Urban Philosophy Retreat with Sati Chmelar, 26 - 29 September 2013 - Stockholm, Sweden

Unmasking Your Identity and Facing Your Afflictions: An Introduction to Patañjali’s Classical Yoga and the Nature of Your Mind

This immersion into the teachings of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras will serve as a guide into the memories and beliefs that have shaped your life and what you perceive yourself to be. The retreat will not just be an exploration of ideas, but how powerful ideas become when they attempt to map out the landscape of your own moment-to-moment experience.
We will use contemplative writing, drawing, group and partner sharing, lecture, discussion, and meditation practice to make the teachings of Classical Yoga come alive and relevant to your everyday life. By using the power of intimacy both personally and collectively to flesh out our fears and loving aspirations, we will seek to breathe life into the teachings of Yoga to illuminate your greater potential for self-mastery.

If you are new to philosophical studies in Yoga or struggled with trying to understand the philosophy of Yoga before, this retreat is for you!

Primary focus areas of this retreat:

Metaphysics of Classical Yoga
Outline of the mind
Exploring the nature of kleshas (obstacles) 

Supplies Needed:
• Writing utensil, journal, plain white paper, drawing pens/pencils or crayons
• A willingness to understand yourself
• A desire to cultivate self-discipline
• A sense of humor
• An open heart

Shannon Rose Chmelar (Sati) is an American yoga teacher who teaches the Ashtanga Vinyāsa Yoga system and various philosophical traditions including Classical Yoga, Vedanta, and Mahayana Buddhism. She is also a writer, massage therapist, and multi-media performance artist. She is the Founder and Director of Vasudhaiva, an educational institute and retreat company dedicated to the study of classical Indian thought, Buddhism, and Yoga. In all of her work, she strives to illuminate how ancient wisdom teachings may help us overcome our daily struggles and cultivate a more compassionate existence.

Sati was born in Frankfurt, Germany and raised in the US, Italy, and Japan. Her conscious spiritual journey began in adolescence after experiencing a series of transcendental awakenings. This gave her a thirst to know the divine nature underlying existence and led her to various practices that use the body as a form of spiritual inquiry. At first, she explored this through the study of dance in her teens and shifted to experimental performance throughout her 20’s at Bennington College in Vermont and later, in Florida.

Schedule 
Thursday       16:00-18:00 

Friday           18:00-20:00   

Saturday        08:00-12:00 (+short break)

Sunday         13:00-17:00 (+short break)

Location: Yogayama - Stockholm, Sweden

Cost: 1800 sek

For Booking information, click here

Sweet Collaboration

As I posted several days ago, I'll be hosting our 2nd annual Ashtanga Yoga Retreat in Salento, Italy and collaborating with someone who I feel is a pioneer when it comes to the matters of the heart. I introduce you to, Sati Chmelar, or who many know as, Shannon Sati Rose Chmelar. A beautiful and stunning yogini from the inside out. I am beyond excited to work in conjunction with another woman who exudes such passion and enthusiasm with an open heart in all that she does. An inspiring woman indeed. I have to say, there aren't many out there like her and is one of the main reasons I jumped at the chance to work with her.

Join us for an exciting week this coming September! For more info scroll down below, or visit my website at www.larugayoga.com.

 For booking info contact, info@yogainsalento.com.

Shannon Rose Chmelar (Sati) is an American yoga teacher who teaches the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga system and various philosophical traditions including Classical Yoga, Vedanta, and Mahayana Buddhism. She is also a writer, massage therapist, and multi-media performance artist. Sati teaches in the United States, Europe, and Asia and is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is the Founder and Director of Vasudhaiva, an educational institute and retreat company dedicated to the study of classical Indian thought, Buddhism, and Yoga. In all of her work, she strives to illuminate how ancient wisdom teachings may help us overcome our daily struggles and cultivate a more compassionate existence.

To learn more about Sati:

Website: www.satiyogini.com

Vasudhaiva: www.vasudhaiva.com

Email: satiyogini@gmail.com

Sati also has a collection of insightful podcasts. Take a listen, click here.

Sati's blog:

www.satiyogini.wordpress.com

Ashtanga Yoga Retreat in Salento, Italy 2013

Self Practice. Self Knowledge.

Ashtanga Yoga Retreat  with  Laruga Glaser & Sati Chmelar 

31 August - 7 September 2013

For the first time, collaborating together, Laruga and Sati will infuse the practice of Ashtanga yoga into the depths of it’s philosophical teachings, through practice, contemplative lectures and group dialogue. It will be a life affirming, heart opening, expansive week, that will challenge and inspire, within the beautiful setting of Salento, Italy.

Laruga will be facilitating all yoga and technique classes, while Sati will be conducting all philosophy and meditation courses. It will be a blend of practical application of Ashtanga yoga, through morning Mysore classes, and in depth technique sessions, with ample time focused on integration and immersion of what arises through practice in engaging philosophical study sessions. The material covered will be participatory in nature and never dull. Be prepared to step into new and exciting territory!

Mysore Sessions and Technique Classes 

Laruga Glaser 

Mysore classes will be held every morning from at 7:00 - 9:30. 

Technique Class Topics

1. Vinyasa Integration 

In this class special attention will be focused on moving with conscious awareness, in union with  conscious breath, otherwise known as vinyāsa. Trouble shooting areas of instability that may be present, we will delve more thoroughly into how to build strength, with care and attention, building upon internal alignment. Focused points of attention will include practical application of Tristhanam (posture, breath, gaze) into each movement, promoting a calm center, accessing sense withdrawal, known as pratyahara. Learn to activate and open the energy channels of the body without strain. Discover balance, support and integrity in strength-based postures such as techniques for jumping back and jumping through as well as structural breakdown of challenging poses and transitions. 

2. Backbending Awareness

The paradox when backbending is we must be strong and soft at the same time; uniting the

energy of strength and surrender. In this class, learn the basic components of backbending

with integrity to the natural flow of the body, as well as, experiencing the concept of active

release. When actively releasing, we will learn to use grounding mechanisms to deepen our

awareness, while fully utilizing the breath. These fundamental techniques allow the body to find

depth and strength, while at the same time, letting go.

3. Arm Balance Architecture 

Experience the exhilaration arm balances bring in a playful and explorative way, while learning the basic elements and foundational techniques to successfully build an arm balance practice. Proper alignment, strength building, as well as, energizing the subtle body will be addressed in this inspiring and informative workshop. 

Philosophy & Meditation Classes

Sati Chmelar 

Philosophy classes will be held every evening. Please bring a journal or notebook. 

Philosophy study sessions with Sati are a humorous, interactive, passionate, and a genuine exchange. Learning is a combination of lecture, discussion, question and answer, as well as contemplative writing. There is a strong focus placed on becoming intimate with the information and students are invited to deeply engage with the material presented. Students will be asked to explore how the information measures up against their lived experience with a sense of spacious possibility, balanced discrimination, and most importantly, an open heart. 

Tentative Philosophy Study Topics 

1. The Bhagavad-Gita and Understanding Love

After a general introduction to The Bhagavad-Gita and its primary teachings, we will explore the meaning and nature of attachment vs. non-attachment and how this energy can impede or enliven our practice and our lives.

2. Facing Our Afflictions

Through Patanjali’s treatise, The Yoga Sutras, we will study what gives rise to our suffering and in particular how ignorance manifests our mental afflictions (kleshas). We will also explore ways to identity and dissolve these afflictions in our lives. 

3. Becoming The Philosopher

We will learn to identify what Yoga genuinely is and examine what makes it unique among the six philosophical schools of Indian philosophy. We will put ourselves in the philosopher’s seat and examine what our beliefs are regarding some of the biggest questions that Indian philosophy attempts to address. An extra focus will be placed on Classical Yoga.


For More Information and Booking
Email:  info@yogainsalento.com
Call:  +39 0836 600 284
Website: www.yogainsalento.com