Our classes are infused with heartfelt wisdom and insight,
rooted in effective physical alignment concepts,
and informed by current biomechanics and somatic research.
All bodies, ages and fitness levels are welcome in our supportive community!
FOUNDATIONS
These classes are accessible for beginners and yoga practitioners who are interested in refining the foundational aspects of a yoga practice. These classes focus on alignment principles, how to use the breath to enhance the effect of the postures, the lines of energy, and the language of the practice. These classes are taught in a gentle Hatha style, with the only flowing component coming from the traditional sun salutations.
GENTLE ESSENTIALS
In this class, foundational yoga postures are practiced to strengthen and promote flexibility in the body with an emphasis on physical alignment. Breathing techniques and meditation are also integrated. You can expect an emphasis on simplicity and ease of movement. Full-body relaxation and balance are the goals, as we explore the body’s range of motion with standing postures, twists, backbends, forward folds, and hip openers. A great class for beginners as well as students seeking a more introspective approach to their yoga practice.
SLOW FLOW
This movement practice is for all levels and includes longer holds in familiar shapes to help you access both strength and ease, building resilience from the inside out. A stable, strong, and centered body/mind creates the space for deep relaxation and calm. Each practice will include equal parts strengthening and lengthening. Participants are encouraged to practice at their own level and challenge themselves when that is the next right thing to do. Sthira Sukham Asanam Yoga Sutra II:46 – the posture should be steady, stable, and comfortable.
MINDFUL MEDITATION
Meditation practice develops concentration, which allows us to calm and steady the mind. This uplifting meditation class is suitable for anyone who would like to learn and/or be a part of a meditation group – whether you have never meditated or already have a regular meditation practice. Matece’s style is part teaching and instruction with guided meditations, part contemplative journaling, and part group discussion.
In this ongoing drop-in class, we will learn how to practice together with guided meditations, learn about the research behind mindfulness and its benefits and explore other mindfulness practices like mindful eating, mindful movement, walking meditation, mindful self-compassion and loving-kindness. The aspiration is to learn to live authentically in the world with kindness, to be at ease and more present, feel more comfortable in our own skin and to awaken our hearts.
Class is structured as follows:
- Matece creates a safe and supportive space in her opening and welcoming of all participants.
- She leads a guided meditation (a mindful check-in, or body scan) to aid in “arriving” and being present.
- She gives a short talk or reading about mindfulness or meditation; provides clear, simple instructions on how to meditate; and then guides a meditation that leads into a short, silent meditation.
- She facilitates a journaling prompt with writing time followed by a group discussion and Q & A period.
YOGA OF THE VOICE
AUTHENTIC VOICEWORK™: Yoga of the Voice focuses on the voice as an extension of your body, breath, and energy flow. Using the voice as a form of yogic practice can lead to deep and powerful tools for self-knowledge and transformation. Founded in basic singing technique, meditation, expressive arts therapy, kundalini and nada yoga, Authentic Voicework helps you connect with your own voice as energy in motion.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
• Get to know your voice – where it is, how you use it and the state of it
• Build awareness of your body as an instrument and vehicle of expression
• Discover your voice as a barometer
• Identify the anatomy of your voice
• Cultivate a new relationship with your own voice
• Experience music meditation through singing
• Learn how to build a “yoga of the voice” practice
SACRED EMBODIMENT
This is a gentle class with a slower pace using easeful stretching and strengthening. It provides mindfulness and awareness to the mind, body, and heart through the breath. The aim is to create a safe, sacred, healing, and nurturing space for all to explore and discover new places in the self. Leave feeling more centered in the heart with clarity and vision, have more energy, vitality, and have time to reflect and be with love. Restore the senses and feel grounded to face life challenges more openly. The teacher brings love, music, chanting, intention, focus, and breathwork to center the mind, body, and spirit.
SACRED CONTEMPLATION
Yoga is so much more than the postures we put ourselves into on our mats. It’s a vast and time-proven ancient philosophical system that has the power to transform your life. While that’s a big promise, we believe it!
This class is for anyone who is interested in learning more about where yoga comes from and the bigger picture of what it’s all about. You’re welcome to join us in any attire….we’ll move (just a bit), write, meditate, contemplate, and sip our cozy, warm beverages. Bring your mat, journal, a steaming mug of coffee or tea, and your beautiful heart. Join us as we dive deep into the ancient texts and explore the vastness of Yoga. No experience is necessary.
SELF-CARE
These classes are designed to help you relax and let go. They are created and taught in a way to help you alleviate physical and emotional stress, and leave you feeling restored and grounded in your body. These are excellent classes for those who have injuries or chronic physical conditions. These classes are for all levels of practice. Please inform your teacher of any injury, pain, or chronic conditions prior to class.
YIN YOGA
Enjoy the feelings of rejuvenation and steadiness that arise from a Yin Yoga practice as you slow down, move from noise to silence, from agitation to calm, from complexity to simplicity. This practice integrates the ancient Yoga teachings with Meridian Theory as taught in Chinese Medicine. Engage the body’s natural healing power as you actively nourish and harmonize the body’s vital life force or chi. As the whole body rests and opens with long held poses, the natural healing power of chi is used to rejuvenate and repair the area of focus.
RESTORATIVE
Restorative is pure bliss and relaxation. It is a time to slow down, rejuvenate body and mind and allow the nervous system to completely unwind. Postures are on the floor, supported with props for gentle, therapeutic release of tension. Perfect for anyone in need of healing or recovery from stressful life conditions, trauma, injury, surgery or major change. The restorative poses provide an ideal foundation for meditative healing and the experience is enhanced with the support of healing touch, spiritual readings, aromatherapy and beautiful music.
TRAUMA-INFORMED YOGA
This gentle and introspective class is for students seeking to reconnect with their bodies, calm their nervous systems, and decrease their levels of anxiety. Incorporating breathwork exercises and foundational poses, students can expect a supportive, judgment-free atmosphere conducive to healing and grounding. Whether students are healing from traumatic experience or chronic pain, or are justtrying yoga for the first time, this class will offer tools and techniques that can be taken beyond the studio. This class pulls from neurogenic tremoring, somatic yoga, and embodied yoga. All levels and abilities are welcome to join.
SLOW SOMATIC YOGA
This gentle form of yoga is designed to assist us in releasing patterns of pain and stress in the body. Somatic yoga helps by retraining the brain and the nervous system to let go of these patterns through small and gentle movements.
This work stems from Hannah Somatics. Thomas Hanna believed that most of our chronic pain stems from “sensory-motor amnesia” in which the sensory motor neurons of the voluntary cortex have lost some portion of their ability to control all or some of the muscles of the body. Using a technique called “pandiculation” the muscles are gently contracted and slowly released to help retrain the nervous system and allow muscle tension to dissolve.
This practice also emphasizes fluidity, like moving underwater, to gently lull the mind and body into a state of deep relaxation.This style of yoga is accessible to all ages and ability levels.
NEURO MOVEMENT®
Using slow, gentle movements and directed attention, NeuroMovement® wakes up the learning brain so you can move better, feel better, and think better.
Lessons are designed in the context of functional movement patterns so you can subtly feel – rather than think – your way into new possibilities for movement.
These guided explorations can help you discover more ease and range of motion, as well as improved coordination and balance.
Because the brain is an interconnected system, any improvements in movement can generalize to other areas of your life.
As you become more and more aware of your body, you get a sense of coming home to yourself. You begin to move through life with more grace and efficiency.
All skill levels are welcome, as imagining the movements can be as powerful as actually doing them.
YOGA NIDRA
FOURTH FRIDAYS OF THE MONTH
Yoga Nidra literally means yogic sleep. It is an ancient technique where the practitioner enters the deep states of conscious relaxation. It is a systematic practice of moving awareness from our external world to the inner world.
It brings us to a state of deep sleep where our senses, intellect, and mind relax. This is highly beneficial and holds great healing power for anyone who wants to experience a deeper sense of peace and re-connect more profoundly with themselves. The practice of Yoga Nidra leads us into a state of harmonious, restful being. From here, we can heal, restore and awaken to our true, blissful and eternal Self.
Benefits of Yoga Nidra:
- Rejuvenates the body
- Reduces stress
- Improves concentration and memory
TENSION & TRAUMA RELEASING EXERCISES (TRE)
FIRST FRIDAYS OF THE MONTH
TRE® is a simple series of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma.
The exercises safely activate a natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, calming down the nervous system. When this muscular shaking/vibrating mechanism is activated in a safe and controlled environment, the body is encouraged to return back to a state of balance.
TRE® is designed to be a self-help tool that, once learned, can be used independently as needed throughout one’s life, thereby continuously supporting and promoting personal health and wellness. Through the release of our defensive habits, we can return to a state of peace, calm, curiosity and joy that many of us have not experienced since we were young children.
NEUROGENIC YOGA
SECOND FRIDAYS OF THE MONTH
Neurogenic Yoga is a technique in trauma healing and stress reduction.
This practice combines yoga asana and pranayama with the body’s natural, therapeutic shaking response. This shaking response in humans, much the same as the instinctual shaking in animals, is the nervous system’s way of discharging long-held tension and trauma, or unconscious muscle contraction in order to restore the body to wholeness.
When the nervous system identifies a threat, vibration or shaking in the body is designed to occur automatically. However, negative social constructs and beliefs around what it means to allow ourselves to shake, tremor, or show vulnerability, condition us out of this innate release mechanism at a very early age. Neurogenic Yoga reawakens our body’s intrinsic release mechanism for optimal health.
FLOW
Flow classes weave breath and movement through postures. The focus here is to strengthen, lengthen, and stretch the body while in constant motion through a creative series of postures. To get the most out of these flow classes, you should have some experience practicing the postures and your body should be healthy and free of injury.
VINYASA YOGA
Vinyasa yoga is a series of postures, one flowing seamlessly into the next, uniting body, mind, and breath. Designed as a moving meditation, every Vinyasa class is unique, creating the opportunity to become stronger, more flexible, and balanced, while practicing being present in the moment. In this hour long class, expect alignment-informed postures which are linked together with the breath to create an intelligent flowing sequence. This class places an emphasis on safety of form, offers variations for postures, and promotes greater strength and flexibility.
MINDFUL FLOW
This class is a yoga flow that is both challenging and brings ease to the body and mind. In this class, students are led through a sequence that is inspired by vinyasa yoga and functional movement training. Students of all ability levels are welcomed and encouraged to refine familiar postures of yoga while building heat (read: blood flow). This hour facilitates students increasing both their pliability and strength while harmonizing mind and body. Find your strength and ease within!
INTERMEDIATE VINYASA
Sun salutations and creative flow sequences are emphasized, along with more challenging options for intermediate-level asanas, including arm balances and inversions. Linking your breath and movement energizes your mind, body and spirit while creating a moving meditation in a relaxed and welcoming environment. A variety of pose options are offered based on the needs of the class. It is recommended to have some prior experience with Vinyasa yoga.
SEASONAL FLOW
Each season has an energetic direction and quality that permeates throughout nature. The intention of this vinyasa flow class is to utilize the teachings of yoga, in combination with the sciences of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine to adapt our lifestyle and behaviors to align to the the energies of the season.
The class incorporates specific yogic practices to rebalance and harmonize with the seasonal energy. Practices may include meditation, pranayama (breathing), asana (postures), kriyas (cleansing), self-massage, and more.
AUTUMN: September 22 – November 1 Vata Balancing: Grounding Flow
Autumn flows focus on refining postural alignment and moving energy along the Lung and Large Intestine meridian. The sequence is balancing for Vata dosha with a deeper focus on breath awareness and a warming, steady, and grounding approach to the postures.
The yoga sequence includes gentle yoga poses to help students feel energized with the deep stretches and stay connected to the earth. During this seasonal change, students should always be encouraged to go back to basic yoga poses to help them stay connected with their stability. This includes a Pawanmuktasana series which will help keep the joints active and clear of blocks. Pawanmuktasana means the “exercises that liberate air” or prana.
EARLY WINTER: November 2 – December 21 Rest & Containment
NEW YEAR: December 22 – Feb 1 Clarity & Vision
LATE WINTER: Feb 2 – March 20 Invigorate Kapha: Warming Flow
SPRING: March 21 – May 1 Detox Flow
SUMMER: June 21 – Aug 1 Balance of Effort & Ease
EARLY SUMMER: May 2 – June 20 Mandala Circular Flow
LATE SUMMER: August 1 – September 21 Pacifying Pitta: Cooling Flow