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Yoga Tree Workshops and Retreats

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Regrowing Our Wings
Yoga for Healing Trauma -
Rescheduled and Online!
with Deborah King and Jennifer Kollasch
Sunday, April 5, 1:00-3:30 pm, $50

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Please note: This workshop will be offered online through Zoom. Please pre-register at least one hour prior to the start of the workshop, and you will be emailed a link to join.
with Deborah King, E-RYT 500
and Jennifer Kollasch, MA, LMHC, DDMHS

Trauma is an injury, in relation to an event or life situation, that overwhelms the nervous system, altering the way we relate to ourselves, and the world. It is not a story that simply happened in the past; it creates an imprint of fear held in the body, creating a chronic and ongoing set of adaptive responses that continue to tax our entire systems. This imprint can show up in many ways, and may appear to be only in the mind. However, research shows us that trauma is a physical experience and is held in the body, directly affecting a person’s thinking and how they show up in the world. For healing to occur, reconnecting to our bodies, their instincts, and their resources of feeling and wisdom can be crucial.

Yoga can be a wonderful tool in the healing process. The practice of yoga can allow us to create a safe space within ourselves to reconnect the parts of us that may feel severed or lost. As this reconnection occurs, yoga can teach us to calm our nervous systems with breath, physical poses, and meditation; and to gradually undo the chronic tension, pain, and emotional and physical responses resulting from the trauma’s imprint. Yoga also teaches us that we are already whole, and that our identity is not the experiences we go through, but the self that can touch on peace, self-understanding, and joy regardless of our circumstances.

In this workshop, Deborah King (E-RYT 200, RYT 500: Yoga Alliance; Advanced Teacher of Yoga Therapy: Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy) will lead a gentle practice created around tools for addressing triggers and symptoms of trauma and PTSD, while integrating information about the way the body and the nervous system hold and process trauma. No experience is necessary, and all are welcome.

About Jennifer Kollasch: Professionally, I graduated from Antioch University Seattle, a CACREP accredited university with my Masters in Mental Health Counseling. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in Washington State and a Developmental Disabilities Mental Health Specialist (DDMHS). I am trained in Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotion Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping) and Reiki levels I and II. Aside from my private practice I co-lead a quarterly workshop, Re-Growing Our Wings: Yoga for Healing Trauma, with Deborah King, veteran yoga instructor and healer.

Intro to Handstands and Forearm Balancing
with Kate Collins
April 19, 1:00-3:30 pm
$40 preregister/$45 at the door

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Taking on gravity in the practice of Handstand and Forearm Stand is an incredible way to shift your perspective, and build strength and confidence. Join Kate for an invigorating introductory workshop and break it all down into manageable preparatory poses and sequences. Learn how to use props and the wall to identify and encourage healthy alignment, and how to properly support weight and protect the shoulders.

Learn simple but dynamic core and upper body strengthening sequences, that when practiced regularly, will help you hold the poses longer...and eventually away from the wall.

Walk away with the steps you need to safely advance into an inversion practice! 
*not appropriate for students with shoulder, wrist, or elbow injuries.

Collective Grief
with Alyssa Pizarro
May 3, 1:00-5:00 pm
$60 preregister/$65 at the door

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Objective: To create a container for grieving the collective pain (no counseling or resolutions) using the tools of breath, mediation and the movement of our bodies and our energy.


What we will do: We offer an honest space to speak about collective loss and grief; so where there are death cafes, and grief conversations taking place in our culture, this grief workshop will offer space and quiet meditation with energy work and yogic movement to process the collective human pain we are all experiencing. We will create a space where we can gather in community to embrace our human grief with the opportunity to show up as you are right now. In the world, the collective pain is creating a human culture of numbing, anger and/ or overwhelm. Much like individual grief, when faced with grief and loss we often feel that we need to either push feelings down, ignore or deny how we feel (sometimes for ourselves just to make it through the day), and sometimes for others. This space of acknowledging collective grief and loss is an offering to sit with yourself and others who although their grief or loss might look different, they “get” it. 


What we are not: a therapy; I am not a therapist. If you are currently seeing a therapist or mental health provider regarding this grief/loss, please consult with them before attending. Triggering is real and while I want to offer a safe space, some topics might bring up feelings. I want YOU to feel you have all the support you need, so if there are any questions around this, feel free to reach out to me directly.


Who am I: I am an energy worker and yoga instructor with a social justice lens. I have volunteered in Respite and as a yoga instructor in spaces with grief and loss for 5+ years and have taken death doula courses with Ashley Benem and multiple trauma informed yoga teacher trainings. I have seen people stuck in grief throughout their lives and holding it in their bodies. I can see it, because I am too this person. For the past four years I have felt stuck in a state of suffering, where I can’t watch the news due to a deep felt sadness. My yoga practice, energy worker and community continue to help support me. It is this experience that inspires me to invite people into this same space. This will be a place for people who are looking to show up unapologetically and be in support and in community. The intention behind this workshop comes from a place of acknowledging our humanity and as yoga teaches us, what effects one of us, affects all of us. How do we learn to hold this and to rather than react, move this energy so we can be healthier and make decisions from love, not reaction? This is our yoga, and this is what the Collective Grief workshop will face.

The Alchemy of Emotions:
The Yogic Practice of Rasa
with Anne Douglas
May 15-17, 2020
$225 Early Bird by April 15/$250 after April 15

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The Alchemy of Emotions 
​The Yogic Practice of “Rasa”
Friday, 6:30-8:30
Saturday, 1:00-4:00
Sunday, 1:00-4:00
 
Whole weekend - $225 Early Bird by April 15/$250 after April 15
Friday Night only - $65

Emotions are your SUPERPOWER!  Learn how to harness the alchemical power of your emotions by mastering the subtle yet powerful energetics of the emotional body.  The ancient teachings of Yoga inform us of the 9 rasas, or essential emotional energies, that also correlate with the 5 elements and the 3 gunas that are the fundamental building blocks to creation.  

Modern neuroscience informs us that emotions are like "rocket fuel" for building new neural pathways in our brain for healthy behaviour.  Emotional energies can be positively influenced to establish radiant health and well being, in body, mind and spirit.  

During this workshop you will learn and experience:

• How to practice Yoga Asana with positive, health inducing emotions
• Pranayama designed to quickly release negative emotions
• iRest® Yoga Nidra for building new neural pathways in your brain that create the life of your dreams
• A profound yogic model for integrating emotions daily
• The bliss inducing yoga practice of Tandava

Anne Douglas is a master teacher, with 30 years of teaching yoga and meditation behind her.  She has been teaching yogic philosophy, teacher trainings, workshops and retreats since 1989, and is a certified IAYT yoga therapist.  She is the creator of the “iRest Daily” meditation program, has over 3 million listens to her meditations on the “Simple Habit” app and is the past Director of Trainers for the iRest Institute.  Anne’s boundless enthusiasm, depth of wisdom and gentle humour create fertile ground for inspired learning.

Yoga at the Wall​
with Jenny Rhodes
May 23, 1:00-3:00 pm
$30 preregister/$35 at the door

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Refine your alignment while discovering your strengths & weaknesses in familiar poses as we use the wall to guide & support us in this informative 2-hour workshop.
 
With each pose at the wall, you’ll enhance body awareness tuning into the muscles we over and underuse in familiar poses. In balancing postures the wall can help us truly “know where you are in space.” We’ll play with balance, inversions, opening, lengthening and strength-building with plenty of encouragement and feedback.
 
Plan to work, and love what you learn about your body and your yoga practice. After hard work comes rest and restoration. Enjoy a blissful savasana and leave the studio feeling refreshed, stronger, wiser and fully alive!
 
Not suitable for beginners. Space is limited!

The Map of Meditation​
with Jennifer Cabanero
June 13-14, 1:00-4:00 pm both days
​$120

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Did you know that there is a map that describes what can arise when we embark upon a meditation practice? There is! It is an ancient map that incorporates the secular teachings of many spiritual traditions. 

Regardless of what type of meditation that we practice, very similar experiences can arise. This map, like a periodic table of meditation elements, can be used as a navigation tool to orient ourselves and to support the growth of an unshakable inner groundedness that we will need as we move into the more spacious and timeless aspects of meditation. When the mind is oriented, we have a better chance of settling into our meditation.

In this weekend workshop there will be some lecture to help build an understanding of the map of meditation. The bulk of the weekend will be in experiencing and embodying the map through meditative practices. 

While we will be exploring this map through the lens of iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation, you won’t need any previous experience with iRest. 
There will be handouts and a free recording of our final practice to help support you in your personal practice.

This weekend is open to anyone of any meditation background and experience.

108 Sun Salutations
with Jessica Jobaris
June 20, 1:00-3:30 pm
$40 preregister/$45 at the door

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$40 pre-register/$45 at the door
 
Celebrate the Summer Solstice with us during this special edition of 108 Sun Salutations! 
 
108 has long been considered a sacred number in yoga meaning “Great Joy”. Traditionally, garlands of prayer beads, come as a string of 108 beads, mantras are repeated 108 times, and the average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Let's add to the world-wide ritual of adventuring into the Sun Salutation.... 108 times of course!
 The Sun Salutation is a series of 12 yoga postures energizing the solar plexus region, an important center in the body, connected to many energy channels including digestion, circulation and respiration. This solar plexus chakra, Manipura, is the seat of our will power, our practical intelligence, our individuality, and self-control. This is a practice that connects us to our center, building focus, discipline and determination. Not to mention physical strength, mental strength and flexibility!


What will happen in the body/mind during this rigorous ritual of 108 Surya Namaskar? Repetition can create a relaxed, trance-like state, which leaves us more open to deeper insight.


Don't fret! This isn't “extreme yoga,” and there will be breaks and modifications, of course. Please be familiar with basic sun salutations.

iRest® Yoga Nidra Silent Retreat
at Aldermarsh on Whidbey Island
with Jennifer Cabanero
June 26-28, 2020
$600 Early Bird by June 5/$625 after June 5

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Aldermarsh Retreat Center on Whidbey Island
6436 Maxwelton Rd.
Clinton, WA 98236
 
*Price includes shared lodging and delicious, vegetarian meals. No refunds after June 12. Refunds prior to June 12 are subject to a $50 administrative fee.
  
Silent retreat is a chance to connect with ourselves at a deeper level. With fewer distractions we become tuned in to our inner life, our hopes, and our dreams. We also become aware of the beliefs that we have about ourselves and the world around us.
With time, as the stream of thoughts begin to slow down, we experience mini-moments of true calm and peace. In this way, silent retreat can yield fresh perspective, and bring clarity to our state of mind. Coming out of silence, there is often a renewed sense of gratitude for ourselves and for life just as it is.


The ancient non-dual teachings behind iRest Yoga Nidra help us to reconnect with our essential nature; the part of ourselves that is grounded, whole and unchanging no matter what occurs in our lives. Retreat is a precious time that we can set aside to dedicate our selves to nourishing our inherent wholeness.


This retreat offers the perfect combination of guided iRest meditation, body-sensing movement, breath-sensing, sitting, walking, and co-meditation. It is through practicing meditation in movement, stillness, and with others that we experience first hand how these teachings come alive for us as a practice of life.


This retreat is open to students of all levels who wish to sample the fullness iRest offers for health, healing, and wholeness of being. Come prepared to explore stillness, movement, laughter, and delight.
 

Samskara: Yoga and Ayurveda Immersion Course
with Angela Glaz
June 26-28, 2020
$225 by June 19/$250 after June 19
This workshop is included in the YTT 200hr Training Program

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Friday, 6:30-8:30
Saturday, 1:00-7:00
Sunday, 1:00-5:00
 
Ayurveda, described as the science of life, is a five thousand year old healing tradition originating in India. It is the sister science to yoga and emphasizes the importance of creating and maintaining positive health.
 
In this 12-hour immersion course, participants will have the opportunity to learn the basic principles of Ayurveda and how to incorporate those principles into their lives and Yoga practice so that they can connect to their inherent health and happiness within.
*Yoga Alliance accredited for 12 hours of continuing education*

Who’s this course for:
Yoga students and teachers wanting to dive deeper into the sister sciences of Yoga & Ayurveda.


Topics Covered:
The building blocks of Ayurveda: The Pancha Mahabutas.
Your Ayurvedic Body/Mind type: Prakruti and Vrikruti .
Bringing Ayurveda to your mat: Meditation, pranayama, and asana.
Bringing Ayurveda into your every day life: Lifestyle, diet, and routine.


What’s Included:
Detailed manual
5 hours of lecture, 3.5 hours of group work, 3.5 hours active participation

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