Jan 30, 2024 | Sedona Yoga
by Jill Robinson
With the abundance of online classes and infinite amounts of accessible resources, it can sometimes feel that our personal evolution is a lone endeavor. At its extreme, cultural conditioning has led us to believe that transformation and healing are individual pursuits, outside of our relationships and community network.
Innately, we know this is an illusion. Many of us have experienced the transformative power of being held in a loving community as we navigate our personal growth. Our yoga practice, which is deeply personal in its unfolding, requires a trusting community to support and guide us. The experience of evolving and practicing alongside fellow practitioners can be uncomfortable in its vulnerability, but so often is a necessary piece toward realizing our higher self.
It’s not just in our personal practice that co-creative spaces are vital for development. When engaged within larger community, we are able to tap into an expanded field of shared wisdom, creativity, and even productivity toward community transformation. We are energetically nourished by being part of a larger group with a shared vision.
SYF Presenter and author Jivana Heyman reminds us that “transcending our individualism is a thread woven throughout the history of yoga.” Transformative change of any kind doesn’t happen alone.
Amplifying A Wave of Co-Creative Energy
Jivana’s words resonate with the Sedona Yoga Festival belief that “evolution is a collaboration,” inspiring a vision to create a total energetic transformation co-created by our attending practitioners. The Festival will be a launchpad for personal evolution, amplified by community support. The aim is to carry this transformative experience outward — in ways that effectively transform — after the time we spend together. Because the teachings of yoga are not about personal evolution and transformation alone; in our practice and intentional community building we have the opportunity to inspire a ripple effect of community activation. It’s why SYF has partnered with the Holomovement, to help support yoga practitioners in putting their elevated practice into social action.
The Holomovement aims to catalyze a worldwide movement that ignites a critical mass of individuals and groups to activate their purpose through inspired collaborative action that serves the good of the whole. Just like our personal practice is exponentially enhanced by being in community, so too does global change occur when we embody the co-creative spirit of collaboration.
As political scientist Erica Chenoweth said; “No movement that mobilized 3.5% of the population has ever failed.” That’s 280 million people on the planet aligned in co-creative collaborative action to heal and change the world.
This social movement, guided by science and spirituality in a unifying worldview, puts theory into practice through its network of Holons. A term coined by Hungarian British author and journalist Arthur Koestler, ‘holon’ refers to a whole that is simultaneously part of another whole. It is the tiniest, holistic part of the entire unit.
It’s an inspiring validation that ever since the Big Bang (or the Big Breath), everything, every living form, has been connected all along. Perhaps this is why our personal practice and evolution depends so much on the health and vitality of our communities. We truly are all in this together!
Everyone is Invited (and Needed) to Co-Create Change
Within the context of the Holomovement, Holons are three or more people engaging in a transformative project while sharing and co-creating with fellow Holon community members (and beyond!). SYF participants will have the opportunity to speak with stewards of the Holomovement to learn how to form and even register Holons as they emerge during the Festival.
Projects of all scopes and timelines are valued in the Holon community, as well as projects already in motion that are aligned with the Holomovement’s core principles. A few examples to get you inspired include:
- Meditation or Interspiritual Prayer Circles
- Community park, beach or trail hike clean-ups
- Regenerative farming or permaculture projects
- Mentorship programs or other nonprofit organizational work
- Yoga programs for children or vulnerable communities
In this social experiment, the Holon network connects organizations and projects around the globe to create a culture of trust and support opportunities to learn and share with fellow change-makers.
Members within the Holon network engage and participate within a community hosted by Hylo, an online platform designed to support collaboration. In this emerging space, we are all empowered to shape the trajectory of the Holon network through story-telling, revolutionary impact stories of innovation, online meetups, events and grant funding.
Perhaps even more exciting is that as members of this Holon network, we are co-creating the next frontier of community engagement, operating with a new worldview of interconnected wholeness. This is not a top-down vision, but the conscious tending of a symbiotic relationship, where we all are able to joyfully serve a vital role in a regenerative and compassionate society.
In this empowering and uplifting play-space it is unity, not uniformity, that boosts our creativity and potential for finding solutions to our global challenges. We don’t have to sacrifice our individual soul and calling. In this co-creative group consciousness, we have the ability to enhance both our individual and collective transformative potential to heal and change the world. Look for stewards of the Holomovement participating and leading conscious conversations about Holons throughout the Sedona Yoga Festival!
Join us in March for a chance to activate your personal practice and connect with an extraordinary community ready to take their personal practice into action. Tickets on sale now!
Jan 30, 2024 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature
We’ve all felt stuck in a rut in our lives. Most of us have experienced imposter syndrome, or persistent sadness, or a general feeling that we’re not necessarily walking the path of our soul — that we’re not, in more Vedic terms, living our dharma. It is never the wrong time to address these conflicting feelings, and to give credence to our deep personal truths. For Anahata Ananda, this moment came for her two decades ago, in her own “dark night of the soul,” as she calls it. She was going through what she now calls a “marital liberation” (also known as divorce), and “it was a big shock to my system,” she says. “There was a lot of grief. There was a lot of rage and pain; not only from that experience, but other things in my childhood, upbringing, youth, or young adulthood that never got processed properly.”
A Personal Journey of Healing
Anahata began a healing journey to address these problematic distortions, but looking back, recognizes that she was scraping together her process: reading various books, visiting various wellness centers, going to counseling. “It was not really working for me,” she says. “None of these were getting at the real core of the issues. They weren’t providing me different tools that I could shift the pain into purpose, and get myself out of survival mode to learn how to reclaim my power, how to clearly communicate, and how to set boundaries.”
This frustration set her on the path of shamanic exploration and learning, and ultimately would become the foundation for Shine Sedona — a Sanctuary for the Soul. Shine is a unique center that provides a welcoming and nourishing community to support core-healing, personal growth, and heart-awakening through the offerings of world-class Healers and Facilitators. For Anahata, shamanic modalities “helped me release my rage, release grief, open my heart, and see my part in my pain,” she says.
The Development of Shamangelic Offerings
Anahata’s signature Shamangelic breathwork, healing sessions, and other services encapsulate the essence of what she offers. “The shaman is not afraid to go and look and see where the density is, where the shadow is, or where the pain is. And I’m not afraid to do that. The angelic part is doing that with kindness, compassion, and tenderness by alchemizing the shadow work and the spiritual work,” she says.
Anahata tailors her services to exactly what someone needs, and then makes sure to be of support for what is released. “There’s time to support somebody’s rage, as well as time to just hold them in their tears and their sadness, and to create a safe, soft space.” The healing comes when, after experiencing this support, a person is able to step into their true power and facilitate their own healing.
Given the sacred, sensitive nature of this work one may expect that they’d need to work with Anahata for an extended period of time to receive the full effect, but she believes in facilitating efficiently. “I know that there is a sense of urgency to get at these things because until they are resolved or shifted or healed or released or realigned, they’re going to continue to create chaos physically, emotionally, energetically, mentally, and spiritually,” she says. “The ability to help someone expedite that process is really powerful.”
The Journey to Get Here
Anahata has been working in the healing arts for over two decades, and has trained in several different modalities. Part of what she now offers are trainings so that she may pass on to others what she has learned. Her training courses help people amplify and refine their skillset, build confidence and abilities, and provides tools that fit seamlessly with people’s unique natural gifts. “It really lights me up to be the healer’s coach, teacher, and guide,” she says.
In the same way that Anahata offers uniquely-tailored training for one-on-one seekers, there is a wide range of programming and learning opportunities offered at Shine. They do grief journeys, womb healing blessings, land journeys, private sound healings, among other things, as well as host retreats of all stripes.
You can get a taste of what Anahata offers by joining her at the Sedona Yoga Festival this March 14–17! Passes available here.
Jan 8, 2024 | Sedona Yoga
By Jill Robinson
In this season of our yoga practice we can lay the groundwork to “align to our greatest truth” in what will no doubt be a critical year ahead. This is our opportunity to engage the wisdom we harvest from our personal practice into purposeful action so that we may support and contribute to the evolution of our human family.
Our Yoga practice is one of many ways we can embody a way of living that values conscious evolution through purpose, love, collaboration and the highest good for All. By honoring these attributes of wholeness, we can embody and activate a critical mass of change — sourced from love rather than fear — and strengthened in unity, rather than uniformity. This is the vision of the Holomovement, amplifying the impact of personal evolution within a collaborative social movement creating a world where humanity and the planet can thrive.
Transforming the World Together
Group collaboration aligned in a specific cause or passion is at the heart of the Holomovement’s Theory of Change. Inspired by our cosmic building blocks to accelerate transformation, it is a movement activating a community of self-organized groups called ‘Holons’.
Holons are groups of three or more people aligned in a service-inspired project while engaging within the larger community network to share wisdom, support and resources. We can visualize it as a wave of exponential collaboration. Everyone’s participation is vital in amplifying our transformative potential.
The Holon Community Values that set the tone for this space include:
- Joyful Service (For the Good of the Whole)
- Compassionate Purpose
- Unitive Consciousness
- Radical Collaboration
- Transformative Action
Holons take action from a higher consciousness sourced from Spirit to consciously embrace and activate our unique roles in the Whole. This is why projects of all scopes and timelines are valued in the Holon community, as well as projects already in motion that are aligned with the Holomovement’s core principles.
Examples of Holons in action include a wide-range of projects such as global online prayer and meditation groups, community park and beach clean-ups, youth mentoring and regenerative farming initiatives. Your Holon might already be in action and ready to participate within the Holomovement in the form of Accessible Yoga classes or other non-profit organizational work.
Keeping the Festival Vibes Alive with Holons
Within our own Yoga community we have an extraordinary amount of wisdom and experience that can be amplified by collective intention. The Sedona Yoga Festival happening this March offers an exciting opportunity to activate Holon groups while embarking on a journey of self-discovery and community connection.
The Festival vibes we’ll be creating in Sedona shouldn’t be limited to our few days together. Fortunately, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn more about creating Holons and extending the wisdom of our Yoga community in a far-reaching ripple effect of change.
It’s uplifting to consider what can emerge from this gathering of incredible people when we put our practice into action within a supportive group. We all have a frequency that is activated when we take some sort of action, and these actions and energetic waves will in turn attract and synchronize with others to amplify a global shift in consciousness.
We’re thrilled to have stewards of the Holomovement participating and leading conscious conversations about Holons throughout the Sedona Yoga Festival. Join us in March for a chance to activate your personal practice and connect with an extraordinary community ready to take their personal practice into action. Tickets on sale now!
Lead photo by Charles Ruscher
Dec 18, 2023 | Sedona Yoga
The winter solstice is upon us, marking a return to the light and a natural evolution toward the sun. These days of darkness are seemingly mirrored in the world at large, as wars rage on, the news continues to peddle in fear, and the fabric of society seems to fray at the very seams. It can feel daunting at best — and impossible at worst — to find a sensation of grounding and calm. But in a world and a society that functions and thrives on this fear, joy and peace are an act of resistance. Coming together in collective consciousness is the beginning of a revolution, and choosing to live and love in the spirit of interconnectedness creates currency. That’s what SYF2024, “All Together Now” is all about. We can choose to live in love and interconnectedness. We can share our gifts and bring light to the world, even as it is shrouded in darkness.
It may be a return to the light, but this week’s winter solstice energetically ushers in the season of an inward journey. Just as animals in the wild burrow and tuck away for the colder months, so too our souls crave the sensation of hibernation by taking the time to focus within. As SYF Communications Director Lisette Cheresson and her co-author Andrea Rice write in their book, The Yoga Almanac, “The quietness of the winter season gives us pause to reflect on the roader spectrum of life. It is in contemplative inquiry that we can via life from its deepest depths to highest heights and begin to understand that difficulty and ease can coexist.”
To say — we cannot change the darkness of the world, but we can welcome the light as a counterbalance, and we can look to be it when we can.
Some yogis in the northern hemisphere consider the winter solstice to be a portal, in which our inner mystical sun is connected to our share sun as it reaches its lowest point on the horizon. It is thought that the sun has properties that may help to open and nourish the third eye; we have an opportunity to energetically connect to these healing properties as the sun dips on the winter solstice before beginning its ascent to the summer solstice once again.
With our third eye — our seat of intuition and self-knowing — energetically roused, it is fitting that the solstice comes toward the end of the Gregorian calendar year, a time in which many choose to set intentions or goals for the near future. How will YOU use this solstice to align to your greatest truth?
Explore it, and then share with your intentional community this March 14–17 at the Sedona Yoga Festival. Tickets available now!
Lead photo by Charles Ruscher.
Dec 6, 2023 | Sedona Yoga
If you’re looking for a gift for the conscious seeker in your life, look no further. We’ve put together a Giving Guide featuring our friends and partners — as well as some recommended nonprofits to consider for end-of-the-year donations. We believe that gifting can be an extension of the mindful ways you live your life, and we are committed to showcasing some of the most beautiful products and experiences that support those larger goals and beliefs.
Please note that this is just a teaser of all the extraordinary gifts we are highlighting this year. To receive your free Giving Guide in all its complete glory, please sign up for our newsletter here. You will receive your 2023 Holiday Giving Guide upon confirmation of your email address.
Please note: If you are already signed up for our email, stay tuned to your inbox for a direct link to download!
The Root Board is the perfect embodiment of form and function. It is made from eco-friendly and highly renewable Moso bamboo. Weighing 28 lbs, it is purposely heavy to provide a secure foundation to place your mat. Expect it to elevate your yoga-at-home sanctuary while providing the stability you need for challenging balance and inversion poses. The Root Board is meant for all uneven or soft surfaces, such as carpet, grass, sand, and dirt. It’s portable, so take it with you on your yogis-in-the-wild (outdoor) ventures.
Take $20 off with a coupon code you will find in the Giving Guide!
Kerala Ayurveda
Explore the power of Ayurveda by giving one (or all!) of these extraordinary products from our friends at Kerala Ayurveda. Guided by CEO Vaidya. Jayarajan Kodikannath — who will be presenting at SYF2024! — Kerala Ayurveda is committed to mindful care, preserving ancient traditions, and meeting modern standards for safety and effectiveness.
Nov 1, 2023 | Sedona Yoga
November is upon us, and it’s that time of year to take stock and begin dreaming about next year’s adventures. As you embark on a new cosmic journey in 2024, take time to embrace intentional travels that resonate with the rhythm of your soul. Imagine: a palm-fringed beach in tropical gardens surrounded by 189 acres of pristine rainforest, flowing together alongside fellow yogis, in a location and with hosts strongly dedicated to doing real good in the world. It’s not too good to be true! Soul Community Planet (SCP) is on a mission to connect you with authentic, sustainable, mindful adventure — and they’re bringing their magic to the Elemental Connections Retreat in January 2024, at SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge in Costa Rica.
This incredible and remote retreat combines adventure and relaxation with a convenient all-inclusive model. Reachable by boat through mangrove wetlands, you’ll find yourself tucked away on the edge of the Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula, known as the most biologically intense place on earth. Reserve your space in this exclusive retreat today to experience daily yoga, meditation, guided ocean and jungle excursions, and much more — surrounded by the pristine beauty of remote beaches, waterfalls, botanical gardens, and protected rainforest.
The retreat will be led by yogi and smile-maker extraordinaire, Andrew Sealy. Andrew has spent his illustrious career prioritizing the planet and true, holistic wellbeing and joy. “I love having the opportunity to lead Yoga and Nature Reconnection Retreats in the heart of the jungle, and there is no place that compares to the absolutely lush paradise of SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge,” he says. “From seeing whales breach the water while practicing Yoga at the Seaside Yoga Shala, to enjoying the fresh scents of blossoming flowers while meditating, to awakening to the sight of a sloth enjoying the sunrise; leading retreats at SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge is an absolutely incredible experience that I highly recommend to anyone looking to deepen their relationship with Nature and Self.”
What Is Soul Community Planet?
Soul Community Planet (SCP) Hotels was born out of a vision to help make the world a better place by serving those who value personal wellness, social good, and the environment. At SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge this vision comes to life throughout every intentionally designed detail, from the sustainable upscale villas and bungalows to the wealth of outdoor activities at this once-in-a-lifetime Costa Rican destination. Retreats are designed to explore and journey through the environmental elements. Each element — Earth, Water, Fire, and Air — is connected to a specific Yoga and Meditation routine and specific activity to emphasize connection with the natural world while deepening the Awareness and Sensitivity of Soul, Community, and Planet. The beautiful natural setting of our retreats and the intentional practice of connecting to the elements around us can provide a more grounded and present mindset for both instructors and retreat attendees.
SCP practices what they preach, too, through the impacts of the Every Stay Does Good® program. Through this program, every time you choose to stay at an SCP Hotel you provide well-being resources to adolescents, light the home of a family in need, plant a tree in an unnaturally deforested area, and more!
Learn More About SCP — and Enter a Retreat Giveaway! — at SYF
Stop by the SCP booth at Sedona Yoga Festival for a mindful moment to relax in their lounge, explore apothecary products from their partnership with Anima Mundi, and enter a retreat giveaway! The SCP team will have all the details on their January Elemental Connections Retreat with Andrew Sealy at SCP Corcovado Wilderness Lodge in Costa Rica, as well as an upcoming May retreat at SCP Mendocino Inn and Farm with SYF presenter Peter Sterios.
We hope you’ll accept the invitation to participate in this consciousness-raising conference March 14–17, 2024! Tickets available now.
