Nov 12, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Albert Flynn DeSilver… Writer, speaker, retreat and workshop instructor.
We recently chatted with writer/speaker Albert Flynn DeSilver to get the inside scoop.
Occupation: Writer, Mindfulness Teacher
Hometown: Norwalk, CT
Current Town: Woodacre, CA
Where has yoga taken you?
Deep within to inspiration, divine creativity, practical realization, kindness, generosity and the heart of love.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Getting sober (long story).
- My first silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with the Thai master Ajahn Jumnian
- Reading Poetry in Paris with the great American poet Alice Notley
- Leading a mindfulness and writing retreat in Maui, Hawaii with Cheryl Strayed.
What do you never leave the house without?
a good book and a pen
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Freedom and flow on a mountain bike in Lake Tahoe in late July, lying in an Aspen grove above 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies in early October. Walking the streets of Paris in the rain.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Mountain, being, love.
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
Wake and drink tea, read 30 mins, write 30 mins to 4 hours, sit in meditation 30-60 minz, stretch (yoga), hike with Audrey-the-dog, get to work, eat, work some more, go for a mountain bike ride, eat, read, sleep, rinse repeat.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
“To see that I am nothing, that is wisdom. To see that I am everything, that is love. Between the two, my life flows.”
OR
Simply “I am”
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
Breathe, go for a hike in the hills.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I failed my year end review in graduate art school as a photographer, so I switched departments and eventually graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in “New Genres,” which meant I could go out in the world and create anything. . .photographs, paintings, sculptures, videos, installations, even words. After graduation and flailing around from gallery to gallery, I switched again and became a poet and writer.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
A standing meditation/skeleton scan because it guides you into experiencing your body in a primal, elemental way that breaks down perceived separation between self and earth, self and air, self and fire, self and water. You are left with just self as self, that which makes self possible!
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Reading or writing under a Madrone Tree working on my next book. On a mountain bike cruising singletrack trails, perhaps on a SUP paddling along in Tomales Bay, or hiking the hills of West Marin with my scrappy little angelic rescue dog Audrey.
Nov 1, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience
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At the 2016 Sedona Yoga Festival, I will be sharing (for the first time) how participant’s can best use Sedona’s special sites for enhanced Yoga and increased Energy Connection.
Each year Sedona becomes more and more known for “The Vortexes.” What are they, where are they, and is there any science that explains them? The Vortexes are geographical/topographical sites on the Coconino National Forest that can enhance yoga, meditation, mind/body vitalization, stress reduction, healing hurts from your past, and outside-the-box creative thinking and problem solving.
Sedona’s spiritual heritage actually goes back for millennia. The Spring 2015 Edition of the Visitor’s Guide published by the Sedona Red Rock News, states that archeologists believe the Sinagua (native people of this area from 600 – 1400 A.D.) may have held Sedona as Sacred ground, because their ruins ring Sedona. It is felt that they lived on the outskirts and traveled into the red rock area for sacred ceremony. (The vivid colors red/orange and greens ARE physiologically and spiritually inspiring).
Starting in the 1960’s word spread in the United States among spiritual seekers to visit Sedona’s high energy meditation sites.” In 1979 those locations were nicknamed “The Vortexes” and that shortened label has stuck. One of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s recent slogans has been, “Isn’t it ironic that the most beautiful place on earth is famous for what you can’t see.” The fundraising bike ride in Arizona for the MS Society has moved from Scottsdale to Sedona and is called, “Ride the Vortex.
The Vortexes are NOT electric or magnetic sites. There is no major electric or magnetic field difference at them. That labeling system was meant to be symbolic, NOT literal. The same is true of the masculne/feminine, and positive/negative labeling systems. It is more accurate and helpful to describe the Vortexes as Upflow or Inflow sites and match that to the topography and the type of prayer/meditation you seek.
I explain more in the video below… Enjoy! See you at SYF2016!
Pete.
[/vc_column_text] [divider type=”standard” text=”Go to top” full_width=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”] [vc_video title=”Vortex Expert Pete Sanders laying it down…” link=”https://youtu.be/OQECdxPyJ18″ full_width=”no” width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] [vc_video title=”Part 2 – UpFlow Vortexes” link=”https://youtu.be/67vSH5ilz8Q” full_width=”no” width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”] [vc_video title=”Part 3 – Inflow Vortexes” link=”https://youtu.be/5jRTswszXeA” full_width=”no” width=”1/2″ el_position=”first”] [vc_video title=”Part 4 – Combination Vortexes” link=”https://youtu.be/lSens5bgEaY” full_width=”no” width=”1/2″ el_position=”last”] [vc_column_text pb_margin_bottom=”no” pb_border_bottom=”no” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
Pete A. Sanders is an Honors Graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology with principal studies in BioMedical Chemistry and Brain Science. He is a 35 year Sedona Resident, the Founder of Free Soul (www.freesoul.net), and the author of Scientific Vortex Information, Access Your Brain’s Joy Center, and You Are Psychic!
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Oct 31, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Pre-Conference
I have been watching a dear brother on the path lately… Nick Hansinger, co-founder of Source Movement has been laying it down, Realzies these past several weeks. I have been inspired. There is something deeply profound available to each and every one of us, literally right now. The conundrum, oft mistaken as the Truth, exists in only the fact that humanity has become sensitized to a perception of reality, created over millennia, that is incongruous to… ‘what is really going on.’
Consciousness is seeking to take the leap and open into new experiences predicated upon soulfully divined and deeply intuited inspirations. We can all feel it. That deep knowing that propels oneself towards ease and grace in all that they endeavor in the world. The Divine support lended to that one, steadfast in Truth, is what most would call Miraculous.
We have evolved and will continue to explore the edge throughout time, and yet, the ancient scriptures and mythology points to a human experience much likened to human challenges we face today. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Yogis have gone before us and smoothed the path to our enlightenment; to our awakening. It is clearly defined and we are forging it anew in this fiery transformation of consciousness itself.
Heather, myself and the SYF Team have created the platform for your transformation. SYF, a consciousness evolution conference is truly the environment for exceptional growth and change… a transformation into the next phase of your life experience. Whether you have decades of practice or you are just drawn out of curiosity to this notion of a ‘good life’, SYF will meet you right where you are, impeccably providing the perfect teachers and classes to take you to the next level. Newcomers to yoga can experience Master Yoga Teachers, adept at conveying the simplicity of the practice, along with the astounding benefits of a yogic lifestyle, to all levels of experience.
The lineup of presenters, speakers and special guests, each bringing unique and authentic perspectives, were selected to share the many and varied ways to begin or expand a yoga practice. With over 77 presenters and 150 workshops, the fourth annual Sedona Yoga Festival is something to experience.
Our collective experience, cradled in the Sedona energies, will be filled with opportunities to release into the highest and best you. Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, pranayama, energy medicine, kirtan, and more will be the landscape of transformation amidst the spectacular backdrop of red rock country. Sunrise asana and meditation on the lawn, plenary speakers, forums, workshops & classes, blissful kirtans and a World Peace Meditation led by monks of the Dhammakaya Foundation and the World Peace Initiative’s Peace Revolution Project. We are the first ever United States event, blessed and supported by World Peace Architect, Dulce Ruby. SYF2016 will launch you into the stratosphere!
We have taken SYF Gives Back to new levels this year as well. Traumatic Stress: Resiliency and Healing with Yoga unites masters in the field of PTSD and Trauma and presents a holistic, deep dive training in the use of yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and other proven methods to alleviate the symptoms and heal the roots of post traumatic stress and trauma related illnesses. On the heels of previous years service projects aimed at supporting Yoga For Veterans and Yoga For First Responders, we recognize that the human physiological response to trauma is universal, regardless of the experience. This years training will provide proven methods to heal and resolve past trauma, alleviate and eliminate symptoms and lead a more stable and resilient life, along with expert instruction on all aspects of trauma and its affects on the human being. Focus groups, panels and expert testimonial to bring cultural competency various fields in need. i.e law enforcement, fire service, nurses, abuse survivors, etc.
Attending this pre-event training will prepare you to be in service to your family or community if you choose and/or provide insight, awareness and solutions towards the very real and oft debilitating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress.
Dharma. Service in Action.
Click Here for more information about pre/post-festival experiences.
This is the yoga event not to be missed! Feel into it and sense the Sedona experience that awaits you. You will be ever so glad you did.
Namaste.
Marc
Sep 10, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience
There’s this beautiful turning point…
in all of our lives where everything begins to click for us. Anything that is no longer resonating with our frequency, serving higher good or purpose, just seems to just dissipate and be no more – while everything we dreamt would be, IS, and we begin creating/manifesting so many more opportunities to live a fantasy-like reality & dream even bigger.
A few years ago, I was cruising through the commencement of this very point in my life (my awakening if you will). I had a clear knowing that I no longer wished to live in big cities modeling and aiming for fame, and meditation was beginning to take over my life (and trust me, no complaints!). It was then that I was driven to the idea to go on a life-long journey; but first, I just ‘had to’ make my way back home to Arizona, head north and be present at the Sedona Yoga Festival. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? How one thing, idea or mission turns out to be so perfectly aligned with all else – as if by divine timing, or destiny.
Having manifested the trip, made my way and aligned with the coordinators (Marc, Heather as well as Stephanie), I felt at peace and knew this was solely the beginning of so much more to come into fruition. The vision was there, it had always been. I love Arizona – it’s home and it’s magical – but even more so – Sedona is a place I can escape to & discover more of my Self and of the Universe, with each visit bringing to life new parts of mySelf and shining light on different aspects which need cleansing, healing, balancing, focus or simply… Peace & Love.
In short, am completely at awe with the energy Sedona holds, and as I was here amongst many others who too felt it’s pull – I knew one day, and soon, I would return to amplify that very energy.
As mentioned, I crossed paths with beautiful Souls whom I completely loved from the moment of introduction. Everything at Sedona Yoga Festival was what I wanted to do, be a part of, and BE. There were so many things going on throughout the weekend that lured me in – from yoga, meditations, healing, lectures, film screenings – this was it! I felt I had ‘found my calling’ and purpose a bit prior to then, but furthermore – and when I left that weekend, I left shining, brighter, inspired and DRIVEN to come back again with something to offer, gift and spread. That was the mission, and so the journey began…
Life and the Universe conspired/happened soon after, and before you knew it I had started a brilliant Self-Development Program online for meditation through Peace Revolution (a project under the World Peace Initiative Foundation). After completing the initial 42 day Self-Development Program that they offer online (free of charge!), felt beyond connected. I knew this had fallen into my life and path for something beyond that in which could be seen at this moment, and had a continuous strong feeling & knowing to fully confirm that very notion.
From then on, my meditative practice continued to evolve, and my drive & determination towards wishing to be a part of something so beautiful kept expanding. Having gone through the application process once before, knew there was still reasoning behind my desire for involvement. Applied to join in on their fellowship where ‘Peace Rebels’ then become ‘Peace Agents’, and this is what manifested…
I spent a few weeks in an intense (but pure & life-altering) meditation retreat and training with our beloved teaching Buddhist monks in Thailand. Joined together with 29 others from different countries all over the earth, it was an experience unlike any other I had yet had. Our days began before the sun rose; we meditated to welcome in the day, and did yoga upon sunrise at the scenic view to welcome in the Light & Life. We bonded, took in lectures, did activities – all of which taught us valuable lessons – and of course, more and more meditations throughout the day. So much peace was harvested, grown and prepared to be shared as we all channeled to our purpose of spreading sustainable world peace.
As the weeks past by, and my practice which had been put into motion for years now grew even more still & bright – I knew this was home. Beyond the beautiful views, people, energy and values – Peace Revolution, this group of people & organization, were precisely what and where I wished to be – and I was – and it all came together. I was going to be sure I was a big part of this project, and I was going to bring it with me as this ‘home’ was not a location, but more so a feeling of belonging, love of Self and others… this was PEACE.
Weeks, months, and now years, passed. Travels to India to visit His Holiness for teachings, Mother Theresa’s House and tomb for further study and research, Swami Sivananda’s Divine Life Society, cleansings, more teachings, International Yoga Festival, Holi, temples upon temples – visits to sacred spaces and places all over the world to meditate and absorb all of the beautiful energy to eventually come back to reciprocate, reflect and share with the world – it all came down to this very moment, our NOW.
Now here I am, grateful to announce and tell you all of the beautiful alignment which has come to be. I reached out to Sedona Yoga Festival not too long ago (after having been away on my personal journey since our last crossing), and told them all about my visions, and wishes to join forces of positivity, light and love for PEACE – and of course, they are all in! We have now joined together and begun to organize in bringing what shall be the very first Peace In Peace Out (PIPO) event to the United States of America, and will be having a Global Peace Meditation this coming year at SYF!
Am so excited and am ever so grateful for all of the magic that has come, and that shall be – thank you ALL for being here, now, with us. Do hope to see you all in person soon, raise vibrations & hold frequency together to aid in bringing world peace, home.
From my journey, heart & Soul, to your own – may we see that we are all One.
See you in the stars…
Dulce Ruby
Meet Dulce Ruby
Nov 19, 2014 | Sedona Yoga, SYF2014 Presenters, Yoga Festival Experience
Living in Sedona and consciously practicing what you preach it’s easy to forget how it is “out there” in the “main land” for most people… I get frequent reminders with clients from big cities visiting for tune-ups and their much needed “Sedona time”. I observe them arrive enveloped in broken grey auras, lower energy centers clogged with what seems like slabs of “concrete” – aka “survival concerns”, dull eyes, lack of presence, stress and drama addictions, constant dependency on their electronic devices, indigestion, anxiety, poor sleep. Their complexion is dull, eyes empty, health in decline. I welcome them, I embrace them, I speak… I know I will have to later repeat everything I’m saying as for the first few days they hear nothing except internal chatter about ginormousness of their problems. And so for the first few days they try to express to me how so important and absolutely unavoidable all of the problems in their lives really are.
And thus our work together begins… It’s a journey back Home, back to their Souls, back to who they really are. The day the cell phone is turned off or
left behind in the room, I know they are ready to embrace the transformation, this is the day of “re-introduction to self”. For those who are ready and willing Source works its magic through Sedona vortex energies, through me and the work that I do, through mystics and healers they meet here, through synchronicities and strangers who say “just the right things”…
Right information assists: becoming aware of conditioning, programming, limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging habits brings “aha” moments and tears to eyes where the next step is change and letting go of what no longer serves. Finding connection with one’s own Soul, one’s true nature, one’s Divine Guidance allows the “big” every day problems to “suddenly” look much less important. Hearing the gentle voice of one’s Heart brings in miraculous synchronicities, lightness and ease into decision-making. Focusing on joy instead of problems and suffering creates more reasons to be happy. A couple more days and the inevitable “aha moment” sweeps them of their feet with inspiration, excitement and determination for change: either big or small, and the “old familiar life” no longer looks like an acceptable option.
I observe expanded glowing auras, shining eyes full of life, tears of gratitude, re-awakened sense of purpose and joy for life, faces clear and radiant, physical sickness removed, years off their spirits and faces, Source shining through with all of its magical brilliance. Off they go and later letters come from the “main land” telling of changed, inspired, incredible lives.
Blessed are brave souls who seek change and transformation as when they do it is always assisted with and given. And so it is.
Feb 6, 2014 | Sedona Yoga, SYF2014 Presenters, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Pre-Conference
Time sure does fly quickly when you’re having fun! We are all working hard with stellar smiles on our faces and stars in our eyes as all the angels arrive and congregate to get this festival ready for you to arrive and delight in the experience of your transformation.
As you can see from the schedule above, we have a lot more going on than the festival itself. There are lots of free things for the community to participate in at the Heart Center Vendor Village.
If you are attending the festival, this will be the location that you check-in for registration. To help that process go smoother, we ask that you print out your ticket for easy scanning.
Please bring your yoga mat, your shining faces, an open heart, and a clear mind!
Our Opening Experience is taking place–THIS EVENING at 6:30 p.m. in the Heart Center Vendor Village. If you haven’t already, please take a look at the beautiful work-of-art that just so happens to be our program, where you will find schedules, maps, local information and helpful guides moving through the festival. To view the program, click here.
Much like a heart, the Heart Center Vendor Village has a flow and rhythm that moves in and out of the vendor’s huts, registration, John Soderberg’s sculpting studio, the outdoor stage, around a pond and
reaching out to the limbs of free yoga classes, local eats and areas to breathe. Bundle up and get familiar with the yoga community that is already forming around us all to create that beautiful lift and rise of consciousness.
Starting at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, filmmaker Suzanne Bryant presents her film, “YOGA IS a Transformational Journey” . Through this journey, Suzanne meets the most prominent Yoga Gurus and teachers in the west and travels to India to explore the power of this ancient practice. Along the way she discovers what YOGA IS. Be sure not to miss her Tea Time Fireside chat on Sunday at L’Auberge Cottage from 3:30pm to 5:00 p.m.
Chris Spheeris will moderate Friday evening where he will show his short film, “Facets of Infinity” that has been ten years in the making. A collection of stills of cacti and succulents folding into mandalas and kaleidoscopes come alive in the perfect setting of Sedona. Be sure not to miss his other offerings, including his inspirational workshop, “All you have to do is Listen” .
EMAIL: email Albert.
