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CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Our classes and workshops offer an understanding of the principles and practices which are the foundation of yoga psychology. These are powerful tools for developing physical, emotional and mental well-being. They are also a wonderfully effective means of clarifying and improving the world of interpersonal relationships – whether one-on-one with friends, family, colleagues; or among groups of people within an organization, a business, or a community. All classes and workshops include a variety of experiential exercises accompanied by live music .
Level I: Foundational Skills, Part One
Cultivating a Relaxed Body, a Calm and Focused Mind,
and an Open Heart
In these classes, you will learn a variety of foundational practices, based in the yoga tradition, designed to release physical tension from the body, calm and focus the mind, and open the heart. With regular practice over time, they will give greater access to a deeper, calmer way of being .
The basic practices include relaxation and concentration, along with “moving meditation” such as qi gong. Other practices include mindfulness and heart-centering. Mindfulness, a practice from the yoga tradition, has in recent years been taught in a variety of medical and educational settings. Scientific researchers have found that heart-centering practices based on the yoga tradition are very effective in developing emotional and physical well-being.
Through these practices, you can learn to experience outer events as well as your emotional reactions to those events without becoming disturbed by them.
Level II: Foundational Skills, Part Two
A Gentle Approach to Meeting and Overcoming Difficulties:
A. Dealing with Physical Pain and Fatigue
B. Dealing with Anxiety, Depression and other
Psychological Problems
In Level Two, you will learn an effective approach to recognizing and overcoming the problems that stand in the way of a more balanced, harmonious way of living. At this level, there are two options – one focusing on a meditative approach to dealing with physical pain and fatigue; the other on using meditative practices to address anxiety, depression, and other psychological problems.
The central practice in both classes builds upon the skill you developed in Level I to look at your difficulties from a calm, non-judgmental, inner stance. From that stance you learn to identify the thoughts, beliefs, desires, attitudes, etc. that shape your problematic emotional reactions. The regular practice of bringing a mindful, heartful awareness to these reactions gradually brings more freedom in all areas of your life. As you become less reactive, more intuitive, appropriate, and creative responses to the events of your life can emerge, gradually transforming the way you think, feel, and act.
Level III: Advanced Applications of Foundational Skills
Discovering and Living Your Life Purpose:
In this class, you will learn to use the meditative skills and awareness cultivated in the previous classes, to get in touch with a deeper sense of purpose for your life - and to discover how that purpose might express itself in your outer activities. As the feeling of deep purpose begins to inform the choices you make, you will find a new sense of joy, meaning and passion infusing every area of your life, from work, to health, to family, community and beyond..
Practices include cultivating your intuitive skills and learning to use them along with practical methods for setting and accomplishing your goals.
Transforming Interpersonal Interactions:
These classes bring the practice of mindfulness and heart-centering to the arena of interpersonal communication. Class sessions provide an opportunity to learn how to interact with others while staying centered within. You will learn how to identify and see clearly the normally hidden beliefs, desires and fears that shape your reactions to other people. As you become more mindful of and less driven by these formerly hidden influences, you will discover new and creative possibilities for relating to others.
Copyright 2008 Don Salmon and Jan Maslow
seeing through the eyes of Infinity
