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Workshops
Workshops inspire and deepen all aspects of your yoga practice, learning the subtleties of the body and breath and delving more into yogic philosophy. We offer a wide variety of workshops with our amazing HDY faculty and with internationally renowned visiting instructors. Our Yoga workshops are appropriate for all levels of yoga experience, unless otherwise specified and help you take your practice to another level of fulfillment.
Upcoming Workshops
Registrations & Payments
- Pay by mail or pay online.
- Download and mail in the registration form.
- Pay online by selecting the 'Buy Now' button next to your choice below. You will be directed to PayPal to complete your transaction, where you can pay with your credit card or through a PayPal account.
- Contact us by email or telephone 505-232-9642.
05/26 - 05/26/12
with Melissa Spamer
Marma Therapy in Yoga Asana
$45.00 | 4600 Copper NE, Albuquerque
Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences, and when practiced together create a complete method for self-transformation and harmonious living. Marma Therapy is a healing modality utilized in schools of Ayurveda and Yoga since the beginning. Marma means vital energetic point. The yoga asanas have a multitude of energetic and physical benefits in part due to their reflexive action on the marmani or energetic points that are awakening or being stimulated.
During this afternoon workshop we will learn some of the more prominent marma points that are affected through asana practice. We will learn to find and stimulate these source points on ourselves and then give a treatment to a partner that encourages the flow of Prana through the body-mind.
We will then continue to a full asana practice, emphasizing the marma points that are opening and balancing through specific asana. Take your practice to another level of energetic understanding, and awakening.
Melissa Spamer, ERYT 500, LMT, C. Ayu. has been practicing yoga for nearly twenty years and consistently teaching yoga for fifteen. Melissa is a graduate of the renowned Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been teaching on the principles of Ayurveda for the past 5 years, and offers both ayurvedic consultations and treatments to bring balance to the body, mind and spirit. Melissa incorporates the principles of ayurveda in her teaching of yoga asana, merging the two sister sciences. She has completed extensive yoga studies and trainings in the US, Greece, India and Bali. She weaves together a very organic and integrative approach to yoga. She currently resides in Austin, Texas where she teaches yoga and runs a private yoga therapy and ayurveda practice.
Schedule Details
Saturday, May 26, 2012
2:00-5:00pm
| Price Options $45 Early Registration When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
05/26 - 05/26/12
Avery Kalapa
Yoga for Mothers and their Family
$50/55 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
Celebrating Our Connection and Nurturing Ourselves through a special afternoon workshop on May 26th, for mothers and their sons and daughters or parent of any age.
Celebrate your Connection
Schedule Details
Saturday, 2-5pm
| Price Options $50 pre-registered When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
05/27 - 05/27/12
Melissa Spamer
Introduction to Ayurveda for the Yoga Practitioner
$45.00 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
Ayurveda means the “science of life”. This workshop will give you a general overview of ayurvedic principles and how to apply them to the whole of your own life, as well as your yoga practice. We will review the theory of the elements, as well as the gunas of these elements and apply them to your environment, diet, lifestyle and yoga asanas. This will then lead us into an understanding our own unique constitution (or dosha). The doshas will be described as well as ways that will create balance or imbalance. Within our understanding of Ayurveda it is important to have some knowledge about agni (our digestive intelligence) and ama (accumulated toxins). We will learn the basics of how our own agni and ama really determines our state of health and well-being within our physical make-up based on doshic balance.
We will also learn the importance of a daily routine (dinacharya) and how to incorporate one that is best suited for your current lifestyle. Within this daily routine the art of oleation will be described, specifically abyanga, or self-massage, which is especially important to help maintain muscle and joint fluidity for yoga practitioners.
This workshop will include the following:
•Ayurvedic theory based on the 5 elements
•Gunas, or the 20 qualities of our material world
•Doshas – Understanding your unique constitution of Vata, Pitta or Kapha
•Agni – Our digestive intelligence & Ama – Accumulated toxins
•The importance of your dinacharya – daily routine
Melissa Spamer, ERYT 500, LMT, C. Ayu. has been practicing yoga for nearly twenty years and consistently teaching yoga for fifteen. Melissa is a graduate of the renowned Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been teaching on the principles of Ayurveda for the past 5 years, and offers both ayurvedic consultations and treatments to bring balance to the body, mind and spirit. Melissa incorporates the principles of ayurveda in her teaching of yoga asana, merging the two sister sciences. She has completed extensive yoga studies and trainings in the US, Greece, India and Bali. She weaves together a very organic and integrative approach to yoga. She currently resides in Austin, Texas where she teaches yoga and runs a private yoga therapy and ayurveda practice.
Schedule Details
Sunday, May 27
2:00-5:00pm
| Price Options $45 early registration When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
06/01 - 06/03/12
Stacie Dooreck
SunLight Chair Yoga Teacher Training
$245 | 4600 Copper Avenue Ne
Learn how to make Yoga accessible to seniors, those with disabilities or limited mobility, the chronically ill, Alzheimer patients, pre-/post-surgery patients, those with injuries, yoga at work and at your desk.
You will acquire tools to offer modified Yoga postures in chairs, chair modifications in mixed level classes (standing and sitting), private Chair Yoga sessions, breathing, chanting and meditation in chairs. Corporate Yoga will be taught as well. Learn the business and marketing of Chair Yoga to start your own classes at senior or community centers, hospitals, health clubs, corporations and non-profits.
The course is open to all Yoga teachers, nurses, physical therapists, and those that would like to learn Chair Yoga modifications for their own practice
Participants will receive a 100+pg Chair Yoga Teacher Training manual and Certificate of Completion (Cont. Ed 12 hrs for RYT)..
Stacie is a certified Sivananda Yoga Instructor since 1995, Certified Gentle Integral Yoga, Prenatal and Kundalini Yoga Instructor, author of Sunlight Chair Yoga: Yoga for everyone! Stacie is a prior High Desert Yoga instructor. www.sunlightchairyoga.com Stacie was quoted from CBS Healthwatch Ch. 4 Miami in 2011 as "breathing new life into S. Florida seniors."
Schedule Details
June 1 - 3, 2012
Friday, June 1: 7:00-9:00pm
Saturday, June 2: 1:30-6:30pm
Sunday, June 3: 1:30-6:30pm
Questions?: Stacie: info@sunlightyoga.com www.sunlightchairyoga.com
| Price Options $245, prepaid by May 1, 2012. After May 1, 2012: $285 When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
06/08 - 06/10/12
Anam Thubten
Awakening Retreat: Meditation
150 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
June 8th, 7-9pm: Free Public Talk, Donation are accepted
The focus of the retreat is to unburden ourselves from mental habits that cause unnecessary suffering and to realize our natural state, which is the inner dimension of peace, joy, and love. Anam Thubten invites everyone to experience this spiritual transformation through meditation practice and the timeless teachings of the Buddha. May this retreat be a source of blessings for many!
Anam Thubten was born in Golok, in Eastern Tibet, Anam Thubten undertook monastic Buddhist training in the Nyingma tradition at an early age. He has been teaching and traveling in the West since the 1990s, speaking in fluent English and offering the timeless, non-conceptual wisdom of the Buddha. These teachings, free of any sect or dogma, point directly to the recognition of one’s true nature as boundless love. In his talks, Anam Thubten invites the heart-opening, mind-emptying awakening to one’s true nature, which is already enlightened. He speaks to people of all spiritual traditions about the non-dual experience of one’s own essential nature. Anam Thubten is the author of articles and books in both the Tibetan and English languages, including his first book in English, No Self, No Problem. He is a featured author in The Best Buddhist Writing, 2010. He is the founder and spiritual advisor of Dharmata Foundation based in Point Richmond, California.
For more information about Anam Thubten, please visit Dharmata Foundation
Schedule Details
June 8th, 7-9pm: Free Public Talk, Donation are accepted
June 9th, 10-12:30pm and 2:30-5:30pm
June 10th,10-12:30pm and 2:30-5:30pm
| Price Options Advanced Registration is requested.
When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. To Register: |
06/21 - 06/24/12
Yoga Kids
Yoga Kids Foundations Training
$849** | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
Four days of laughter, love and life changing experiences. A whole new array of creative ways to connect with children. We ask that you bring an open heart and your love for children. One year yoga experience is very helpful, but not required. The original program that revolutionized the way yoga is taught to children. This ground-breaking work offers exceptional skill-building approach to asana, breathing, teaching and relaxation. As parents, yoga teachers and child-focused professionals, you will ground in the concepts and methods as developed by award winning yoga for children pioneer, Marsha Wenig, during her 25 years of study, research, practice, and teaching.
This course will give you all the tools you need to create your own yoga program for older kids, preteens, and teens. Through the use of games, props, and sequencing, we will transform traditional practice into a creative, stimulating, and—most importantly—FUN yoga experience for children ages nine and up.
Also receive at your Foundations event - a signed copy of YogaKids Founder, Marsha Wenig’s book, "Educating the Whole Child through Yoga".
Research about Yoga and Kids:
Elements Yoga for Children
Spatial and Verbal Memory
Static Motor Performance
View a Video from YogaKids founder, Marsha Wenig:
Schedule Details
Thursday through Sunday
June 21 8am-10am, 11:15-6pm
June 22 11am-8pm
June 23 11:15am-8pm
June 24 9:30-11am, 1-4:30pm
| Price Options Registration Options Details: Special Discount Promotion: Register and pay deposit of $200 before March 30th: an extra $150 off!! IF IT IS 30 DAYS PRIOR TO ANY FOUNDATIONS EVENT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AND YOU ARE AN EDUCATOR, YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE EDUCATOR DISCOUNT OF 20%. Partial Payment plan available When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
07/06 - 07/06/12
Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band
An Evening Of Mystic Mantra Music
$20 / 25 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
An Evening Of Mystic Mantra Music With Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band, On Tour From New Orleans!
Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band’s music will ignite the world...a hybrid of East and West that will bring joy to your heart and get your body boogieing." - Yoga Chicago
Dive into the bliss of kirtan, the yoga of music, with celebrated New Orleans mantra musicians Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band. This critically acclaimed band on Nettwerk/Nutone Records-- home of Sarah McLaughlin, Krishna Das, and Jai Uttal—creates evocative music that blends ancient eastern mantras with western musical taste, passionate vocals, funky grooves, and dreamy melodies. Their innovative approach to chant music transcends genres—shades of rock, jazz, funk, choral, Indian, Irish, Middle Eastern, and folk styles merge effortlessly with the magic of the mantras. Yoga Journal has praised the band: “A joy to listen to whether you’re a yogi, or anyone who appreciates wildly creative music.”
The band includes Sean on vocals and harmonium; vocalist and percussionist Gwendolyn Colman; and Alvin Young on fretless bass and guitar. You can download their new hit album Devaloka on I-Tunes and Amazon.
For more info visit www.SeanJohnsonAndTheWildLotusBand.com.
Schedule Details
Friday, July 6 at 8:00pm
| Price Options $20 in advance Please pay below using our paypal button. When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
07/08 - 07/08/12
Zoreh
Creating & Sustaining a Home Practice
$45/50 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
A practical, hands-on workshop to help you create a home practice that is inspiring, energizing and relaxing. You will be offered different sequences to meet your needs and a syllabus of poses to help you design your own custom practice.
For All Levels
Zoreh is the Founder and Director of High Desert Yoga in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Zoreh's joyous personality and sense of humor endear her to her students with a teaching style that is both nurturing and fun. Her teaching combines a delicate knowledge of the body that allows a compassionate spiritual expression of the postures to emerge. Zoreh enthusiastically shares her passion for combining yoga with exploring the world; inviting students every year to join her yoga retreats in special places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand, and Greece. She is a registered Hatha Yoga teacher with more than 15 years of teaching experience and a degree in Business Management. She is also a certified Yoga Therapist and Meditation Teacher. Zoreh has studied numerous methodologies including Iyengar, Phoenix Rising Yoga.
Schedule Details
Sunday
2-5pm
| Price Options $45 pre-registered Walk-ins welcome When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
07/13 - 07/15/12
Rama Jyoti Vernon
Transforming Our Lives and our World through Yoga Philosophy and Asana
$185 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
Through her work in citizen diplomacy and conflict resolution around the world, Rama Jyoti has developed a system for healing the individual and between nations, based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Rama Jyoti will present ideas and physical postures for transforming conflict in our lives and our world be demonstrating, through asana, how spiritual principles can be a valuable tool.
Friday, Public Talk: Making Peace
In our fast-paced world, sometimes the roots of yoga are lost or forgotten. Rama Jyoti’s foundation of deep spirituality was a gift at birth, and beyond. She has studied with many great yoga masters including BKS Iyengar,Sant Keshavadas, TKV Desikachar, and Sri Aurobindo. Rama Jyoti will speak on maintaining the essence of spirituality in a yoga practice,while confronting the challenges of daily life.
Saturday:
While breathing is fundamental to yogic practices and life functions, daily stress, chronic breathing maladies and environmental pollutants affect our ability to fully receive the benefits of the breath. How we breathe can deepen our yoga practice, alleviate problems and provide a more vital lifestyle. Rama Jyoti will introduce her signature approach to using the breath as a way to open the body to enhance asana, deepen spiritual practices and enliven day-to-day activities.
Sunday:
Meditation is an essential practice for bringing clarity to the mind and balancing life amidst its multitude of challenges. Rama Jyoti brings meditation into the physical practice,integrating it with asana. Her approach to pranayama, asana and meditation can be applied by those wishing to develop a meditation practice, or augment an existing one.
As the classes will be sequential it is recommended that the entire workshop is attended.
Rama Jyoti Vernon began her interest in metaphysics and mysticism as a child, with parents who were pioneers in holistic health. Ultimately, she became one of America’s first Yoga teachers, and was instrumental in bringing many great teachers fromIndia to the U.S., co-founding the Yoga Journal and developing organizations such as Unity in Yoga, to unite all lineages ofYoga. As a housewife, mother and Yoga teacher, Rama found herself applying Yoga philosophy in a whole new arena, international peacemaking. During the 1980sshe made dozens of trips to U.S.S.R, and founded the Center for International Dialogue, based on the idea that people can join together to initiate solutions for political, economic, ecological,humanitarian and cultural conflicts.
Schedule Details
Friday, July 13: 6:30–8:30 pm: Public Talk Making Peace
Saturday, July 14: 1:30–5:30 pm
Sunday, July 15: 1:30–5:30 pm
As the classes will be sequential it is recommended that the entire workshop is attended.
| Price Options Friday night only: $20 $185 pre-registered and paid in advance When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
07/20 - 07/21/12
Judith Lasater
Shoulders: Anatomy, Asana & Therapeutics
$225 | 4600 Copper NE
The shoulder is not only an important joint in the body, but it is also an important symbol of our strength and our ability to succeed in the world. The position of our shoulders in the body, many yoga poses focus either on strengthening or on stretching the shoulders.
This workshop will begin with the basic principles of the "rotator cuff", both through a presentation of the basic anatomy and kinesiology of the shoulder. After this introduction, most ofour time will focus on Active practice centered on the shoulder joint, with attention paid to the other parts of the body that are related: spine, abdomen, head and chest. Each afternoon we will spend some time in Restorative yoga to open the shoulders and chest and quiet the mind.
Judith Hanson Lasater has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. She is president of the California Yoga Teachers Association, and serves on the advisory boards of Yoga Journal and Healing Lifestyles and Spas. Her yoga training includes study with B. K. S. Iyengar in India and the United States. She teaches yoga classes and trains yoga teachers in kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutra in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also gives workshops throughout the United States, and has taught in Australia, Bolivia, Canada, England, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and Russia.
She writes extensively on the therapeutic aspects of yoga. She is the author of:
• What We Say Matters (2009)
• YogaBody (2008)
• A Year of Living Your Yoga (2006)
• Yoga Abs (2005)
• Yoga for Pregnancy (2004)
• 30 Essential Yoga Poses (2003)
• Living Your Yoga (2000)
• Relax and Renew (1995)
Currently, Judith is consulting on four studies being conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These studies focus on the use of restorative yoga to reduce hot flashes in menopausal women, to reduce metabolic syndrome, to reduce anxiety during drug rehabilitation, and for women in treatment for breast cancer.Judith Hanson Lasater lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.
Schedule Details
Friday, July 20: 11:30–2 pm, 2:30–5 pm
Saturday, July 21: 11:30–2 pm, 2:30–5 pm
Each student will need to have:
High Desert Yoga is able to provide yoga props.
5 firm blankets
1 sticky mat
1 eye cover
2 blocks
1 bolster
Please bring alight snack for our break
| Price Options $225 non-refundable When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |
10/19 - 10/23/12
Donna Farhi
Centering Down: A Yoga Intensive
$545/595 | 4600 Copper Avenue NE
Yoga Sutra III:29:
“Concentrated attention on the primordial navel centre brings understanding of all bodily systems.”
In both Western and Eastern traditions the centre of gravity within the pelvis is considered the calibrating keystone for organizing the entire body. Sometimes referred to as the hara, dantien or the deep navel centre, refining the position of the navel centre gives us the ability to both release and contain the energy that moves through the pelvis. Having a strong yet mobile core not only has a powerful physical effect, it also affects us energetically, emotionally and spiritually.
In this intensive we will explore the principle of core support through the lens of the koshas, investigating what it means to establish both physical, mental and emotional stability. The intensive will begin by establishing a deep connection with the energetic support of the breath. Building upon this work we will then investigate the way in which energetic support from the hara is reinforced through our physical structure. A key feature of this intensive will be learning to fluidly release and then activate the support of the “primary” inner core muscles, the psoas, a complex stabilizing muscle that lies parallel to the lower spine and acts as a functional bridge between the vertebral column and the pelvis and legs. We will then learn how to engage the “secondary” inner core muscles; the subtle yet powerful pelvic diaphragm, the deeper girding layers of the abdominal muscles and the stabilizing muscles of the lower back. These all serve to protect and support the sacroiliac joint, lower back and spine. To support a fuller understanding of the complex relationship between inner core muscles Donna will present two new anatomical Powerpoint presentations. Participants will also receive detailed digital hand-outs which they can print at home and read prior to attending the workshop.
Participants should have a sound working knowledge of the basic asanas and have had a consistent Yoga practice for at least one year.
Donna Farhi is a Yoga teacher who has been practicing for 34 years and teaching since 1982. She is one of the most sought after guest teachers in the world, leading intensives and teacher training programs internationally. Donna is best known for her unique ability to help students and teachers embody their spiritual practice. Her work focuses on the refinement of natural and universal movement principles that underlie all Yoga practice. This concentration on fundamental principles allows student of all levels of experience and from all traditions to build their own authentic Yoga practice. Considered the “teacher of teachers” students return to Donna’s intensives again and again to be a part of the inspiring evolution of Donna’s own practice and teaching.
Donna has been the asana columnist for both Yoga Journal and Yoga International Magazine (U.S.A.), and has been profiled in four separate publications on exceptional contemporary teachers of our time, including Yogini: The Power of Women in Yoga. Donna is the author of the contemporary classics, The Breathing Book, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness and Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living. Her fourth book Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship is a curricular text for teaching trainings worldwide. American born, Donna now resides in Christchurch, New Zealand where she pursues her passionate love of horses.
To learn more about Donna Farhi: www.donnafarhi.co.nz
Schedule Details
Friday, October 19: 6:00-8:30 pm
Saturday-Tuesday, October 20-23:
9:30-12:30 & 2:00-4:30 pm each day
Each day will be divided into two sessions. Morning and afternoon classes will include some lecture, guided movement inquiry and a diverse range of both active and restorative asana practice, including sitting meditation and the practice of Yoga Nidra.
No partial attendance will be allowed for this intensive.
| Price Options $545 if paid in full by August 15th. Payment Plans available! When redirected to the purchase page, please enter the cost of the event (Item Price) Also, feel free to type any information in the "note' section that will be helpful. Thank you, HDY. |