Yoga Nidra: The Wholistic Technique for Relaxation

With Ila Michelle McAlpin
Senior Instructor of Amrit Method® Yoga Nidra

Saturday/Sunday, April 14/15           Full Workshop $110, Per Session $35 each

Yoga Nidra is increasingly becoming popular and is now being prescribed by doctors worldwide as a preventive and curative therapy in stress related diseases.  Yoga Nidra is effective in management of disorders that have progressed to an irreversible stage by providing effective symptomatic relief. The ultimate objective of Yoga Nidra goes far beyond rectifying the imbalances created in the body by poor stress management. This method teaches you how to activate and enhance awareness for problem solving, improve memory recall, and increase muscular, mental and emotional relaxation.

Yoga Nidra is effective for achieving a natural quieting, relaxing and stabilizing of the mind and emotions. The beauty is that you need only try this method for several minutes to experience the immediate results.   And working with these techniques is both easy and highly enjoyable so that they are suitable for all persons regardless of the type of tension or disturbance.

Saturday 9am-12noon   $35
What is Yoga Nidra?
In this session you will learn the philosophy of Yoga Nidra.  We begin with yoga poses to release tensions in the body before you go through the experience of deep relaxation.  You will learn how to detach from mind chatter.

Saturday 1:30-4:30pm  $35
Using Yoga Nidra to welcome all that arises in your life/how to learn from it.
We begin with Yogassage to energize the body after lunch.  In this part of the workshop you learn how to welcome what is going on in your life instead of fighting against it.  By welcoming, you free up your energy to do that which you most want to do.  Our Yoga Nidra experience will take this lesson into life.

Sunday 9am-12noon   $35
Using Yoga Nidra to hold your expectations lightly.
How often do we suffer because reality does not show up as we expect it to?  Sometimes we cannot even meet our own expectations!  We will explore how we hold expectations in the mind and body before we experience a specific Yoga Nidra technique to release this pattern.  Our morning concludes with learning how to assist a better flow and ease through your day.

Sunday 1:30-4:30pm   $35
Rewriting life scripts with Yoga Nidra: the use of Intentions.
In the deeply relaxed space that we access during Yoga Nidra we can drop in our most heartfelt desires as intentions.  Sometimes we need some help finding out how to express what those desires are.  You will learn how to uncover those desires and how to express them with confidence.  Your Yoga Nidra relaxation experience will show you how to use this newly found expression.

Ila Michelle McAlpin is the senior instructor of Amrit Method® Yoga Nidra with the Amrit Yoga Institute.  Also certified in the Amrit Method® of Yoga Level I and II, she serves as co-director of the Amrit Method of Yoga Nidra Immersion and Professional Training with Amrit (Gurudev) and Kamini Desai.  Through her teaching she is able to give her students the tools to help them live with greater ease and less suffering.  Residing in Boulder, Colorado, Ila has a private practice in Contemplative Psychotherapist.  She brings her insights from psychotherapy and Yoga Nidra to help her clients enhance their self awareness.

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Flow of Love Heart Chakra Kundalini Yoga
with Sierra Hollister
Saturday, April 28  1:30-3:30pm   $35


The poet, Rumi wrote, "..open the window in the center of your chest and let spirit fly in and out..."

When we draw upon the energy and wisdom of our heart we come from our most glorious selves.  It is our ability to understand humanity as well as our own pursuits in life, the workings of our relationships and our actions that allows us to align with the sweet and deep purity of all life.  When we come from our heart space, we rise above our ego and limited selves.  It is here that we can experience the soaring and infinite beauty of our being and of the world around us. 

The approach in this workshop is an experience of Anahata~the unstruck, unhurt, pure and mighty heart chakra (energy).  Using asana, pranayama, mantra and stillness we will access and experience the beautiful and infinite flow and wisdom of the heart.

What is Kundalini Yoga?  Kundalini Yoga in the tradition of Yogi Bhajan, who brought it to the West in 1969, focuses on the controlled release of energy, thought to reside at the base of the spine.  This style pays particular attention to breath to get energy moving quickly.  It involves classic poses, coordination of breath and movement and meditation.

Kundalini Yoga is based on kriyas, or specially formulated sets of exercises.  The effect is a heightened self awareness and vitality that allows you to harness mental and emotional energy.  Individuals feel more in control of themselves, with enhanced peace of mind, concentration, and a deeper calm and self-confidence.

Sierra Hollister (Ong Kar Kaur) is the co-founder of Sundance Power Systems.  Certified in Kundalini and Ashtanga, she has been teaching in Asheville since 1995.  Sierra has studied with Gurucharan Singh Kalsa, Shakta Kaur Kalsa, Sarah Powers, David Swenson and Rajashri Choudhoury.  True to the philosophy of Kundalini, Sierra's practice is uplifting, and restores the student to increased vitality, health and happiness.


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Peaceful Partners Yoga
with Athena Seay
Friday, May 18  6:30-8pm
Couple $35, Single $20

Join Athena with this special Partners Yoga class as we work with poses and philosophy of cooperation and understanding.

We will move through playful sequences of partner-assisted poses where one helps the other, as well as double yoga poses where each reflects the other in dynamic and balanced symmetries.

You can come with a friend, sibling, romantic partner, etc.  Or come on your own and we will pair you up!  The only prerequisite is the ability to laugh and have fun.

In the texts of yoga philosophy there is a concept called Vimarsha which translates as divine reflection.  Sometimes to see our full potential more clearly, it helps to have it reflected through the eyes of another.

This can be profoundly true in yoga where working with a partner can afford us the opportunity to deepen our practice in new ways.


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Children's Angel Bear Yoga
with Jackie Knafelc
Saturdays, June 16, 23, 30
10:30-11:30am   $35

Introduction to Yoga

Saturday, June 30, July 28, August 25 and September 22

9-11:45am   $35

Yoga poses and breath produce powerful results.  It is a system of techniques that reflect real and proven scientific concepts.  Yoga allows us to bring an expanded consciousness of loving, living, and healing to our everyday activities, starting from the inside out.

Our bodies and minds reveal the secrets of balance, harmony and the release of energy for healing.  Learn how to be more comfortable with yourself.

Offered four times a year, this workshop prepares the student with basic knowledge of Yoga breath techniques and poses to be able to attend any of our regular classes.  We focus on the fundamentals, including posture, alignment, movement, breathing practices and relaxation.

You will learn a balance sequence of yoga poses to stretch and strengthen the entire body.  We breakdown the basic of individual movements and teach yoga fundamentals.  Geared toward the beginner, but great for students with more experience looking to further develop basic postures.  It is our intention to get you moving so you can feel the effect of the yoga, but provide extra instruction at a slightly slower pace to help you build your yoga foundation.

Learn to nurture the mind and body, and enrich your life.  Begin to understand the dynamics of yoga poses and breathing techniques to reduce physical and mental stress.  This series of practical and simple principles begins the process of transforming the stresses daily life into the joys of daily life.

This is an excellent way to begin your yoga experience.  Anyone at any fitness level, and with a wide range of personal and fitness goals, can benefit from beginning a yoga practice.


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Anatomy & Physiology & Yoga
with Will Schilling, LMT and Rolfer
August 4/5  Introduction to Anatomy/Cells, Tissues and Respiratory System
September 8/9 Understanding the Joints and the Skeleton
October 13/14 What is that Muscle?/Understanding the Nervous System

August 4/5:  Introduction to the Human Body, Cell Structure Function/Tissues and the Respiratory System.  This workshop and understanding of the Human Body provides students with the knowledge of how the very basic structures in our bodies work.  These topics are fundamental to the understanding of how the entire human body works as one cohesive unit. The study of the respiratory system delves into one of the main organ systems of our body, and how that system brings us essential, nourishing oxygen and helps to rid our body of unwanted waste products. 

September 8/9:  Joints & Articulations and the Skeletal System.  In the skeletal system, the student will learn the major bones of the body as well as how these bones protect, support, and help to move our bodies.  Between the bones are joints.  In this lecture, we will discuss the different types of joints and the types of movements that can occur at different joints.

Anatomy of BreathingOctober 13-14:  Muscular and Nervous Systems.  The muscular system not only provides our body with movement, but the muscles surrounding our organs help us to survive!  In this lesson, we will learn the 3 main types of muscle, including skeletal (movement of the body), smooth (surrounds and moves substances through our organs), and cardiac (surrounds and pumps blood through the heart).  The nervous system is the ultimate body system!  The entire body is controlled by the nervous system!  In this lesson, we will discuss how our brain sends and receives messages to/from the rest of the body.


Books we will use for the sessions:

Will Schilling became a Rolfer by completing a year and a half program of post-graduate studies at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Before becoming a Rolfer, Will practiced as a massage therapist for five years in Greenville, Greer, and Simpsonville, SC. He also has been certified in Neuromuscular Structural Bodywork and he has completed trainings in CranioSacral Therapy and Lymph Drainage Therapy. Will is a part time instructor in the Massage Therapy Department at Greenville Technical College.

Before coming into the bodywork profession Will was a high school teacher. He is an eighth generation South Carolinian and has also briefly lived in New York City and New Mexico. He finished his undergraduate studies in Philosophy-Religious Studies and History at Winthrop University and did additional pre-med coursework at the University of New Mexico.

Understanding how the human body works helps us to live better lives.  Once you understand the different processes the body has to go through, you will better understand how to care for your body...we only get one...let's take care of it!

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