Yoga Educator

 

My purpose in teaching you Yoga– whether it be posture, breath, meditation, philosophy, et al– is to serve your unfoldment into the greatest expression of who you are. Yoga has been a driving force behind human evolution for thousands of years and continues to be part and parcel of our continuing evolution towards the greatest expression of what humaity can be.

What kind of yoga do I teach, you might ask? It is a fair question, and it would be much easier if I could provide a simple answer such as "I teach Hatha Yoga" or "I teach Hot Vinyasa" or "I teach Kundalini Yoga as prescribed by Yogi Bhajan." While I incorporate what I have learned from all these sources (and several more) into a typical class, the only honest answer I can give is "I teach Yoga."

That said, I've been playing with the term "SvaDharma Yoga" for years now and it seems to be sticking :-)

I want to teach students and train teachers who are passionate about exploring the path of SvaDharma, the pathless path, the manner of living from one's own experience and one's own truth. SvaDharma means living out one's own destiny. Yoga and meditation practice become a kind of cultivation, within the boundaries of the yoga mat.

A typical class begins with an easy series called the Easy Yoga Sequence which incorporates some of Mukunda Stiles' Joint-freeing Series but also incorporates some basic spinal work from Kundalini Yoga as well as Kapalabhati Breath. Next we may do abdominals, followed by Sun Salutes (several rounds with variations depending upon the theme of the day). After this, side-facing standing postures and balances. Then back down on the mat– again depending on the focus– we are likley to do more backbends or twists concluding with forward bends and/or inversions. Savasana is just as important as any other posture, and sometimes, especially if it is an evening class, Savasana may last twenty minutes accompanied by the Gong. Sometimes we take an early Savasana to leave time for the Fifty-to-Infinity Countdown Meditaion or SuDarshan Cjhakra Kriya Meditation to conclude.

That's a typical Hatha or Vinyasa format; the practice proceeds through these stages: Awakening, Increasing, Sustaining, Completion. Sustaining is where the pace gets much slower and we work with much greater detail within a few postures or maybe just one posture. If it's my Power Flow class then the level of challenge will be greater.

When I teach Kundalini Yoga, there is a specific set or "kriya" taught from one of Yogi Bhajan's manuals after the same initial warm-ups of Easy Yoga Sequence and perhaps Sun Salutes. In any Kundalini Yoga class there is a greater focus on the physiological effects than on the alignment or biomechanics of asana. It is worth mentioning that when I teach Hatha Yoga as I learned in the Iyengar system, the precision of the postures is to elicit specific effects much like in Kundalini, such as stimulating the thyroid gland through the use iof Shoulderstand and Plow. This is why I don't like pigeon-holing my teaching to Iyengar style or Yogi Bhajan style. You need to see past these separations to their shared purposes albeit with disparate approaches.

In Yoga Therapeutics, my approach is to observe for where I see misalignment — in posture, in breath, in movement patterns — and to coach you towards alignment, towards neutral, towards balance, towards vitality. So many chronic problems are caused by small habits of misalignment in standing, walking, sitting. My goal is to help you learn to heal yourself, so that you no longer need my help. I have worked successfully with students on issues including scoliosis, sciatica, healthy workplace posture, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), insomnia, and anxiety and depression.

I believe in Yoga as a lifestyle, I believe Yoga can help you live your best life with wellbeing, vitality and full-out joy.

Come see for yourself.

Classes

• SvaDharma Yoga

• Hatha Yoga

• Power flow

• Yoga Fundamentals Series

• Kundalini Yoga

• Hot Vinyasa

• Cloud Nine Restoratives

• Pranayama

for my current teaching schedule please refer to the front (home) page under "news" and/or contact me directly at 443.919.1290 or <yogajoe@josephroberson.com>

 

 

Workshops