​​​​​​​Cheryl Fenner Brown C-IAYT​, E-RYT 500, YACEP

introduction to yoga course

online course

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This nine-week series of classical and modern yoga explores how its ancient philosophy sheds light on our modern lives. Through 18 full-length classes, we explore one of the “limbs” of yoga and practice on our mats the related techniques. Learn how each practice builds upon the others, bringing us closer to embodying the goal of yoga - a union of body, mind and spirit and a more compassionate relationship with yourself. 
Each week includes three class types
  • Chair Yoga - A gentle class using the chair for support sitting or to help balance while standing 
  • Mat Yoga - A beginner-friendly class with a combination of floor work, kneeling, sitting, and standing
  • Adaptive Yoga - A slightly more difficult class with plenty of adaptations

Course Topics:

  1. Week 1:  Classical vs. Modern Yoga & the Yamas: Explore the difference between the philosophies of classic and modern yoga with an in-depth exploration of the yamas. These self-restraints guide how we can interact with others to avoid future suffering. Learn movement and breath that shed light on the concepts of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, conservation of energy, and non-grasping.
  2. Week 2:  Compassionate Self-Observation through the Niyamas: The five niyamas are self-observances that guide us in our interactions with our inner world; they include cleanliness, acceptance, discipline, self-study, and surrender. Learn how to embody the niyamas through simple movement and mindfulness practices.
  3. Week 3:  Finding Comfort in the Body through Asana: Yoga postures are the most practiced and well-known practice of yoga. Explore safe and simple poses that stretch and strengthen, ease aches and pains, and increase bone density and balance.
  4. Week 4: The Prescriptive Power of Mudra: Mudras are gestures of the hands that elicit specific emotional, energetic, and physical responses. Learn mudra meditations for creating intention, and prescriptions for common ailments such as anxiety and fatigue.
  5. Week 5:  Increasing Your Energy Levels through Pranayama: Pranayama, or conscious breathing, redirects the flow of our life-force energy into the subtle channels of the body influencing health at every level. Learn simple breathing patterns that create calm, enhance energy and boost mental focus.
  6. Week 6:  Cultivating Mindfulness through Pratyahara: Withdrawing the senses is the first step towards mindfulness and comfortable meditation; it helps move awareness towards the internal landscape of sensation, thought and breath. Learn why that short rest at the end of yoga class is often the most challenging and how to make it easier.
  7. Week 7:  Focusing the Mind through Dharana & Dhyana: Meditation is often challenging because the mind is easily distracted. Practicing dharana, or single-pointed focus may combat memory loss and help bring the mind into what is happening right now. Once the mind can focus on one thing, then we move toward allowing the mind to be absorbed in the object of focus by practicing Dhyana. Learn tools for mental focus including yantra, mantra, and body scanning.
  8. Week 8:  Reclaiming Calm through Yoga Nidra: Enjoy this deeply healing form of guided meditation that releases bodily tension, improves mood, and reduces stress. We will begin with simple floor stretches, use mudras to help us create intention, and
  9. Week 9:  Putting it All Together: The goal of all yoga is to achieve a sense of liberation, no matter what is happening in our body, thoughts, mood, or in the world. This week we will put all of our practices together in a well-rounded class sampling from movement, mudra, breath, focus and meditation so that we can catch a glimpse of the bliss that is inherent in each of us.