3 Opportunities in October to Dive Deeper into your Yoga Studies with me at Ramapo College of New Jersey

Compass Pose/Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana

   Yoga is so much more than taking your leg and putting it over your shoulder like I'm pictured here in compass pose. I almost didn't post this picture because I thought it would intimidate. However I remembered how good I felt when I took this selfie. I took this picture after practicing yoga alone and creating my October choreography for my classes. At this moment my heart was wide open while I felt equally grounded and content. This reminds me of a beloved teacher, Dharma Mittra who shared that he took selfies of himself in postures long before there were iPhones. He only shared the pictures where he remembers connecting to his highest self while in the poses. A moment where judgment doesn't exist, just love. Dharma Mittra created the famous poster called the Master Chart of 908 Asanas which hangs in countless yoga school walls.

   Practicing yoga is a multilayered experience where so much is processed and it's never the same practice. If you are looking to go deeper in your study, this month I am teaching 3 special workshop classes at Ramapo College of New Jersey. These 3 workshops are part of Ramapo College's 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training. Since the topics I'm leading are popular my teachings are available for you to drop into at the Krame Center on campus for $30 a workshop. Below are the workshops, their dates and times with descriptions. Please bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothing to move in. Also please visit www.ramapo.edu for more information.


   Friday   October 11th   from 6pm-9pm   Chakras


   Chakras means energetic wheels of light. In ancient India it was realized that there are energy centers within the body. These energy centers are responsible for letting a smooth flow of energy to move throughout your body. When they are blocked you can experience disease. When they are open and balanced good health ensues. In this workshop you will learn how to open the 7 chakras, how to balance them and the science of the chakras. This workshop is 1/2 lecture and 1/2 easy to follow yoga and meditation practice. Please bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothes to move in.



   Saturday   October 19th   from 2pm-6pm   Vinyasa Yoga Workshop- How to Create a Class


   Vinyasa is a style of yoga characterized by stringing postures together so that you move from one pose to another seamlessly using breath. It is commonly referred to as flow yoga. Vinyasa flow style classes offers a variety of postures and no two classes are ever exactly alike. As yoga has grown in popularity, Vinyasa yoga has been successful because it reaches a wide variety of levels who can benefit from either a slow, medium or a fast flow. The challenge is being the teacher who continuously comes up with safe and innovative flows, that stay true to classical yoga and keep people coming back for more.


 
    In this workshop:


    I will share and we will create sequences that have purpose.


    Examine the nature of the postures selected in the sequence.


    Understand why the postures in the sequence work well together.


     Refine and balance our sequences.


     Discuss how to notice the tempo that's best for your students.


     Please bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothes to move in.




     Friday   October 25th   from 6pm-9pm   Bandhas-Our Energetic Locks


     Bandhas means locks. More specifically the energetic locks that can be found within our body by controlling our breath. According to yoga we have several locks within our body we can contract to not let our energy spill out while we hold a pose and breathe in it. The benefit of having bandhas wisdom is that you will be able to hold poses and breathe in them longer, jump to the top of your mat from downward facing dog with little to no sound as well as be supported by your hands on the floor in downward facing dog and in arm balances without having your wrists and hands hurt. In this workshop you will learn how and when to use your bandhas while practicing yoga and meditation. This workshop is 1/2 lecture and 1/2 easy to follow yoga and meditation practice. Please bring a yoga mat and wear comfortable clothes to move in.

Remembrance Day at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center- Remembering the Pregnancy/Infant that Left Us

     Sunday October 6th from 2pm-4pm at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey there is a very special event called Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day honors the memory of a miscarriage, a stillborn, the baby that did not stay with us. If you or someone you know needs a dose of healing and community regarding this topic please consider joining us this coming Sunday. The Remembrance Day event consists of music, art, meditation, sharing your experience if you wish and lighting a candle to memorialize your pregnancy/infant loss.

     I will be leading the meditation and mudra making (hand yoga) portion of this event. I have been a part of this event for the past two years. Although I feel like I've accepted the loss of my last child, I find that when I'm at the Remembrance Day event and leave the event a great sense of love, understanding and another layer of healing moves through me.

    If you can't make Sunday's event please know there are ongoing meetings at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center regarding pregnancy/infant loss.

Open Your 3rd Eye notes from last week's Yoga Study Circle at Birchwood Center

Sunning my 3rd Eye in Tip Toe Pose during the golden hour.

      Last week I led the Yoga Study Circle at Birchwood Center in Nyack, New York. Here we focused on Opening Our 3rd Eyes. During the circle I shared plenty but I felt to share a few online notes so you could have a couple of lifestyle tips to refer to that will encourage that purple 3rd eye light of yours to shine bright and stay open.


      Find the sun. The 3rd eye is light sensitive. Go into the sun and gaze into it. A good time to do that so you don't harm your eyes is during the golden hour right before the sun sets. Even if it's cold outside, find the sun. The sun is life and will energetically move through all the layers you wear during those cold winter days.


      Question everything before accepting. You need to question everything you see, everything you read and hear. So much of what we are told is to limit us, to slow us down and get us to buy this and do that. Be inquisitive and use your discernment. Ask yourself "Does it feel right or wrong?"


       Read to expand your mind. Read articles and books that don't trash talk but are written to expand your consciousness. When you sit in a state of not knowing everything and approach things with curiosity your 3rd eye is opens.


       Surround yourself with people who you believe are high conscious beings. That's how you learn and grow. When you are around people with high level consciousness you start to open up. Find and hang out with free thinkers that can guide you to the next level of consciousness.


       Meditation and Yoga will open your 3rd eye. Meditation and Yoga is the art of absorbing yourself in the present moment. It gives you increased foresight. You will develop clairvoyance, the ability to see things before they happen. clairaudience, the ability to hear things deeper than before and possibly clairsentience, the ability to feel deeply.


        There's so much more to opening your 3rd eye but I hope this helps you feel inspired to go deeper down your path to learning and healing with yoga's wisdom.


        Please visit www.birchwoodcenter.com for their next Yoga Study Circle offering and much more!
     

Open Your 3rd Eye-Yoga Study Circle at Birchwood Center

   The 3rd Eye also known as Ajna Chakra is the 6th Chakra. It is located in between the eyebrows. It is an energetic center that can be made more powerful through yoga, meditation and other spiritual practices just as a muscle is. While a person's two eyes sees the physical world, the 3rd eye is believed to connect you to your intuition, give you the ability to communicate with the world with greater understanding and reveal insights about the past and future.

    Friday September 20th at 7pm-8:30pm I will be leading the Yoga Study Circle at Birchwood Center.  Here we will learn more about the 3rd eye from both an energetic and scientific perspective. We will do a few meditative exercises to strengthen and open it. If you are interested in this special teaching about opening your 3rd eye please visit www.birchwoodcenter.com for more information and to register.

Let Your Breath Guide You- September's Class Schedule

    When I sit down on my mat I immediately follow my breath. I imagine it as a guide who is leading me to go deeper. A teacher that encourages me to experience parts of me I never knew existed. Parts of me that are usually tuned at a lower frequency say "Hello Allison, we were waiting for you to notice!" I sense with every single breath there's an internal celebration of every cell as they receive my breath. I feel a wave of peace and healing wash over me. Eventually this use of my imagination seeing my breath as a guide activates a heightened state of observation where mindfulness is fully experienced.

     If you are looking to experience mindfulness, heal and whole yourself please join me for class where I will guide you to notice your breath and so much more.

    

     Here's my Weekly Class Schedule-



Mondays 10am Level 1 Creative Core Conditioning 1hr

An upbeat barefoot body sculpting class which focuses on strengthening your abdomen and lower back as well as toning your buttocks, chest and arms.

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY



11:45am Easy Flow 1hr 15min

A step up from gentle yoga with easy to follow yoga flow sequences and meditative moments. 

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY




Tuesdays 9:15am Level 2/3 Vinyasa Yoga 1hr 30min

Alignment Based Vinyasa Flow style yoga with Iyengar Yoga style peak pose breakdowns. 

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY




12noon Gentle Warrior 1hr 30min 

Like a level 1 posture class with Sun Salute variations, restorative yoga, meditation, breath work and no inversions. 

www.bamboomovesenglewood.com Englewood, NJ




Wednesdays 11:45am Easy Flow 1hr 15min 

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY




Thursdays 9:15am Level 2/3 Creative Core Conditioning 1hr 

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY




12noon Gentle Warrior 1hr 30min 

www.bamboomovesenglewood.com Englewood, NJ




Fridays 9:30am Level 2/3 Vinyasa Yoga 1hr 30min 

www.birchwoodcenter.com Nyack, NY

Yoga Playlists

Vasisthasana/One Arm Plank Variation

   We miss a lot of the details of life because we have a tendency to go fast. To run through everything . Our yoga practice trains us to go slower and notice what is normally tuned at a lower frequency. Going slowly helps us to cultivate a sensitivity which makes our life experiences much more rich and meaningful.

   If you need some ambient music to slow down to, my class playlists are available on 
Apple Music. Search my name Allison Egan Datwani or @allisonegandatwani

   

What I Learned About Forgiveness from Dada J.P. Vaswani

    I was raised by church going parents who gave me the complete Catholic education from grade school and into College. Spirituality was always a part of my life whether I understood it or not the virtuous seeds of love, forgiveness, compassion and gratitude were planted deep within my heart. By the time I was 20 something, I had some strong decisions to make that weighed heavy on my heart. This led me to a daily yoga practice, study, work and about 15 years later to my husband Amit. His family's Guru Dada J.P. Vaswani from the Sadhu Vaswani Mission in Pune, India came once a year to the New York/New Jersey area where I live. I was lucky enough to meet with Dada when he came to town, invite my friends to meet him plus support Dada's events in my area in anyway I could. I felt privileged and honored to be so close to a holy man such as Dada.

   As the years went by I was asked to do a little more. I always jumped to it because all I saw was good when it came to Dada and the Mission. The Mission was aware of my blog Glamorous Yogini and asked me to write a post about Forgiveness. It was explained to me that August 2nd is Dada's birthday and it is his wish at 2pm wherever you are in the world on that day for 2 minutes to reflect on forgiving someone. This day has become Global Forgiveness Day. Imagine this wave of positivity! Sadly I was not able to write that Forgiveness post. I remember writing to my friends at The Sadhu Vaswani Mission saying I was sorry and was practicing forgiving myself for not doing it. I share this with you because finding forgiveness is not easy. Having this feeling to push forgiving another to the side is a very human and real response.

    I eventually came to learn the power that comes with embodying the teaching of forgiveness. This enabled me to write about forgiveness and I now find it to be an easier topic to ponder. I say this after meeting Dada several years ago. Here he told me it is very important to forgive if you are looking to transform and move forward in your life. If you don't forgive you carry a heavy burden within your heart. A wound that hurts only one person and that person is you. Your peace and happiness is waiting for you. You have a choice to find it if you let go.

   Fortunately Dada has written countless books on the topic plus there's YouTube clips you can listen to. I hope this personal account has inspired you to participate in finding forgiveness this coming Friday August 2nd at 2pm for 2 minutes. Please visit momentofcalm.org to learn more about Global Forgiveness Day.