Stillpoint Home: Classes in yoga, tai chi, therapeutic movement education and pain clinics. Yakima WA

Note: All yoga classes incorporate structural, functional, alignment, movement and breathing principles from yoga’s 4000- year old tradition. We also integrate contemporary experiential study/research in developmental learning and in the field of Somatic Movement Education by pioneers including Moshe Feldenkrais, Thomas Hanna and others.

Introductory Yoga: It covers the ‘how’ of approaching yoga ‘asanas’ and movement in general, by slowing the process of moving the body into positions and learning to adapt to your circumstances. After all, this is not about performance, but about developing the process of understanding how the practice of yoga can give each of us what we need when we take the time to listen and appreciate our bodies.

Gentle Yoga: Classes begin using a common upright chair as the main tool for bringing a sense of uprightness, control and ease of movement through a base range of stretches.

Integrative Yoga (General): Integrative incorporates traditional yogic approaches influenced strongly by the teaching of B.K.S. Iyengar; T.K.V. Desikachar; Gary Kraftsow; and Eric Schiffmann. The range of asana covered includes standing and balance, forward bending (standing and sitting), modified back and side bending, and inversions.

Meditation & Mindfulness classes draw from world wisdom traditions with an intention to provide a practical , unbiased understanding of ourselves, our thinking, our living.

Guided Meditation: We will use reclining poses from yoga with ample supports (bolsters, blankets, blocks, sandbag weights, eye pillows). These poses provide gentle stretching of the spine while allowing for optimal breathing and thus deepening the relaxation. Always the instructor, along with quiet background sound, provides guided visualizations for considering how to bring deep rest into our lives. A meditative state of being can be attained only by those who realize that a sense of peace and quiet will move them toward health and well-being.

“Resting consciously seems complex at first, but such simplicity with practice. Integral to sensing peace and harmony is the developing skill of resting the body. Conscious intention is cultivated by staying presently aware of when the body tenses or when the mind is distracted by ‘mental noise’. Often the instructor guides the class toward quiet. The net effect of this practice is a deep rest while wide awake. The implications for resolving inner conflicts are profound.”

Meditation in Movement is a poetic description of these practices. They are, at the same time, a body-strengthening, body-relaxing form of self-culture.

Mindful Movement: The first part of the class is applied to gentle stretching and strengthening with attention to breathing and sensory feedback as a guide to how much movement and when to apply rest, which acts as an integrative tool for learning.

T’ai Chi / Qi Gong: This T’ai Chi form of movements relies on principles of balancing through relaxing the body and building strength in the legs. It becomes a way of moving the body mindfully while exercising the weight-bearing joints of the body with attention to proper alignment of the knees over the ankles and under the hips. As this posturing improves, the low back, neck and shoulders begin to relax and a much more efficient way of balancing while standing or walking becomes available. The force upon the joints bearing weight is more evenly distributed, and unnecessary muscular force in everyday moving is reduced. T’ai Chi practitioners, sometimes called ‘players’, develop a heightened sense of control and confidence through grounding, balance and strength in upright movement.

Qi Gong is practiced standing, sitting or lying down. It also, like it’s cousin, T’ai Chi, consciously intends to move and balance the energies of the body through breathwork and visualizations. Anyone can practice this ancient form of self-improvement because it emphasizes a meditative and invigorating approach to centering and grounding.

Another Note: ‘Awareness Through Movement’ w/Randy P’poole (509-969-1458) and Yoga w/Marsha Hawk (509-607-1882) are independent classes by these instructors. Please contact them directly for class information and cost.