The year 2020 has been a challenging one, to say the least. Crisis after crisis have piled up and roll on in an ever-expanding existential threat that brings out wildly divergent and polarizing versions of reality. It’s as if, like those who built the Tower of Babel, we no longer understand each other and find ourselves in highly charged conflicts with the fundamental beliefs of others.
Whether we engage in actual argument, keep our dismayed thoughts to ourselves, or share them only with others who agree with us, many if not all of us, regardless of our views, are struggling with afflicted mental states of anxiety, fear, anger, and depression that come and go in waves.
Those of us who are yogis struggle to maintain a yogic state of mind and to be at peace with others, whom we may perceive as holding fundamentally dangerous beliefs. The good news is that this very cauldron is the place where we can hone our yogic skills and develop greater capacity for meditative spaciousness and the un-afflicted qualities that arise out of that spaciousness.
The ancient yogis were not strangers to difficult human experiences. They were, in fact, dedicated observers of human nature as well as diligent students of the practices that can cultivate a sattvic state of mind. Their goal, after all, was to quiet mental activity and focus perception on the inner self, our true nature, which is timeless spaciousness and knowingness itself.
Fortunately, in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutra, the 2000-year-old text that defines yoga, we find solid advice on how to cultivate peace of mind.
Come join Karen Lee in a deep dive into the practices for stabilizing and clearing the mind. This workshop will include a talk on the relevant yoga sutra-s, but more importantly will offer a series of practices to help you begin to access and develop the four great attitudes of friendliness, compassion, goodwill, and equanimity. The integrated transformational practices will include āsana, prānayāma, and meditation. Integrated practices are a speciality of the Viniyoga approach to yoga, pioneered by the lineage of Krishnamacharya, TKV Desikachar, and Gary Kraftsow.
Bring an open heart, a journal, and pen or pencil.
A recording will be made available to registrants for 72 hours following the workshop.
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The Zoom meeting link will be sent in your registration confirmation upon receipt of payment.
Note that after 9/27, a passcode is necessary to join Zoom meetings.
Please ensure you have located your registration confirmation before the day of the workshop—
check your junk/spam folder!
Karen Lee states, “Yoga is the experience of being in this moment, right now, fully inhabiting this body-mind, creating a state of clarity from which we can act with authenticity, or at least have a moment before impulsive reactions set in. Cultivating presence, we relax about getting it or not getting it and surrender to the moment as it is.”
As owner of a yoga studio, Breathing Time Yoga, Karen is dedicated to creating a community and space for healing through yoga. Karen is an educator, teaching the students what they need to know to practice and how to match the practices to their unique needs and interests.
Karen has been studying Viniyoga since 1994 with Gary Kraftsow of the American Viniyoga Institute (AVI). She is an AVI Yoga Teacher (500-hr) and AVI Certified Yoga Therapist. Karen also holds an MAT from RISD.