Yoga For Living Productions

Shiva Rea
www.shivarea.com

Shiva Rea began studying yoga at the age of fourteen as a way to understand her name given to her by her father, an artist and surfer. Shiva is an avid Ashtanga practioner who respects the core technique of the Krishnamacharya lineage (asana, bandha, pranayama, meditation) while being true to other streams of influence that have deepened her experience of yoga from dance and bodywork to rockclimbing and her extensive travels in India, East and West Africa, Nepal, Bali and the Carribean. She teaches flow (vinyasa) based yoga integrating alignment and intuition, strength and fluidity, meditation and wisdom in action. As a yogic usher, she guides you to the seat inside your Self and then supports your experience with your life-long teacher - the intelligence within. Shiva looks for your potential and both challenges and nurtures you to embody your being with vitality and grace.

6-DAY AFTERNOON INTENSIVE

Rasa Vinyasa: The Art of Teaching and Living Yoga
Rasa has many beautiful meanings: in the arts, rasa is the transforming "taste" that brings inner satisfaction to the beauty of dance, music or painting. Within Yoga and Ayurveda, rasa is our ³inner juice² associated with longevity, joy, devotion, and flexibility. Without rasa, it is said, our experience of yoga and life, becomes "dry, rigid, routine". Rasa as the rejuvenative juice restores our essence and as teacher¹s feeds our creativity, inspiration and love of offering yoga.

In this teacher¹s intensive based upon the art of vinyasa flow yoga, we will explore the cultivation of rasa within three areas: 1) the ritual of a class and 2) the art of balanced and creative sequencing and 3) teacher self-care.

In vinyasa flow, the art of sequencing can be directed towards cultivating various states of being that awaken, cultivate and balance our vital essence. During the week, we will focus on the rasas: virya, shanti and sringara rasas and look at the underlying actions, properties and relationship of asanas and pranayamas that form creative and effective sequences for self-transformation. Virya vinyasa (inner and outer strength, potency and courage) will engage challenging combinations of arm-balances, standing poses and hip openers.. Shanti vinyasa (living peace) focuses on the poses of inner equilibrium: forward bends, hip openers and inversions. Sringara (divine love cultivated through masculine and feminine energy) explores the communion of the heart experienced through the opening in backbends, pranayama, chanting and meditation. The use of music, samkalpa (dedication), inspiring hands-on adjustments, metaphor and rhythm will be explored within the ritual arc of the class. From the first day of the intensive , we will initiate basic dinacharya (Ayurvedic self-care routine) and meditation practice to embody a daily rhythm of caring for our ³inner juice² as teachers. A list of basic materials to bring will be provided upon registration.

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MORNING ASANA CLASSES

Track 1 (Gentle Focus)

Shanti Vinyasa: Living Peace
Experience a meditative vinyasa flow practice with shanti bhava or ³living peace² as a state of being that can be cultivated through an integration of specific pranayamas, asana, drishti (gaze), chanting, transformative music and meditation. Learn ways to open, close, and sustain your yoga practice in the flow of shanti by attuning to the rhythmic wave of inner equilibrium.

Track 2 (Challenging)

Rasa Vinyasa: Savoring the "Essence" of Yoga
Rasa has many beautiful meanings: In the arts, rasa is the transforming "taste" that brings inner satisfaction to the beauty of dance, music or painting. Within yoga and Ayurveda, rasa is our "inner juice" associated with joy, devotion, flexibility, and longevity. Through a transformative vinyasa practice focused on heart opening backbends enhanced by rasa-inducing music, we will learn to cultivate the flow of rasa in yoga and life.

Track 3 (Advanced)

Virya Vinyasa: Cultivating Inner and Outer Strength
Experience a dynamic vinyasa flow practice focused on embodying "virya" vigour, courage, potency , inner and outer strength essential qualities Patanjali encourages on the yogic path. Through an integration of bandhas, specific pranayama, and empowering and creative sequencing centered around arm balances, standing poses and core power, we will open to the diamond body of virya shining and vibrant.

KEYNOTE

Dance with both arms free: Yoga and the Art of Living Liberation
From dancing deities like Kali and Krishna, to the Kashmiri yogini, Lalleshwari and the Bhakti yogin, Ramakrishna, dance and spontaneous movement are timeless expressions of the state of union and freedom that is yoga. Starting with the story of Patanjali and his experience of the Ananda Tandava, Shiva¹s Dance, we will explore how the the art of teaching and living yoga can draw from the rich, practical and inspiring world of Indian classical dance, mythology and Bhakti yoga.

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