Masterclasses with Sri H.S Arun
In-Person & ONLINE!

October 14-15
Saturday 9:30-12pm & 3-5pm
Sunday 10am-1pm
Full Weekend: $145 in Advance | $160*
Saturday All Day: $85* | $95 in Advance
Saturday Morning Only: $55* | $60 in Advance | $65 Drop In
Saturday Afternoon Only: $40* | $45 in Advance | $50 Drop In
Sunday Only: $65* | $70 in Advance | $75 Drop In
*Early Bird if registered by October 2

Samamkaya is honored to welcome back Sri H.S. Arun for his 6th visit to our beautiful studio! For more than 50 years, Arunji has practiced and taught yoga in India. He has been touring the US annually since 2005.

Both a science and an art, Arunjiʼs teaching of Iyengar yoga is simple, direct and effective. His wit and humor lend a positive energy to his classes. Known as “The Chairmaster”, Arunji uses many props in his teaching to assist in working with the asana. Each class consists of an asana practice including standing poses, forward folds, twists, inversions and backward bends, followed by a discussion about the art and practice of yoga. Keeping in mind Samamkaya’s focus on back care and scoliosis, Arunji may cover topics like spinal asymmetry, back problems and other therapeutic issues.

This is a unique opportunity to study with a warm, devoted and knowledgeable master teacher!

One year of yoga practice is required. No acute injuries, please.

Sri H.S. Arun began teaching yoga in 1976. Conducting a class in the presence of B.K.S. Iyengar in 1978 inspired a lifelong study with Guruji. He founded Prashant Yogashraya in Bangalore, India and has served as its Principal Instructor for 39 years. Arunji is known for taking a personal interest in every student. He quickly develops an understanding of each student’s unique strengths and weaknesses and skillfully guides them according to their capabilities. Arunji’s students appreciate him for his ability to connect and teach from the heart, as well as for his quick-witted sense of humor. His workshops offer a well-balanced, challenging, deep (sometimes restorative) and powerful class. Active use of props is a dominant theme in Arunji’s practice.

Lower Back Therapeutics with Liz Owen
In-Person Only

October 21-22
Saturday, 2:30-4:30pm
Sunday, 2:15-4:15pm
Full Weekend: $60*/$70
One Workshop: $35*/$40
*early bird if registered by October 9

Saturday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR SACRUM

This session will combine some of the work from our previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your sacrum. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to sacroiliac joint and sacral band issues. Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

• Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your sacroiliac joints and sacral band, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.
• How to explore the messages that your sacroiliac joints present to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create sacral spine health.
• Techniques to change your emotional responses to sacral pain.

Sunday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR LUMBAR

This session will combine some of the work from our previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your lumbar spine. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to lumbar musculature issues, trauma, and vertebrae and disk conditions.  Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

• Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your lumbar spine, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.
• How to explore the messages that your lumbar presents to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create lower back health.
• Techniques to change your emotional responses to lumbar pain.

Liz Owen learned lower back therapeutics over a 25-year period immersed in Iyengar yoga. During this time, she studied with senior Iyengar teachers in the U.S., and both B.K.S. and Geeta Iyengar. Her expertise of lower back health and yoga philosophy brings both Eastern and Western wisdom to bear on creating a healthy lower back and will bring mindfulness and depth to your journey of maintaining lower back health in daily life.

She is co-author of two books that students will find useful for creating both lower back health and emotional well-being: Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back, Shambhala Publications, and The Yoga Effect: A Proven Program for Depression and Anxiety, DaCapo Lifelong. Both books are available for purchase at Samamkaya.

Liz Owen E-RYT500, C-IAYT is an inspiring and passionate yoga teacher and teacher trainer. She combines physical and energetic alignments with meditative action to create an innovative and transformative class experience. She has taught since 1990 and is known for her light-hearted teaching style as well as for the depth of her knowledge. Liz has studied Iyengar, vinyasa, classical hatha yoga and meditation for over 30 years, and has studied with masters of various traditions, including Thich Nhat Hanh, B.K.S. Iyengar, Patricia Walden, Dharma Mittra, Erich Schiffmann, Rod Stryker, T.K.V. Desikachar, and Vasant Lad.  Classes are dynamic and challenging, yet always respectful of students’ individual abilities and needs. Liz draws inspiration from the deep well of yogic philosophy and brings broadness into each class experience. Currently she teaches weekly classes in Arlington and Cambridge, Massachusetts and is on the faculty of Wellesley College. Liz teaches workshops nationally and leads retreats in the U.S. and Mexico. She has presented workshops at Sivananda Ashram Bahamas, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Wellness, Yoga Journal Boston Conferences, Yoga Alliance Leadership Conferences, and the Montreal International Symposium on Therapeutic Yoga 2015. She is co-author of two NIH-funded studies at Boston University School of Medicine studying yoga as a modality for improving depression and anxiety, and is co-author of Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back, Shambhala Publications. www.LizOwenYoga.com

HYBRID Investigating Your Organic Body with Cator Shachoy

November 4-5
Saturday 2:30–5:30pm ET
Sunday 1:15-4:15pm ET
Once Session Only: $55*/$60
Full Workshop: $100*/$110
*early bird if registered by October 23

Happy organs support a healthy body and mind! Among other factors, organs are influenced by stress, trauma, surgeries, scoliosis, suppressed emotions, diet, exercise and genetics. Yoga and mindfulness can be powerful tools for supporting organic health.

Informed by her unique background in craniosacral therapy, Iyengar yoga and mindfulness practice, Cator teaches how to tune one’s attention to specific organs and observe the immediate and lasting impact on the state of mind and body. Classes include experiential anatomy, direct palpation, yoga poses, pranayama and mindfulness. Considerations specific to scoliosis as well as other interventions will be explored.

Day 1: Kidneys, Heart and Brain

The kidneys and the heart have a close relationship to one another and the brain is the master regulator for all organic tissue. Day 1 explores the mid-line of balance that links these organs as well as the pulses unique to each of them.

Day 2: Liver – Lung Connection

Two of the largest internal organs, the liver and the lungs, are close neighbors within the body and have a surprising degree of influence on one another. Day 2 explores untangling negative influences while supporting greater health and ease of being.

Cator Shachoy began the practices of yoga, Buddhist meditation, and energy healing in 1990 to heal chronic illness. Through the regular practice of these disciplines, she regained her strength and vitality. For Cator, spiritual growth and development is a healing path inviting us to become more intimate with everything. Her practices of Buddhism, energy healing, yoga and conscious body movement are deeply integrated. Cator is a CIAYT yoga therapist, MBSR Mindfulness teacher and Visionary Craniosacral Work practitioner. She completed teacher training at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco and Kripalu, and studied extensively with Bay area senior Iyengar teachers for 25 years. Cator lived in Buddhist and spiritual communities for three years and has spent a cumulative total of over five years in intensive silent meditation retreat. Her primary meditation teachers are Ajahn Pasanno, Mingyur Rinpoche and Ruth Denison. Cator has a certificate in Buddhist Chaplaincy from the Sati Center. She began teaching in 1996. Currently, she has a private practice incorporating craniosacral, therapeutic yoga and mindfulness and teaches internationally. Her book, The TMJ Handbook: A Therapeutic Guide for Relieving Jaw Tension and Pain with Yoga & Mindfulness is available from Shambhala publications. catorshachoy.com / youthyogadharma.org

Hybrid Workshops with Elise Browning Miller

Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Training Part I

December 8-10
Friday 6-9pm
Saturday 9-11:30am & 2-4:30pm
Sunday 9-11:30am
Full Weekend: $330 early bird*/$375 in advance
*early bird if registered by November 20
Click Here to Register for the In-Person Workshop
Click Here to Register for the Virtual Workshop

Elise Miller presents her internationally acclaimed workshop on working with scoliosis. This workshop is designed to present information and experience in the ways that Iyengar Yoga can be used to meet the challenges of scoliosis. She will include anatomical background on scoliosis, identify each participant’s scoliosis, and discuss cause and effect as well as psychological consequences of scoliosis. Participants will learn optimal yoga postures for scoliosis as well as how to adapt specific yoga postures to their scoliosis. By combining the yoga postures with breathing awareness, one can develop more structural alignment of the body and become more symmetrical and balanced. Through yoga, one can find the balance point that allows the scoliosis curve to coexist with gravity and activates the body’s natural plumb line.

This workshop is appropriate for anyone with scoliosis whether they are currently a yoga student or not. Teachers are also urged to attend to gain knowledge and be more skillful when assisting their students with scoliosis.

Friday PM
Elise will discuss the physical and psychological causes and effects of scoliosis, identify different patterns of scoliosis and introduce the most beneficial poses for scoliosis. Adjustments and props will be used to assist participants to work with their individual scoliosis. Emphasis will be on lengthening the spine and aligning the body with breath awareness in beginning yoga poses.

Saturday & Sunday
Participants will continue to learn to work with their particular scoliosis with a variety of yoga poses including standing poses, back strengtheners, twists, inversions and forward bends.

Do you have interest in becoming certified as a “Yoga for Scoliosis” Trainer? The Yoga for Scoliosis “Part 1” workshop would fulfill the first 10 hours of the 20 hours required to get started on the Elise Browning Miller  “Yoga for Scoliosis” Training program.

Surrender with an Open Heart: How to Approach Forward Bends with Scoliosis Asymmetry

Sunday, December 10, 2-5pm
*$75 early bird / $80 in advance
*early bird if registered by November 20
Click Here to Register for the In-Person Workshop
Click Here to Register for the Virtual Workshop

Join Elise Miller for an in-depth approach to standing and sitting forward bends which can be challenging for students with scoliosis. With breath awareness, forward bends can have a calming effect on the nervous system and help students with asymmetry to find peace and harmony.  Elise will teach you how to approach forward bends in stages from an uplifted pose to a supported pose where the brain can quiet and body relax. This prepares the student for pranayama where calming, breathing techniques will be taught at the end of the class. She will teach you how to approach these asanas safely and how to modify based on your own scoliotic patterns.

One year of yoga for scoliosis experience or teacher’s permission required.

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 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 recently launched her new book “Yoga for Scoliosis – A Path for Students & Teachers”, and has produced her own DVD and booklets, “Yoga for Scoliosis”, “Yoga for Back Care” and her “Yoga: Anytime, Anywhere book”. Her joyous personality and ease of communication endear her to students with a teaching style that is down-to-earth, precise and nurturing.

WORKSHOP PRE-REGISTRATION & CANCELLATION POLICY

It is strongly recommended that you pre-register for workshops. If you pre-register for a workshop, you must cancel either 1 week or 48 hours in advance (depending on the workshop), in order to be refunded for that workshop less a 20% administrative fee. Cancellation deadlines can be found below the workshop descriptions above.

Please cancel via email (info@samamkayabackcare.com) or call 646.964.5772. Even if we receive the message later, we will go by the time stamp and refund your money if appropriate. If you are ill or there is an immediate family medical emergency, we will of course waive the fee. However, please email us as early as possible, and before the workshop begins, to waive the fee or arrange a credit.