Ongoing Classes, Level I-II, II-III, II-IV, Vinyasa, & Advanced(w/ Eddie Modestini)

The studio offers classes in numerous degrees of intensity and depth. We have structured the bulk of our curriculum to support students in developing a sustainable yoga practice through continual work in the foundational principles of universal alignment, structural integrity, and dynamic action. Classes here give students the tools to take long-term health into their own hands, so they become their own best doctors. We offer students solutions to chronic pain, injuries, emotional pain, diseases and on and on. Our desire is to help in any way we can to create more ease and serenity in our students' lives.

A central value taught here is the profundity of the breath and it's application in a yoga practice. Step by step, we encourage students to go inward, and get to know themselves in a more intimate way by penetrating the tissues of the body with an increasingly calm, watchful mind. This inturn leads students toward harmony through a progressive movement into self-awareness, which translates directly across the field of their lives in a wonderfully positive way.

NOTE:

1) Please come with an empty mind, and be respectful of the teacher by listening carefully and applying yourself fully to what they're presenting, regardless of your prior yoga background.

2) Please be clean (showered), and with clean clothes. A mild deodorant is okay, but keep scents to a minimum, as some of the students are very sensitive.

3) Please be on time. It is respectful of everyone's time and effort.

4) Please leave the studio at least as nice as you found it (which is really nice!).

5) Have fun, keep yourself safe, and enjoy all the benefits this wonderful art has to offer us all!

 

At Westside Yoga Studio, you will experience yoga as a traditional healing system. The basic breakdown of classes looks like this:

9:15-10:45am, Level II-IV and Advanced (9:15-11:15am with Eddie Modestini) classes are challenging to the student on multiple levels. The work in the Level II-IV classes is designed to direct regularly practicing students toward more complex actions and to engage them toward looking deeper by providing content that moves them into advancement in yoga. This sets the stage for students to begin delving into new frontiers in the inner landscape. Here we are beginning to build the students' threshold to eventually seek toward a more curious, explorative type of yoga practice by which they begin to notice and work with the patterns of their bodies and mindstreams. The work in these classes is very engaging and encourages students to dig deeper. They are fertile territory for regularly practicing students and teachers alike. Please be prepared for longer timings, and have working knowledge of Salamba Sirsasana, Urdhva Dhanurasana, and Salamba Sarvangasana and variations. They will all be taught regularly. Note: The Level II-IV here does not neccesarily mean that the classes will be very strenuous, but that the content is specific and requires a considerable level of focus and determination from those attending. Also, it is very common for the teachers here to see a need in the room and rewind the class to address foundational themes. Please come in with an open mind

9:15-10:45am & 4:30-5:45pm, Vinyasa classes are dynamic, warming classes that encourage detoxification, improve circulation to the entire body, build strength and flexibility profoundly, and work intimately with the breathing cycle of the students. Specifically, the 9:15-10:45am timeslots are designed for students and teachers with a regular yoga practice. They are very challenging and demand a solid level of foundational understanding in standing pose alignment, inversions, forward and backbends as these classes move through sequences of postures linked intimately with steady, smooth breathing. These classes are fun and fluid, and help students to develop endurance and grace in movement. Please be prepared for longer timings in standing poses, and come with a willingness to learn backbends and inversions.

11:30-1pm, Level I-II and Viniyoga classes are designed and sequenced for beginning students and students interested in establishing a clear foundation. The Viniyoga classes are appropriate for all levels, students with injuries and chronic pain are welcome here as well. The content will aim to build new students from the ground up, with specific attention on developing safely, learning foundational principles of alignment, and being encouraged in a direction that best suits the individual's pursuits. These classes are where people really begin to love the art of yoga. Often, it is here that people become touched, and are carefully supported to begin cultivating a long-term sustainable yoga practice. There is a range from very gentle with a therapeutic slant, to somewhat stronger for developing strength, endurance, flexibility and self-confidence.

5:30-7pm, Level II-III classes range in content and intensity. They are designed to encourage students toward more challenging content and to support them in finding a refuge in the study of yoga. Students who have gone through a year or so of Level I-II classes are encouraged to attend. The exceptions here are classes denoted on the schedule with moon symbols, which are gentle in content and open to all levels. It should also be noted that the content in these classes ranges based on the teacher on any given night. Students could be engaged in a class that is directed within the vinyasa context, where they are moving through an improvisation of sequencing sewn into the Suryanamaskar(sun salutation). These classes are more directed toward building internal heat and developing strength and flexibility. There is also a focus on watching the breathing as a measuring tool to help more closely moniter the intricacies of the student's internal experience while practicing. It is a key part of the movement of the student's attention inward, and a central aspect of vinyasa as taught here.

They could just as easily be engaged in a class that is more directed toward a specific area of focus, where the sequence drives the student inward toward focused actions and exploration of a targeted area. Occasionally in these classes, we will begin to present the content in more of a research atmosphere that will encourage students to start learning how to address their own aches, pains and injuries from a foundation of supported exploration.