Category Archives: Announcements

Workshops & Benefit Classes December 2018

Hello, Dear Yoga Friends!

I hope you’ve enjoyed a bit of rest in the middle of all that yummy gratitude this Thanksgiving weekend.  I’ve listed reminders and new yoga practice opportunities below:  Restorative, Prayer of Breath & Body, and Benefit Classes.

I hope to see you in the studio.

Happy Practicing!

The Catholic Yogi

******************************

Restorative Yoga Workshop

Saturday, Dec. 1
1:00 – 3:00pm
$25
Butterfly House

Restorative Yoga Workshop will be a time of rest and renewal. Restorative Yoga was pioneered by Judith Hanson Lasater who explains that “restorative yoga is active relaxation. It makes use of props to create positions of ease and comfort that facilitate relaxation and health.” In this workshop we will warm the body by moving through a short, gentle yoga practice, learn and explore various restorative postures, and enjoy the benefits of an extended guided relaxation. What you learn in this workshop will become the foundation for your continued self-care throughout the busy holiday season and beyond. All levels welcome; no prior yoga experience required.

A minimum number of students is required to hold the workshop. Please register by visiting the Mind Body Align website, searching the Mind Body App, or visiting the contact page.

Prayer of Breath & Body: A Moving Meditation for the Holidays
Saturday, Dec. 15
1:00 – 2:30pm
Butterfly House
Prayer of Breath & Body is a God-Centered Yoga practice that embraces gentle asana (yoga posture) and pranayama (breathing practices) as a way of spending time in Divine Presence.  The Holidays present a wonderful opportunity to make this yoga class a prayer of thanksgiving, celebration, praise, adoration, awe, worship, surrender, healing, and restoration.
Our time together will begin with a short discussion on prayer and yoga practice, and how to develop a prayer practice unique to you.  We’ll apply what we discover to our moving meditation, and end with a few restorative postures, as well as deep relaxation.
Prayer of Breath & Body is an all-embracing event; people of all faiths and belief systems, as well as those with none, are welcome, and no prior yoga or prayer experience is required.
This is a donation-based class.  All monetary gifts will support the Mind Body Align Charitable Fund.

Benefit Classes

Yoga for Life Benefit Classes: Two Opportunities for Giving

Monday, Dec. 10
7:00 – 8:30pm
Donation
No Limits Studio

****************

Wednesday, Dec. 12
9:45 – 11:15am
Donation
Butterfly House

Our benefit classes strive to support local charities and non-profit organizations. However, there are times in which we need to reach out to our wider community. This session all Yoga for Life classes will benefit the survivors of abuse. All financial donations collected will be given to support SNAP: Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. Learn more at snapnetwork.org.

Yoga for Life is an easy-going all-levels donation-based class. We will engage in a mindful exploration of breathing and moving that will not only benefit our bodies, minds, and spirits, but will also benefit the members of our broader community through our donations. Take your yoga practice off the mat and join in the giving!

Keep in mind, you need not donate to attend the class, and you do not need to attend the class in order to donate.

Mid-Autumn Yoga Update 2018*

20181028_0901587012559614641455103.jpg

Happy Autumn, Yoga Friends,

I pray this note finds you well, even content, regardless of your circumstances and the massiveness of life swirling around you.

This is just a little update to let you know the second six week session of yoga classes begins this Monday, Oct 29th. Check out the current schedule for all the details.

We had a great Yoga Intensive workshop this Saturday.  Many thanks to all who attended and shared their energy as we uncovered some pretty amazing cosmic mysteries!

This Sunday’s workshop (Oct. 28th) will not be held today, but check back for future opportunities to deepen your practice.

Some Christian Yoga practices are on the horizon.   Would you consider attending?    Hop over to the contact page and write me a note about your thoughts:  Do you think yoga practice and Christian practice are compatible, contradictory, mutually beneficial, intriguing, frightening, fascinating, boring?  Do you think you might explore the possibilities?

As always, thank you for your continued interest in Yoga, and feel free to pass this note along to anyone who might benefit.

Happy Practicing!

The Catholic Yogi

Kind of a Big Yoga Update (for Autumn 2018)

Hello, Yoga Friends,

The summer yoga session has drawn to a close and we are all settling into a new routine. The Autumn session begins Monday, Sept. 10.  Keep reading to find reminders, important encouragements, and very important acknowledgments.

May you be filled with loving kindness, sweet yogis!

**********

Reminders

Autumn Schedule 2018 holds new classes, as well as returning classes with new days and times.  Click or tap the links to see what works for you:

Encouragements

You might have noticed some posts titled What Makes a Yogi?  Click, tap, or search the site to check out previous posts and then write your own.  Decide what being a yogi means to you,  post it on your wall, your mirror, your bedside table, your everywhere, and then live it.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to acknowledge some longtime yogis out there who have been practicing with me since the beginning.  You know who you are, as we have been practicing together for well over a decade.  And I do mean together, as we are all each other’s teacher.  I wouldn’t be who I am without you, you’ve been an inspiration, and I appreciate your dedication, your self-study, and your practice more than you know.   I’d also like to acknowledge the not-so-long-time yogis who keep coming to class, session after session, with passion, curiosity, and authenticity.  You bring your whole selves to practice, and I am bolstered by your honesty, humility, and humanity.

Finally, I feel it is my duty to acknowledge the revelations of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, as I am the self-identified “Catholic Yogi.”  I wanted to write to you all and post immediately, but there is simply too much to address, to discuss, to care for, all at once.  The subject is deep, detailed, and layered, and human.  Because of this, I plan to write extensively on the subject in a future series titled Identity:  Living as the Catholic Yogi.

What I do want to express here and now is this:

I am struggling.

My heart is broken and torn.

I feel shattered.

I have yet to weep.

Please know that I keep praying: for myself, my children, my family, my neighbors, my community, my church, my Church, all the little children of the world and those yet to be born, the adults who have survived, the current clergy, the predators.

I feel many things:  anger, embarrassment, shame, despair, foolishness, confusion, loss, and grief.  It is unfortunate that I do not feel shock.

Thank you so much for your continued interest in yoga and being a part our little yoga family.

God is big.   God is big.  God is big.

May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.

Keep Practicing,

The Catholic Yogi