– WORKSHOPS –
Zoom links for online classes will be sent to you close to the Workshop date.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM
The Teaching of a Restorative Practice
with Bonnie Maeda
Mondays, March 3 to March 31 | 5:45 - 7:15 pm
$150 / (in-person and on Zoom)
In this series, we will discuss the value, and the approach to sequencing a practice to prepare the student for a deeper sense of relaxation in the restorative poses. We will collaborate, and share ideas on the variations of forward bends, chest openers, back bends, twists, and inversions. Each student will have the opportunity to set up a pose for another student, and receive feedback on the set up. We will also discuss precautions for particular health conditions and injuries.
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Bonnie Maeda RN, graduated from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program in 2002, and has been teaching a restorative class at The Yoga Room since that time. She is certified as an Advanced Relax and Renew Teacher with Judith Lasater’s program. Bonnie believes a restorative practice on its own, or integrated into a more active asana practice, can improve one’s overall health, manage stress, and contribute to a wonderful sense of wellbeing.
Yoga for Osteoporosis: New Understandings
with Betty Aten
Saturday, March 15 | 1:30 -4:30 pm
$60 / (in-person)
In this workshop, we will combine practical background information to deepen your understanding of osteoporosis from how it is diagnosed, treatment options, new research on the role of yoga in maintaining and improving bone health and reducing fracture risk, with a practice of poses that are safe if you have already been diagnosed. The two desired workshop outcomes are:
• to understand where you are on the broad osteoporosis/osteopenia and fracture risk spectrum in order to make informed decisions about your treatment plan;
• to learn which yoga poses are beneficial for you to practice and those that should be avoided.
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Betty Aten has been practicing yoga for 26 years, and teaching for 16. When she was diagnosed with osteoporosis, herself, in 2016, she became aware of a long-term study demonstrating that yoga can have a positive effect on bone health. It motivated her to become the first Certified Yoga for Osteoporosis teacher in Northern California so that she could share her knowledge with others. She offers on-going classes and workshops, as well as limited private sessions for those with osteoporosis/osteopenia. She teaches with precision, warmth and encouragement.
The Ropes Wall for Back Care
with Sandy Zirulnik and Gay White
Saturday, March 15 | 2:00 -4:00 pm
$60 / (in-person)
This Yoga Rope Wall workshop will explore many aspects of working with the wall for back health and care. We will discuss and experience the Rope Wall as both a versatile prop to facilitate an accessible practice for all bodies and as a tool for alignment, traction, stability, and strength.
This work will increase your awareness of structure, core body, and movement within gravity, while providing new tools to deepen your practice of yoga asanas. Each day will include a mix of discussion, floor work, and wall work, with time for questions, individual instruction, and experimentation.
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Sandy Zirulnik, E-RYT 500, YACEP, leads yoga classes that explore structure, movement, strength, and balance through the practice of asanas, breathing awareness, and the study of anatomy. They are enjoyable and appropriate for students of all ages and interests. Sandy began studying Yoga in 1998 and graduated from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program. On the rope wall, he explores pushing, pulling and weightlessness.
Gay White is a longtime teacher and enjoys the wall ropes as a tool for breathing more fully and observing small movements.
Celebrating Equinox in Yogic Practice
with Kalima Rose and Jacqueline Stuhmiller
Sunday, March 23 | 12:00 - 3:00 pm
$45 / (in-person)
Aligning yoga practice with the rhythms of the season can prepare us for the upcoming quarter, allow us to shed that which no longer serves us, set intentions for the coming months, center ourselves intentionally in our breath and asana practice, and celebrate the beauty of the earth and celestial movements. Spring Equinox is a time of generative anticipation; the light of day and dark of night are in balance; the earth is redolent with the green shoots of coming growth. This workshop will bring a focus to balanced breath and asana sequences and a time for seasonal reflection and intention-setting.
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Kalima Rose is a student and teacher in the BKS Iyengar and Yoga Room lineage, bringing an orientation to the rhythms of seasons, the beauty of nature and the wisdom of poetic expression.
Jacqueline Stuhmiller is a student of life and a teacher of a few things. She is interested in symbolism and metaphor, in a myth, a landscape, a poem, or the human body. She comes to yoga from a background in strength training, medieval languages, and ecology.
Twists Workshop
with Mary Lou Weprin
Saturday, March 29 | 2:00 - 5:00 pm
$60 (in-person)
Join us for an afternoon of practicing twists in Standing, Seated, Reclining and Inverted poses. Included will be poses such as Reclining Jatara Parivartanasana, Standing Pavritta Trikonasana, Parsvakonasana and Ardha Chandrasasa; Inverted Twists in Headstand and Shoulderstand, and Seated Twists such as Bharadvajasana 1 and 2, Marichyasana 1 and 3; Ardha Matsyendrasana 1 and 2. There will be adequate preparations and time for observation and partnering. Alternatives and appropriate propping will be suggested. This workshop is for those with at least one year of practice in 2-4 or 3–5 classes, or by permission.
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Mary Lou Weprin has been teaching ongoing classes and workshops at The Yoga Room since 1980 and enjoys supporting the practice community in their endeavors.
Addressing Fatigue with Yoga Asana
with Deborah Wolk
Saturday, April 5 | 1:00 - 4:00 pm and
Sunday, April 6 | 1:00 - 3:30 pm
$65 for one day, $120 for both days / (in-person and hybrid)
Western culture is rife with fatigue due to a myriad of causes. Up to 20% of the entire human population has some form of autoimmune disease, and hormonal and endocrine disorders are epidemic. There is a constant dialogue about “stress” in our culture and we are often moved to push ourselves in ways that wear us down instead of finding the satisfaction and happiness we were orginally seeking.
Most of us who have conditions related to asymmetry, scoliosis and/or joint injury are experiencing fatigue because it just takes more energy to hold oneself up or move around.
In his article “Coping with Fatigue—a Practical Lesson” BKS Iyengar categorizes fatigue in 3 ways:
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Physical
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Mental
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Combination of Physical and Mental
Using Iyengar’s suggestions and asana sequences as a guide, Deborah will address when to bring vigor to your practice and when to opt for restorative. The sequences will explore what types of fatigue respond better to standing poses and which to backbends or when to explore sequences with long-held forward bends. She will address specific conditions according to the concerns of the students in attendance.
Saturday: Responding to fatigue due to sleep disorder and general physical fatigue.
Sunday: Responding to combination fatigue and mental fatigue
Both days will address issues related to asymmetry, endocrine and hormonal imbalances.
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Deborah Wolk, C-IAYT, has been teaching and working with students with back issues, scoliosis, and other injuries for over 20 years. Her yoga practice working with her own scoliosis informs the work she does to help others. Deborah met Bobbie Fultz in 2000—her first Yoga & Scoliosis teacher. She later met Elise Browning Miller and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer through Elise’s training program in 2005. Her primary teacher is Genny Kapuler whose class she assisted for 10 years, and she has also studied extensively with Kevin Gardiner in NYC (now in Budapest) and Donald Moyer in Berkeley, among others. In 2007, Deborah travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family and spent most afternoons observing the medical classes there. Also in 2007, she co-founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare & Scoliosis and co-directed it for 8 years. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective. Samamkaya is a democratically run workers cooperative and is devoted exclusively to scoliosis, back care, teacher education in therapeutics, and adaptive yoga for students with disabilities and nervous system disorders.
Deborah’s teachings are based on the principles of Iyengar style yoga and Body Mind Centering (BMC) techniques. She is warm and funny and her teachings are subtle yet explained at a level everyone can understand. Deborah teaches workshops, retreats, and teacher training on BackCare & Scoliosis in New York City, across the US, and around the world, and has a thriving private practice.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM
Sanskrit Pronunciation and Vedic Chanting
with Phid Simons
Mondays, April 14 to May 12 | 5:45 - 7:15 pm
$150 / (in-person and online)
Learn how to pronounce letters of the Sanskrit alphabet with the diacritical marks that adapt English letters to Sanskrit. We’ll practice pronouncing the names of yoga-āsanas, with emphasis on correcting common mistakes. We’ll also learn to chant a few common Vedic prayers and mantras.
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Phid Simons has studied Sanskrit, Vedanta, and Vedic chanting with traditional teachers in India and the U.S. for over 30 years. She teaches Sanskrit, chanting, and Vedanta in the Bay Area.
Yoga: Entering a State of Open Awareness
with Debbie Gilman
Saturday, April 19 | 2:00 - 4:30 pm
$65 (in-person)
What is it that we’re practicing when we practice yoga?
Many of us are drawn to yoga as a form of exercise and also sense that it’s something more. Through the alchemy of deep concentration on the breath and body in physical postures and beyond the body in meditation -- we’ll move towards the state of consciousness often called profound absorption, bliss or union.
You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of how yoga practice, which helps with strength and agility, is also a means of rising above the material world and finding moments of peace.
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Debbie Gilman, M.A., ERYT 500, has been teaching at The Yoga Room since 2000 and co-owns Innate Chiropractic & Wellness Studio in Albany. A life-long teacher, she loves sharing the movement-based mindfulness practice of yoga with her students. In recent years Debbie has been studying the history of yoga to deepen her understanding of the practice.
Incorporating Ropes into Your Practice and Teaching
with Sandy Zirulnik
Saturday, April 26 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm and
Sunday, April 27 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm
$65 for one day, $120 for both days
This two-day Yoga Rope Wall immersion workshop at The Yoga Room will explore many aspects of working with the wall. We will discuss and experience the Rope Wall as both a versatile prop to facilitate an accessible practice for all bodies and as a tool for development of alignment, precision, stability, and strength.
This work will increase your awareness of structure, core body, and movement within gravity, while providing new tools to deepen your practice and teaching of yoga asanas. Each day will include a mix of discussion, floor work, and wall work, with time for questions, individual instruction, and experimentation.
With an attitude of inquiry and fun, we will take yoga asana basic concepts to the wall to experience a changing relationship to gravity. We will also learn to use the wall for restorative practice. All levels are invited to attend. Yoga instructors are welcome. Attendance will be limited to 10 participants. As we will be practicing supported inversions, please contact the instructor prior to registering if you have a health condition that may preclude inverting safely or if you have other questions about the program.
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Sandy Zirulnik, E-RYT 500, YACEP, leads yoga classes that explore structure, movement, strength, and balance through the practice of asanas, breathing awareness, and the study of anatomy. They are enjoyable and appropriate for students of all ages and interests. Sandy began studying Yoga in 1998 and graduated from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program. On the rope wall, he explores pushing, pulling and weightlessness.
Yoga Workshop for Queers and Our Allies
with Stack Buss and Vini Bhansali
Saturday, May 17 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm and
$30-60 sliding scale fee
All proceeds go to benefit The Yoga Room for decades of providing a safe space for us to practice together
(all levels welcome / in-person)
How can we feel whole and grounded in our bodies? How can we use all the interior space that is there to fortify us? Two Queer Yogis will provide a sequence that helps us take our full space, travel inwards, where we can find peace, rejuvenation and safety that is much needed in this time of attack on our communities. Through this powerful healing form of movement and stillness, we become stronger on the inside and move with greater equanimity, flexibility and courage on the outside to meet the moment.
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Stack Buss (they/them): Stack, a butch trans queer, graduated from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program, and the Seeing & Understanding Bodies post-graduate training. Stack came to yoga to heal an injured shoulder. It was love at first Asana. Stack has taught and practiced yoga daily for twenty years, and continues to experience the transformation and liberation yoga offers.
Vini Bhansali (she/they): Organizer by day and yogi by night and weekends, Vini is a graduate of the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program. A lifelong meditation and yoga practice allows Vini to live and work authentically and joyfully as a queer femme, immigrant, and social justice leader. In these troubling times, it’s an honor to share these practices with our community.
– INTENSIVES –
Memorial Day Intensive
with Gay White
Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25
mornings 10:00 a.m-12:00 p.m. / afternoons 2:00-4:00 p.m.
$240 (in-person and on Zoom)
Join me for two days of practice as we move into the summer months. The more active morning sessions will open the body and establish a sense of stillness, balance and groundedness through standing poses, supported backbends and twisting postures. The quieter afternoon sessions will encourage turning inward with gentle inversions, reclining work, restorative poses and pranayama. Intensives allow us to go into a deeper kind of practice with four connected classes.
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Gay White, Director of The Yoga Room and Co-Director of The Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, has taught yoga in the Bay Area since 1991. Gay's classes and workshops are dedicated to alignment and awareness in a safe and joyful mixed-level learning community.
