FAMILY YOGA

February 11, 2012

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Year of the Dragon! 

Want to make Yoga a family affair?

Family Yoga is a class for children and adults to experience Yoga together. We will learn safe, easy poses and games you can practice at home. Using enjoyable games and storytelling, calming breathing techniques, and relaxation, Family Yoga will show you how to incorporate yoga into your everyday lives and make it fun for everyone.

TIME:  1:00 to 2:00 p.m.

COST: $20.00 for the first 2 family members and $5.00 extra for each family member thereafter

Please email how many are in your family group.

925-240-6864 or www.BrentwoodYogaCenter.com

MUST PRE-REGISTER BY NOON WEDNESDAY, February 8

(Two families must be registered to hold class.)



Unravel the lower body support structures

with Sandy Carmellini

Saturday, March 3, 2012

1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m

$60 Pre-registration/$70 at the door

The Hips, Sacrum and Pelvis are one of the main support structures of the body.  In this workshop we will learn to find ways to release, support, stabilize and increase the range of motion in the lower body.  This workshop will focus on poses to release tension, strengthen, and open the hips and pelvic bowl by using the therapeutic aspects of yoga.

Sandy Carmellini RYT-200  founder and creator of Brentwood Yoga Center is a graduate from the Yoga Room Berkeley’s Advanced Teacher Training program.  She has been teaching successfully since 1998 and has led many yoga retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally.  Her teaching style is Iyengar based, but her background in dance and education adds to her accepting approach in helping students realize their full potential.  She strongly believes in bringing the community together through yoga and self-realization.

NOTE:  This workshop qualifies for 4 hours towards BYC’s Advanced Studies Programs

Sunday, March 4, 2012

2-5:15pm

Fee:  $50 pre-registration $60 at the door

In this workshop we will look at the anatomy of the neck and shoulder, their function, and how we overuse ourselves and cause injury. We will learn to use various poses to unlock held tension in the arms, shoulders, and upper back, chest, neck and jaw areas. Releasing tension and increasing strength and mobility in the upper body helps to improve posture as well as circulation and breathing giving us more energy and vitality.

Diablo magazine’s Best Yoga Teacher in 2010, Diane Valentine has been teaching for the past 20 years. She is the director of The Yoga & Movement Center where she works with the therapeutic aspects of yoga and holds teacher trainings for certification and registration with Yoga Alliance. Also a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, Diane teaches classes, workshops, and retreats combining the therapeutic gifts of yoga and feldenkrais

Saturday – March 17, 2012

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $50 pre-registration / /$60 at the door

Yoga is a great way to work with the discomfort of arthritis because it addresses the symptoms of pain and stiffness associated with this disease, and also provides support to the emotional aspect of coping with this condition.

In this workshop we will discuss:

• Symptoms
• Therapeutics and value of yoga for arthritis
  

This workshop is appropriate for students coping with this chronic condition, and for teachers interested in learning ways to teach a therapeutic approach in helping students with arthritis. No previous yoga is necessary.

Bonnie Maeda is an Iyengar yoga teacher and RN. She is a certified, “Advanced Relax and Renew Teacher” through Judith Lasater, and certified by The Arthritis Foundation. Bonnie's teaching focus has been working with individuals living with chronic illnesses. She believes the practice of yoga has benefits for every body type and ability, and that this practice improves the ability to cope with a chronic condition such as arthritis. 

with Sandy Carmellini, creator/founder of Brentwood Yoga Center

Introduction to Backbends, Twists and Restorative Poses

Wednesday nights

7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

April 4, -- May 23, 2012 (8 weeks)

$160 (note: this price also includes an additional weekly class with Sandy during the series (an additional $120 value)

Come join us for an 8-week series and learn the foundations and principles behind backbends, twist, and restorative poses . 

This series is perfect for beginners as well as continuing students that wish to refine and learn more about the proper alignment in backward bending, revolved and restorative poses.  We will explore the use of various props and different techniques that help to stabilize and improve all of these poses making the practice accessible for everyone!

Sandy is a graduate from the Advanced Studies Teacher Program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley (a three-year training program with over 1000 hours of training) and a RYT (registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance.  She has been teaching yoga since 1998.  She has held many yoga retreats and workshops in California, Hawaii, Sedona, Mexico and Italy!  Her 18 years of experience as a corporate facilitator adds to her passion for training and educating others.  Sandy’s background in dance enhances her teaching style where she sequences movement and breath while focusing on detail.  Her instruction is accepting and fun and very educational.  Classes are taught primarily in the Iyengar method which focuses on creating healthy movement and balance in the body by using props (if necessary) to allow comfort and stability in poses. 



This workshop qualifies for 16 hours towards BYC’s Advanced Studies Programs



Sunday, March 18, 2012

11am-2pm

$45 pre-registration/$55 at the door

Delight in the art of Yoga Movement, an innovative blend of dance and yoga, a dynamic and invigorating practice, and a chance to enjoy group yoga movement. These seminars are for experienced yoga practitioners only please, and/or teachers. This method offer creative ways to move and experience the artistic, creative side of yoga.

Gay White, Gay White teaches yoga and an innovative blend of dance and yoga called Yoga Movement. She is currently Director of the Yoga Room and is on the faculty of the Yoga Room Advanced Studies Program. Gay has practiced dance composition and improvisation, tai chi, and yoga and has studied yoga at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, India. She has been making dances since 1975, and in 1992 founded the Yoga Garden Dancers, a group who perform original choreography using asanas.



Friday nights

7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

April 6, -- May 25, 2012 (8 weeks) $160 (note: this price also includes an additional weekly class with Sandy during the series (an additional $120 value)

OK, so, you’ve been to some yoga classes and keep hearing people talk about all those bones and muscles and you’re not sure what the heck that is or what’s so important about it? You are dying to ask, but there’s never enough time in class! No problem! Come join us for an 8-week series and learn basic anatomy (bones and muscles) from a yogic perspective of the arms, hands, legs, feet and head. Each class will include a short lecture, reading assignment, and yoga practice focusing on the topic of the week.

This series is perfect for beginners as well as continuing students that wish to refine and learn more about the proper alignment and anatomy for practicing yoga. This will be a practical series open to questions and discussion about the bones and muscles of the body. We will explore the use of various props and different techniques that help to stabilize and improve yoga poses and general posture which will improve awareness and accessibility to better alignment for everyone!

Sandy is a graduate from the Advanced Studies Teacher Program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley (a three-year training program with over 1000 hours of training) and a RYT (registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance.  She has been teaching yoga since 1998.  She has held many yoga retreats and workshops in California, Hawaii, Sedona, Mexico and Italy!  Her 18 years of experience as a corporate facilitator adds to her passion for training and educating others.  Sandy’s background in dance enhances her teaching style where she sequences movement and breath while focusing on detail.  Her instruction is accepting and fun and very educational.  Classes are taught primarily in the Iyengar method which focuses on creating healthy movement and balance in the body by using props (if necessary) to allow comfort and stability in poses. 

This workshop qualifies for 16 hours towards BYC’s ASP Programs

April 7, 2012 (Saturday) from 12-5 pm

$35 for the hike pre-registration required

plus bus/stage fee $30 (requirement by East Bay Regional Parks) price TBA

About The Park

All access to Vasco Caves is by advance reservation guided tours only. The Preserve is not open to general public access in order to protect the Reserve's unique resources. Vasco Caves Regional Preserve is home to a stunning and unique combination of resources. Spectacular rock outcrops break suddenly from the rolling eastern foothills of Mount Diablo, providing magnificent scenery for hikers and geologists alike. The Preserve's resources are extraordinarily fragile, and exist today because of the land's isolation and past efforts to keep it secret. The Preserve is home to several endangered species including the red-legged frog, tiger salamander, and fairy shrimp, and is habitat for kit foxes, eagles, and a variety of nesting raptors. Its robust grasslands are a successful demonstration of native bunchgrass restoration using sheep grazing. The archaeological sites of Vasco Caves Regional Preserve contain Indian rock art, part of a complex that reaches back nearly 10,000 years.

This guided tour will leave via the “stage” from Round Valley Regional Preserve in Brentwood

Michael Moran, our hiking guide, is a favorite at Brentwood Yoga Center! He has taken us on several guided hikes in the past and is the most delightful, knowledgeable guide! We love hiking with him and ALWAYS learn something new. You won’t want to miss this exclusive adventure  with him!

Mike is a Naturalist/Docent Coordinator with 16 years at Black Diamond., BA Recreation and Leisure Studies, San Francisco State, BA Geography and Human Environmental Studies San Francisco State, MS Wildland Resource Science, UC Berkeley, 25 years as a naturalist, in Alaska, British Columbia, New England, Hudson Bay, California, on land and on the ocean. Michael loves eastern Contra Costa County and the Delta - his areas of emphasis.

The practice of the evolving, revolving poses

With Sandy Carmellini

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Anatomy and practice of twists

1:00-5:30pm

$60 Pre-registration/$70 Day of

Twisting Poses will help restore your spine's natural range of motion, cleanse your organs, and stimulate circulation.

In many ways, twists offer us a return to Self – bringing the awareness and internal dialogue back to our center, also known as “still point.”  We become re-energized, internally and emotionally cleansed, balanced, and more insightful trough the practice of revolved yoga poses. Previous yoga experience highly recommended for this workshop

This will be an energetic workshop in which we will explore the spirals that exist within the body and learn how to gracefully utilize those patterns in the “twisting” asanas (poses). 

Sandy Carmellini RYT 200: Is the founder and creator of Brentwood Yoga Center. She is a graduate from the Yoga Room Berkeley’s Advanced Teacher Training program.  She has been teaching successfully since 1998 and has led many yoga retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally.  Her teaching style is Iyengar based, but her background in dance and education adds to her accepting approach in helping students realize to their full potential.  She strongly believes in bringing the community together through the practice of yoga and self-realization.

This workshop qualifies for 4 hours towards BYC’s Advanced Studies Programs

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Details TBA

Sunday – May 20, 2012

1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

$60 Pre-registration/$70 at the door

When the chakra centers are blocked or shut down, we become impaired in certain areas of the body, mind and spirit. This can be reflected in our emotional and physical state of health. In this workshop we will first learn about the 7 main "Chakras" (energy centers) along the spine/central core of the body and then focus on various ways to bring them into balance. A yoga practice including postures, breath-work and meditation will be incorporated into the day.

Sandy Carmellini CYT 200,  founder and creator of Brentwood Yoga Center is a graduate from the Yoga Room Berkeley’s Advanced Teacher Training program.  She has been teaching successfully since 1998 and has led many yoga retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally.  Her teaching style is Iyengar based, but her background in dance and education adds to her accepting approach in helping students realize their full potential.  She strongly believes in bringing the community together through yoga and self-realization. 

Note: This workshop qualifies for 4 hours towards Brentwood Yoga Center’s Advanced Studies/Teacher Training Programs

Saturday, June 9, 2012 from 1:00- 5:30 p.m.

$60 Pre-registration/ $70 at the door

Improved balance can be a benefit of yoga practice on a number of levels.  We can practice to increase our sense of equilibrium in our lives, to balance our natural temperament, to create more balance in our bodies between our strengths and weaknesses, and even to just improve our technical skill with physical balance.

Although we often associate an impaired sense of balance with aging, for most people it is a completely preventable phenomenon; we lose our sense of balance not because we are getting older, but simply because we are not using it.  Physical coordination is one of the four key elements of musculoskeletal health (along with flexibility, strength and endurance), and balance is a practical coordination skill that is maintained and improved with practice.

A good sense of balance also offers multiple benefits:

A stronger core, a more symmetrical musculoskeletal system (reducing the aches and pains that result from imbalances), reduced risk of injury, greater physical ease and confidence, and improved ability to focus on what is essential in the moment.

In this class, we will work with key elements of balance through a variety of different types of postures, from simple standing poses to inversions (or preparations for inversions appropriate to the individual practitioner) to the more complicated forms of balance found in basic arm balances.

Sandy Blaine, is the director of the Alameda Yoga Station. Sandy has a playful devotion to her daily yoga practice, and seeks to bring these qualities to her classes, which combine her experience and training in the Iyengar, Ashtanga Vinyasa and Kripalu methods.  Her writing has been published in Yoga Journal, Yoga International and Ascent magazines, and she is the author of two books, Yoga for Healthy Knees and Yoga for Computer Users.  Sandy is the long time resident yoga instructor for Pixar Animation Studios and as a wellness consultant, she has spoken at Kaiser and Google.  Previously, she taught yoga at UC Berkeley for many years and she is a faculty member of the Berkeley Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, from which she graduated herself in 1995.  Sandy is currently at work on a new book about establishing a personal yoga practice.



Saturday, June 16, 2012

1-5:30pm

$85 Pre-registration $99 at the door

Many people come to yoga for relief of back pain whether it be as minor as neck or lower back tension or as serious as severe scoliosis. Often the pain can be chronic rather than from a specific injury or condition.  Done with the correct emphasis, yoga asana can be extremely successful in alleviating the pain for mild or serious conditions. This workshop will address how to use yoga to increase strength and flexibility in the back focusing on the relationship between the spinal column, the pelvis and the shoulder blades.  Elise will teach both classical and modified asanas, which are particularly beneficial for back conditions such as lower back pain, disc disease, sciatica, upper back and neck tightness and scoliosis. Anatomy will be discussed as pertinent to the poses taught.; teachers wishing to enhance their skills with an emphasis on back care are welcome.

Elise Browning Miller, M.A. in Therapeutic Recreation from UNC-CH, is a Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher who has been teaching yoga throughout the US and internationally for over 30 years. A founding director of California Yoga Center in Palo Alto and Mountain View, CA, Elise has successfully used yoga to minimize the effects of her own scoliosis. She has published numerous articles on scoliosis and other yoga related subjects in Yoga Journal and other national magazines. Elise has studied on numerous occasions with the Iyengars in India and specializes in Scoliosis, lower/upper back problems and sports related injuries. She has also recently produced her own DVD and booklets, "Yoga for Scoliosis", the "Yoga for Back care" booklet, and a new addition of her book, "Yoga: Anytime, Anywhere" (can be found at www.ebmyoga.com). Her joyous personality and ease of communication endear her to students with a teaching style that is down-to-earth, precise and nurturing.

Elise began her study of Yoga in her twenties, an option she chose over having a rod placed in her spine. At the time, her spinal curve was 41 degrees and she was often in considerable pain. Practicing Yoga regularly since that time, she now finds herself pain free. Elise is much stronger and no longer depressed. “Yoga has given me a sense of being able to live the life I have always wanted to live” says Elise who now devotes her time to helping others do the same.

*Note – this workshop qualifies for 4-hours of technique practice towards the 200 or 300-hour Advanced Studies Teacher Training from Brentwood Yoga Center.



Sunday, June 17, 2012

1-5:30pm

$85 pre-registration / $99 Drop-In

Scoliosis:

This workshop is designed to meet the challenges of scoliosis through the practice of Iyengar yoga, whether it be a major structural scoliosis or minor imbalance. Participants will learn optimal yoga postures for scoliosis and how to adapt specific yoga postures to their scoliosis. Students will learn to combine the yoga postures with breathing awareness to develop more structural alignment of the body. Students of all levels may attend. This workshop is also appropriate for yoga teachers wishing to increase their knowledge of yoga for scoliosis.

Elise Browning Miller, M.A. in Therapeutic Recreation from UNC-CH, is a Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher who has been teaching yoga throughout the US and internationally for over 30 years. A founding director of California Yoga Center in Palo Alto and Mountain View, CA, Elise has successfully used yoga to minimize the effects of her own scoliosis. She has published numerous articles on scoliosis and other yoga related subjects in Yoga Journal and other national magazines. Elise has studied on numerous occasions with the Iyengars in India and specializes in Scoliosis, lower/upper back problems and sports related injuries. She has also recently produced her own DVD and booklets, "Yoga for Scoliosis", the "Yoga for Back care" booklet, and a new addition of her book, "Yoga: Anytime, Anywhere" (can be found at www.ebmyoga.com). Her joyous personality and ease of communication endear her to students with a teaching style that is down-to-earth, precise and nurturing.

Elise began her study of Yoga in her twenties, an option she chose over having a rod placed in her spine. At the time, her spinal curve was 41 degrees and she was often in considerable pain. Practicing Yoga regularly since that time, she now finds herself pain free. Elise is much stronger and no longer depressed. “Yoga has given me a sense of being able to live the life I have always wanted to live” says Elise who now devotes her time to helping others do the same.

*Note – this workshop qualifies for 4-hours of technique practice towards the 200 or 300-hour Advanced Studies Teacher Training from Brentwood Yoga Center.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

$60 Pre-registration / $70 at the door

The topic of sequencing can be overwhelming to teachers as well as those with a home practice. It is not only important to understand the technical elements of individual poses, but ways to string them together intelligently. You have probably taken classes over the years with instructors that sequence their classes in very different ways--some use the pose/counter-pose technique, others stay on one-side of the body for 15 minutes or more, while others build intensity in one category of posture (like forward bending or twisting) before moving to the next. There are many different ways to sequence a yoga practice, but the primary objective should be to create a healthy, safe kinesthetic routine every time. It really isn’t that difficult when you have the right ‘tools.’

In this workshop we will learn the art and science of sequencing poses in a simple, pragmatic way in order to maximize the benefits in all types of practices – whether it be an energizing or restorative practice.

We will learn proper combinations of poses. When should a twist come after an inversion?  When should you balance an asymmetrical pose with a symmetrical one? What poses compliment each other? And what poses are grouped in “families?” This workshop is for students as well as teachers who wish to develop a solid home and/or teaching repertoire.

Price includes handouts that list a variety of sequences.

Sandy Carmellini RYT 200,  founder and creator of Brentwood Yoga Center is a graduate from the Yoga Room Berkeley’s Advanced Teacher Training program.  She has been teaching successfully since 1998 and has led many yoga retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally.  Her teaching style is Iyengar based, but her background in dance and education adds to her accepting approach in helping students realize their full potential.  She strongly believes in bringing the community together through yoga and self-realization. 

Note: This workshop qualifies for 4 hours towards Brentwood Yoga Center’s Advanced Studies / Teacher Training Programs

A Rope Wall Workshop with Michael Lucey

Saturday, July 21^st, 2012 

2-4:30pm  $35 Pre-registration/$45 at the door

In this asana workshop, we'll explore how ropes can enhance the practice of a number of categories of poses:  standing poses, forward bends, twisting poses, inversions, and backward bends in particular. We'll use ropes in every pose, sometimes combining them with other props, exploring how they can make certain difficult poses more available, how they can take us deeper into poses where we feel a little stuck, how they can bring new intelligence to various parts of our bodies, and thereby enhance our possibilities for movement and freedom in our practice. Students should have been practicing yoga for at least a year and be familiar with Salamba Sirsasana and Salamba Sarvangasana.

Michael Lucey began studying Iyengar yoga in 1982 while living in England, and from his very first class has been fascinated by the many ways yoga can transform your relation to your body, mind, and breath. A certified Iyengar teacher (Junior Intermediate II), Michael has had the good fortune over the years to study with a number of senior Iyengar teachers from both the US and abroad. Joan White has been an important mentor for him, as have Donald Moyer and Mary Lou Weprin of The Yoga Room in Berkeley. Michael completed the Advanced Studies Program at The Yoga Room in 1993, and began teaching yoga classes there in 1992. These days he studies regularly with Manouso Manos. He recently (June 2011) made his sixth trip to Pune to study with the Iyengar family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. His teaching is clear and informative, with the goal of encouraging students to develop their own ability to explore what yoga has to offer. Along with studying and teaching yoga, Michael is also a professor of comparative literature and French at UC Berkeley.

This workshop qualifies for 2.5 hours towards BYC’s Advanced Studies Programs