Ayurveda- A Radical Journey in Self-Care
with Jessica Rhodes and Lindsey Chabot
March 22nd through 24th
Concordia Eco-Resort
$250, includes food!
$220 if paid before March 8th

To register, contact Lindsey at 340-201-6970 or ldchabot@gmail.com or sign up online at EventSpot.

Register for this Do Yoga St. John event with EventSpot and receive a gift card for one free yoga class at Concordia. The gift card is good for any regular class with any teacher and is transferable. Your card will be given to you at the event.

Join us at Concordia Eco-Resort, St. John, for a beautiful weekend of self-discovery through Ayurvedic traditions.  Ayurveda translates to mean the “Science of Life” and is truly a living experiential science that develops awareness and a deeper connection to self.  Through the use of foods, herbs, yoga asana, massage, and practices, Ayurveda guides us towards balance and optimal health.  This workshop will help you create a tool kit to maintain balance in your life and in your diet specific to your constitutional dosha (dominant elemental energies).  Your Ayurvedic guides will be Jessica Rhodes, Sacramento, California; and Lindsey Chabot, St. John, USVI – Certified Ayurvedic Practitioners and Yoga teachers.

THE WORKSHOP:

Friday, March 22nd–  5:00 – 9:00PM

• Ayurveda revealed – introducing Ayurveda including breathing, elements and doshas.
• Guided Yoga Asana – a cleansing evening practice
• Dinner – Ayurvedic inspired with specific information about each dish and a discussion on food and recipes.

Saturday, March 23rd–  8:00AM – 2:00PM

• Early morning Yoga Asana followed by tea and snack
• Tools for YOU: Hot, Cold, Wet, Dry & gaining a deeper understanding of the doshas and the pulse as they relate to emotions you experience and problems you face
• Lunch – Eating for your constitution, more learnings about food, preparation and recipes
• Ayurveda explored – experiencing the senses…balancing your life with spices and essential oils

Sunday, March 24^th–  8:00AM – 3:00PM

• Early morning Yoga Asana followed by tea and snack
• Ayurvedic practiced – learning about self care tools, oil pulling, salt scrubs & massage
• Hike down to Salt Pond Bay: Scrub
• Lunch – Sensing and Balancing: Come up with a practical set of ways to bring these tools to your life

You will be going home with:

Guided written instructions on balancing your life

Ways to incorporate yoga into your life, specific for your needs

Tridoshic recipes

Salt Scrub with essential oils

Resources for future needs

THE PLACE:

Concordia Eco Resorts

Surrounded by pristine US Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John, Concordia Eco-Resort overlooks the Caribbean waters of Salt Pond Bay, Drunk Bay, and the Drake Passage. A variety of accommodations are perched like tree houses along the hillside, connected by elevated walkways to minimize impact and engage the surrounding flora and fauna. Low-impact construction, an extensive rain-water collection system, photovoltaic electric generation, and its recycling program make Concordia the perfect retreat for the eco-conscience traveler.  For more information about Concordia visit their site by clicking here.

THE SPECIALISTS:

Jessica Rhodes

Jess’s classes will support and uplift you. Jess is an Ayurvedic practitioner and devotional teacher that draws from Pattabhi Jois’ Ashtanga, Sivananda, Power Vinyasa, Bhakti and Yin schools of thought.  Roll these powerful practices into a Yoga Therapy background, and she makes it accessible and available for all.

“Yoga isn’t elite,” she says,  “ Yoga is breath, yoga is life, and yoga is for all people – all faiths – all cultures – all sizes – and all bodies.” The same goes with Ayurveda. Jess started seriously practicing yoga when she broke her back and was bedridden.

During her stay in India, Jess lived in both the Sivananda and Hari Om ashrams. These experiences afforded her the knowledge of practice, daily observances, ayurvedic history, and legend that enrich her classes in Sacramento. Jessica has completed two 200-hour teacher training programs, one in Rishikesh, India focused on Pranayama, Chanting, Kriya, and Asana. She also completed a 200-hr Power Vinyasa Teacher Training in Sacramento. She will complete a supplemental 700 hour training in Yoga Therapy in the summer of 2013.

Jess is the Director of Development and Outreach champion at the Yoga Seed Collective, a non profit working to heal and unite the community through the power of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness.  She is also an Ayurvedic practitioner serving the Sacramento community with private consultations and group classes.

Lindsey Chabot

Lindsey went looking for something different after running a marathon in college. It was all over after going to her first Bikram yoga class. She immediately fell in love with the focused energy and self-discipline that yoga requires. The way that yoga makes you face yourself moment by moment has allowed her to know herself in great strength, and in moments of extreme weakness. She has since been exploring the many ways yoga changes….absolutely everything. Yoga quickly became something like taking a shower, you just DO IT. Having been lucky enough to practice in many different studios all over the country, Lindsey tries to absorb as much as possible and share it with friends, yogi’s and anyone who’s interested. She was trained and certified in Ashtanga by the late and great Larry Shultz and the amazing people at It’s Yoga, San Francisco in 2008. Also a certified Ayurvedic practitioner, Lindsey’s interest in wellness stretches way beyond the perfect pose. Well aware that her journey has just begun, she feels honored and blessed to be on it with the people of St. John. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about feeling good.

THE FEE:

This fee includes –  dinner on Friday, lunches on Saturday & Sunday, three yoga classes, salt scrub, written instructions and recipes.

Also available and highly recommended additional sessions and fees (limited space so reserved your times early):

Ayurvedic Birth Pulse Assessment: Discover your constitution  – 30 minutes – $40

Ayurvedic Nutrition and Wellness: Consultation including Birth Pulse Assessment and how to eat for your dosha – 60 minutes – $60

Chakra Reading:  Deepen your understanding of your emotions and how they impact your body – 30 minutes – $40

Personalized yoga plan: Customized yoga practice based on your body type, condition and wellness goals – 30 minutes – $40

Ayurvedic Package: Includes your choice of three of the above sessions:  90 minutes – $100

Ayurvedic Massage:  Specific to your needs for  90 minutes $125 or $250 for four hand massage (limited space available)

Yoga Nidra
with Yoga BETH
Thursday, March 7, 2013 @ 5:30pm
Mongoose Jct. Yoga Center
$15 – bring pillow & blanket
drop ins welcome!

www.yoga-beth.blogspot.com      340/643-6467

Yoga nidra is yoga without movement. Yoga nidra relaxes the body and the mind. It allows you to completely unwind and get in touch with your inner self. The benefits of yoga nidra are far reaching, and can be different for everyone. Yoga nidra is an ancient practice that is also referred to as yogic sleep or sleep with awareness that is done in a comfortable lying position. The goal of yoga nidra is full body relaxation and a deep meditative state that addresses physiological, neurological and subconscious needs using techniques including guided imagery, breathing, meditation, concentration and body scanning. The biggest benefit of yoga nidra is that anyone can do it. It doesn’t involve physical expertise of any kind so even if you have a health condition, you can practice yoga nidra. Yoga nidra helps to quiet the overactive mind, promotes better sleep, eases anxiety and calms stress.

Explore the 10 Steps of Yoga Nidra

Unless you are an experienced practitioner of yoga nidra, a guide is needed to lead you through the experience at a relaxing and beneficial pace. Beth Escardo is a certified nidra teacher. If you attend a session with her, you will be expertly led through the following ten stages.

Getting Started: Set up your practice space by placing a bolster lengthwise on your mat and slipping a block under the top end, so that the bolster slants gently. Lie down with your sitting bones on the mat and with the bolster supporting you from the low back to the head. Place a folded blanket under your head for a pillow. Notice and welcome sounds, smells, and taste as well as color and light. Release excess tension throughout your body and feel a sense of relaxation spreading throughout your entire body and mind.

1. Connect to Your Heartfelt Desire. Bring to mind your heart’s deepest desire—something that you want more than anything else in life. Perhaps it is a desire for health, well-being, or awakening. Feel this heartfelt desire with your entire body while imagining and experiencing it in this moment as if it were true.

2. Set an Intention. Reflect on your intention for your practice today. It might be to relax and rest, or to inquire into a particular sensation, emotion, or belief. Whatever your intention, welcome and affirm it with your entire body and mind.

3. Find Your Inner Resource. Bring attention to your Inner Resource, a safe haven within your body where you experience feelings of security, well-being, and calm. You may imagine a place, person, or experience that helps you feel secure and at ease and that helps you feel within your body the sense of well-being. Re-experience your Inner Resource at any time during your practice or in daily life when you feel overwhelmed by an emotion, thought, or life circumstance and wish to feel secure and at ease.

4. Scan Your Body. Gradually move your awareness through your body. Sense your jaw, mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. Sense your forehead, scalp, neck, and the inside of your throat. Scan your attention through your left arm and left palm, your right arm and right palm, and then both arms and hands simultaneously. Sense your torso, pelvis, and sacrum. Experience sensation in your left hip, leg, and foot, and then in your right hip, leg, and foot. Sense your entire body as a field of radiant sensation.

5. Become Aware of Your Breath. Sense the body breathing by itself. Observe the natural flow of air in the nostrils, throat, and rib cage as well as the rise and fall of the abdomen with each breath. Feel each breath as flowing energy coursing throughout your entire body.

6. Welcome Your Feelings. Without judging or trying to change anything, welcome the sensations (such as heaviness, tension, or warmth) and emotions (such as sadness, anger, or worry) that are present in your body and mind. Also notice opposite sensations and emotions: If you feel worry, call up feelings of serenity; if you feel tense, experience ease. Sense each feeling and its opposite within your body.

7. Witness Your Thoughts. Notice and welcome the thoughts, memories, and images that are present in your mind. Observe your thoughts without judging them or trying to change them. As you come upon beliefs that you hold about yourself, also bring to mind and experience their opposites, welcoming your experience just as it is.

8. Experience Joy. Welcome sensations of joy, well-being, or bliss emanating from your heart or belly and spreading throughout your body and into the space around you. With every exhalation, experience sensations of warmth, joy, and well-being radiating throughout your body.

9. Observe Your Self. Be aware of your sense of “I-ness,” or personality. Notice this sense of identity when you say “I’m hungry,” “I’m angry,” or “I’m happy.” Then, experience yourself as an observing witness or Awareness that is cognizant of these feelings. Set aside thinking and dissolve into Awareness, awake and conscious of the self.

10. Reflect on Your Practice. As you complete your practice, reflect on the journey you’ve just taken. Affirm how the feeling of pure Being, or pure Awareness, is always present as a deep, unchanging peace that underlies every changing circumstance. Imagine integrating that feeling into your everyday life, in both pleasant and difficult moments, and always reconnecting to that sense of equanimity.

To Finish: At your own pace, transition back to your waking life, reorienting to your surroundings. Come back slowly, and pause for a moment to feel grateful for taking this time for yourself.

Season is in full swing and the popularity of the yoga program at Concordia is growing by bounds. In this spirit of expansion, we announce the addition of evening classes.

STARTING JANUARY 22nd From 5:30 to 6:45 PM on Tuesday evenings returning St. John Yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi teacher Emily Sada Sukh Sorensen offers an evening Hatha practice.

Expect the announcement of more additions to the evening schedule at Concordia. We welcome feedback on what nights of the week and what times you would like to see us add.

Help us welcome Emily to Concordia. Here is an introduction to Emily’s philosophy on practice:

The human body needs both Yin and Yang exercises to maintain a healthy balance throughout a lifetime. Taoist Yoga suggests to explore both the gross anatomy and the subtle anatomy; the rhythmic dynamic movements of Yang Yoga and the soft, long-held static deep tissue stretches of Yin Yoga.

Each is beneficial, dependent upon what is needed to keep the harmony of self. Taoist Yoga teaches the skillful means upon which to build a personal practice that serves the individual; organically unfolding each day of life, to provide optimum health. There are myriad movements and meditations to pool from, practice teaches us what to utilize and when.

Combining the streams of yoga, with clear intentions, is awakening the DNA of Humanity and the connected consciousness is strengthening, pushing up to blossom like a lotus from a pond. Chanting mantra is reinforcing the new patterns to build a foundation of infinity going forward into the Aquarian Age.

Of course, our highest priority is mastering the inhalation and exhalation, linked intentionally with our stillness or movement, in the appropriate rhythms. This awakens us to our highest potential and gives back with radiance, clarity & strength. The more we put in to the practice, the more we receive for body, mind and spirit!

5:30 to 6:45 PM
Tuesdays – Concordia
Emily Sada Sukh Sorensen
Hatha Yoga

Peace.