Nov 13, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Kriya Yogini Camella (Swami Nibhrtananda)
We recently chatted with Camella… Her Aqua Kriya Yoga Certification is super cool!
Occupation: Yoga educator, Swami, Ayurvedic Health Educator, Home Funeral Doula, Author.
Hometown: Bedford England
Current Town: San Jose, CA
Where has yoga taken you?
Exoterically to India, across America and Mexico. More importantly though, esoterically to a higher plane, transcendent of time and space. Yoga is not the only path to enlightenment, but it is a safe and sure route. You don’t need a suitcase or passport either.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Becoming ordained as a Swami in an unbroken line of teachers. Several years before Goswami Kriyananda died, he instructed the women of the sanga to reach out and help other women. I hope that I am making some headway in this field as it is much needed in our society today, with women being so busy and stressed.
- Teaching amongst a lineup of well-known yoga professionals at the Bermuda Conference. It was a bit intimidating at first until I realized that they are just doing a job they love, and still have a personality of their own. A bit like the rest of us.
- Officiating at a friend’s mother’s funeral, which lead to me getting trained in Home Funerals. I am really focusing on the final klesha of ‘clinging to the physical body’ at this stage of my career as I think it is sadly lacking in the yoga world.
- Getting my books published and training programs established. Such an incredible amount of work and sacrifice, but I feel proud that they are perhaps what the male forbearers’ in my lineage would have taught if they were women.
What do you never leave the house without?
I feel lost without a bag with ‘stuff in it’. I don’t know how men do it. It is super though when you dig in there and find something useful in the moment for me, the kids or someone else.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Anywhere near water, or in Nature generally. Looking out of the window of an aircraft, special days like Christmas, womens’ circle events, Celebrations around the Solstice’s. Yoga retreats.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Earth – Saturn – Capricorn
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
If I am not teaching, a walk by the Baylands and meditation is a great start to my day. If not, then a shower and cup of tea before setting off to teach yoga. My practice is my life these days rather than a formal personal asana practice that I used to do for years. I am far less of an evangelical yogi and I think that’s a good thing.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
Om Nama Shivaya seems to crop up again and again when least expected even though I love the Gayatri.
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
I try not to be too serious. Being childlike is great as long as it’s not childish. A huge difference in terms of self-awareness.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I have a house rabbit called Fonz that I adore.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
Tadasana or mountain pose because it really is the reference asana for a balanced life. Swamaji used to tell us that the greatest asana is “learning how to stand on your own two feet.” There really are lots of people who like to blame other people for their lot in life and are stuck in fear, greed and anger.
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Swimming, taking a walk, in the Korean spa (not often enough) or of course in the pool teaching Aqua yoga.
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 11, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Festival, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Isabella Greene, Ze Happinator. Remote Spiritual Healer, Happiness Coach, Mystic and Teacher
We recently chatted with Remote Spiritual Healer, Isabella Greene. Recent expansions and up-leveling have been keeping her happily… busy. She is constantly asking the Universe for more.
Occupation: Life & Happiness Coach, Energy Healer, Remote Spiritual Soul Healer, Mystic, Teacher
Hometown: St. Petersburg, Russia; New York, NY
Current Town: Sedona, AZ
Where has yoga taken you?
Yoga has opened the door into my journey back to self. It was during yoga practice that I first started experiencing the depth of meditation and most profound visions. Yoga helped me calm my mind and find balance between my body and my soul. It helped me build a strong connection between my body and my mind, something that was missing for me throughout my entire pre-yoga life. It also showed me peacefulness that I was unable to find anywhere else and it led me to finding my life’s passion. It also helped me calm my “edges”. When I first started doing yoga in 2006 I was in a very aggressive Karate training, but shortly thereafter I was no longer able to enjoy it. I no longer had the drive to spar and to fight people: the anger and the edge that originally brought me to taking Karate was no longer there. I dropped Karate and stayed with yoga.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- I worked in Financial Services Industry for over 10 years. I didn’t enjoy it much, but I didn’t have the guts to leave: it was comfortable and I didn’t know what else I could do with myself. One day in 2009 they laid me off with a year of “free” pay: that was the best thing that happened to me. In that year I had time to really look at my life and make better, more coherent choices.
- One day coming from yoga practice I had a strong feeling to walk home instead of taking a New York City subway. The practice that day was outstanding for me, I was quite “in the zone” on my long walk. Suddenly I had a feeling to stop at a place I barely knew, but the “inner voice” was so strong I followed. As I walked in, there was only one other person there, someone who turned out to be the kind of person I’ve never met before: spiritual healer. The conversation that resulted had me on the plain to Life Coaching School less than a week later and two month after that I took a call from my very first client. This is how my coaching and healing practice started. And I am forever grateful to yoga for that.
My visit to Sedona came together “quite unexpectedly” in 2012. Three days there and I knew I was moving. After I moved to Sedona I focused on my spiritual practice and mediations with all my might and two months into it remembered that I had remote viewing ability since I was a teen. Excited, I started playing with it, it was so much fun! Then the crisis hit: my Mother was very ill and I wanted to help her, but she was all the way across the world! I went to “remote view” her in the hospital and something incredible happened: something I had no explanation for at that time. I had the most profound vision during which my Mom suddenly recovered! This is how I learned to do what I do now. Helping my Mom was my very first remote healing session.- My meditation practice is really intense; it led me into Kundalini and pineal gland activation. This resulted in my being guided to and “teaching myself” how to do really advanced remote Soul Healing work and also in person sessions. Due to this new knowing, my practice has expanded dramatically; I now have clients all over the world, doing my work for the Planet one person at a time. And I am forever grateful to that life changing walk after yoga
What do you never leave the house without?
My purse. It’s a girl thing. Also water, I always have water with me.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Nature. Middle of nowhere – the more remote the better. This is relatively new for me as I was very much a big city girl and traveler before Sedona. But now all I want to do it camp in the wilderness.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Balance, peace, harmony
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
I do my 1,5 hr long meditations at 3:30AM, then take a couple of hours of lucid dreaming, then up around 7:30 or 8 and right into remote healing sessions. Clearing practice after that, then coaching clients and in person sessions in the afternoon. I don’t have breakfast till about 11AM usually.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
“All in Divine Order” and also “Following the invisible into the unknown”
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
I AM a 5 year old! Just ask my boyfriend!
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I loooove motorcycles! Nothing like a nice solid loud Harley ride, especially on an empty road with magnificent nature views!
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
I do not teach yoga, but my favorite pose is reclining hero. I can stay in it forever! Took me a long time to get there and I just love how it feels on my knees!
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
In my Sacred space, most likely, which is my house and garden: writing, reading, doing research, listening to workshops on line, dancing, blissing out, doing nothing.
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 26, 2015 | Sedona Yoga, Sedona Yoga Festival Teacher Feature, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Interviews
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Meet Denise Thompson, aka Yogirunner, Teacher and Vice President of Group Fitness at Mountainside Fitness
We recently chatted with yogi, teacher and corporate exec, Denise Thompson – AKA Yogirunner, to find out just how she keeps it all together in a fast-paced life…
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Find me as Yogirunner on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
PINTEREST: Yogirunner
Occupation: Vice President of Group Fitness – Mountainside Fitness & Fit Republic
Hometown: Santa Fe, NM
Current Town: Phoenix, AZ
Where has yoga taken you?
Yoga has taken me to the real me! I finally realize, understand, accept and appreciate exactly who I am. I honor and respect that person.
What are the 4 most pivotal occasions in your career both in and outside of Yoga?
- Jumping from Corporate Wellness to Pharmaceutical Sales (chasing the almighty dollar)
- Realizing it was more important to do what I love than focusing on the dollar – LEAVING pharma sales
- Moving from a fitness focus to a Mind/Body focus
- Making Yoga part of my personal and professional life.
What do you never leave the house without?
I never leave the house without my phone and my Yoga mat.
Where are your favorite places to experience?
Sedona and Kauai are among my two favorite spots on this earth.
What are the first three words that come to your mind when someone says: “grounded” or “connected?”
Truth, Consciousness, One
We want to know what your typical morning looks like! What does your daily practice look like?
I wake up at 5A everyday. I grab a cup of coffee and check email/social media. By 5:45A I start my daily practice in my Buddha Lounge. I get the kids up at 6:45A, make breakfast and have them to school by 8A. My workday THEN begins.
What is one mantra that is like a remedy for your soul?
To Thine Own Self Be True
How do you channel your inner 5 year old?
I dance, sing, run and practice Yoga with my children ages 6 and 11.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I am incredibly Type A and a Black and White thinker. Yoga has opened the door to shades of gray.
What is your favorite pose to teach in your classes? And why?
I love teaching Bakasana. It brings me so much joy to witness people putting trust in themselves and learning to fly. It’s like witnessing a toddler walk for the first time.
If you’re not on a yoga mat, where can we find you?
Running! That’s why they call me YogiRunner.
 
EMAIL: email Camella.
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