Join Mark for four days of refined teaching, tapping into philosophy, anatomy, and the experience we all have on our mats to offer students the best we possibly can! Open to anyone who can understand Californian English. This workshop complements the yoga teacher training curriculum at both the 200 and +300 hour levels and is recommended to anyone on the teaching path, from trainees to experienced teachers interested in expanding their knowledge and skills.
Thursday, April 7 2016:
12:15 – 4:45pm: Refined Teaching & Hands-On Adjustments: The Foundations
After a brief overview of the principles of refined guidance and hands-on adjustments, we will do a series of practical introductory observational exercises for learning how to most effectively and clearly look at, see, and understand what is happening with different students in natural postural forms.
Friday, April 8 2016:
8:30 - 10:30am: Masterclass: Connecting the Hips and Heart
Deeply held tension in the hips is a primary source of limitation in all asanas and in life. This two-hour Masterclass offers a dynamic hip safari in which we gradually move and warm to awaken energy and create spaciousness from the pelvis to the heart, little by little, opening to deeper and self-expressive heart-openers. Includes a 15-minute guided heart-centering meditation.
12:15 - 4:45pm: Refined Teaching & Hands-On Adjustments: Standing Asanas
Stepping into the Asana Lab, we will explore in detail the alignment principles, energetic actions, risk issues, and modifications for standing asanas, progressing from externally rotated hips to internally rotated hips and standing balancing asanas, with a primary focus on seeing, understanding, and giving effective hands-on adjustments.
Saturday, April 9 2016:
7:30 – 8:30am: Masterclass: Waking Up Well
Learn and practice an integrated sequence of meditation, pranayama, and movement kriyas designed to get your day started with the most fully awakened and balanced energy, mental clarity, and spiritual centering.
8:45 – 10:30am : Masterclass: Early Morning Flight
First we’ll warm our inner engines with breath and movements designed to prepare the arms, shoulder girdle, spine and hips for greater stability and ease. Then we’ll begin to fly, playfully exploring levitation in a variety of arm balances. In exploring various flight paths, this Masterclass will offer an introduction to the art of flight to the novice yoga aviator and more advanced aeronautics to the more experienced self-pilots. Come playfully fly.
2:00 - 5:00pm: Refined Teaching & Hands-On Adjustments: Backbends
We return to the Asana Lab to consider a variety of Backbends that involve different muscular and energetic actions, starting with contraction backbends in which the spinal erector and hip extensor muscles are the prime movers before exploring eccentric contraction backbends and leveraged backbends. With each will cover several different hands-on adjustment techniques.
Sunday, April 10 2016:
8:00 – 11:00am: Refined Teaching & Hands-On Adjustments: Forward Bends & Hip Openers
Moving to the floor for seated and supine asanas, we will consider asanas that invite even more patience in releasing deeply held tension in the back body and hips.
12:45 – 4:45pm: Refined Teaching & Hands-On Adjustments: Twists & Inversions
Our final session of this intensive explores the delight of twists and the re-orienting perspective of inversion. We will refine how we guide students to twist in ways an unravel tension along the spine and to go upside down in safe and sustainable ways, giving close attention to the functional anatomy and biomechanics of the cervical spine when upside down.
For more information and to sign-up click HERE
