Instructor - Sarahjoy Marsh
Day & Time - Friday at 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
(Add to a Full, Saturday, Sunday or a Partial Festival Pass)
All Day Intensive with Sarahjoy Marsh, $125
This one-day intensive is for yoga practitioners, as well as teachers, psychotherapists, mental health counselors, physical therapists, and others in the mind-body medicine field.
Yoga and mindfulness are ages old practices guaranteed to awaken vital health, to promote optimal functioning of the nervous systems and the body’s innate intelligence, and to create the ongoing possibility of living a compassionate and creative life. Now consistently verified by contemporary research and exciting discoveries in neuroscience, we know the power of yoga and mindfulness isn’t simply anecdotal, nor does it rely solely on aligning with one’s life values or making healthier behavior choices. Rather, there is a tremendous reciprocity between our brain’s function and our capacity to leverage the power of yoga and mindfulness, and vice versa: as we practice, we shape our brains, intra-personally and inter-personally; and as we understand our brains, we develop a more elegant approach to our time on the mat, on the cushion, in our communities of practice, and in all of our relationships.
Morning: Vitality and Elegance or Lethargy and Disappointment: How Can You Choose?
We have the capacity to live vital and elegant lives. We can surf the arising of life’s turbulences as opportunities for evolving toward thriving, or we can use them as opportunities to live the repetition of outdated habits and patterns. Which you choose depends on a multitude of factors (factors with which you can have a relationship).
In this morning session, Sarahjoy will layout the neuroscience relevant to yoga and mindfulness including the triune brains, polyvagal theory, and the importance of sangha (community). We will explore asana, pranayama, chanting, and mindfulness tools as yoga interventions, daily nourishments, self-compassion tools, and paths to awakening. Specifically, your polyvagal system provides your options for responses to life, ranging from elegant to primitive, vital to lethargic. Yogic tools help you more deeply embody insight and understanding, transforming them into action.
Afternoon: Are Harmony and Happiness Happenstance?
As humans, we’re born with social brains. We rely on each other both to survive and to thrive. Yet, too frequently, rather than experiencing the harmony and happiness for which we’re wired for and of which we’re capable (and which we crave), we experience angst, conflict, or frustration with each other, whether our most intimate persons or the anonymous driver in the lane next to us.
Modern neuroscience has discovered a powerful root of human altruism, inner harmony, and compassion. Called the Compassion Nerve, the 10th cranial nerve (vagus nerve) innervates vital function in your body and mind and is also related to your innate sense of compassion, kindness, generosity, and altruism, toward others as well as yourself. Contemporary explorations of our attachment styles also illuminate the importance of attunement, relationship, co-regulation, and our ability to move toward understanding and harmony rather than the well-practiced and painful options of conflict, avoidance, coercion, and complacency. While Sarahjoy will lead Saturday workshops integrating two of the Brahmaviharas (equanimity and compassion), this session will deliberately focus on our interpersonal world and on Appreciative-Joy and Loving-Kindness, towards both ourselves and others. It is entirely possible to create intra- and inter-personal harmony and happiness! It need not be happenstance, relegated to the moments when others are behaving according to your needs, your agenda, and your worldview.
Please bring a mat. If you have 2 blocks and a strap, please bring them. A Chair will be available, if you don’t want to sit on the floor. Otherwise bring what you need to be comfortable on the floor.
There will be a lunch break. You may bring a lunch or go out to one of the nearby restaurants.
Continuing Education Credits:
This course qualifies for CE credits by APA (American Psychological Association) and Yoga Alliance. A certificate of completion will be issued for those who complete the full day of training and by DAYA foundation (www.DayaFoundation.org)
Location
Surfsand Resort Ballroom
