Upcoming Workshops
Down Under Yoga, Boston, MA
Breath is life and life is breath. When breath flows, so does life.
Experience harmony, lightness, joy, and a radiant spirit with breathing exercises and inner energy practices from Kundalini Yoga. We will learn how to enhance and extend the breath with pranayama (breathing) exercises and then channel the heightened pranic energy using bandhas (inner locks) and mudras (ways to enhance mental focus, which can include hand gestures). Recommendations for an effective beginner to advanced pranayama home practice will be given. This workshop will round out your practice if most of your yoga studies have been about asana. The "power of the breath" will help your life as nothing else. Please come with an empty stomach.
A One-Night Online Program ~ Dr. Marc Grossman and Daniel Orlansky ~ The Kripalu Center
Are you too much in front of your screen and feeling the negative effects? We have assembled the best practices to help soothe tired eyes and strengthen your vision, with practices you can do every day. Led by Behavioral Optometrist Marc Grossman, O.D., and Daniel Orlansky, this workshop will introduce the best of Eastern and Western methods for improving eye health, practices you can do every day.
You will learn:
• The 5 “B’s” of eye healthcare, that can be practiced anytime, anywhere to rejuvenate your eyes
• Simple breathing techniques to bathe the eyes with oxygen
• Gentle yoga stretches and simple movements that relax your neck and shoulders, allowing more circulation to your brain and eyes
• Chinese eye massage using powerful acupressure points
• Exercises to develop convergence — the ability of both eyes to look at the same point.
• Exercises to develop accommodation — the ability to change focus from one point to another
• And others
Daniel Orlansky co-teaches with:
Dr. Marc Grossman, O.D., LA.c, is an influential pioneer, leader, and practitioner in integrative eye care. Founder of naturaleyecare.com, the largest consumer eye care resource of its kind, and a respected author of 5 books, he most recently co-authored the acclaimed “Natural Eye Care, Your Guide To Healthy Eyes and Healing”. In practice since 1980, his comprehensive background includes degrees in Optometry, Biology, Physical Education and Learning Disabilities, coupled with yoga, nutrition, Chinese medicine and acupuncture. This orientation provides the foundation for an integrated approach to vision and its influence on the body, mind and spirit of each patient. He is dedicated to helping those with a wide range of conditions from myopia and dry eyes to potentially vision threatening diseases such as macular degeneration and glaucoma. He also teaches workshops for health care professionals and physicians, and is a frequent guest on local and national media.
A Three-Week Online Program, The Kripalu Center
The increased hours spent staring at our computers screens and smartphones are taking a toll on our eyes.
Join yoga and qigong teacher Daniel Orlansky and behavorial optometrist Dr. Marc Grossman for a program that combines the best practices from eastern and western methods for improving eye health. Through breathwork, yoga, gentle movement designed to allow for more circulation to your brain and eyes, and more, you will learn:
• How to rejuvenate your eyes with the four “B’s” of eye healthcare
• Ways to bathe the eyes with oxygen
• Stretches and simple qigong movements to relax your neck and shoulders
• Chinese eye massage using powerful acupressure points
• Techniques to develop convergence—the ability of both eyes to look at the same point
• Exercises to develop accommodation—the ability to change focus from one point to another.
You will have access to the video recording(s) for 30 days after the program ends. All recordings will be available within 72 hours of the end of each session.
Session One: Yoga and Qigong for the Eyes: Improve Suppleness and Stretch Away Tension
In this session, you will learn yoga stretches and qigong movements to open up the liver and gall bladder meridian pathways associated with better vision, and other poses to relax your shoulder girdle and neck muscles so your head can float freely and comfortably on your spine. This sets the conditions for improved vision, as blood can fully circulate, cleansing the eye tissues and nourishing them with oxygen. On the energetic level, the free flow qi (or life force) can help clear stagnant energy refresh the eyes.
Session Two: The Power of the Breath: A Cornerstone of Better Vision
In the East, the breath is strengthened for the enhancement of life force energy, and in the West, it is seen as a powerful ally for immune functioning. Although we all breathe all day long, for many of us, chronic stress and lack of exercise have created suboptimal breathing habits. Learn simple breathing techniques to oxygenate not only your brain and eyes but your entire body so that life force can circulate freely, creating greater vitality and energy, and improving your ability to see with more clarity.
Session Three: Connecting Outer Vision and Inner Vision
In addition to the physical act of seeing, it's important to cultivate inner vision—the ability to perceive ourselves, our lives, and our opportunities with clarity. “Seeing” extends beyond the physical to the spiritual and mystical. Learn practices to enhance your inner vision and gain new insights and connections to the outer vision of your life. If you understand that you are truly on a vision quest, then you'll be on a path toward profound healing and transformation on all levels.
Down Under Yoga, Newton, MA
Partner-assisted stretching increases flexibility while Thai Yoga Massage reduces muscle tension, both enhancing relaxation and stress reduction.
In this workshop, we will work with a partner to help lengthen tight muscles using a modern stretching technique called PNF/resistance stretching.
Stretches for the lower and upper body will be taught, complimented with Thai Yoga Massage. This ancient healing art form combines gentle joint manipulations, assisted yoga postures, and healing touch to remove blocks in the major energy pathways of the body.
Come with a spouse, partner, friend or neighbor. Learn to listen, receive, share, and play! All levels are welcome.
The Kripalu Center, Lenox, MA
A Unified Practice to Experience Strength, Flexibility, and Peace Of Mind
While yoga has its roots in the Vedic scriptures of India, Qigong grew out of the Chinese Taoist pursuit of longevity. Explore the Taoist concept of “effortless flow” through Qigong exercises and bring the same ease of motion into vinyasa yoga sequences. The movements in both forms are graceful and gentle, with powerful effects that detoxify the body as they increase strength, flexibility, and peace of mind.
This workshop focuses on Qigong practices to open the meridians, meditative flow in yoga sequences, breathing exercises to enhance life energy, and concentration techniques for mental clarity.
You will learn:
• Breathing exercises to enhance life energy
• The Eight Brocades, Swimming Dragon, and other Qigong practices to open the meridians
• Meditative flow in yoga asana
• Concentration techniques for mental clarity
• Suggestions for a simple and productive home practice.