align & flow
Work, play, and pause! Sets of static held poses are bookended by various types of vinyasas, increasing strength, flexibility, stability and focus. We’ll use the challenge of the held poses to consciously explore our edges and fine-tune alignment; playing through the movement of the vinyasas to release our stuck places in body and mind. By working with directional flows of energy and introducing arm asanas for both strength and flexibility, we’ll create greater physical balance with the intent to influence the deeper levels of our being. At key points during class we will pause to observe the effects of our work and end with a restful savasana. Leave feeling balanced, present and calm.
For a traditional vinyasa style class that also emphasizes alignment, see Align & Flow Vinyasa.
embodi yoga
EmbodiYoga is based on sensing your body, breath, and movement. It is a practice of bringing consciousness to each moment of moving through the postures. We will perform basic poses, explore obvious and subtle structures of the body, clarify alignment and movement principles, and weave them into simple yoga sequences that build strength, flexibility, balance, relaxation, alignment, and ease. The intention of the class is to enrich your yoga practice with insight, subtlety, and depth of embodiment.
heartful yoga
“Lighten your heart as we move from the season of darkness into the season of renewal and new beginnings.”
Using classical yoga poses, this four-class series will focus on moving from our “fluid” heart as we explore what we can let go of and soften within a posture, softening into compassion to ourselves within the moment to cultivate enjoyment of a posture and how that experience may help us soften into our dreams and relationship to others.
Class One will be prepping the ground by exploring a general alignment with the heart; Class Two will focus on opening to giving out and Ahimsa (compassion for all living things; Class Three will focus on opening our hearts to reaching out for our desires/dreams, our worthiness of receiving and nurturing ourselves; Class Four will be a celebration of aligning with our heart by balancing the second and third classes and examining what it feels like to “move” from the heart.
Any experience is welcome as the class encourages students to listen to where they are, and modifications of postures are encouraged. Though the series has a consecutive plan, you may come to all or just any one you would like.
*A suggested donation of $5 is appreciated.
mindfulness yoga
By Wednesday, do you feel like you are losing your “mind”? Of course, by mind we simply mean that sense of inner peace and relaxation that you engendered over the weekend. Was that only a couple of days ago, with a couple of days still to go! Each Wednesday at 8am and Noon, Bryan will provide two opportunities to retreat and restore in a refuge of balanced movement and stillness. Students will be treated to a restorative experience of a soft candlelit room, tranquil music and poses intended to ride the surface of the breath. As with all of Bryan’s classes, consider coming with specific requests and intentions, class is intended to be learner-centric! Each class will end with supportive Bolster, Blanket and Eye Pillow to better preserve accumulated restfulness.
pilates for yogis
Looking for a way to strengthen your yoga practice? Hoping to improve your balance poses, make your crane fly or float into a handstand? If you responded YES to any of these questions then Pilates for Yogis is the class for you. We will take a seriously playful approach to exploring yoga poses while focusing on moving from our center. Pilates for Yogis emphasizes the development of precise body alignment, deep torso muscles and spinal flexibility through the practice of Pilates. While developing greater strength and moving with increased control and efficiency we will explore various yoga postures and better understand how the fundamentals of Pilates positively impacts your asana practice.
reconnect & restore
Need to restore and unwind? Or do you need a slower moving environment in which to learn more about what your body has to say? In this hour we’ll gently stretch and strengthen the large muscles of the body and explore the full range of motion in our joints. We’ll check in with the breath and feedback from the body as we fine tune alignment of basic poses and we’ll soothe our nervous systems in final restorative poses. Come as you are and leave feeling peaceful, refreshed, and at home in your body. All levels welcome – Absolute beginner to the very experienced.
sunday centering yoga
Sunday Centering Yoga is dedicated to “center”. Whether it is teaching students to move from center – abdomen/perineum, awaken center – spine/vertebral column or fostering a centering of mind – balanced thoughts and emotions, this class is intended for the student desiring to awaken deeper layers and realms of Yoga. Each class will be begin with Awareness exercises to establish a launchpad of presence and intentionality, and end with an extended period of Assimilation and reflection.
tgif yoga – riding the breath
Thank Ganesha Its Friday! Friday evening is the threshold between the traditional work week and weekend. Consider saying goodbye to accumulated mental stress and bodily tensiuon, and hello to greater clarity, contentment and calm. Ganesha is the Indian Deity associated with the removal of obstacles and obstructions. This series is devoted to the removal of psycho-somatic blockages that interfere with health, happiness and harmony. Practices include, 7 Gestures, 9 breaths of Purification and Poses (Asanas) symmetrically and rhythmically sequenced with the flow of breath and life!
When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady.
But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still,
and the yogi achieves long life.
Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.
-Hatha Yoga Pradipika
walking with dynamic alignment
This instructional class is open to all who are interested in exploring how the way they walk and move through the world affects their health and well-being. Discovering a new way of Walking will inspire strength, efficiency, fluidity, balance, agility, and dignity. Walking with Dynamic Alignment will bring greater harmony to the Body, Mind and Spirit. It is an ageless method of nurturing postural alignment, breath awareness, active relaxation, and weight transitions into fully-integrated three dimensional movement through space.
Walking with Dynamic Alignment will teach students the awareness and skills needed to activate the diaphragm for rythmicity, the psoas for verticality, the pelvic floor initiating spatial efficiency and momentum, the hamstrings allowing stepping forward, and the lateral rotator group responsible for weight transitions. These skills have direct relation to the way we encounter our life, move through it, and stand up to it. Each class incorporates a period of Walking to integrate these principles into daily life and movement. The result is alleviation from the physical, mechanical, psychological and energetic stress and pressures that we have accumulated and carry. A new dynamic alignment is revealed much like a sculptor reveals the art within the stone. Discover the Dynamic Alignment unique to you: your body, your movement, your stride.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tzu, 6th Century BCE
yin/yang yoga
yoga basics
For the Beginner Yogi or the practitioner who seeks to revisit a foundation of breath and pose in preparation for a more intermediate to advanced practice.
Beginning class with centering breaths, practitioners will be guided into mindful connection between their breath and the overall body. Once a more lengthened and expansive breath is established throughout the body, the student is encouraged to “ride the wave” of their breath throughout the series of class poses. Continuing through each individual pose, participants will be led to direct the breath to specific areas of the body to better lengthen and strengthen the entire body. The level and intensity of each class will be tailored to the attendees level of practice.
yoga fundamentals
The word Yoga is derived from the the ancient Indo-European language of Sanskrit, “Yuj.” It is synonymous with “yoke” or “union.” In Yoga Fundamentals, we explore the ancient tradition of “yoking” the body and “uniting” the mind. It is through this process that we establish our practice from the ground up. Intended for all student levels, Yoga Fundamentals reinforces a strong and stable foundation. Through the physical practice of both alignment and awarenes, each class is devoted to a series of poses that categorically involves movement in flexion, extension, lateral flexion, twisting, inverting and binding while sitting, standing and lying down. During each pose, students will be continually encouraged to establish and maintain a deepened and expansive breath for a deeper and more transformative mind-body experience.
Starting in the Spring, we will be introducing wooden dowels as an additional prop, including blocks, straps, bolsters and more. The purpose of the dowel to is to provide an exo-skeletal reference for true and accurate alignment. Too seldom the practitioner is instructed to “adapt” to the pose, rather than “embody” the pose.
yoga tristana
Description coming soon!
