Stay up-to-date on the latest from Asheville Yoga Center with our blog! Meet our teachers and hear them share more about their lives and yoga practice. Read tips on how to integrate yoga more deeply into your life off the mat. Learn more about inspirational teacher training programs, and discover new ways to deepen your practice!
This month our theme at AYC is “No Mud, No Lotus,” drawn from Buddhist meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh’s inspiring words. The lotus can symbolize many things. The lotus is revered for the way it pushes up through the thick heavy mud eventually rising to open and bloom in exquisite
What I love most about teaching yoga is that it opens up a world of self-discovery and wonder. This journey isn’t just about exploring the Self and recognizing one’s worth and uniqueness; it also unveils hidden potentials that can heal, inspire, and contribute to a better world. As a Tantra yoga teacher, I believe that offering the right techniques and practices can empower anyone, enhancing their lives and benefiting our community. When a student connects with the timeless beauty and bliss of Nature and their own true nature, or when their Inner Sage awakens, I feel that I am truly serving a greater purpose. This brings me immense joy.
Dive into our latest Ball Blog where we explore transformative techniques to alleviate tension in your calves, shins, traps, pecs, quads, and psoas. This step-by-step guide combines targeted ball work with asanas to enhance flexibility and well-being. Perfect for summer, these routines will help you release stress and improve your body’s performance. Whether you’re preparing for a yoga session or looking for a quick tension relief, our guide provides simple, effective methods to rejuvenate your body and mind this season.
My initial experience with Yoga was a class with Jonny Kest back in 1999 in Royal Oak, MI. It was a Vipassanā meditation combined with what is now called Yin Yoga. We held each posture for about 3-5 minutes while focusing on the breath until we chose to rest. It helped me focus my attention and develop impulse control in a way that inspired me immensely. I went on to sit three 10-day Vipassanā retreats, traveled to India and completed many Yoga teacher trainings to teach it full time for the last 20 years.
I find the sacred union that we experience through yoga to be the most sensational feeling. To be able to hold space and honor these ancient practices in a safe and loving community is incredibly rewarding. I love supporting people as they grow and evolve, and sharing this sacred practice and goal of self realization.
According to Ayurveda, Kapha Dosha is naturally high during the transition from Winter to Spring, especially when the weather is cool and damp. Kapha dosha is one of the three fundamental energies in Ayurveda, representing stability, strength, and cohesion. It governs qualities like heaviness, coolness, and moistness in the body
I like to do a little asana test before I start, as a warm-up but also as a way to watch my progress. Then, I do the ball work on one side, then I re-do the asana, then do the ball work on the other side and then repeat the asana one short final time so that I can see the difference the ball work made.
When I was 21 I lived in Lake Tahoe, CA, and I took a vinyasa yoga class at the community college there. Amrita, from England, was my first teacher and after close to 20 classes doing the same poses and sequences over and over, I was hooked. I remember having deeply profound experiences in savasana at that time, and I never looked back.
A deeper intention is for our yoga practice (whether it’s gentler or more physically rigorous) to support how we sit with ourselves, our thoughts, feelings, and consciousness in each moment no matter what is going on around us.
What I find most rewarding about teaching yoga is that I get to spread this amazing and wonderful gift that nourishes peoples’ bodies, minds and hearts. I feel so honored that I am a vessel for this ancient wisdom to flow through and help change the world.
– Mary Oliver
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