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Self-Realization & Wholeness |
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Contemporary Yoga | Contemplative Yoga | Conversational Yoga
"For there are moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent."
Rainer Maria Rilke
"Just drop all seeking, turn your attention inward, and sacrifice your mind to the One Self radiating in the Heart of your very being..."
Sri Ramana Maharshi
Yoga from the Inside Out...
Yoga is quite possibly the oldest integral practice for contemplative learning. A rich, holistic tradition exemplifying five thousand years of practice, yoga is essentially a way of realizing who we really are—experiencing our true being, consciousness, and bliss. Simply stated, yoga is a profound and proven way of fully engaging body, heart, and mind in the wholeness of life, attending to our somatic, psychological and spiritual experience in the moment as a way of bettering each moment of experience for ourselves, each other, and our world.
Despite modern-day yoga culture's emphasis on extensive asana practice (postures), asana practice is a relatively recent chapter within the long-standing yoga tradition, historically deemed somewhat incidental and foundational to the ultimate goal of yoga: self-realization. In fact, many present-day yoga students are surprised to learn that asana practice was originally developed for students who needed supplemental preparation for sitting meditation. Most traditional yogis did not practice asanas at all, but focused wholly on more contemplative yogic practices, such as concentration (Dharana), meditation (Dhyana), and unity consciousness (Samadhi).
Essentially, contemplation is the practice of concentrating one's attention with aspiring intention. Throughout the ages and across traditions, people have adopted simple, yet profound methods—such as meditation, silence, journaling, art, guided imagery, chanting, poetry, dance—to cultivate habits of attention, empathy, and resilience that lead to more consistent experiences and genuine expressions of human ideals like wisdom, compassion, and power. In contemporary life, we call such practices Contemplative Learning.
Although various religions and spiritual traditions are grounded in contemplation, contemplation is not about religion or necessarily religious. It is, rather, about nourishing an intimate connection with our own experience as a way of developing a more integral understanding of the nature of reality. Contemplative Learning is the process of designing and offering opportunities to experience that intimate connection and integral understanding.
Contemplative Learning clarifies and strengthens the infinite learning loops between mind and body, depth and breadth, information and transformation, experience and expression, immediate and eternal, individual and universal, often revealing previously unrecognized patterns in our experience. Becoming more conscious of these patterns can be deeply unsettling, as we begin to surface the habitual beliefs, values, and assumptions about who we are and the nature of our reality that often influence our decisions and actions without our necessarily realizing it. Yet, the process can also be immensely comforting as we choose to liberate ourselves from habitual responses and outdated modes of being that no longer serve us or the greater world we inhabit.
Over time, Contemplative Learning results in Contemplative Being—a more consistently open-hearted, open-minded way of being that embraces and nurtures the inherent wholeness within, between, and all around us. We experience ourselves and each other more wholly/holy, becoming more receptive and discerning, centered and attuned, differentiated and integrated. We embrace the truth of our experience with more conceptual fluidity, emotional equanimity, and spiritual integrity.
Contemplative Yoga waters these essential roots of the yoga tradition, placing greater emphasis on the more introspective and meditative aspects of yoga. We offer attentional teachings that nourish the integral heart of genuine yogic practice, designed for:
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People who would like to become more aware, compassionate, and skillful through contemplative practice
- People seeking solid personal development beyond hype, false promises, and dogma
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People who want to invest in contemplative learning without breaking the bank
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People with a sense of humor who appreciate occasional irreverence
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Contemporary Yoga students who want the benefits of a more comprehensive practice
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Individuals who would like to develop a personalized integral practice grounded in proven methods and time-honored traditions.
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On-again, off-again practitioners who would like to learn how to sustain a regular practice
Integral Attention: Practicing I-AM
"You are a ruby embedded in granite.
How long will you pretend it isn't true?
We can see it in your eyes.
Come to the root of the root of your Self."
Rumi
Integral Attention is really the foundation for all contemplative practice. Learn how to pay attention what really matters. Through a personalized combination of presentation, conversation, and experiential practice, you will:
- Learn three key dynamics of Integral Attention
- Assess your own attentional patterns in relation to yourself, others, and your world
- Cultivate essential attentional skills that sustain greater focus, connection, and awareness
- Apply the Integral Attention Model (I-AM) within the context of your everyday life
Individuals
Seven-Session Series: $45 per one-hour session
Groups
Three-Session Series or One-Day Intensive (7 hours of contemplative learning): $125 per person (additional fees may apply depending on location, duration, group size and needs)
"You are the artist, you are the raw material, you are the work of art, and you are the reality behind the work of art...One experiences ecstasy when one discovers the creator in one, as oneself."
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Throughout history, we humans have used art to express ourselves. We create art not only to represent and beautify our world, but also as a means of understanding and sharing who we are in our world. Through creative self-expression, we grow in self-awareness, generate insights, resolve problems, and enhance our overall well-being.
Explore personally meaningful topics through expressive visual arts of your choosing, including stream of consciousness drawing and writing, mandala-making, collage, mask-making, dream imagery, and journaling. Whether you're a naturally "creative type" or someone who has yet to meet your inner muse, these sessions offer the opportunity to enter into a more generative relationship with your creative source, inspiring new ways of understanding and expressing the truth of who you are and the nature of reality.
Individuals
Seven-Session Series: $45 per one-hour session
Groups
Three-Session Series or One-Day Intensive (7 hours of contemplative learning): $125 per person (additional fees may apply depending on location, duration, group size and needs)
Pranayama Practice: Breathing Vitality into Life
"You are alive by breath, you are a product of breath, and your realization is through breath. The moment you are in touch with your breath, the universe pours into you."
Yogi Bajhan
Breathing is the gateway between inner and outer being—the place where the life within and the life without meet. Since ancient times, the breath has been used as a focal point to revitalize, balance, and integrate body, mind, and spirit. This is the heart of pranayama—attentive breathing.
When we breathe consciously, we attune to the energy of life flowing through us and open ourselves to life. Our bodies and minds instantly begin to settle, inducing a state of deep relaxation and overall well-being. As our hearts and lungs expand, our whole body receives more oxygen, our blood pressure decreases, and our heart rate slows. We feel more calm and think more clearly.
The breath is a barometer for how we are—it lets us know whether or not we are in flow, receptive to the life within, between, and around us. The quality of our breathing mirrors the quality of our living, shallow in fear, deep in love, steady in relaxation. Have you ever noticed that you were holding your breath without realizing it? Simply noticing and fine-tuning how we breathe on a regular basis reconnects us with the flow of life and changes our experience of living for the better.
Learn how to breathe more vitality into your life with various balancing, rejuvenating, and meditative breath-work. Breath is the kiss of life. Learn to kiss back.
Individuals
Seven-Session Series: $45 per one-hour session
Groups
Three-Session Series or One-Day Intensive (7 hours of contemplative learning): $125 per person (additional fees may apply depending on location, duration, group size and needs)
One-to-One Custom Contemplative Practice
Using insight-oriented, inquiry-based approaches, we work with you to design and facilitate experiential sessions that support your inherent wholeness. Our primary function is to offer perspectives and practices that help you embrace the truth of your experience with more conceptual fluidity, emotional equanimity, and spiritual integrity.
Individuals
Our individual clients pay somewhere between $75 and $150 per session, the average session lasting 90 minutes and the number of sessions depending on the nature of our work together. So given the range, what will you have to pay? Simple. You pay what you can afford based on your financial situation. We trust that you will pay us what’s affordable and fair.
Contemplative Sessions, Retreats, Workshops & Events
Using insight-oriented, inquiry-based approaches, we design and facilitate sessions, retreats, workshops and events that support a greater experience of wholeness and expressions of integrity. Our primary function is to provide a contemplative space for you to focus on what really matters to you.
The logistics depend on your situation, but we generally work collaboratively with you or your group in person, or via skype or telephone, depending on your preferences and needs. Typically, we collaborate to:
Step 1. Assess your needs, clarify your priorities, and define your goals. We begin by developing a thorough understanding of your current situation, needs and preferences.
Step 2. Design a learning process that is aligned with your core intentions and most likely to deliver the results you're seeking given your particular circumstances.
Step 3. Facilitate/host the experience and follow up as desired to support your learning with valuable questions, constructive insights, and relevant resources. Events, workshops, classes, and retreats vary from half-days to week-long intensives to weekly or bi-monthly sessions over a determined period of time.
If you've read this far , you probably have a sense of how our work will be valuable to you, but now you may be wondering what it will cost to hire us. Since our fees depend on a number of variables that we must discuss with you—like your objectives, the amount of time and people involved, etc.—we don’t have fixed fees for our services. However, we understand that you may want some idea of the cost before you contact us, so here’s an idea:
Groups, Communities & Organizations
Our commitment is always to deliver real value for a fair price, and that price depends on the scope of the work—the scale of the project, number of people involved, amount of time, etc. Most of our community-based and organizational clients pay something between $1,000 to $45,000 (USD). However, let us know what you have in mind. It never hurts to ask and we're pretty open to friendly, fair negotiations.
CONTEMPLATIVE OFFERINGS
Om at Home: Creating Sacred Space
“This is the bright home
In which I live,
this is where I ask
my friends to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.
This is the temple
Of my adult aloneness
and I belong
to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.
There is no house
like the house of belonging.”
David Whyte,
The House of Belonging
Perhaps the most meaningful places are those that we call home—both the objective, tangible structures which we inhabit and the subjective, intangible experiences of being “at home”—of belonging—in various environments. For most of us, the places where we feel most at home are those in which we feel most welcome, most free to be truly ourselves—those places that somehow belong to us and in which we belong where we can stretch out, relax, breathe, and expand—be-long—fully inhabiting the spaciousness of our being.
Do you feel at home in your home? Does your space reflect who you truly are? When you really look around, do you like what you see?
Our homes are multi-dimensional spaces where we live, work, and play. They are literally the foundation, shelter, and structure supporting our lives. And if we’re lucky, they are not only physical locations where we eat, sleep, and bathe, but also psychological spaces where we feel most at home—meaningful places in which we belong—where we love, where we rest, where we dream…where we care for ourselves and each other.
Given the amount of time we spend in our homes, isn’t feeling at home in your home—having a beautiful, functional home that reflects who you are and supports how you want to live—worth your attention?
Whatever your budget or style, we work with you to create a beautiful, functional space that works for you...
"What you do to any part of you that you call your 'surroundings' you are doing to yourself...The more you notice and learn about your 'surroundings,' the more you are learning about yourself."
David K. Reynolds
Sometimes changing your space is the first step in changing your life. As odd as it may sound, sometimes "rearranging the furniture" is exactly what you need to create the groundwork for needed internal change and greater psychological well-being. Although we human beings have an amazing capacity to habituate to even the most uncomfortable circumstances, when we are uncomfortable where we live, we frequently experience anxiety, stress, fatigue, and dis-ease.
When our physical space is out of alignment with our psychological state, we experience discord. For example, we feel productive and organized, yet our space is cluttered and distracting. Bringing inner and outer states into alignment reduces unnecessary stress and greatly enhances our overall well-being.
At other times, our physical space may accurately reflect a dissonant psychological state that we would like to change—for example, our cluttered minds are perfectly mirrored in our cluttered homes. Because of the interconnectedness between inner and outer states, it is possible to change one's life from the “outside in” as well as the “inside out.” When we’re feeling mentally or emotionally stuck, sometimes the most practical thing we can do is change our context—the most obvious, yet often overlooked, being our physical environment. When we change our external surroundings, it can dramatically alter how we feel internally. Even when we are mostly content at home, making subtle changes to our personal environment can significantly impact our experience, enhancing joy, inspiration, creativity, and well-being.
Let us help you change your life, beginning with your home environment. We can help you redesign, declutter and organize your home in a way that supports who you are and how you want to live.
Work with what you have to create a beautiful, practical space that reflects who you are and supports how you live. We help you feel more at home in your home by helping you create a space that is aesthetically and functionally pleasing to you using the things that you already own.
Sometimes you don’t need new stuff—you just need a more pleasing arrangement of the old stuff. Whether you’re not sure what to do with your old things in a new space or your old space lacks the comfort and style you desire, we can help you make the most of your existing furnishings and accessories at a price you can afford. After all, why spend money on things that you don’t really need when a skillful redesign may be all that’s required?
Often, the whole redesign process can be accomplished in a day—sometimes less or more, depending on the scope of your redesign project and your resources. For example, does your space need cleaning and painting, decluttering and organizing, or are we simply rearranging your belongings?
Some redesign projects can be completed without additional help. Sometimes, we will suggest that you invite or enlist your friends and/or family members to assist with the redesign—high school athletes and college students have also been known to assist for a modest fee. Since everyone’s health and safety is important to us, if you have valuable, heavy furnishings, we may suggest that you hire professional movers to assist with the process, although in our experience this is rarely necessary. However, if it’s a choice between saving your back or a buck, save your back.
After the redesign is complete, we may leave behind a list of a few things you can do on your own to further improve the space—for example, adding a lighting fixture to a particular area, or simply changing the kind of light bulb, organizing a cupboard, or sorting through your books.
How we work:
1. Onsite Consultation—we meet with you in your space to get a sense of your needs and style. We discuss how you currently use your space, what’s working and not working, and how you’d like to use it in the future. Basically, we take the time to get to know you and learn about how you would like to live in your space.2. Planning Session—we meet to offer recommendations and discuss how the space could be redesigned based on our understanding of your needs, preferences and resources.
3. Hands-on Redesign—once we have a plan, we roll up our sleeves and get busy creating a space that you’ll want to live in. This usually involves removing everything from the space and then, reconfiguring the space according to the new design. Of course, be prepared to be surprised. As your belongings are brought back into the space, we sometimes experience spontaneous bursts of inspiration that alter the original design, a welcome and common part of any creative process that always enhances the end-result.
“Out of clutter, find simplicity; From discord, find harmony;
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein
Do you wish you could find what you’re looking for when you need it? Is your home beginning to feel like an obstacle course? Do you have too much stuff for your space? Do you waste time hunting through stacks and piles? Are you burdened by your belongings? Do you have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear? Do you have to get out of your house to relax? Is your house an unnatural disaster? Has bull-dozing become an appealing alternative to housecleaning?
There are many things that create stress in life; unnecessary clutter should not be one of these. Sometimes less is more. Whether you are preparing to sell, just moving in, or updating in your home, eliminating clutter and organizing your belongings is a simple way to enhance your well-being.
Clutter is all the stuff you no longer need, use, or love. It’s the stuff you used to like before your tastes changed—or you came to your senses. It’s books that you’ve read or been meaning to read that no longer interest you, the t-shirt that belonged to your x, the mix tapes that ought to be burned, the ab-cruncher, and that…um, other thing, that seemed like a good idea at the time.
It’s the recipe clippings gathering dust in the cupboard, expired cough syrup, coupons, old newspapers, broken gadgets, past holiday cards and meaningless photos. It’s the tea-cozy from Aunt Suzy, and every other gift that you don’t like and don’t use but think you should keep because so-and-so gave it to you on some special occasion. It’s all the clothes that don’t fit, the sock singles in the laundry room, and the pants that looked great in the store, but have never left your closet. It’s the sort pile long past sorting and the junk in the junk drawer that you can’t even identify, but somehow seemed worth saving.
It’s the “mystery” box in the closet unopened from your last move, the garage sale stuff still sitting in the garage and all that other stuff that you’d think twice about keeping if you were moving. You know the stuff. Clutter is visual noise that distracts you from being at peace in your space.
“A place for everything, everything in its place.”
Benjamin Franklin“Life seeks to organize so that more life can flourish. Systems are friendlier to life. They provide support and stability. They also provide more freedom for individual experimentation.”
Margaret J. Wheatley & Myron Kellner-Rogers, A Simpler Way
Disorder is a condition in which there is a disturbance in normal functioning—it is a lack of organization that impedes your ability to use your stuff and your space easily, efficiently, and productively. It is time wasted looking for things, and money wasted buying duplicates of stuff that you already own, but couldn’t find. It is mental energy spent avoiding certain cupboards and drawers because opening these is so unpleasant. It’s piling the clean laundry on the dryer and using the exercise bike handles as an extra clothes rack because it’s easier than getting into your closet. It is being late because you couldn’t locate your keys again. It is worrying at the prospect of having guests in your home and dreading the unexpected sound of the doorbell. It is procrastinating on time-sensitive paperwork because it means sifting though the stacks on your desk. It is wishing that the TV, exercise machine, or name-that-particular-thing was someplace else. It’s feeling frustrated, embarrassed, ashamed, or overwhelmed by the state of your space. It is having to leave your space to think, breathe, or relax.
There’s a lot in life beyond your control, but organizing your space is well within your power—and your budget. Just as holding onto things that you no longer need, use, and/or love creates unnecessary stress, living with the stuff you need, use, and love in disarray takes energy and time away from things that really matter. Disorder and clutter take up physical and psychological space, literally and figuratively hindering your movement and flow.
Make room for what really matters. Resuscitate “dead” space. Find order at the edge of chaos. Let us help you create a clutter-free, organized space so that you can focus on the things that really matter.
How we work:
1. Onsite Consultation—walk-through assessment in which we spend time with you in your space to get a sense of your needs, identifying and prioritizing the areas that you would like to address. We discuss how you currently use your space, what’s working and not working, and how you’d like to use it in the future. Basically, we take the time to get to know you and learn about how you would like to live in your space.2. Planning Session—we meet to offer recommendations and discuss how the space could be cleared and organized based on our understanding of your needs, preferences and resources. This may involve planning a series of small tasks that can be tackled over a period of time, or scheduling a weekend project.
3. Declutter Session(s)—once we have a plan, we get busy creating a space that you’ll want to live in. This usually involves clearing the clutter in a space and placing each item into four piles—Keep, Toss, Sell, Gift. Then, we begin sorting through the Keep pile using a similar process. Before we end the session, we create a plan to address the stuff to be tossed (the stuff beyond recycling or repair that goes straight to the dump), sold (the stuff to be priced, listed, and/or sold online or in your upcoming garage sale), given away (the stuff to be delivered to the appropriate charity, family, or friend) within a certain time period.
4. Organizing Session(s)—ok, everything has been sifted and sorted. Now, it’s time to organize your space. Sometimes this is a matter of simply using the existing storage, furnishings, and systems that you have more efficiently. Other times, we completely redesign the space, often introducing new storage and systems that will allow you to live, work, and play in your space with greater ease and efficiency. Whatever your situation, we create custom solutions designed to fit your lifestyle. Our intent is always to find what works best for you.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Our work can be very personal in nature, however all work is carried out in a patient, non-judgemental way. We respect and hold all client information in confidence.
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