YOGA & MEDITATION STUDIO BY DONATION
YOUR DONATION INCLUDES:
All Levels Welcome
Your generosity keeps this community alive and makes possible the gift of yoga and meditation for everyone.
We thank you for your generous support.
A portion of your donation will in turn be donated to the Burmese monastery where Whit studies and practices (Yangon, Myanmar), connecting us all by way of generosity to the source of ‘THE TEACHINGS’ and helping us sponsor a monthly meal for the monastic community, supporting the over 500 monks and nuns that help form the rich fabric of Burmese society.
CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
Vinyasa Krama
Vinyāsa Krama is a traditional Indian yoga lineage passed down by way of the revered yoga master, Sri T. Krishnamacharya, to Whit’s primary yogasana teacher, Srivatsa Ramaswami. In this practice we will explore this classical and deliberate approach to vinyāsa yoga, breaking down and exploring the extensive vinyāsa and asana teachings of the man long considered the father of modern yoga (Krishnamacharya).
Dhamma Talks
Cultivating an intellectual understanding of the wisdom traditions of ancient India is an essential aspect and powerful catalyst for the awakening of experiential wisdom by way of our practice. Join us as we explore the teachings of the liberation seeking traditions of Classical Yoga and Buddhist mental-development (meditation), examining their transformative, and perennially relevant, approach to embodied well-being.
Vinyasa Level 1
In this practice, characterised by slow dynamic movement, we awaken the mind’s innate power of attention through mindful breath-coordinated transitions (vinyāsas), interconnecting the sequential postures (asanas), resulting in an unshakable presence (yoga) of mind and body.
Vinyasa Level 2
This practice will maintain allegiance to slow mindful transitions whilst incorporating more powerful and athletic sequencing, developing increased physical prowess and endurance. It is open and accessible to most practitioners so long as one approaches the practice with the wise understanding that not every posture/vinyasa sequence will be appropriate for us, developing our practice intelligently and gradually with patient endurance.
Yin Yoga Level 1
Through the receptive stillness characteristic of this practice, yin yoga carries an enormous potential for both physical healing and, at times, spontaneous mental evolution.
In this class we will target the health of the connective tissue through a passive approach, providing ample time for the omnipresent force of gravity to enact its healing power upon these human bodies. Taking advantage of this refuge of stillness we will integrate Buddhist mindfulness practice into our experience, awakening the innate wisdom of the heart.
Yin Yoga Level 2
Level 2 Yin Yoga continues to build upon the stillness and mindful receptivity cultivated in the level 1 class. Increasing the length of stays within each of our postures supports the expansion of the refuge of awareness from which experiential wisdom is born.
This practice will incorporate some challenging hip-opening postures, but will always include alternate and accessible options.
Yoga Therapeutics
Yoga is by nature a therapy for both the physical and mental bodies we have been given. In this practice we will integrate gentle dynamic movement and stillness with Whit’s own intuitive therapeutic approach to healing based upon an extensive experiential background with sports-related injuries.
This practice will catalyse the healing wisdom and well-being of the body by listening to and developing fluency of sensation, the body’s energetic language.
Mindfulness Meditation
In this meditation we will focus upon the traditional methods and teachings of Buddhist mindfulness practice (satipatthāna), cultivating both the intellectual and experiential understanding of the mind that, over time, gives rise to liberating wisdom through insight (vipassanā).
Mudita Meditation
The cultivation of gratitude or appreciative joy (muditā) is a vital ingredient for mental well-being at the best of times. So without question, the current challenges facing us by way of the global Covid situation necessitate the need to develop a positivity-bias, elevating our minds to move above and beyond the mind’s conditioned negativity-bias.
Join us for this transformative meditation practice as we train our heart-minds to collectively withstand, move through and evolve beyond these extraordinary times.
Metta Meditation
It is safe to say that without the development of loving-kindness (metta), our efforts to awaken the mind and heal the physical body will at best be less than efficient, and at worst may lead to detrimental results the opposite of our hopeful intentions.
In our metta meditation practice we will cultivate the imperative foundation of loving-kindness, awakening the inherent and unlimited power of the human heart, catalysing the healing connection with both our own embodiment, and with those of all sentient-beings with whom we share this planet.
Posture Workshops
With our yoga practice now taking place within a virtual medium absent of an experienced teacher, the importance for each practitioner to understand the alignment principles and biomechanics of each posture is greater than ever. Without this knowledge and a teacher to correct misalignment injuries are, unfortunately, inevitable.
In these workshops we will dissect the biomechanics and alignment principles of one posture per week, in turn highlighting that said posture in our weekly vinyāsa practices, allowing the intellectual learnings to become embodied knowledge on a neuromuscular level.