Develop strength, flexibility, focus and mental clarity with a series of yoga poses specific to our sport.  We will start with standing poses and then move into powerful core poses then finishing with stretching poses to keep the body safe during falls.

This is the 4rd time we have offered this series and it’s always popular.  Join this small group of kindred spirit to prepare for the season.  It’s a lot of fun! Tuesdays, 4:30-5:30 pm for 6 week series for $99, Limit 8 students. (No class the week of Thanksgiving). Register Online Today!

Join Evolution Yoga teacher Andrea O’Connor and Psychologist Carolyn Edwards for this workshop that combines Pivotal Points of Change (PPC)™ and yoga. PPC™ is a simple set of tools to easily access the “pivotal points” where change happens easily and naturally. The result is an increase in life balance and alignment in order to create a lifestyle that is an expression of your truest self. The process is much like yoga! And it’s fun, uplifting and empowering.

Rather than being self-critical, you will direct your energy and thinking toward positive movement.  You’ll create change by focusing on what is absolutely possible in the moment.

The workshop includes a visioning exercise, an assessment of overall lifestyle, setting a lifestyle improvement objective, and committing to some initial steps to achieving a lifestyle shift.

Pivotal Points of Change™ can help if you:

• experience life as not being quite the way you think it could
• feel out of balance or stuck in pursuing a desired goal such as moving on in a career, relationship, or losing weight
• don’t have the connection with family, friends or colleagues you would like
• want to be more healthy and fit and get frustrated making it happen
• just need time to reflect on your overall life direction, PPC can get you on your journey.

Yoga relaxation, meditation and a practice with an emphasis on finding “pivotal points” in yoga poses are part of this workshop.

You’ll leave with new insights and a concrete action plan for manifesting new life energy and direction, and the opportunity to stay connected with the group for ongoing support.

Saturday, February 26th, 2011 from 2 pm to 4:30 pm ($45)

In this workshop, we will open the front body gradually and persistently by stretching front thighs and groins. Warming up will include plenty of time for opening shoulders and loosening spinal muscles. We will practice backbending actions with bolsters and chairs, and finally work on pushing up from the ground. The class will finish with gentle twisting poses to release spinal muscles and restorative poses to balance, calm and soothe the nervous system. Props will be used.

Please wear comfortable clothing, and pants or tights to show the alignment of your knees. Saturday, February 5th, 2011 from 2 pm to 5 pm ($25)

Holding habitual tension and constant pain in the shoulders is a common problem for many people; we do literally carry the world on our shoulders.

In this workshop we will explore the shoulder and its connections to the neck, rib cage and arms. We will focus our attention on differentiating and integrating the movements of the shoulder girdle with the arms, neck and rib cage. Participants will experience how to release the tension, increase their range of movement, and experience comfort with their shoulders. This is a must for those who experience shoulder pain or just want to lift that heavy burden off their shoulders before the holiday season.

You do not need prior Feldenkrais® experience to enjoy this workshop. Please bring a mat or blanket with you and wear comfortable clothes.

Register online today! or call 802.864.YOGA (9642)

I was a single parent of two small children and in nursing school when I began to take yoga more seriously. It would have been an understatement to say I had stress in my life! There were nights when sleep seemed impossible. I was so wound up with assignments and papers that I found myself scrubbing walls at midnight.

As I learned more yoga, the frenzied wall scrubbing was replaced with poses like shoulderstand or viparita karani. My furrowed brow began to soften and my nerves calmed. An added bonus was my health improved – I rarely got sick.

We now know that the nervous and endocrine (hormone) systems function as one system. There are many poses in yoga that work specifically on the endocrine glands, including the pituitary, adrenals, thyroid and parathyroids. These glands help to control processes associated with the regulation of metabolism and energy supply, responses to stress, extracellular fluid, and, with growth, development and reproduction.

The following poses and their sequence strengthen the endocrine system and improve the body’s immune response. You can hold the poses for several minutes each. If time doesn’t allow you to complete the entire sequence, you can omit some of the poses, but it is important to follow the order suggested. If you are pregnant, seek the guidance of one of SHC’s prenatal instructors for adjusting the poses. Refer to “Yoga the Iyengar Way” or “Light on Yoga” for detailed descriptions of the poses, or click on the links to see definitions from Yoga Journal.

• Alternate nostril breathing – 5 rounds
• Downward facing dog
• Baddhakonasana with bolster
• Shoulderstand
• Plow pose
• Viparita karani – legs up wall
• Janu sirsasana with head supported by bolster or chair
• Downward facing dog
• Uttanasana – standing forward bend
• Alternate nostril breathing – 5 rounds
• Savasana - corpse pose

The hips are the biggest joints in our body and are the key to easy and comfortable movement. Since we can’t put our hands around them we have only a vague idea of their location in our body and their function. Without properly functioning hip joints, movement becomes more difficult and inefficient – we may even experience pain in the joint or the surrounding areas (lower back).

In this workshop, Uwe Mester will teach a series of Awareness through Movement® lessons that will help you to discover your hip joints and explore their potential for movement. The positive effects will be felt in many daily activities like walking and sitting, and will improve your overall flexibility.

You do not need prior Feldenkrais® experience to enjoy this workshop. Please bring a mat or blanket with you and wear comfortable clothes. Register online today! or call 802.864.YOGA (9642)

This workshop is especially relevant for expectant mothers, for those who have given birth in the past, and for anyone with an interest in understanding the pelvic floor more fully. This workshop is also beneficial for those with hip pain or lower back pain, as pelvic floor dysfunction often manifests in hip joint or lower back pain.

You do not need prior Feldenkrais® experience to enjoy this workshop. Please bring a mat or blanket with you and wear comfortable clothes.

Pelvis Power workshop with Uwe Mester ~ TODAY, Sunday, October 17th from  2 pm – 4 pm ~Cost: $20

Thursday, October 21 from 2 pm to 4 pm at evolution with Robyn Smith, owner of Inner Freedom Yoga

Learn the common postural problems and optimal alignment of the upper body and explore simple Yoga Therapy alignment principles and postures to align, release, and heal these areas.  You’ll leave with a simple routine for home practice.  No experience required.

Conditions these classes may help: pain and stiffness in the neck, jaw, shoulders, upper backs, and syndromes such as frozen shoulder, TMJ dysfunction, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, tendinitis, headaches, bulging discs.

People who should attend:  anyone with a desk job, yoga teachers, massage therapists and alternative healers, mechanics, health care workers, carpenters, writers, and anyone with chronic neck and shoulder pain.

Anusara Yoga® Therapy : based on John Friend’s Anusara Yoga, Yoga Therapy incorporates bio-mechanically precise alignment principles and positive attitudes into yoga postures and modified postures, which realign your joints, strengthen your muscles, restore healthy posture and balance, and ultimately reduce pain and increase range of motion.

Robyn Smith, owner of Inner Freedom Yoga,  is a certified Anusara Yoga Instructor, Hanna Somatic Educator, and Integrative Yoga Therapist who has been training in Somatics and Yoga Therapy since 1998 and teaching yoga since 1994.  She lives in Arcata, California, where she teaches yoga classes, workshops, trainings and privates.  She has helped hundreds of people heal from pain and injury and enjoys empowering people with practices they can use to heal themselves.  Robyn also enjoys offering local and international retreats with her husband, Patrick.  She will be teaching a full weekend of workshops in Middlebury, VT during October 22 – 24, 2010.