to the sky in poses that you never thought possible. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Jivamukti Yoga Balancing Class (C6E)
Sharon Gannon
When you try to “hold” your balance you will lose it. The key to balancing is to let go, allowing yourself to become a conduit for energy. This class includes a vigorous vinyasa warm up that prepares us to focus on several balancing asanas, progressing from simple to advanced. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Mindfulness of Body: Yoga as Meditation (C6F)
Cyndi Lee
The body and mind are inextricably connected, no matter what shape or size we are or what our history is. Becoming more intimate with our own body through the practice of yoga, we also become familiar with our mind and our heart. In this meditation class we experience the power and richness of each moment, whether it’s challenging, strenuous, energizing, or relaxing. We also include some light asana to experience mindfulness of body in movement. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Earth & Aspiration in Purna Yoga™ (C6G)
Aadil Palkhivala
The work of the legs is essential to building a foundation for the body in asana. The legs are the vehicles for grounding and connecting with the earth. Once established, this descent provides the energy for recoil, the awakening of ascent in the body and aspiration for a profounder purpose, a loftier life. This class focuses on standing poses and backbends. All levels. CE credit available.

Yin Yoga & the Hindrances: Discovering & Disempowering Our Patterns of Reactivity (C6H)
Sarah Powers
During this practice of yin yoga (long-held passive poses), we explore the benefits of harmonizing the qi (energy) in the organ and meridian systems to balance the body, energy, and mind. This inner coordination allows us to deepen our understanding of negative psychosomatic patterns that hinder our clarity and openness. These insights can then be further refined in meditation. All levels. CE credit available.

Radiant Heart: Expanding Our Heart’s Field Within Yoga (C6J)
Shiva Rea, M.A.
The brain-dominant view of our embodiment is outdated but still feeds our doubt of the power of our heart’s intuitive knowing. Explore the breakthrough understandings of our heart’s electromagnetic field that complements and enhances the heart-centered practices of yoga. Our class includes vinyasa with hridaya namaskars (heart-centered sun salutations), pranayama, mudra meditation, bhava (feeling awareness), visualization, and chanting to illuminate the healing power of our spiritual and physical heart. All levels. CE credit available.

Light on Hatha: The Pradipika on Yoga (C6K)
Rod Stryker
If one text could illuminate the path into the whole range and sacred power of yoga practices, this 7th-century text is it. Detailing the sacred journey of yoga through body, breath, mind, and spirit, the teachings of the Pradipika on Yoga shed light on every meaningful step we’ve ever taken or will take in yoga. In this class we highlight some of its key teachings and do a practice informed by its profound wisdom. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

LifeForce Yoga to Beat the Blues (C6L)
Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500
For thousands of years yogis have understood what psychobiology and clinical observations are now demonstrating: Emotion is stored in the physical body. In this class we explore yogic and tantric strategies for both depression and anxiety that can safely release chronically held tension and repressed emotion in the physical and emotional body. Combining asanas, pranayama, and kriya with tones and affirmations, this class offers strategies to help you and your students manage their moods. All levels. CE credit available.

Detailing (C7A)
Baron Baptiste
Discover how the different families of asanas can seamlessly come together into one powerful vinyasa flow. We’ll focus on effective transitions, identifying misalignments and properly preparing an asana and then opening up to new possibilities and setting it free. All levels. CE credit available.

A Place for Observation (C7B)
Kofi Busia
A templum is a place for observation, and a contemplative being is a person devoted to religious meditation. B.K.S. Iyengar has said, “the body is my temple, asanas are my prayers.” How can we use asana to remember that we indeed are such an open and contemplative space? Intermediate. CE credit available.

Mystic on the Mat (C7C)
Seane Corn
Through prayer, movement, and breath, we use our bodies to communicate with spirit and transform our practice into a sacred ritual aligning us with all that is divine. This challenging class includes sun salutes A and B, standing poses, backbends, forward bends, inversions, meditation, and reflection on co-creating with the universe. All levels. CE credit available.

Introduction to Jivamukti Yoga (C7D)
Paisley Fenyes
Discover what makes Jivamukti Yoga so special. Through a playful and energizing practice, we explore the five tenets that make up Jivamukti Yoga and find out how this practice has the capacity to transform ourselves. Beginners. CE credit available.

The Joy Is in the Journey: Hatha Yoga & More (C7E)
Lilias Folan
Discover a conscious, joyful, and nonmechanical approach to postures with Lilias Folan’s painless three R’s of stretching (resist, relax, and restretch). Welcome the witnessing of the self and inner smile into the pathway to your spiritual heart. All levels. CE credit available.

Rocking Backbends (C7F)
John Friend
Celebrate the rocking freedom of your heart through a wide range of playful backbends. By combining the life-affirming philosophy of Anusara Yoga with amazing Universal Principles of Alignment you go deeper into a wide variety of backbends, including some wild, party-oriented ones. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.

Common Aches & Pains: Upper Back, Neck & Shoulders (C7G)
Gary Kraftsow, M.A., L.M.T.
Many people come to yoga looking for relief from common aches and pains. In this therapeutic class we explore the biomechanics of the upper back, neck, and shoulders and the types of problems that can affect these areas. We develop and practice a sequence of adapted asanas designed to relieve stress and strengthen this important area of the body. All levels. CE credit available.

Savasana & the Five Vayus (C7H)
Aadil Palkhivala
The five pranas of Purna Yoga™ regulate most body functions. Learn to access and then use the pranas to profoundly deepen your savasana. Release deep tensions and access the breath in your nerves. Bring whatever you need to lie down comfortably and be still and relaxed. Lecture/Meditation. CE credit available.

Dance for Life: Yoga Trance Dance & Spiritual Activism (C7J)
Shiva Rea, M.A.
We are all born with an innate love of rhythm and movement. This movement connects us with the intrinsic flow of our life force, a dance honored from Siva Nataraja to the dancing sages, mystics, and yoginis such as, Lalla, Chaitanya, and Ramakrishna. All levels. CE credit available.

Flying, Floating & Handstanding: A Fun-Filled Exploration of Vinyasa & Arm-Balances (C7K)
David Swenson
One of the greatest challenges of the Ashtanga flow is the vinyasa. In this class David Swenson breaks the vinyasa down into its components. He likes to refer to this as “the physics of flight.” The class also explores the elements of handstands and arm-balances through partner work. There is always plenty of laughter and fun as well as a depth of information in this class. Alternatives are always given. All levels. CE credit available.

Main conference fee does not include post-conference intensives; see registration info page for fees.

The Essence of Jivamukti Yoga (DO1)
David Life, Sharon Gannon
Experience yoga with enlightenment as the goal. Jivamukti Yoga incorporates brisk vinyasa styling teamed with inspirational music. What is more important is that it has the intention to realize the "oneness of being." This intention is reinforced with traditional Sanskrit chanting, scriptural study, and meditation. In this intensive David Life and Sharon Gannon explore the various ways that asana practice is a perfection of our relationship to all of creation. All levels. CE credit available.

Gratefulness = Greatness = Happiness (DO2)
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
"You are only living truth to yourself, within yourself, and for yourself. Nobody else can take your place," says Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. These ancient teachings of Kundalini Yoga and meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan, along with dancing, chanting, and relaxing to the sound of the gong, awaken your soul and help remind you of who you are, how great you are, and how you cannot be great if you are not grateful. Let the experience of true gratefulness in your life set you free and let you live happy. All levels.

Fluid Power: Embodying Wave Motion Within Vinyasa (DO3)
Shiva Rea, M.A.
Physicists and sages have agreed that life is in dynamic motion (spanda-shakti). From the water that we are comprised of in our fluid bodies to the sub-atomic quantum field, wave motion is the expression of life. In this intensive we explore Shiva Rea’s three-part approach to thawing our asanas and awakening to the natural, healing power of wave motion in a dynamic, rhythmic flow. Intermediate/Advanced. CE credit available.