New Teachers, New Classes

Viparita Karani, which means “inverted lake,” is one of my favorite words in Sanskrit. I love the way it rolls off the tongue, and its meaning paints a beautiful picture of the circulatory system. The story goes that before B.K.S. Iyengar came along, all inversions were called Viparita Karani. Iyengar gave the different inversions their Sanskrit names. Who knows if it’s true, but either way, Iyengar has contributed so much to the development and naming of many incredible postures.

We’ve added some new teachers and classes to the ALIY mix! Please welcome Anneliese Singh, Myka Harris, and Ron Young to the All Life is Yoga team!

Starting in June, join Sarah on Wednesday evenings from 7:45-8:45 PM for Inverted Lake, a new class which combines slow flow and gentle inversions. Inversions are the greatest boon of the asana practice. Increased circulation, immunity, improved brain function and strengthening of  the nervous system are just a few of the benefits. Sarah completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training with Rutu in December of 2016 and also teaches Form & Function on Thursday evenings from 6:45-8 PM.

Join Anneliese on Sunday evenings from 6-7:15 PM for Slow Stretch & Rest. Anneliese Singh completed her 200-hour yogateacher training in 2015 with Rutu at All Life is Yoga, and recently completed her 500-hour training with Aadil and Savitri. Additionally, Anneliese is a professor at the University of Georgia, and co-founder of the Georgia Safe Schools Coalition and Trans Resilience Project. Along with her academic justice work for the trans community, she aims to bring healing and peace to the LGBTQ community through yoga and mindfulness.

Join Ron on Saturdays from 10-11:15 AM for Form & Function. After teaching Saturday 10 AM classes for over ten years, Rutu is happy to hand this class over to Ron. In 2005, Ron received his first yoga certification and in 2012 went through training with Rutu. He went on to study with Aadil Palkhivala, and in spring 2017, completed the 500-hour Purna Yoga teacher training. Since 2005 Ron has been teaching yoga and meditation in public schools, private and public universities, and retirement centers, as well as working one-on-one with clients. 

Join Myka on Friday mornings from 9:30-10:30am for Empower Hour. Myka has been practicing yoga for over a decade and decided to get certified as a teacher to deepen the practice that has been so influential in her life. She received her 200 hour certification with Rutu in 2015. She is an energetic entrepreneur, blogger, mid century modern devotee, recycler, world traveler, voracious eater & lover of allthings wild and free. She also serves on the board for the Community Farmer’s Market and is a full time mom! 

Weekend Class Schedule

We have a few schedule changes for this Memorial Day weekend:

Saturday, May 27th 10am with Ronald Young
Sunday, May 28th 10am Class Cancelled
Monday, May 29th 6:45pm Class Cancelled

“Awareness is the opposite of violence. ”

— Aadil Palkhivala.

May veterans everywhere experience peace and healing.

Farmers with Wrists

I look forward to offering the wrist workshop this Saturday, May 20th from 1-3pm. The workshop is open to all. No prior yoga experience necessary. We will be isolating the work in the wrists, shoulders, upper back and neck. I will also provide a handout with images so you can repeat these techniques on your own on a regular basis and make pain free wrists your reality. Learn more and register online.

Teacher: Rutu
Investment: $55

Photo credit to Brian Thorpe.

This weekend the All Life is Yoga community will be hosting a FREE all-levels class at The Grant Park Farmers Market from 10:30-11:30am! We'll be bringing yoga to the market every third Sunday of the month for the rest of the season and this week Rutu Chaudhari is leading the class. Hope to see you Sunday! Click the Event Page for more details. 

The Wrist Series

Join Rutu Saturday, May 20th from 1-3pm for a workshop on the wrist. This workshop is for students and teachers. Most of us carry tension in our neck, shoulders, wrists and upper back. This tension shrinks blood vessels, creating pain and stiffness in these area and travels into the wrists. This workshop will provide you with the tools, using yoga asana and breath work, to take into your daily life; and if practiced consistently, will relieve mental fatigue, headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome, thereby increasing your ability to think clearly and express yourself more honestly. Teachers will also learn how to modify students during weight bearing postures that cause discomfort in the wrists. 

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All Life is Yoga is offering a free yoga class in partnership with The Community Farmer's Market at Grant Park every third Sunday. Join Rutu May 21st  from10:30-11:30am. Check our Event Page for details. We hope to see you there!

Inman Park Festival Schedule Changes

Due to the street closings for the Inman Park Festival, All Life is Yoga will be closed this Saturday and Sunday, April 29th & 30th for it's 10am classes. Instead, we will be offering a free yoga class in partnership with The Community Farmer's Market at Grant Park on Sunday, April 30th from 10:30-11:30am. Check our Event Page for details. We hope to see you there!

What an amazing workshop with Brad Waites on the purpose and practice of Savitri's Heartfull Meditation techniques . Thank you for visiting All Life is Yoga and sharing your concise, comprehensive and heart opening perspective of Purna Yoga. We can't wait till you come back for a full weekend workshop. Stay tuned for fall 2017! 

The Dharma Project is so excited to announce we won 3rd place at the 2017 United Way of Greater Atlanta SPARK Prize competition with our joint proposal with honorCode! We will be piloting a joint teacher professional development experience at Thomasville Height Elementary School during the 2017-2018 school year where teachers will learn how to incorporate Computer Science, Sociology-Emotional Learning, Yoga and Mindfulness in their classrooms to support the development of their students. We can't wait to show you allwhat we do and this is the start of many partnership for us to come!

Brad Waites Workshop This Saturday

I'm excited to announce that Brad Waites is coming to Atlanta to teach a workshop on April 22nd! Brad is a fellow Purna Yoga teacher, certified at the 2,000 hour level, who communicates the methodology of Purna Yoga with clarity and precision, while offering students guidance and support as they create purpose-driven change.

Learn more about Brad here and read the workshop descriptions + register online →

Brad Waites is Coming to Atlanta!

There are so many things I love about assisting Aadil in the 500 hour Teacher Training. For one, I spend two weeks learning from one of the most brilliant minds of our time, I get to support the flowering open of a group of teachers in training and spend time with colleagues and friends, but my favorite is having dinner with Aadil every night. The diversity of cuisine that is created to the stories of B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian mythology, yoga philosophy, relationships (yep, he is pretty interested in my dating life), the music, the jokes...It's a once in a lifetime kind of experience. Feeling blessed! 

I'm excited to announce that Brad Waites is coming to Atlanta to teach a workshop on April 22nd! Brad is a fellow Purna Yoga teacher, certified at the 2,000 hour level, who communicates the methodology of Purna Yoga with clarity and precision, while offering students guidance and support as they create purpose-driven change. Learn more about Brad here and check out the workshop descriptions below!

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Three Most Important Questions In Life

Asking the right questions daily leads to personal transformation and helps you discover peace, power and purpose in life. Come and learn what questions to ask, as well as the major pitfall of seeking the answers (as most of us tend to do in the West). You will also learn the fundamentals of Heartfull™ Meditation, a simple but profound practice that integrates the power of these essential questions into your daily life.

Open to all, and especially for those who are ready to practice yoga beyond asana (postures). Includes some movement, but primarily focused on philosophy and meditation.

The Yoga of Practical Empowerment

The flow of events in life often seems a mystery. One day you’re up, and the next you’re down. Thousands of years of yoga practice have shed some light on the seeming randomness of life, finding a deep connection between what’s going on inside of you and what’s happening around you. By cultivating a deeper connection with the truth, beauty, and love you hold inside, you can create positive shifts in what happens to and around you. All levels. Heartfull™ Meditation and applied philosophy, with some movement.

When: April 22nd 1-4pm
Investment: $55

The Dharma Project, Fellowships and Pitching

This past week my Fellowship with Center for Civic Innovation officially ended. It's been quite a growing experience. Along with learning how to develop The Dharma Project as a sustainable nonprofit, I've had the opportunity to learn with six other social entrepreneurs that are building powerful organizations. I have developed a lasting community of friends, colleagues and support structure. 

In June 2016, The Dharma Project got selected to participate in the Civic Innovation Fellowship with seven other social enterprises. The intention was to develop a strong business model, teach us how to become a sustainable non profit, how to tell a compelling story about our work and then to pitch, pitch and pitch some more. 

Our Mission: The Dharma Project provides self care in the form of yoga, mindfulness, nutrition and lifestyle to public service organizations and the communities they work with. 

Here are some of the things we've accomplished these in the past seven months:

Sara Blakley Fellowship: Sara Blakely selected 10 women entrepreneurs to support and develop as leaders in their social enterprise. I was one of them. I'm so grateful for this opportunity. Read more about it here.

Yoga at Decatur Housing Authority: I've had fun spending the last six months doing chair yoga with the senior residents of the DHA. I've learned SO much about teaching yoga in this time. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share yoga with various, diverse communities around Atlanta. 

Our first contract! We landed our first official contract with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. This is an amazing opportunity for The Dharma Project to work with a public service organization that provides support and funding to so many of the non-profit organizations in our city. I trust that it will be a great advantage to have CFGA as an advocate for The Dharma Project. 

Yoga at Stewart Center in Pittsburg neighborhood of westside Atlanta for Parents and Kids. This community has never been exposed to yoga and they took to it immediately! I believe that more people of color don't do yoga because they don't see themselves represented in the larger yoga culture and don't relate to it as something that is for them. "Nature abhors a monoculture" and there's no better time than now to lift our diverse communities with the transformative power of yoga! 

Final Pitch Event at CCI March 16th. I had my first experience of pitching The Dharma Project to different organizations and foundations last week. For my first time presenting, I think it went great! I look forward to many more opportunities to talk about The Dharma Project. 

The Dharma Project has been nominated as a 2017 SPARK Prize finalist. We will be competing with fourteen other organizations from around the city at the C3 Conference on April 21st for one of United Way's $15k grant awards. If won, the prize will support a joint teacher training program focused around computer science, socio-emotional learning, yoga and meditation with our partner, honorCode. A huge thank you to United Way of Greater Atlanta and the Center for Civic Innovation for sponsoring the competition!

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Our goals for the next 8 months:

1. Provide The Dharma Project's services to 12-16 organizations across Atlanta. 
2. Add 2-5 new instructors to the team
3. Summer Camp for kids at Stewart Center

If you'd like to support The Dharma Project's programs, Donate below. For the Summer Camp at Stewart Center we are raising $2000.00. We'd love your support!

A Day Without Women

On this International Women's Day, women all over the country are on strike with a protest called 'A Day Without a Woman.' This protest is in opposition to Donald Trump, inequality in pay, devaluation of women led occupations, reproductive rights, etc.

Things to do:
1. Don't go to work
2. Don't spend money, unless you support a small, woman and minority owned businesses.
3. Wear red in solidarity

I'm curious to hear from you. Are you taking the day to protest? What are your thoughts on this protest? Is this protest a luxury? Who can afford to participate? 

I am celebrating International Women's Day by honoring the women chefs, farmers and artisans in our city at the Lady Locavores Event. Atlanta has an incredible urban agriculture community that I am so proud to support. Eat local, ya'll. 

Frenetic to Fearless

Join Rutu March 11th from 12-4pm for a master practice. This practice is designed to strengthen the nervous system, widen your perspective and open your heart. The program will include 30 minutes meditation at the start and end of session, 2 hour of strong asana (postures), 30 minutes of pranayama (intricate breathing techniques) and a deep, guided savasana (repose). 

2017 is a big election year for Atlanta! We are electing a new mayor, city council and school board. If you care about the challenges our city faces this is a good year to get engaged. Our current government acts as a good reminder for us that all issues are local and that's where we have power to change our city. I want to plug Center for Civic Innovation's Leadership Breakfasts. CCI is hosting the mayoral candidates for a discussion on their background, their passion and their action steps for creating a future Atlanta we all want to live in. The Leadership Breakfast's are free to members, one of the many reasons to become a member of CCI. So far I've learned more about Al Bartell and Mary Norwood. The next breakfast is Tuesday, March 14th with Peter Aman. I hope to see you there. 

Catch Up! New Classes, Workshop And Events

Spring is near (yay!) and I am so excited about the activities happening at ALIY and around the city focused on celebrating Atlanta's rich culture and community. I am proud to say I live in the 5th district. I'm also proud of how Atlanta came together to represent the 5th district and it's rich culture, community and ethnicity after some inaccurate and diminutive remarks were made about the 5th district and it's representative, John Lewis. As an effort to continue highlighting how awesome the 5th district really is, Live the 5th weekend festival was conceived.

I'll will be teaching a free yoga class at the event on Sunday, March 5th at the Carter Center alongside teachers, Rachelle Knoweles, Cheryl Crawford and Carly Brown, representing the 5th district neighborhoods. Join us for this class and many fun events over the March 4th-5th weekend. Register for this free class here.

We've also added a new class and workshop to the schedule and will be involved in a few other events around town for the next few weeks. Learn more below!

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Frenetic to Fearless

Thank you for all that participated in the first Frenetic to Fearless Workshop. What we collectively learned is that 2.5 hours is just not enough time to cover the deeper layers of the practice. It should be 4 hours instead!

Join Rutu March 11th from 12-4pm for a master practice. This practice is designed to strengthen the nervous system, widen your perspective and open your heart. The program will include 30 minutes meditation at the start and end of session, 2 hour of strong asana (postures), 30 minutes of pranayama (intricate breathing techniques) and a deep, guided savasana (repose). This workshop is a $45 investment.

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Other Upcoming Events:

New Class

Ashley Erwin is making a shift to her teaching schedule by adding a Monday night 6:45-7:45pm class to the schedule and eliminating her Friday 10am class. This new class will begin on March 6th. Read more about her intention for this new class that's nicknamed Monday Night Delight on the blog.

Lady Locavores

Rutu is part of the host committee for Lady Locavores and invites you to join her in honor of the amazing women chefs, farmers, and artisans in our community for International Women's day on March 8th. Funds raised from this event will be directed towards CFMs culinary education program.

Ashley's New Class: Monday Night Delight

I am so excited to start teaching Form & Function on Monday nights from 6:45-7:45pm. One thing we’ll be working on is balancing the feeling of peace and delight while working our bodies in the poses.

I know my practice is going well when a gentle smile arrives on my face while holding a pose. This has not been happening while taking photos for my upcoming yoga website. In some of the pictures, my face is so tense and I kind of look miserable. I think it’s related to trying to perfect the pose for the picture. So, now in my practice I’m working on just feeling the benefits of what I am able to do at the moment and not forcing myself to perfect the pose.

The yoga sutras define asana as follows:

“Whatever asana is performed, it should be done with a feeling of firmness, steadiness and endurance in the body, goodwill in the intelligence of the head, and awareness and delight in the intelligence of the heart. This is how each asana should be understood, practiced and experienced. Performance of the asana should be nourishing and illuminative.”

— B.K.S. Iyengar's Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

I read this passage often and will read it to you all pretty regularly. I'm looking forward to starting this class in March! 

Love,
Ashley
 

Holiday Schedule

Thank you for being at the studio and showing up for your practice during this seemingly tragic year. Despair leads to inaction, so my resolution for 2017 is a commitment to action.  I'm excited for the growth of the studio. Our growth is quality. I'm thankful for our student base. Your dedication to your practice and desire to leave a kinder imprint on the planet inspires me. I'm excited about The Dharma Project. The fellowship I'm going through at Center for Civic Innovation is helping mold a beautiful mission for an inclusive, thoughtful yoga culture and city. We'll get to see some of it finally move in 2017. I look forward to sharing more about this soon. 

The studio typically closes the last week of the year, but some of the teachers wanted to teach their classes. I am going to take the week off to relax and prepare mentally, emotionally and physically for the year ahead. Narin is also out of town for the holidays. Please visit our website linked below for the complete schedule. 

Enjoy your time with family and friends this week! 

Rutu