Yoga Mala Workshop: A String of Beads with Angelique Sandas
Nov 12 - 14, 2010
Friday 6-8pm: Integrating the Practice
Practice that is "well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness." Exploring this sutra from Patanjali, we can discover what it means to have a steady yoga practice in the real world, both on the mat and off. Establishing a consistency to your practice is the key to experiencing real and lasting transformation. The challenge is to remain consistent as you and the world around you is in flux. In the Ashtanga system, the practice doesn’t change, the poses are always in the same order, linked the same way. So, how do you honor the changes within you and your life, but maintain a steady and unbroken practice? Learn how to balance Tapas and Ishvara Pranidhana, determination with surrender. Learn how to practice yoga in every moment, interconnecting your work on the mat with your life off of it.
Saturday 10 am-12 noon: Intro to Ashtanga Primary Series
The astanga primary series introduces the principles that synchronize breath and movement, linking the body to the mind. In this way, it is a foundation for the other limbs of yoga. Ashtanga is a Vinyasa system. It is a dynamic, scientific, purposeful, and progressive approach. The specific moves are done with specific breath. The integration of each asana is maximized as we return to a neutral position between. The physical work then affects the subtle layers and the nervous system, essential for yoga, bringing about profound physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual results.
Saturday 2 - 4pm: Guided Full Primary Series
Students attending should have a familiarity with Ashtanga practice.
Sunday 9am - 12 noon: Ashtanga Yoga Mala - Asana as a String of Beads
The Ashtanga Yoga Asana method progresses the practioner organically deeper into the experiences of the body, nervous system, mind, and spirit. Like a string of Mala beads, with each asana represented by a bead, there is a thread that joins them all, leading one into the next. In this workshop, you will explore key postures, including Bujapidasan, Supta Kurmasan, and the leg behind the head sequence of the Intermediate Series. Angelique will illustrate how each seemingly advanced posture is contained with the preceding postures.
Sunday 2 - 5pm: The Linking Breath - Unifying the Mind and Body
In yoga, breath is directly linked to life force energy. As we move breath through the body, we also move Prana. The steadiness, fullness and depth of our breath reflects the same characteristics of that vital flow of energy. As we focus our attention and intention on the movement of our inhales and exhales, the awareness of our mind is drawn inward to experience our physical selves with integration and connection. In any posture, the aim is to maintain the constant rhythmic fullness of breath. Loss of breath awareness or breath control is a sign that we may be pushing too far. Steadiness of breath releases resistance, softens and opens, and allows prana to move.
Pricing:
$35 each workshop, pre-registered
$40 each workshop, at the door
$175 Entire Series, pre-registered
Angelique Sandas
Angelique Sandas is a dedicated instructor and devoted student of yoga, embodying the spirit through its physical expression. She is a life long student of movement and the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit. Her love of sharing and communicating movement, the body’s natural way of expressing ideas, emotions and experiences began with gymnastics and dance as a child. Angelique received her B.A. in dance from the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1999. During her college career, she had the opportunity to attend the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, England.
It was also during these years that she was first introduced to yoga. In 2003, Angelique traveled to Thailand to study with Paul Dallaghan in the Ashtanga yoga system as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and received her teaching certification. She has also received advanced anatomy and adjustment training from David Keil, and studied pranayama and yogic philosophy with Sri O.P. Tiwari of the Kaivalyadhama Institute, India.
Angelique currently studies the Ashtanga method with Kino MacGregor, Tim Feldmann, and Greg Nardi. She continues her training with the Guru, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath Rangaswami in Mysore, India. The recipient of the 2008 Mysore Scholarship provided by The Shambhala Trust and Miami Life Center. Angelique has traveled to Mysore, India to practice with the Guru at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute.