Your dedication and commitment to your yoga practice inspires everyone at Inner Fire Yoga. We wish you peace and happiness. Here's the latest batch of stars. Check out the website here for past and present Revolutions. You'll have to scroll down some.

 

Kari Armstrong, Karlen Balgord, Jennie Bayuk Yednock, Natalie Betz, Lauren Bliss, Kim Brilowski, Theresa Brown, Jill Casid, Diane Coughlin, Nathan Dowd, Teri Ford, Anna Fosnot, James Foust, Heidi Gaugert, Suzanne Gaulocher, Jacqueline Gilardez, Sarah Glazer, Meghan Glazer, Jerry Gobeli, Abby Hall, Amy Hallenbeck, Kendra Hogan, Emma Hynes, Nati Israeli, Wendy Joseph, Megan Kling, Sarah LeGrand, Rachele Malek, Erinn Morris, Evelyn Munoz, Samira Musah, Claire O'Connor, Erin Paul, Deb Peak, Carol Phillips, Janet Quamme, Michelle Reynolds, Karen Rigsby, Elizabeth Roesler, Mary Roseneck, Rich Schumann, Larynda Thoen, Natalia Vechkitova, Suzanne E. Way, Michelle Wilson

 

Sun., Sept. 19th · 1:30-3pm

This gentle class offers inspiration and bonding for cancer survivors. Class includes breathing exercises, slow arm stretches, healing yoga sequences, restorative yoga and balancing work that is appropriate for people during and after treatment.

For more information, click here.

Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox
with Darlene Vander Hoop and Joan Bliefernicht
Friday, Sept. 24 · 6:30-9:30pm

 

The practice of Yin Yoga facilitates understanding the value of acceptance at a deep cellular level. By holding postures without trying to change things one travels to the present moment, allowing joy and authenticity to arise. Combining yoga postures with the absorption of pure therapeutic grade essential oils enhances the process and renders it magical.

 

Welcome the autumnal equinox practicing Yin Aroma Yoga with us, and take your journey inward. Be prepared to bliss out with senior teachers Dar and Joan, listening to ambient world music, stretching deeply, yin poses, experiencing the profound scents of life. Beginners welcome.

 

"Just wanted to let you know, I slept like a baby the evening after our wonderful Yin Aroma Yoga Class. The oils and smells were lovely and the combination with the beauty of yoga moves was divine." Mary Fish

 

$25 by Sept. 21 · $30 Sept. 22-24

 

To sign up now, click here. 

 

In 1997 I found myself "between jobs", meaning I had quit my job as an investment banker because the hours and values were no longer working for me, and because I wanted to go to yoga teacher training.  I decided to go to Bikram's Yoga College of India teacher training because I was passionate about the yoga, which I had been practicing for four plus years, because I wanted the EXPERIENCE more than I wanted to become a teacher, and because I knew that if I became a yoga teacher and taught at my home school just once a week, I would no longer have to pay the $130 a month I had been paying  for years (that said, I paid for the entire training costs on a credit card, which amounted to over $7,000!)  I begged and pleaded with my friend Robin to join me in teacher training.  She did, and she then became one of the first official owner's of a Bikram Yoga College of India in CA that wasn't owned by Bikram Choudhury himself (her studio, which opened in 1998, is now called Being Yoga and is in Burlingame, CA).

 

Teacher Training was amazing.  I attended one of the earliest trainings ever offered by Bikram Choudhury, and it was grueling:  11 weeks in length, full time.  We practiced Bikram Yoga twice a day Monday through Friday plus Saturday mornings. That amounted to 121 classes HOT and INTENSE 90 minute yoga classes in 77 days!  Between morning and evening classes, we had classroom and/or posture clinic. The class room portion was really neat - we had very interesting presenters (except the anatomy teacher who invariably put us to sleep) including Ann Marie Benstrom, the (Swedish) creator of The Ashram (a famous health spa in the hills of LA) and who claimed to have invented aerobics, a heart doctor from Cedar's Sinai, a chiropractor nutritionist from HI who sang the praises of blueberries and lemons, the highly knowledgable and regal Rajashree (Bikram's wife) and the VERY entertaining Bikram (including videos of him on the Johnny Carson Show and of him being run over by a motorcycle while lying on a bed of nails in That's Incredible!)  Anne Marie Benstrom was amaZing, she knew how the energy body and physical body interacted (certainly not commonplace in 1997), and she could read anyone like a book just by looking at them. Plus she was 60 and had a 35 year old boyfriend!  The best part though, was the experience of being enmeshed in the physical practice and HAVING to do it - as a discipline - no matter what. I found out that my physical body is capable of doing more than I ever could have imagined, and that I had a lot of "emotional stuff" stuck in my body that was able to be released only as a result of intense discipline. In those last weeks, I felt as if we were all vibrating at a higher frequency than "normal", it was an indescribable feeling - delicious is the word that comes to mind.  Coming back to the real world after training ended was an adjustment that I wasn't prepared for.  Those of you who have attended a teacher training intensive know exactly what I am talking about. Ultimately, however, the growth is evident in how one's life unfolds for the better in the months and years that follow such an experience that starts out physical and ends up being truly spiritual.

1. To begin, sit in Virasana (Hero Pose) buttocks on the mat, between your feet. With an exhalation, lean on your hands, then on your forearms and elbows and, finally, slowly lower your back to the mat. Keep gazing at the ceiling.

 

2. If your groins are tight, they will pull your

front pelvis toward your knees and make your ribs jut sharply up toward the ceiling, causing your lower back and belly to become tense. So, press your front ribs slightly down with your hands and raise your pubis toward your navel. This will stretch your lower back and help drop it to the mat. If it does not, hoist yourself onto a higher support with the help of a folded Yoga blanket. Then place your hands and arms on the mat, angled around 45° from the sides of your body, palms facing upward.

 

3. You can lift your knees slightly away from the mat. This will help soften your groins. In fact, you can even use a thickly folded Yoga blanket to raise your knees a couple inches off the mat. Also, feel free to allow a little space between your knees, so long as your thighs are parallel to each other; but, don't let your knees splay apart any wider than your hips. This will put undue strain on your lower back and hips.

 

4. In the beginning, hold the pose for 30 - 60 seconds. Slowly, extend up to 5 minutes. To exit the pose, press your forearms into the mat and rise up on your hands. Then lift your torso up into Virasana, with the help of your hands. Lead with your sternum, as you rise up, not with your chin or head. Then, exit Virasana in the recommended manner.