Friday, Nov 10 – Sunday, Nov 12, 2023
International yoga teacher, musician, and author Bhavani Maki is returning to Swell for an immersive weekend of yoga asana (posture), prāṇāyāma (breathwork), and Sūtra (philosophy).
Friday, Nov 10 6pm: Sutra + Discourse (2.5 hours)
Āsana as Embodied Posture of Mind
The Yoga Sūtra are the definitive guide for the practitioner of Yoga. Of the 196 Sūtra, only 3 specifically address Āsana, or yogic posture. According to the dictionary, posture is an attitude. Patañjali elucidates the technology of conscious practice and how to develop skillfulness in action along with Yoga as a character building process. Chanting with time for group discussion.
Saturday, Nov 11 9am: Asana Practice (3 hours)
Sushumna Nādi – The Place of Pilgrimage
Sushumna Nādi is described as ‘she who is most gracious’, and is accessed through the central nervous system as balanced awareness. Standing, balancing and twisting Āsana with a focus on diaphragmatic breath and a responsive and stable pelvic floor.
Saturday, Nov 11 2pm: Sutra + Discourse (2.25 hours)
The Nine Rites of Passage
Patañjali advises the Yoga aspirant that it is not a matter of if, but when the challenges arise. Often misconstrued as obstacles, the antarāyā are in fact to be embraced as rites of passage that initiate the revelation of breakthrough experience. Chanting with time for group discussion.
Sunday, Nov 12 9am: Asana Practice (3 hours)
Clearing the Heart and Unloading the Shoulders
The key to cellular lightness lies in the link between your nervous system, pelvic floor, and the earth’s magnetic field. An invigorating practice of spinal extension in a safe and sustainable manner to support free breathing.
Sunday, Nov 12 2pm: Sutra + Discourse (2.25 hours)
The Essential Yoga Vitamins: Yoga Sūtra & Discourse
Yoga is mostly a process of character building while success on the spiritual path is a journey of meeting our challenges face to face. In realization that addressing our challenges is both the process and the experience of Yoga, we are advised to fortify ourselves with the essential yoga vitamins of right attitude that precede psycho-spiritual maturity. Chanting with time for group discussion
Bhavani is Swell teacher Natalie Hanson’s beloved mentor and the author of The Yogīs Roadmap: The Patañjali Yoga Sūtra as a Journey to Self Realization