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Advanced Studies & Therapeutic Intensives with Tony Briggs
Saturdays, 12:30-6pm ($125) | 12:30-2pm asana practice, drop-ins welcome ($20)
- July 26, Twists and Forward Bends
- Aug 9, Wrists, Elbows and Shoulders
- Aug 16, Breath: The Principles and Practice of Pranayama
- Sept 6, Backbends and Inversions
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FREE Yoga Class for Beginners!
Tell your friends & neighbors- a free special intro class for total beginners.
Tuesday July 29, 7:30-8:30pm with Jane Dobson |
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Monthly Extended Practice with Karl Erb
Monthly Special! Attend 5 public classes with Karl and get a 10% discount on a Sunday Extended Practice.
First Sundays, 2-5pm ($45)
- Aug 3: Mula Bhanda (Core Power), The Feet, and Balancing Poses Part II
- Sep 7: "Relax and Renew" Yoga & Sound with Jennifer Morrice and Karl
Erb: Healing and Transformation through Sound and Vibration
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Monthly Kirtan with Karl Erb & Kevin Cole
Sunday Evenings, 7:30-9:30pm: Aug 10, Sep 14, Oct 12 ($8) |
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Revitalizing Health Through Inner Strength:
A Pelvic Floor Workshop with Susanne Kemmerer
- For MEN: Saturday, Aug 23, 1-5pm ($90)
- For WOMEN: Sunday, Aug 24, 1-5 ($90)
*Space is limited to 15 participants. Please register in advance.
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Journey Into the Body: An Extended Vinyasa Practice with James Higgins
Every 3-Weeks: Sundays, 2-5pm ($45/each or 4 for $155)
- Sunday, Aug 31: Revelation & Healing
- Sunday, Sep 21: Stability and Freedom
- Sunday, Oct 12: Effort and Surrender
- Sunday, Nov 2: Strength and Grace
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Understanding the Categories of Asana and The Art of Sequencing*
Tony Briggs
Saturday, September 20, 12:30-6pm
$125
Effective teaching requires a combination of understanding not only what one is teaching but who one is teaching. In this intensive, Tony will show students how to develop a well-rounded class that incorporates the emotional and physical concepts of balance, strength, stability, flexibility and relaxation. This intensive offers students an overview of the different categories of asana--standing poses, forward bending, twisting, inversions, backbending and restorative--their purpose, and their effects on both the nervous system and the physical structure (are they quieting or enlivening? grounding or expansive?). Thus, students will gain an understanding of how to develop sequences for mixed classes taking into account the different physical or mental conditions of the students, the time of day or night and the season. Additionally, since the real art of sequencing involves identifying the actions needed in more advanced poses and showing students how to cultivate them in earlier poses so Tony will illustrate how to progressively build a class toward the desired action.
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Standing Poses - Connecting with the Earth*
Anne Saliou
Saturday, September 27, 12:30-6pm
$125
The ability to stand absolutely straight while preserving inner stability is the goal of all the poses that we do. The standing poses provide us with a way to put our body in balance, align our bones along the axis of gravity, and support our weight through the largest possible number of bones. Tadasana, or Mountain pose, is the foundation for all other asana but how many of us find ease in Tadasana so that it not only gets carried over to the rest of our practice, but more importantly, gets carried over to our lives? In working with Tadasana, or basic standing, we have the opportunity to re-visit our relationship with gravity, refine our fundamental feeling of how we are in the world, and how we are in our lives. Anne will include all the foundation standing poses in this intensive with particular attention to (Utthita) Trikonasana. Just as Tadasana is the foundation of all asana, Trikonasana forms the basis for all other standing poses as stability here teaches stability in the whole practice; the lessons of Trikonasana--both kinesiological and philosophical--can be applied to every other standing pose.
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Revitalizing Health Through Inner Strength:
A Pelvic Floor Workshop for WOMEN with Susanne Kemmerer
Saturday & Sunday, Oct 4th & 5th,
1-5pm ($180)
- *Space is limited to 15 participants. Please register in advance.
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Seated Poses and Forward Bending - Opening the Hips, Quieting the Mind*
Tony Briggs
Saturday, October 18, 12:30-6pm
$125
Seated postures and forward bending are usually performed after the more vigorous or active parts of the practice toward the end. Because the sitting bones get to ground and the torso gets to retreat, this category of asana offers students some relief from the activity and time to go inward. And yet, more often than not, the opposite occurs. Sitting can make students edgy and forward bending can be agitating. Part of the issue is that hips and hamstrings are bound and don't allow the freedom of movement to "achieve" the posture and so students get stuck in their heads or are only able to pay attention to the gripping hip flexors, the tight tensor fascia latae or the short hamstrings. Tony will break down the pieces of the beginning-level seated poses and forward bends, emphasizing both the physical and mental aspects of the doing versus the non-doing is needed, so that participants will gain both understanding of how best to approach these slow poses for themselves and further how to teach these poses in beginning level classes.
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The Use of Props*
Anne Saliou
Saturday, October 25, 12:30-6pm
$125
The use of props such as blocks, blankets, chairs, bolsters, and straps come out of the Iyengar tradition as a way to offer accessibility and modification to Hatha yoga .poses. Props allow adaptation for different body types to allow them to experience the essence of the pose even when their own body may not be able to perform the asana properly. For students who are limited or restricted in mobility, a props such as a block or strap provides the leverage for the extension that the tighter student may not have in a variety of poses. With hypermobile students, on the other hand, using the wall or blocks in standing poses offers a sense of structure, that is, a place for their body to stop extending. Props are also used in refining the opening in particular asana or in support for balancing poses so that students can use the right muscles instead of substituting less optimal actions. In therapeutics or Restorative, props are used to support the body in a way that protects an injured area or lets the musculature relax fully. Anne will guide students through the intelligent and creative use of props in a wide variety of Asana.
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Yoga as Medicine with Timothy McCall
Saturday & Sunday, Oct 25, 26, 12:30-4:30pm
More information to come!
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The Art of Demonstration and Verbal Instruction*
Tony Briggs
Saturday, November 1, 12:30-6pm
$125
While most of teaching yoga is about communicating body to body, demonstrating poses and providing concise verbal instruction are necessary to guide students in public classes through the proper action and correct alignment of poses. Even when teaching the so-called beginning level classes, teachers are faced with multiple levels of students in terms of experience, body awareness and learning styles. It is important that teachers become versatile in both the non-verbal and verbal art of instruction. Tony will illustrate to student-teachers the art of sequentially demonstrating and instructing foundational poses. He will discuss when and how to demonstrate and when and how to speak to a class.
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Twisting - Releasing the Spine, Accessing the Organs*
Tony Briggs
Saturday, November 8, 12:30-6pm
$125
While all Asana illustrate what an engineering marvel the human body truly is, twisting provides an interesting view of the relationships and interrelationships within this ever-balancing system of pulleys and levers. In this intensive, Tony will show how twisting clearly allows us to work with the relationship among skeletal and visceral parts and between the upper and lower body and between the front and back of the body. All the texts and yoga articles tell us that twists done properly can stimulate and tone the spine and abdomen and have a positive effect on digestion and elimination. Gentle twists that are held briefly help to relax and release the spinal muscles while longer held, or more intense twisting will challenge and strengthen the breath but will also help us articulate the different layers of abdominal muscles and stimulate the organs. Tony will not only illustrate the ground rules of twisting--creating maximum length in the spine, rooting the lower body--but will also discuss the relationship between the spine and the visceral cavity, where the vital organs are lodged and how restrictions or lack of movement in the spine will impede the motility of the organs.
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Sequencing a Flow-Based Class*
Geoffrey Roniger
Saturday, November 15, 12:30-6pm
$125
The flow style of yoga is considered a more vigorous form of Hatha yoga and yet a flow class can be done slowly, mindfully and safely to provide any level of student with the invigorating and cleansing benefits to mind and body. There are always seasons, physical/emotional issues and certain students that will benefit from a flow-based class. In this intensive, Geoffrey will provide detailed instruction on each asana that makes up the cornerstone of flow: the vinyasa sequence (which are classically, known as sun salutations, Surya Namaskar). Done correctly, the vinyasa sequence builds suppleness, strength, and endurance. Yet many students fake their way through the intricacies and difficult aspects. And since a Vinyasa class is much more than the Vinyasa sequence, Geoffrey will illustrate how any asana can be seamlessly sequenced and will introduce participants to the salient points of teaching flow: coordinating breath with movement and choreographing rather than simply sequencing poses. Geoffrey will also include contraindications to flow-based sequences in general, to the Vinyasa sequence specifically and will offer adaptations and movements that build up strength and endurance for flow.
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Home Practice and Personal Studies*
Jason Crandell
Saturday, December 6, 12:30-6pm
$125
A home practice is where you can feel and listen to what effect each asana or a total sequence has on you; what effects is it having on your breath and your mind. Creating a personal practice means adapting your practice to suit your circumstances on any given day; you can create a practice based on poses that appeal to you or poses that you want to explore in depth or something to address an ongoing or acute injury, imbalance or illness. Some practitioners prefer the same sequence while others need to create a new sequence to keep their practice thriving. Jason will discuss how to develop an ongoing and balanced home practice, including ways to inspire and feed your practice as well practical advice on adaptations and modifications for special circumstances. He will illustrate how together the seven categories of asana: standing poses, forward bends, backbends, twists, inverted poses, and restorative poses--lend themselves to a natural completeness.
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Practicing Inversions Safely*
Anne Saliou
Saturday, January 10, 12:30-6pm
$125
Inversions increase circulation in the head and brain, stimulate the pineal and pituatary glands, and relieve strain and fatigue in the lower legs and feet, draining fluids and aiding in digestion and elimination. They are seen as a cornerstone of the Asana practice and yet many students find themselves missing some of the central pieces of instruction. Anne will cover the basic anatomical, postural, and energetic building blocks for performing and teaching such inversions as Sirasana (headstand), Sarvangasana (shoulderstand) and (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) handstand, correctly and safely. Preparations for these inversions include the many weight-bearing poses that develop muscle and bone density int he wrists, arms, chest, upper back and shoulders, which are the areas where most fractures occur due to osteoporosis.
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Pranayama/Meditation*
Patricia Sullivan
Saturday, January 17, 12:30-6pm
$125
The foundation of pranayama is to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves through observation of the breath. Watching the breath as it is, highlights the freedom or restriction, illuminating the condition of our mind and potentially allowing us to shift our physical, mental, emotional patterns. Breath awareness as such begins to help us cultivate a new relationship to the breath and enable us to recognize what is called our authentic breath. Pranayama is a set of specific and controlled breathing practices. Patricia will introduce students to some of the introductory pranayama techniques and discuss the optimum conditions for a pranayama practice. Understanding the breath is the doorway to meditation practice. When we can quiet the breath and thus quiet the mind, we are in a place to explore meditation.
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The Art of Touch - Seeing and Adjusting in Basic Poses*
Sabine Kuehner
Saturday, January 24, 12:30-6pm
$125
One of the major components of teaching is to be able to see the bodies of your students. When you can properly see a student, you can use a variety of adjustments to help them move properly or refine poses. The way you can most effectively see is by understanding the pose in your own body and watching the whole student with your whole body. You can then provide an accurate structural diagnosis--where are they missing the actions? where and how are they stuck or overextending? where is the breath not flowing?, etc.--and either through a subtle gesture or more applied hands to bones adjustment, you can guide them toward the proper movment or pose. Sabine will illustrate to student-teachers what to look for in assessing a class full of beginning students, which students require more attention, and how to assess whether you verbally instruct or physically adjust. She will discuss the art of touching students and demonstrate how to use your own body in hands-on adjustments in a wide variety of poses.
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Backbending with Ease*
Tony Briggs
Saturday, February 7, 12:30-6pm
$125
Backbends, whether passive and supported or the full version of Urdvha Dhanurasana, are considered uplifting and exhilerating and when done properly, they have a specific stimulating and strenthening effect on the central nervous system. Going backwards, however, gives many students reason to pause; it is just not a big part of our daily lives and often brings up mental and emotional blocks. Tightness in the shoulders, fear of opening the chest, difficulty in rasing the pelvis, tight hip flexors, etc. all contribute to aggravation rather than ease in these poses when students are not adequately prepared. Tony will discuss the various anatomical and emotional elements of this category of asana and guide students through the preparatory stages of backbending and into Urdvha Dhanurasana and will illustrate the whole body's involvement in this potentially liberating movment.
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Principles and Practice of Restorative*
Sabine Kuehner
Saturday, February 14, 12:30-6pm
$125
The main concepts in Restorative are the use of props (blankets, bolsters, eye bags, etc.) to keep the joints flexed and the muscles relaxed rather than strained, staying in a pose for up to twenty minutes at a time, and looking for a release through the particular set up of the props and the non-doing of the asana. The use of props gives students the feeling of being supported and so establishes the environment for the physical and mental relaxation that allows for the opening into the subconscious to occur. Thus, Restorative Asana helps to cultivate the undestanding of conscious rest or active relaxation. Restorative asana as part of a full practice allow the student to integrate what has been studied in the class or sequence while a full Restorative practice can help relieve tension of modern living which often leads us into a cycle of over-stimulation and burnout. At the same time, these asana massage organs, open the chest, regulate the digestive system, relieve headaches, ease mental and physical discomfort, connect you to your breath, relieve stress, headaches and insomnia, calms the mind, and open the belly.
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* Thirteeen of the 15 Asana modules in the Yoga Loft's AS/TT Program are open to the public. To take one or more of these modules individually, you can call 415-626-LOFT or sign up online at www.theloftsf.com. The cost for each module is $125; pre-registration is required. The first 90 minutes to 2 hours of each module is a led practice by the participating teacher and the remaining time is for lecture and discussion. Students wishing to just join in for the practice may drop in for a fee of $25. The Anatomy, Philosophy and Psychology modules are all open to the public.
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