Yoga Healing Arts Camp
2004 Class Descriptions
These are just a few descriptions of the almost 50 classes taught at the Yoga Healing Arts Camp everyday during the main gathering.
Universal Freestyle Yoga
What is Yoga? Universal Freestyle Yoga asks this question and for conscious practitioners supplies the Keys. Drawing upon all known effective Yoga technology Universal Freestyle applies creative consciousness towards the goal of ultimate Liberation.
Art and Science both, Universal Freestyle Yoga challenges the practioner to work at the level of deepest pure potential. This pure expansive potential is represented both realistically and as poetic metaphor viewed in the cross-X-style mats. Potential is beckoned to open to all directions, with possible full rotations of the body and asanas in 3-dimensional space. This freestyle of Yoga also takes into account the entire range of possible movement for each joint and every muscle grouping in the body. All combinations of asanas are available to the conscious practioner of Universal Freestyle along with mudras, pranayams, and lesser-known techniques. These aspects of the practice are utilized and applied as tools to go deeper into (and beyond) the witness consciousness.
Essentially each and every aspect of the wholistic Being is taken into consideration from the physical to the energetical; from the emotional to the intellectual; all the way unto the transcendental authentic consciousness of Being. The unique free-style sequencing of this Yoga strives to effectively pierce these cocoons (or shells) leading towards the ultimate end result experienced in depth in Sivasana –that of the Divine Union itself. In essence the means become the simple goal itself- Yoga.
By Ranga Ma 2004
Anusara Yoga
It is a truly a joy to teach Anusara Yoga classes to the enthusiastic students at Yoga and Healing Arts Camp. Anusara Yoga is a uniquely integrated style of hatha yoga in which the artistic glory of the humant heart blends magically with the scientific principles of bodily biomechanics. Students find it spiritually and emotionally uplifting, as well as profoundly physically healing. I also enjoy giving personal therapeutic yoga sessions for those with injuries or specific needs.
By Gaia 2004
Yoga with Freedom
Freedom's Yoga classes are a blend of many styles of yoga as well as an integration of subtle body anatomy and Ayurvedic insight. He works closely with yoga scriptures like Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Shiva Samhita, Gherunda Samhita, Yoga Rahasya, and the Yoga Yajnavalka. Freedom incorporates these yoga scriptures into his teaching in a way that brings them alive. Most classes begin with reading and incorporating some of this ancient knowledge into the practice.
Classes are part static Iyengar style which has a focus on alignment and internal dynamics and part Vinyasa flow integrating movement from the Chaya Samyukta school of Yoga . This makes classes both aerobically and body-intellectually fulfilling. When working with alignment the focus is more on understanding the WHY of internal dynamics. When doing flows the focus is on pushing one to their fullest capacities. Yoga philosophy classes go deep into learning about yoga shastra (scriptures) and interpreting these ancient yoga books.
By Freedom 2004
Butoh Dance with Xylem Larla Dey
Butoh dance originated in Japan in very recent history, post-WWII. It is a meditational dance, often slow-moving, where the dancer physicalizes imaginary situations happening to the body. Workshops lead participants to dance a series of images including birth, death, and various ways of interacting with nature. The dancer is challenged to transcend thought, allowing the body to move itself abstractly. The two founders of Butoh, Hijikata Tatsumi and Kazuo Ono, created two different lineages of dancers. The focus of Hijikata was on rigorous physical dance, pushing the body to its extreme limits. The focus of Kazuo Ono was on the spectacle of contorted expressions and shocking theatricality. Xylem has studied in both lineages, and presents workshops for dancers to begin exploring the inner world of Butoh.
The name "Ankoko Butoh" translates as "Dance of Darkness"- the images of Butoh are often painful, the dancer exploring suffering and the edge of madness. Butoh offers an opportunity for healers to dance feelings of suffering that are often suppressed, creating a safe space for their own experience as well as opening channels of emotion in their audience. The climate in Japan after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led the dance to be viewed as the movements of the victims of the atomic bombings. The founders never linked the dance to the bombings, but butoh in the states has grown a following in politicized circles because of its association. Hijikata often spoke of the origin of the dance being intimately connected with the harsh elements of Nature in Japan, and so the dance as taught in these workshops is based in the body of the Earth. In Hijikata's words, "Ballet and modern dance fly from the earth, butoh crawls upon it."
EDGU
Edgu is a spine alignment flow that was developed by Jeffrey Redman. Jeffrey was suffering from back problems and intuited this program through many years of self exploration, and cured himself through this series of movements. It is designed to message the disks between the vertebrae, and to lengthen the spine itself. The flow is easy to learn and can be taught sitting as well as standing, making it accessible to people of different ages and physicality. Along with the physical series the EDGU journey is a soul cleansing. The story and movements are designed to clear and clean one's emotional body while simultaneously working on the physical.
By Indriya, 2004
AMERICAN TRIBAL STYLE BELLY DANCE
This dance style developed by Carolina Niriccio of San Francisco, is an eclectic symbiosis of movements with their roots from Egypt, Spain, Turkey, India, and throughout the middle east, with a San Francisco edge. It is different from other 'cabaret style' of belly dance because all of the combinations are designed to be spontaneous, without choreography. They are set off of a series of cues which the lead dancer passes on to the others in the group. This adds to the excitement of the dance form. The movements themselves are elegant, bringing sensual, feminine embodiment to the dancers.
By Indriya, 2004
CONTACT IMPROVISATION
The Contact Improv class is designed for students of mixed abilities and experience. Contact Improv is a form of improvisational dance which involves following a point of contact between two or more dancers. Partners "give" their weight to each other, creating a mutually codependent relationship of shared weight. We work on skills such as falling, lofting, rolling and integrating all the body systems to create a stronger base of support and a more beautiful dance.
Taught by: Liz Johnson- ejohnson@oberlin.edu David Brown - david@roundsquareart.com
Eclectic Yoga with Suzanne Weber
Eclectic Yoga is very much defined by its name. It is a blend of yogic and movement traditions designed to aid the practitioner find stillness and union within the mind, body and soul. I have studied an array of movement techniques and various yogic traditions. Seeing the oneness and beauty of them all, I felt it only natural and necessary to merge these forms into one practice. In Eclectic Yoga, the practitioner is offered the opportunity to incorporate various styles of yoga, pranayama (breathwork) techniques, and meditations to enhance the body's journey through movement into stillness.