June 2022 Newsletter

Words of Welcome

Dear All,

Welcome Summer with your warmth, growth, and light! June offers us all this and we should be inspired by watching the transformation of the Earth as it blooms, brightens, and brings forth an uplifting optimism. It is an affirmation of what is possible, not only for the planet and plants, but for her people, as well.

Our practice of yoga supports these very same opportunities for growth to fulfill our highest personal potential. The way gardens are tended with focus, thought, and loving care give us the formula we can follow to help ourselves achieve a state of growth and courage to propagate our highest potential at any given time. Remember, what is growing in any garden cannot be rushed or forced, and neither can we.

It takes light, air, and nourishment from its foundation to be productive. We have the same journey in order to nurture ourselves as we seek to connect with the high energy that helps us evolve to greater fulfillment. We are all at different points in our lives, with different needs, but the process is the same for plants, animals, and people of this planet.

We can tend our "garden" by keeping ourselves—body, mind, and spirit—fruitful. The YTA offers monthly enriching workshops to highlight what can stir our curiosity, and communal light to help us find our own path. Experience this concept personally. The June workshop will offer each participating practitioner this opportunity.

June ends the season for the summer and the workshops will begin again in September. May the summer bring all of us renewed clarity to invoke healing and strengthening manifestations, whatever one needs.

Yours in yoga,

Paula Renuka Heitzner

2022 Workshops

Saturday, June 10
1:30–4:30 p.m.
via Zoom

REST

(Reclaim, Embrace, Surrender, Transform)

and Arrest Stress

with Paula Heitzner

In this workshop, REST is not about sleeping—but a process to awaken us. We will learn to embrace life as it presents itself in order to learn the hard lessons that become the gifts bearing wisdom.

The world crisis has led us into a practice effective in reaching the body at its deepest levels to receive its organic teachings, to empower ourselves as we open to our inner being, and to embrace all that emerges to become a catalyst enabling us to reach our highest capabilities.

The strength of surrender will be recognized. It is an important part of the journey toward transformation. It is not giving up, giving in, giving out, or giving ourselves over to outside pressures. It is letting go!

We let go of the habits, patterns, mindsets, and negativities that keeps us stuck in fear (False Emotions Appearing Real). Risking new approaches, taking chances, and making choices help us transform. We arrest stress when we are fully present in our own light with alignment to our own truths.

As we work together, we will use these intentions, personally, to find our own truths and wisdom provided and promised by our practice of yoga.

Recommended Props: Blankets, blocks, a chair—whatever helps you feel comfortable!

A recording will be made available to registrants for two weeks following the workshop.

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The Zoom meeting link will be sent automatically in the registration confirmation upon receipt of payment.

Please ensure you have the link well before the start of the workshop—check your junk/spam folder!

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Paula Heitzner, ERYT500, is a master yoga teacher. She has taught yoga for over 50 years and has trained many others in the time-honored principles, practices, and philosophy of yoga. The “teacher of teachers,” as she is called by her students, can be found at her studio, the Nyack Yoga Center, in its new location at the American Legion Hall.

Future Workshops

Stay Tuned for our Fall lineup with such outstanding presenters as J. Brown, Devarshi Steven Hartman, Nya Patrinos, Leslie Booker, and James Knight, covering topics from the Bhagavad Gita to somatic yoga. Mark your calendars for our first workshop on September 10—more info to come!

Unless otherwise stated, workshops are $45 members / $65 nonmembers in advance ($55 / $75 day of) and count toward Yoga Alliance certification requirements. Preregistration is highly recommended in order to guarantee a space in the workshop. Cancellation within 24 hours of a workshop may result in forfeiture of the registration fee.

From YTA's May Workshops
with Jeff Migdow

and Colleen Breekner

Yoga's Great Gifts*

by Paula Heitzner

Yoga is known to be the ancient science of self-realization, uniting the body with the mind, urging us to look inward to discover who we really are. Growing up with the guidance of our loved ones who had our best interests at heart, to prepare us for acceptable socialization in the world, we were often times handicapped because we were urged to conform to outside opinions of who and what we could or should be, the beginning of our separation from self and obscuring one of our most healing resources, self-knowledge. Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, stated early on, “Know Thyself.” Even with the highest intentions they missed their mark, because the teachings created an imbalance and disavowed the importance of authenticity and autonomy. We learn fear: of failing, of making a mistake, of making a change. Becoming a creature of habits, patterns, and mindsets, we lose the capacity to be independent and strong in thought and action. These are attributes of Yoga, stressing the need for balance to create harmony within.

….Without a doubt, we can conclude that our practice is helpful in daily life as it increases our efficiency and productivity, working or playing, evoking emotional stability. One can also change their personality, making one better equipped to face the stress and strain of modern life. The synergy of balance and harmony between the mind and body makes one fit and healthy and is helpful when dealing with disease, which on closer examination reads dis-ease!

Hatha Yoga and the Asanas are much more than physical; besides exercising the muscles and joints that comprise the infrastructure of the body, they influence the physiological systems by toning the abdominal organs, stimulating the endocrine glands, and soothing the nervous system. Digestions, elimination, and circulation are also benefitted. Respiration and breathing are strengthened by the Pranayama practices and have a positive effect on each and every cell in the body improving the oxygenation of blood, lymph, synovial fluid, and the cerebral-spinal fluid, adding to the effectiveness and efficiency of all the systems. It is complex and should have the supervision and presence of an experienced teacher, on site, to offer the proper guidance to ensure that the efforts made will be fruitful for the practitioner. This applies and extends to our Hatha Yoga practices as well.

…Meditation and Raja Yoga….help to develop peace and tranquility, and the mental abilities of creativity, memory, and concentration, associated with sound brain function….The mind is not confined to the integrity with the borders of the brain and can entertain any truth it chooses for its own purposes. The brain processes and translates the contents of the mind’s belief systems…which can trigger nerve cell firing and chemical releases.

The mind can lead to dangerous places as we all know and can manifest dire results when unbridled.

Here is where meditation comes into the picture, uniting brain and mind to be an empowering and embodying force for the practitioner….My wish for you is to be truly inspired to make greater inroads into the scientific and philosophical body of resources that offers life changing possibilities, increasing and expanding the borders of our being.

*Excerpted from Heitzner, P. Yoga & You for a Year: From the Beginning to the End, pp. 88-90. Amazon KDP. 2020.

To learn more about Paula, visit nyackyogacenter.com.

Yoga Q & A

How can our yoga practice help

as the Pandemic continues?

Our yoga practice can help us reduce stress, which has a negative effect on our health, impacting the nervous, hormonal, and immune systems. Our breathing practices help clear the lungs and chest, reducing possible sites for infection and mucus buildup. Yoga guides us to the unlimited source of strength and peace within, as the outer world is limited by turmoil.

This section is dedicated to answering your questions about yoga—as a student or as a teacher. Questions? Comments? Send them to yta_editor@ytayoga.com or go to our Facebook page to share your thoughts!

Paula Heitzner, ERYT500, is a master yoga teacher. She has taught yoga for over 50 years and has trained many others in the time-honored principles, practices, and philosophy of yoga. The “teacher of teachers,” as she is called by her students, can be found at her studio, the Nyack Yoga Center, in its new location at the American Legion Hall.

Learn more about Paula at nyackyogacenter.com.

Member Classes and Events

YTA members (individuals and studios) are invited to include their events here. Send details to yta_editor@ytayoga.com by the 15th of the month to be included in the following month’s newsletter. Member events are also posted in YTA's online directory, the source for information about yoga teachers, studios, and yoga teacher trainings throughout the Hudson Valley. To be included, individual and studio members may send their information to yta_communications@gmail.com.

Carolyn Iannone, RYT-200
Free weekly gentle yoga via Zoom with the “queen of gentle yoga.” Register through Finkelstein Library (Spring Valley) for Monday classes at 6 p.m. and through Pearl River Library for Thursday classes at 6 p.m. No registration for Fridays 6 p.m. outdoor, in- person, free yoga classes from June through September, rain or shine, under the Pavilion at Bowline Park in Haverstraw, NY. Just show up with a mat and blanket. Ongoing private and small sessions available.

Elisha Simpson
"Pathways to Healing Through Body-Centered Practice" led by Eiisha Simpson, LMSW, ERYT; Anna Moore, LMSW; and Erica Fross, LCSW, PC. Our trauma-informed yoga teacher training offers resources, instruction, and understanding of how trauma impacts us, offering therapeutic interventions assist in finding stability. Self-paced, online course.

Ellen Cohen, E-RYT200, LYCYT

Fitness Flair in the Chair, a blend of gentle fitness and chair yoga at St. Pius Church, Scarsdale, NY, Thursday mornings at 10:30. $15. This one-hour class is invigorating yet relaxing and set to fun music. For more info, contact Ellen at 914-472-8412.

Gina Callender
Yin/Restorative, Mondays, 7 p.m.; Open-level Hatha yoga, Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m., via Zoom.

Jenny Schuck

Join former owner of Yoga Culture in intermediate and advanced classes with mix of vinyasa and held poses, plus bodywork and ball rolling, on demand on Vimeo; $10/class.

Lauri Nemetz, MA, BC-DMT, ERYT500, CIAYT, YA and CIAYT Provider

Monday night via Zoom, 5–6 p.m. The Practice (for teachers) first Thursday of the month 1-2:30 p.m. via Zoom. Privates. wellnessbridge.com for additional info.

Michael Sassano

Yoga Zoom class on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. The first class is free, then $10/1 hour thereafter. Classes are for beginner and intermediate levels.

I yengarYogaScarsdale

Nancy Kardon, certified yoga teacher and CIAYT. Tuesday-Saturday Iyengar Yoga; All welcome to hybrid classes including asana, pranayama, meditation. In-studio for fully vaccinated students. nkardon@gmail.com

Paula Heitzner
Mixed-level yoga with the “teacher of teachers,” Mondays–Thursdays, 9:30–11 a.m, American Legion Hall, Nyack.

PranaMoon Yoga

Rebuilding, Reconnecting, and Reimagining Together!
We are still standing! Serving the yoga community since 2013....we have weathered through the challenges of 2020-2021 and continue to offer in-studio + Zoom classes and workshops. We are located at the Hat Factory in Peekskill. In- studio classes are limited! Always Room on Zoom!

Sacred Spirit Yoga and Healing Arts Center

In-person and live-streamed: Tuesdays, moderate yoga; Fridays, gentle/moderate yoga, with Chris Glover, 9:30–11 a.m.; Saturdays, intermediate yoga, 9:15–10:30 a.m., beginner yoga, 10:45 a.m.–12 noon with Kathleen Hinge. Learn more & register online.

Shamani Yoga

Meditation~Movement~Breath~Self-Reflection; online and in-person classes for all levels with Charlene Bradin and Betsy Ceva.

Sylvia Samilton-Baker, MA, ERYT
Vinyasa yoga, Thursdays, 5 p.m.; Hatha yoga, Mondays, 5 p.m., both via Zoom. Vinyasa yoga, Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m., NYSC/Dobbs Ferry (register online at NYSC; if not a member, there is a fee).

Note: YTA member Suzanne Cohen is looking for a substitute teacher for an in-person and Zoom chair yoga class held on Tuesdays from 1:15–2:15 p.m. at the Pleasantville Senior Center.

Final Thoughts

Experience, then, is the missing key. What is experience? When you get right down to it, all experiences—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—occur in consciousness. You are processing your life right this minute, and every minute since you were born, by metabolizing every experience. But the physical side is the last link in a chain that begins in a different body than the one you see in a mirror….

The way you process your experiences is unique, and since aging is also unique, the story of aging is interwoven with the story of your life.

~Deepak Chopra

Yoga Teachers Association was created in 1979 by a small group of pioneering yoga teachers who saw the need for affordable and continuing education. Today, YTA continues as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to expanding learning opportunities for teachers and committed students in the Hudson Valley. We offer monthly workshops presented by the leading yoga teachers of our time for the benefit of the community. All are invited. Membership dues and additional contributions are deductible to the extent allowable by law.

ANNUAL DUES
$50 for individual membership
$75 for studio membership

WORKSHOP FEES
$45 members / $65 nonmembers in advance
($55 and $75 day of)