STILLING THE LAKE OF THE MIND | Friday, August 19, 2011
Time: 6:30-9:00pm
Location: yogahOMe Symmes
We all know that meditation is good for us. If you’re looking to connect to spirit, find inner peace or just trying to deal with the stress of modern life, meditation can work wonders. Why then do we still struggle with starting or continuing a meditation practice? The answer may surprise you. It could actually be your yoga practice itself holding you back! When yoga is practiced inappropriately, it could make it more difficult to find the inner stillness necessary for meditation.
In this special 2 1/2 hour class, Jim will draw on ancient teachings and parables to help you better understand “the lake of the mind”. Afterward, he will lead you through a specially designed sequence of postures and breathwork that will make it effortless to be still and reap the benefits of a deep meditation.
VINYASA FROM A TANTRIC PERSPECTIVE | Saturday, August 20, 2011
Time: Morning session 10:30-1:00pm
Location: yogahOMe Symmes
The word vinyasa stems from the Sanskrit word nyasa, which means “to place”. The prefix vi, in this case, means “in a special way”. Thus vinyasa would mean “to place something in a special way”.
The word tantra translates “to weave” and refers to weaving together the material and spiritual worlds. A tantric vinyasa class is a practice consisting of postures, movements, gestures, breathwork and meditation weaved together in a special way to reach a specific desired result.
In this class we will first decide what our desired result will be and then practice in an intelligent way to get there. This class will be on the more vigorous side and is appropriate for students in good health and a strong physical practice.
ADVANCING YOUR PRACTICE: PRANAYAMA | Saturday, August 20, 2011
Time: 3:00-5:30pm
Location: yogahOMe Symmes
“Pranayama practiced appropriately can cure all disease and practiced inappropriate can cause all disease”. The Hatha Yoga Pradapika
The ancient yogi’s didn’t practice to achieve a “six pack” or that great “yoga butt”. They practiced to build, move and eventually stop the flow of prana. While most practitioners today have gained great flexibility and strength through the physical practice, they have little to no knowledge on the subtle practice of breathwork. This class will first discuss prana in more detail followed by a short, gentle asana practice to help prepare for a longer pranayama session. Appropriate for teachers and experienced students.
ADVANCING YOUR PRACTICE: BANDHA AND MUDRA | Sunday, August 21, 2011
Time: 8:30-11:00am
Location: yogahOMe Symmes
The advanced practices of yoga are not contortions of the body, they are the ability to stop and redirect the vital life force (prana) at will. Yogis build prana through breathwork (pranayama), stop the movement of energy through locks (bandha) and redirect the flow through full body gestures (mudra). In this class we will focus on the three main bandhas and three main mudras within a physical practice. We will also discuss the appropriate time and place to practice them and what is the desired result of each. This class is for experienced practitioners who have a firm grasp on asana and basic pranayama.
Single Session: $49
All 4 Sessions: $169
*Early Bird 4 Sessions: $149*
(That’s 4 sessions for the price of 3! Early bird expires July 31 at midnight!)
About Jim:
Jim began his studies in Yoga, Tantra and Ayurveda in 1997. He was experiencing hip pain and decided to see a friend who was a physical therapist. The therapist told him that tight hamstrings were the cause of his hip pain and Jim decided to take an introductory yoga course. Not only did this solve the hamstring trouble but he learned that Yoga was concerned with much more than the physical.
For the next three years, Jim bounced around from one yoga studio to the next, until he met Paul Weitz, a teacher at Moksha Yoga Center in Chicago. Two classes a week turned into five classes a week as well as weekend workshops with top teachers from across the US who stopped in at Moksha.
Jim then completed Moksha’s teacher training with Daren Friesen, traveled to Ukraine for a two-month intensive training with master teacher Andrey Lappa and assisted Gabriel Halpern in his therapeutic classes at The Yoga Circle.
In 2002, Jim met his teacher, Rod Stryker. Rod was in Chicago to conduct a 21-day intensive training. Rod’s teaching included everything Jim feels Yoga to be: asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, kriya, mantra, meditation and elements of Ayurveda. He attended the morning practices and met with Rod one-on-one.
Since then, he completed and now assists in several teacher trainings in Rod’s Para Yoga lineage. Jim is also a popular presenter at conferences, workshops and retreats in the U.S. and abroad.
