With memories of summer fading and autumn already on the move, I feel the changing of the seasons in my core. For me, after all the active fun and bright stimulation of the sunny heat and long afternoons, there is a calling to settle in and sort of exhale – less jumping in the water and more looking at the reflections on the water.

I will be returning to Omega (www.eomega.org) Oct 15 - 20 for, "THE SIMPLE JOYS OF YOGA AND WALKING". It’s a different season and it will be a slightly different program – cooler, more reflective; no swims in the lake this time (except for the hardiest); more time for settling into the cumulative experience of yoga, pranayama, walking, meditation, deep relaxation, strengthening, and easy humor. The woods will be more open, the forest floor softer with all the leaf-fall, the days shorter, the walks less sweaty, and a feeling in the air of change and letting go.  I will be presenting new information of the techniques of walking, including more meditation walking, and bringing in some elements of Tai Chi as well.  So if you've taken this program before and are returning, you will find it different, yet similar – like seeing an old friend after a time away.

Here in St Augustine, as part of that more reflective urge, I have begun a weekly series of inquiries into the process and practice of awakening the heart of compassion. I am using the methodology systematically described in the classic, "Start Where You Are – A Guide To Compassionate Living" by Pema Chodrun, a well loved, American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and dharma teacher.  Based on the Tibetan Buddhist lojong, or mind-training practices, the basic premise is that we can make friends with what we habitually reject – in ourselves and in others – by learning to ripen what is already in seed form within, our naturally awakened and compassionate mind. The humor, realness, and down-to-earth wisdom in her representation of the Buddhist teachings help them feel like a natural extension of my own intuitive knowing. Themes such as letting go, emptiness, groundlessness, compassionate mind, cutting through thoughts, lightening up, and overcoming resistance are showing up more naturally in my yoga classes.

I will also lead a fascinating program at Discovery Yoga Center (www.discoveryyoga.com) Nov 11-12 – "ORIGINS OF CONSCIOUSNESS – The Yoga Sutras & Samkhya Metaphysics". We will be investigating Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and the ancient Samkhya Philosophy, the classic roots of contemporary practice. These two texts, from ancient masters of yoga, lay out an integrated view of consciousness, energy, and matter describe the pitfalls that create the endless wheel of suffering and present realistic practices by which we can learn to free ourselves of ignorance and be of genuine service to others on the way.  Discovery now has lovely accommodations at modest rates. If you are looking for a yoga get-a-way, it is a welcoming place to come.

I look forward to seeing you again, and hope the changing season brings you an abundance of joy and opportunities to share that with family, friends and others. 

I will leave you with this yogic practice sent to me by my good friend Lynne Greene. Although we don’t know who the originator is, the practice is very heartwarming and refreshing.

may you filled with loving kindness
may you be well
may you be peaceful and at ease
may you be happy

Enjoy and Namaste!
Christopher

Click here to email Christopher.

For detailed information on curriculum content, daily schedules, fees, directions, etc.,
please contact the host organization.

Click here to visit the AtmaYoga website

Sept 30 & Oct 1
THE NATURE OF THE SOUL
The Upanishads & Bhagavad Gita
Saturday & Sunday
Tuition $190

Nov 11 & 12
ORIGINS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The Yoga Sutras & Samkhya
Saturday & Sunday
Tuition $190

Dec 3
CORE TRAINING
Sunday 9-12 & 2-5
Tuition $90

Phone:  904-824-7454

NOTE:
Housing now available at Discovery Yoga. 
Programs at Discovery qualify towards 500 hr Teacher Certification

www.discoveryyoga.com

Oct 15 - 20
THE SIMPLE JOYS OF YOGA & WALKING
Sunday - Friday
Tuition (contact Omega) - Housing depends on choice of accommodations

Phone:  845-266-4444

www.eomega.org

First Lotus Breath
Seated (either in easy pose or kneeling in thunderbolt) with your eyes closed, open your arms in an outstretched position.  Take 3 deep cleansing breaths, followed by a round of 24 kapalabhati breaths.  Hold after the 24th breath.  Slowly exhale while bringing your arms into the prayer position in front of your heart.  This is a very slow meditative movement.

Second Lotus Breath
Hands in the prayer position in front of your heart.  Inhale while you slowly move your hands up the center of your body until they are comfortably stretched above your head.  Exhale as you circle your arms around (as in fountain breath) while you imagine gold light coming from your hands surrounding your entire body.  Finish bringing your hands back to your heart.

Third Lotus Breath
Separate arms out to either side, palms up until you feel a stretch in the back of your shoulders.  Inhale deeply while slowly raising your hands until they meet in prayer position above your head.  With an audible sigh through the mouth bring your hands back to the prayer position in front of your heart.  This should be one quick movement.

Fourth Lotus Breath
Hands in the prayer position in front of your heart.  Start kapalabhati while bringing your hands, still in prayer position, up above your head.  Hold your breath as you bring your arms down either side of your body, imagine a white light coming out of the your fingertips and surrounding you with white light.  Bring your hands back to the prayer position.

Fifth Lotus Breath
Hands in prayer in front of your heart.  Move your hands straight out in front of you like an arrow while still in the prayer position.  Bring your hands in a circular motion back towards your heart and then back pointing out like an arrow. Go into giving and send pink light out of your fingertips, sending your love out into the world.  Exhale as you point out into the world, inhale as you come back toward your heart.

Sixth Lotus Breath
Hands in prayer in front of your heart.  Do the same movement and breath as the Fifth Lotus Breath only now, go into receiving and see a silvery blue light that you are pulling back into yourself as you bring your hands in prayer back towards your heart.  Bring the silvery light into your heart and see it going into every cell of your being.  Every part of you becomes full of the silvery blue light.

Seventh Lotus Breath
Hands in prayer in front of the heart.  Start a round of kapalabhati, while bringing your hands, still in prayer position up above your head. Pause. While your hands are held over your head, feel divine energy before you.  This divine energy touches your fingertips electrifying them.  Feel the energy go down into your arms, body and legs.  Bring your arms down around either side of your head and body, surrounding yourself with this healing, divine energy.  Bring your hands back into prayer and touch the space between your eyes (your third eye) putting silver-blue light/electrical energy into your third eye.  Now bow down to the ground still holding your hands in the prayer position at the third eye.

Lynne Greene ~ Simply Yoga

In This Issue:

Christopher Baxter, RA, RYT - a registered architect (RA), and registered yoga teacher (RYT) for more than 30 years, is the author of "Kripalu Hatha Yoga". A founding member of Kripalu Center - the largest yoga training facility in North America.  He was also founding director of the Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association and was instrumental in the development of Kripalu Yoga and Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training.

A student of Buddhism since 1999, he is an active practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism in the Karma Kagyu tradition. He offers classes, seminars, and 500-hour Teacher Certification Training programs from his base at the Discovery Yoga Center in St. Augustine, Fl.  



For more information:

www.atmayoga.com
atmayoga@bellsouth.net
904-687-8482

atmayoga@bellsouth.net