Anahata Yoga Studio

"Karma in Action" event at Anahata Yoga Studio with Sol Temple

2010-03-19T15:49:00.001-07:00

Yoga for charity fundraiser @ Anahata Yoga Studio

with Sol Temple

Please visit http://www.karmainaction.net/ for more info

Recently Michelle Berlin, one of Anhata Yoga studio's staff teachers went to India and returned with an inspiration to start "Karma in Action"-a grassroots movement to help support Divya Prem Seva children’s orphanage, and to aid in the betterment and positive transformation of children’s lives. The orphanage houses young boys whose parents have leprosy, and cannot care for them. Divya Prem Seva has been a peaceful refuge for children with leprosy, as they are not only provided with education, medical care and shelter, but are also shown love and compassion, which was previously a void in their lives.

To help raise funds for Karma in Action we held a charity event at Anahata Yoga Studio.
It was a truly great evening with friends old and new. An amazing yogic band Sol Temple http://www.soltemple.com/ performed to our heart's content- the music was so incredible- full of unique, beautiful rhythms, we listened mesmerized, and felt our soul replenish filled with beautiful music..... An Acro Yoga performance by Ari and Scott followed, Thai massage adjustments were given by Ruslan, and at the end of a truly lovely evening we held a fun raffle with great prizes - dinner for two at the Standard Hotel, pool and spa passes, yoga class packages and personal training session among others. We truly appreciate everyone's generous contributions to the raffle !!!

Through donations, raffle tickets and proceeds from Body Up trunk show we raised $1000 for Divya Prem Seva. It might not seem like that much by Western standards, but it will make a tremendous difference in the lives of the children of the orphanage

Thank you Sol Temple for your Heavenly rhythms!!!

And thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who came to support us, and gave us the gift of their time, talent, hard work, and monetary donations. We truly appreciate all your kindness. Namaste!

***You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. ~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Michelle's EXPERIENCE AT DIVYA PREM DEVA MISSION:As I walked up to the Divya Prem Seva orphanage, coming past a long dirt road surrounded by farms, I prepared myself for what I thought would be a depressing and sad experience. It was Sunday, the kids were off from school. I walked passed all the empty classrooms, peeking in and looking at the pictures and projects the kids had been working on. I laughed to myself when I saw a colorful drawing of a huge, vicious looking dinosaur with sharp teeth and blood dripping down it’s mouth; written on the bottom was “vegetarian dinosaur.” As I entered the main hall where the children had their day of rest, they were distracted from their movie and all stopped to stare with curiosity and giggles. I have never before seen so many beautiful, smiling faces in one room. They decided they wanted to sing for me a song about India and a “welcome song.” I was so deeply touched and moved by these kids. I went around sitting and talking with the young boys and not once did the word “sadness” or the word “orphan” cross my mind. How could it? All that I saw were smiles, laughter and happiness. They don’t have much, yet these kids shined with so much joy that they had the power to transform my previous thought of sadness- to happiness in the deepest part of my heart. What the teachers and staff at Divya Prem Seva are doing is truly remarkable. I knew I wanted to do something to help them progress and keep up the great care that was being provided for the children.

Yoga Studio Colombia http://www.yogastudiocolombia.com/

2010-03-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Yoga studio Colombia workshops were just lovely!

Bogota is such a lovely city- beautiful architecture, pretty brick buildings each with aunique edge. Te city is very green, you drive up and down winding roads with giant mountains always in the background.

Our Hostess Anna and her beautiful baby yogi son Gabriel were truly Heaven sent, Anna was the most gracious hostess in every way, made us feel completely welcome and at ease and took the best care of us. There were workshops Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and we did everything from Yogic Arts to Thai and Gravity massage and everything in between- all were loads of fun, and the Colombian students loved them...

On our last night in Bogota Jesus and Catalina - Yoga Studio Colombia's students took us on a tour around the city. Catalina's narration was better than any tour guide could hope for. We went to the old city, where jesus showed us his favorite hippie square complete with musicians, storytellers, artisians and odd characters:)

We ended up going for dinner at a wonderfull Italian restaurant, and laughed and drank wine and enjoyed a very long dinner and fantastic conversation...

Although a short trip- this one was definitely one to remember, we'll defintely be back to Bogota, Yoga Studio Colombia and to visit the enchanting Anna and beautiful Gabriel and our new friends Jesusu and Catalina.

Shakti Yoga Key West workshop

2009-11-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

Key West is so quaint and beautiful, and has a very relaxed, island vibe...
We got very lucky with the weather- it was absolutely PERFECT!

As it turned out the yoga community there is pretty strong, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of Yogic Arts and fun Acro yoga. Shakti studio is lovely, with lots of natural light and warmth, open space and all around great vibe. Sofia, the owner of the studio was the most welcoming and gracious hostess, and made sure to introduce all the students coming in to the studio to one another. By the end of the weekend everyone has made some new friends.

We started of on Saturday with 2 Yogic Arts workshops-
Warrior Stance Salutations was first which consists of Vinyasa Flow, modern dance warm up movements, deep hip and shoulders openers, core floor workout. It was vigorous and lots of fun, and warmed everyone up for the second workshop- Floating principles & Arm balances. In this workshop we learned creative ways of building up core through rhythmic and dynamic yogic routines.

Definitely an intense day of yogic fun and a very serious workout :)

Sunday was the day for Agni Sara- my personal favorite workshop-a practice in which the body releases heat, burning away the toxins, worries and fears through creative sequence of uncommon poses. The element of novelty and surprise presented in this workshop, forces us to be fully present in the moment.
We finished the amazing weekend with the most fun, playful Acro Yoga workshop, with some delicious Thai Massage techniques, and flying sequences.

What an amazing weekend it was! Can't wait to be back at Shakti and practice with the wonderful group of Key West yogis!!!

Namaste
Ruslan