E-News from LA YOGA Ayurveda and Health Magazine

August 2015 | ISSUE 275

August 2015 Issue
On the cover: Model Rosy Hodge wearing Roxy Bikini
Shot Courtesy
Roxy // Roxy.com

From the Editor

“Dance, as though no one is watching.”

This may well be one of Rumi’s most famous quotes (among a long list of famous quotes). The poet’s instructions to all of us may be especially important when it comes to dancing. We may think of dancing as something that requires liquid courage, but in fact, dancing can help us to build courage and has a long list of health benefits (scroll down to see the 5 we highlighted).

The list goes on and dance is even being used and researched as a therapeutic technique for people with Parkinson’s Disease, addictions, autism, dementia, post-traumatic stress, and more.

No matter who we are, we benefit from some time on the dance floor…and fortunately, LA has numerous opportunities, including Jo Cherniss’ long-running 5 Rhythms-based Dancing Soul and Fumbling Toward Ecstasy. Learn more at MovingGround.com. And beloved yoga teacher, bodyworker, and playlist-maker extraordinaire Julian Walker has expanded his Dance Tribe to include Tuesday and Thursday nights. AndDaybreaker brings the early morning groove on every two weeks.

If you want to ensure that no one is watching, sign up for the blindfolded Dance of Liberationexperience on August 22. And then Dance!

See you on the dance floor,

Felicia Tomasko
Felicia Marie Tomasko

Felicia Marie Tomasko, RN
LA Yoga Magazine, Editor in Chief

Upcoming Events

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20

7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. Spiritual Prosperity. Learn how to attract your prosperity with heart sourced energy that aligns with your divine self and the Universe. Join us for this complimentary workshop! Perfect for yoga teachers and healers! Sybaris Rejuvenation Lounge. Hotel Shangri La. 1301 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica.

7:30 P.M. SRF Convocation. Turning into the Guru’s Guidance at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. Los Angeles.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21

7:30 P.M. SRF Convocation. A Life of Dharma: Eternal Values for Individuals, Families, and Society. Westin Bonaventure Hotel. Los Angeles.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22

Hot Yoga Posture Clinic with Julia Planine-Troiani. Deepen your understanding of alignment and the many benefits of Hot Yoga! Preregister by Aug 21st. $40. Hot 8 Yoga. 8383 WILSHIRE BLVD., Beverly Hills.

9:00 P.M. – 12:00 P.M. Join the Yoga-Hike Tribe™!. Join Janná Giles, 200hr E-RYT/500hr Prana Vinyasa® yoga instructor and the Yoga-Hike Tribe™ for this monthly event in the L.A. coastal areas! Hike up the hill, breathe in the views and fresh air, then balance out your efforts at the top with a Prana Vinyasa® yoga practice! Optional group picnic lunch with your new Yoga-Hike Tribe™ after! $17 adv/$20 that day. Temescal Canyon.

10:30 A.M. – 2:45 P.M. TBFM® Sat. Intensive. Technique Class; Teacher Forum. $65. Two-Snake Studios. 1637 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles.

2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Partner Yoga – Bring a Friend To Camp! With Trisha DeCesare & Sara Feuhrer. Join Trisha DeCesare and Sara Feuhrer for a fun and playful partner Yoga class! Partner yoga is a creative, soulful and exhilarating way to connect with each other as yogis! $30. InYoga Center. 5142 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village.

8:30 P.M. Pre-Bhakti Fest Event: Dance your Devotion with Amritakripa. With Amritakripa’s love for sacred dance it was only natural that the traditional kirtan forms would begin to dissolve into the deep grooves of an ecstatic trance dance evoking the spirit of Gabrielle Roth. $20. Bhakti Yoga Shala. 207 Arizona., Santa Monica

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23

10:30 A.M. – 2:45 P.M. TBFM® Sun.Clinic. Technique Class; Shoulder Girdle Clinic. $65. Two-Snake Studios. 1637 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26

8:00 P.M. “destressifying” Book Launch Party @ Unplug Meditation. Join us for davidji’s kick-off party for his new book “destressifying: The Real-World Guide to Personal Empowerment, Lasting Fulfillment, and Peace of Mind”! Unplug Meditation. 12401 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29

Power Teacher Training Open House with Layna Dakin. Come meet the trainers for Q&A about our upcoming 200 hour Yoga Alliance Power Teacher Training! Find out how you can take your yoga practice to the next level and inspire others! Free. Hot 8 Yoga. 1422 2nd St., Santa Monica.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30

1:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. AromaTouch Technique Certification. doTERRA AromaTouch Certification Training incorporates simple hand techniques with the power of essential oils to create a powerful whole body wellness experience. $149 Includes Kit of Oils, Manual and DVD! Sybaris Rejuvenation Lounge. Hotel Shangri La. 1301 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica.

We’re honored to be the sponsor of Yoga Chat with the Accidental Yogist on killradio.org every Tuesday from 5-7pm Pacific.

Krishna Das talks about meeting Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba early in his life, and how chanting kirtan helped him deal with the death of his guru: One Track Episode

Musician/producer Vito Gregoli and meditation teacher Pandit Dasa talk about their new projects and dealing with the chaos of everyday life: Stress Relief: Music, Meditation, and Mindfulness

Yoga Chat features world music plus interviews with an eclectic group of guests: teachers, musicians, authors, filmmakers, chefs, health professionals, and many more.

Archived podcasts are available on iTunes and at yogachatshow.com.

WISHES DO COME TRUE – AERIAL YOGA AT YOGAMAZÉ

Join us and get three wishes from the yoga genie. Wish #1: Riches – aerial yoga will enrich and deepen your asana practice. Wish #2 Fly: Get your feet off the ground! Wish #3 Grow Taller: discover how yoga works with gravity to relax and realign your body so that you feel taller. No aerial yoga experience needed. Some yoga experience recommended. (There may not really be a yoga genie but after one class we promise you will feel uplifted, enlightened and your yoga wishes granted.)

For more information on upcoming classes, click here for the YogaMaze Studio

Be Up is Sporting a Fresh, New Feel & You Can Too!

Be Up, the fitness and lifestyle brand devoted to dressing the inspired yogi is celebrating the season ahead with a fresh, new feel. Take a peek at our newly revamped website www.beup.com and see what the buzz is about! We’re inviting LA Yoga readers to join in our enthusiasm; simply enter code NEW15 to receive a 15% discount on your entire purchase.

The Breath Center

Let go of your limiting beliefs as you experience the ultimate personal transformation. Escape from the hustle of daily life and the messaging from the outside world that clutters the mind- creating confusion, stress, poor health, depression and lack of inspiration.

The Remembering: Love. Pray. Eat. Retreat will give you the space and tools necessary to quiet the mind to connect with your inner voice. Tap into this quiet wisdom found in your heart to find clarity in your life, passion in your relationships or rediscover your individual genius.

For more information, visit www.thebreathcenter.com

TODOS SANTOS IN THE SUMMER TIME

Beautiful un-crowded beaches, restaurants with no waiting, late evening strolls accented by breathtaking sunsets….our town in the summertime. We invite you to visit Todos Santos, in Baja Sur, Mexico. Escape the resort madness of nearby Cabo San Lucas and enjoy the warm hospitality of a traditional Mexican community. PACHAMAMA MEXICO’S low season offer – 30 % off regular rates runs now through Oct. 31. Let our luxury villa or en-suite adobe tepees, be your summer destination. You will want to return again and again. Visitwww.pachamamamexico.com for details.

5 Benefits of Dancing

Some of the documented health benefits of dancing include (but are not limited to):

Improved Memory
Improved Fitness (not a stretch for us to believe)
Increased Neurogenesis (development of new neural pathways—how dance can help prevent dementia)
Uplifts Mood (here’s where reducing depression and increasing courage come in).
Improves Balance

THIS SATURDAY! Dance of Liberation

As a spiritual leader, Parashakti has helped to transform many lives. In addition to soul healing and other supportive practices, she has developed and branded a ritualistic movement called Dance of Liberation™. Using the freeing power of blindfolds to help participants tap into their innermost visions, Parashakti has guided over 10,000 people on a spiritual journey through dance.

Dance of Liberation™ places a great emphasis on the importance of lineage and listening to the Elders, following Parashakti’s intensive work with Native American healing practices and elders. But her own history, born with the Hebrew name Sigalit, to a Jewish family in Israel, begins to call her back. Having developed her career in the US, she realizes that in order to complete her own healing, she must return to Israel to reconnect with her father. He has undergone his own, very different spiritual journey, becoming a deeply religious Jew later in life, remarrying at age 40, and subsequently raising seven children. Parashakti seeks connection with him, but a deeper union between the two worlds doesn’t come easy.

Join a group of teachers and students for a weekend or a full week of celebration yoga in Los Angeles. The weekend dates are August 22-23 and the weeklong immersion continues through August 26. Mackenzie Miller, Dylan Werner, Briohny Smyth and Dice Iida-Klein, Cuchira, Irene Pappas, Matt Giordano, and Laura Sykora are a few of the teachers who will be offering classes at the Santa Monica Bay Women’s Club throughout the weekend. Immerse yourself in the culture of Los Angeles with meditations at the beach and at Lake Shrine Temple in Pacific Palisades, take classes at studios including Yogaraj, Yoga Salt, Yogis Anonymous, Exhale, The Yoga Collective, and Yoga Works. Peruse the Farmers Market, try SUP Yoga, and dine at True Food Kitchen. Learn more here: http://www.iggetaway.com

Road to Bhakti Fest: Amritakripa comes to Santa Monica!

Groovy late-night Bhakti Fest favorites Amritakripa will be making a rare pre-Bhakti Fest appearance in Santa Monica at Bhakti Yoga Shala. The genre-busing ahead-of-their time band is about to release their long-awaited third album, Kiss of Bliss.

Pre-Bhakti Fest Event
Dance your Devotion with Amritakripa
Saturday, August 22nd at 8:30pm

Bhakti Yoga Shala
207 Arizona
Santa Monica, CA 90405

$20 Suggested Donation

For more info, click here .

For more information about Bhakti Fest West (including Amritakripa) September 9-14, visitBhaktiFest.com.

Dance of Liberation Founder Parashakti

Parashakti Sigalit lives dance as her deepest expression of joy. Teaching dance is her calling, particularly the ritual Dance of Liberation she has developed from decades of immersion into traditions from around the world.
During a Dance of Liberation session, people tie on blindfolds (all the better with which to see the inner world) and then dance accompanied by music with trained facilitators holding the space and making sure everyone is safe. The dance is not about outer performance but expression of the inner heart. Dance of Liberation is far more than a blindfolded rave. There is a deep reverence to it.

Register now for the Dance of Liberation film screening and immersive experience:https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=18383&stype=-8&sView=day&sTrn=100000350
See it Now! The film Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet

One of literature’s most beloved works (it has sold more than 100 million copies in 40 languages), Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, has now been made into an animated feature film. It is scheduled to be released onto big screens in LA and New York on August 7 (and nationwide August 21). The Prophet was an official selection at Cannes and premiered in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014.

Written and directed by The Lion King’s Roger Allers, the all-star cast includes Salma Hayek-Pinault, Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina, John Rhys-Davies, Quvenzhane Wallis, and Frank Langella. Yo-Yo Ma, Damien Rice, and Glen Hansard contributed music to the lush score that is combined with Gibran’s gorgeous poetry. Hayek, and the team’s, passion for the film is revealed in every frame. Acclaimed animators from around the world created an unparalleled dreamscape to illustrate an inspirational tale.

For more on The Prophet, click here.

For theaters and ticket sales in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Encino, visit the film’s website Gibran’s Prophet Movie.

Rockstar Health & Fitness: Lindsey Stirling

Violinist extraordinaire Lindsey Stirling just graced the Greek with her talent. How does this powerhouse stay healthy while on the road? She dances (A LOT) on stage and she keeps it clean. As Lori Rischer reports, “According to Lindsey, ‘The way you treat your body is a reflection of how happy you are. It is so important to treat it kindly.” People ask her all the time, “How do you get so much energy?’ To which she answers, ‘I live a very healthy lifestyle: no alcohol, no drugs, no cigarettes, no fried foods, and no caffeine. I try not to pump my body full of chemicals, which just weighs you down.’ Read more about Lindsey here.

Accessible Yoga Conference in Santa Barbara

Conference founder Jivana Heyman, one of the co-owners of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, offers this advice for people who want to increase the accessibility of their yoga classes. It is advice we would all do well to remember, “ Offer Inspiration instead of competition. Generally, when teaching we offer a form of a pose to the whole class, and then if an individual student is struggling we offer them a “modification.” Consider a different approach: teach the whole class a modified form of a pose, then offer individual students other variations. Or, offer a few different variations of a pose and have the students choose which they want to practice. Remember, students want to please you and can be competitive, so they will often try to do the most challenging form you offer. Be conscious of your language in suggesting that one variation is more “advanced” than another. What is “advanced” Yoga anyway? My teacher, Swami Satchidananda, used to say that “Yoga is not just standing on your head, as many people think, but learning how to stand on your own two feet.” Read more here: http://layoga.com/practice/yoga-therapy/opening-the-door-to-yoga-students-with-disabilities/. Sign up for the Accessible Yoga Conference September 12-13 here: http://www.accessibleyoga.org

Cultivate Meaning at Esalen with Ira Israel

Many of us would benefit from learning how to dis-identify with the mental chatter in our heads and cultivate equanimity and non-reactivity. These qualities help us make healthy, long-term decisions and engender loving, positive, secure, and supportive attachments to other people. We must learn to transcend any blunt tools we developed over the years — negative self-talk, over-reactions, judgments, facades, fears, expectations, passive-aggressive behavior — and replace them with precise tools such as authentic communications, loving relationships, balanced lifestyles, commitments to personal integrity, and yoga and/or meditation practices.

In this workshop we will explore specific practices that bode favorably for creating meaning and happiness in our lives. We will determine our long-term goals and the skills we should cultivate to realize them. There will be all-level vinyasa flow yoga classes as well as restorative yoga classes, and we will practice myriad mindfulness meditations to cultivate non-reactivity in order to reduce drama and de-escalate conflicts. Most importantly, we will learn how to replace the resentments that our minds create with gratitude. Please bring a yoga mat.

Recipe: Golden Turmeric Milk

by Jason Wrobel

Serves 2-3 people

This drink was inspired by all of the new, natural products on the market that feature turmeric. I wanted to create something warm, nourishing, and revitalizing after my yoga practice. This Golden Turmeric Milk can be enjoyed hot or cold, depending on the season and your dosha. Served warm, it’s very grounding and feels deeply nourishing to my dry, airy vata constitution. Read the entire recipe here. http://layoga.com/food-home/recipes/superfood-spice-everything-nice/

Honoring Iyengar: LA Yoga App for Mobile Devices

We are excited to announce the LA Yoga app is now available for Apple and Android devices.

The app is a free download, and each issue is only $.99 or the entire year for $9.99.

Read our tribute to BKS Iyengar in the Dec 2014 issue on the LA YOGA App platform

Read the entire yoga teacher training guide through our interactive app platform with enhanced social media sharing and live links to programs and websites. Read stories on your mobile device or tablet and take LA YOGA with you anywhere for your research and inspiration.

Get your LA Yoga app now.