Title: Level1 Anusara Immersion Series
Location: Anjaneya Yoga Shala
Link out: Click here
Description: Level 1 Immersion is a five day Intensive designed to take anyone interested in deepening their yoga practice through asana ( Physical posture), meditation, pranayama ( breathing practices) basic anatomy, and philosophy. This is a deep journey into ones own self inquiry as well as an immersive experience into community and friendship.
Start Date: 2011-01-12
Start Time: 09:00
End Date: 2011-11-16
End Time: 05:00

Check out the video from the recent Yoga Rocks the Park:

Happy Spring!  Spring Time is one of the finest times of the year. In Boulder we have the red poppies and regal Iris flowers blossoming. Our warm days are intermixed with refreshing and cooling rains that make for abundant gardens.  I just returned home from 5 days of outdoor play in Moab,Utah with my 14 year old son, Alex and his 24 class mates as we challenged ourselves physically,mentally and socially with a day of repelling, hiking and mountain biking in Arches National Park.    Its hard for me to grasp that my oldest is finishing eighth grade and will be in high school next year. I missed the  annual Anusara Teachers gathering a few weeks ago as I had set my eye on going on this trip with Alex nearly a year ago. Intuitively I knew that I needed to be present, however silent and absent I was from his mind, I was going to witness this time in his life. A mothers intuition is always accurate!  I will treasure these five days as I stayed present to watching and reflecting on Alex and this pivotal time in his life as I know that my time with him in our home is quickly passing.

Last week, my partners interviewed me on our radio show, Own It Sister, where I was able to discuss the bodies inherent wisdom and my deep love and connection to this practice of Yoga. What does this have to do with Alex growing up and my intuition?  Yoga, by definition means to yoke or to join. Traditionally we think of this as linking the human body to its Spirit. I also like to define this as growing our ability to connect, to create intimacy. Listening deeply to ones’ intuition to connect is at the heart of our yoga practice.  I know now that by going deep into my feelings and inner knowing and then acting upon them in the world is creating the life I desire.  To continue to make a connection, to dive deep into the inner recesses of our hearts feelings and our minds thoughts and to then offer this wisdom up is YOGA. We all know that this precious human life is truly a gift and that Yoga is our ability to choose greater intimacy and connectivity to those that are in the company of our heart. For me watching Alex interact with his friends this week was a choice I stepped into which meant saying No to many other things in my life. To endeavor Yoga is to discern day by day, moment to moment what you value and what is most meaningful to you in this journey towards greater intimacy in relationship to your inner most Self, to others and to the world.

The creation of Anjaneya Yoga Shala came out of a Vedic Astrology session I had with Katyayani Poole many months ago. “Jeanie, Katy said, you need to make your home your ashram!”   It seemed like a sweet thought at the time but nothing I took seriously. I thought to myself why have a studio at home ? One, its too small for my student base. Where would everyone fit?  Two, I love Om Time. Why create yet another place for yoga in Boulder . ( The capital of Yoga with over 22 places to find Yoga!)  A year later ,I have started construction on my home studio,Anjaneya Yoga Shala. “Come Home To The Heart of Your Practice”  Anjaneya is the affectionate name for Hanuman. Like all  of us we are offered gifts from our parents. ( yes ,challenges as well) Anjana, Hanuman’s mother offers him the gift of shape shifting, the ability to change his shape at will depending on the circumstance. He aligns appropriately with whatever is presented. He shape shifts at will becoming large and small depending on the situation.  Hanuman is half human,half monkey. He reminds us of our instinctual,shamanistic  and playful parts of ourselves that are monkey like . At the same time Hanuman reminds us of the us the refinment of this human quality of being worldly and cultured. He is both in the cave of his heart and operating in the world.Hanuman is the consummate yogi/yogini,embracing the midline between here and there ,this and that ,now and then.

He is our Sushumna Nadi, the union of inhale and exhale. The experience of operating from the midline . He is neither monkey nor human. He is instinctual and worldy,He is certain and uncertain. He is You !

My  vision for Anjaneya Yoga Shala is to offer a home for your mediation and yoga practice. I will offer course on bringing your practice home.Eventually we all need a practice to serve us as individuals. I envision this studio to be a place to explore your deepest self  through yoga classes,workshops ,immersions,teacher trainings and retreats and also specialty classes on sequencing, ayurveda ,anatomy, meditation and chanting. I will be offering Sanskrit courses with Katyayani Poole, advanced Anusara workshops, and cleanses for both Fall and Winter. My long term hope is to create a place to further our conversation of yoga in an intimate setting .

More to come, stay tuned . Please leave your comments on what you would like to see from me and this studio that literally fell into my hands . It seems to be where The Universe is asking me to unfold. And yes,I will still be at Om Time! Im just expanding myself.

With Blessings  Saprema,Jeanie

Our desire is the key to our awakening! We have come into the world unfinished . We have to cook our lives and make something with what we have been given. We are not captive of merely an intuitive and instinctual process, we get to make something of ourselves.Alignment is the key. The process of creating yourself never ends .There is no attainment or final state of enlightenment we are seeking . Your birth is the enlightenment,the gift.

I had a beautiful opportunity to teach with Wah this past Tuesday evening.  The combination of asana and chanting was exquisite. The evening began with Wah remembering what it was like when she started yoga.   It was people exchanging secret messages to each other as if it were a drug deal.   When she began yoga it was thought of as somewhat odd.  She said,”my brother thought I had gone off the deep end.”   I, too remember chanting long ago at Richard Freeman’s studio wondering how my family would view chanting, yoga and my strong desire to pursue Indian philosophy. Yoga has been popularized in this country so much I’m not sure if we should call some classes yoga. Some styles seem more like glorified aerobics. This is another story ,however.

Wah played the Anusara invocation and we all sat in silence for some time. We began asana with a story about Emma,my nine year old daughter. Emma had insisted at 6 AM that morning that I stay with her in bed,singing,”All You Need is Love” instead of meditating. I did as I was reminded of my teachers words, enlightenment is here,in our every day ordinary engagements. You don’t have to go to a cave to get enlightened. You just have to wake up to the everyday,the extraordinary hiding in plain site. We worked our way towards Anjaneyasana looking for the extraordinary everywhere. Our evening culminated in a chant to Rama. We all felt more connected and a peaceful wave of ecstatic love poured through us. We all wished that Wah could come every week to serenade us with her powerful voice.  My longing to play my harmonium and chant is once again pulling on my heart.  This is one of my hopes for my home studio,to play and chant and sing together on and off our mats. (More on my home studio to come)

As I head into my last weekend of immersion for this year, I feel a calm and peaceful presence that an evening of chanting and yoga asana has offered to me and many others. I look forward to more.