Yoga for Back & Neck Care
Next 8-Week Series begins week of Sept. 2 ($210/Series)
Call or click to register.

The Back and Neck Care classes are designed for people with chronic or acute back and/or neck injuries. Classes offer a comprehensive, progressive, safe and effective approach to back and neck rehabilitation. While founding teachers Anne Saliou and Villard Martin are away studying yoga in India, we are fortunate to continue fall classes with excellent Iyengar teachers Nora Burnett and Samantha Ostergaard. We encourage you to register as soon as possible to save your spot!

• Back Care for Continuing Students with Nora Burnett: Tuesdays, 5:30-7:15pm
• Back Care for Beginning Students with Nora Burnett: Tuesdays, 7:15-9:00pm
• Upper Back, Shoulders and Neck with Samantha Ostergaard: Thursdays, 5:45-7:30pm

Beginning Yoga: An 8-Week Series with Geoffrey Roniger
Saturdays, 4:30pm-6:00pm: Sep 8,15,22; Oct 13,20,27; Nov 10,17 ($20 drop in/$120 for the series)
This series is intended to introduce the fundamentals of Hatha yoga to beginning students in a safe and supportive environment. We will present the foundational principles of grounding, elongation, and fluid breathing. Each week we will apply these principles to the most basic poses in each of the major categories of asana - standing poses, seated forward bends, twists, backbends, and inversions. Toward the end of the series we will cover sun salutations and restorative poses. A steady emphasis on breath awareness, coupled with an implementation of yoga props to ensure healthy physical alignment, will prepare students to attend either Vinyasa or Iyengar style classes.

Insights from India with Sabine Kuehner
Sunday, Sep 9, 2-5pm ($65)

An Exploration of Hip Openers with Geoffrey Roniger
Saturday, Sep 15, 2-4:30pm ($40)
In this immersion session, we will take the hip joints through their full range of motion by using a wide variety of reclined, seated, and standing poses. We will use several different props so that students can interface with their challenging areas in a more sensitive, listening way. The intention will be to go beyond mere stretching and instead orient ourselves around an internal quality of balance and ease so that we may catch a glimpse of a liberated breath and a genuine unlocking of energy in the system.

Introduction to Belly Dancing with Gina Grandi
Thursdays, Beginning Sep 6; 7:30pm-8:30pm ($10 drop-in)

A 6-Month, 200-Hour Certified Program, Rich in Quality Depth, & Experience
Begins September 15th 2007 ~ Now Accepting Applications! www.theloftsf.com/training.html

There is roughly one month left before the kickoff of the '07 Advanced Studies program, featuring a group of the Bay Area's finest teachers, including Tony Briggs, Anne Saliou, Jason Crandell, Sabine Kuehner, Geoffrey Roniger, and Patricia Sullivan. Advanced Studies is an incredibly exciting part of our yoga school—having a group of students who are so deeply involved in the process of learning is profoundly inspiring. Since we are hearing some of the same questions from students who are still on the fence about participating, we thought we'd provide some answers in writing.

How advanced does my asana practice have to be in order to do the program? (Am I ready?)
Most students are comfortably challenged with the level of training offered in this program if they have been practicing consistently for a couple of years. It is not, however, a program that is about performing asana as much as it is about understanding why we perform asana. We are more interested in your level of curiosity regarding the subject than the depth of your backbend.

What if I am not able to make it class on all the dates?
Yoga Alliance requires that you complete 80% of the 200-hour course. We also build in extra hours assuming that students may miss parts of the course. You can make these hours up over time through additional classes or workshops or by participating in the module you miss when we offer the program in '08. We will work with you individually to make sure you complete the materials required by the Yoga Alliance. Generally speaking, unless you miss more than 80 percent of the program, there should be no affect regarding the certificate we provide at the end of 6 months).

What if I don't want to actually teach yoga?
The 200-hour program is not intended to create yoga teachers out of anybody participating. The desire to teach often arises out of the desire to give back; to keep the cycle of learning and teaching alive. But not everybody will want to go the same route. This program offers everything the practice itself already offers but it is turned up a notch. Thus, it is geared toward deepening your understanding and experience of the yoga practice but moreso, aims to help you understand your true nature better.

Registration for Advanced Studies '07
Applications are due by September 1st.

• New Class! Monday, 9:30am Vinyasa with Zoe Friedman-Cohen
• Wednesday, 9am Iyengar is taught by Chad Balch while Villard is in India.
• New Class! Wednesday, 9:30am Vinyasa with Evan Topal
• New Class! Tuesday, 4:45pm Vinyasa with Catherine Chapman
• New Class! Thursday, 4:45pm Hatha Yoga with Deb Burkman (starts Sep 6)
• Friday, 9am Iyengar is taught by Barbara Fabbri while Anne is in India.
• Sunday morning Iyengar classes are taught by Sabine Kuehner while Anne is away.

Love,
Jane & Meg