September

It is just another month but so more. September is a month of new beginnings. It seems more like the season of New Year than out usual one in January. After activities and the interruption of rhythms that the summer brings, this month begins a time when people get down to the real tasks of another set of seasons. For me, it is a time to rethink my priorities and set the intentions that will carry me through months ahead, through the dark and short ones and into the lighter and longer ones that follow. May it be a time of new beginning for you! Namaste!

How about a little mindfulness in your life?

Why not join me for my 30 Day Meditation/Mindfulness Challenge?  It is simple all you have to do is start meditating and do so for thirty days. Well hold on, this doesn't mean you actually meditate for thirty days straight but for a small moment of time every day for thirty days. It only takes a few moments probably at least five minutes to just sit and be right there without doing anything at all besides breathing. Just try it and see what happens. Namaste!  

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Teaching Schedule Aug. 26-Sept. 1

Hello Everybody! As requested I am posting my yoga teaching schedule for all to see.  I hope to see you in one of my classes.  Please email me with any questions. westlake.david@gmail.com 

Monday
Eagle River Body Renew 10:30am Morning Flow
Zen Urban Yoga Studio 12pm Power Hour

Tuesday
Zen Urban Yoga Studio 12pm Power Hour
Midtown Body Renew 7pm Evening Flow

Wednesday
Eagle River Body Renew 10:30am Morning Flow
Zen Urban Yoga Studio 12pm Power Hour

Thursday
Motive8 Health Studio 12pm Gentle Flow
Midtown Body Renew 7pm Evening Flow

Friday
Eagle River Body Renew 10:30am Morning Flow
Spirit Path Yoga 5:30pm Fitness Flow

Saturday
Alaska Fitness 12pm Yoga Flow
Spirit Path Yoga 4pm Vinyasa

Teaching Schedule August 22-25

I am teaching all over these days.  If you want to come to one of my classes I would love to see you stop by and flow with me.  Here are the times and places.

Thursday, August 22nd
Motive8 Health Studio-12 Noon Hour Gentle Flow
Midtown Body Renew-7pm Evening Flow

Friday, August 23rd
Urban Zen Yoga Studio (AAC)-6:30 Morning Vinyasa
Eagle River Body Renew-10:30am Morning Flow
Urban Zen Yoga Studio (AAC)-12 Noon Power Hour
Spirit Path Yoga-5:30pm Fitness Flow

Saturday, August 24th
Alaska Fitness-12 Noon Yoga Flow
Spirit Path Yoga-4pm Vinyasa

Namaste!

Individual Sessions

Some of you have asked about my individual yoga and personal training session rates.  My prices are reasonable for the advice and specific attention you will receive.  These are paid for in advance in packages of three or five.  If one purchases ten in advance rates drop by five dollars per session.

$45 for a one hour session.
$25 for a one half hour session


Namaste!

Breathing into my what?

As previously mentioned three days a week I drive to Eagle River to teach a vinyasa style class at the local Body Renew gym. I have great students who are lively and outspoken regarding their feelings about yoga. Today as I prepared to leave, two students were laughing about a previous instructor and some of the long and odd breathing practices she made them do. When I joined the conversation, we laughed a little more about certain phrases and the cliches of certain yoga experiences. Honestly, I get what they are saying at the same time having a deep appreciation for some of seemingly more arcane sides of yoga. For me, there is a powerful message for my practice as a teacher.  My classes are about the students and the needs they bring. I have to read where they are and adjust  for the class to flow and be successful. Most students come for a different experience of fitness. Flexibility, balance and some inner necessity drawing them towards an indescribable aspect of health are just some of the reasons. Rarely in the gym environment are students seeking the mystical. This doesn't diminish the experience. I would argue it actually makes it even more available for many people to come and enter the joy of a yoga practice. A class free of Bhakti like yoga aspects opens the door so that people can find it through the body without having their mind or personal beliefs get stuck. Save the advanced breathing techniques and pseudo Indian philosophies for other times. 

Knowing my why!

Recently somebody asked me why I teach yoga. That why question keeps coming up for me. Perhaps, it's because I just finished reading Simon Sinek's book, Start With Why. Maybe, the question is just in my head now, and I am suddenly aware of it's tantalizing pull. What is my why behind yoga?  I could go into long pontifications about this curious question. Instead, I shall follow the advice of a beloved mentor and keep it simple. For me, yoga incorporates many of the things that have interested me since early on. Beauty, philosophical inquiry, alternative health, spiritual longing, fitness and let me me not forget creativity nor the essence of play. Yoga takes all these and rolls them together into a practice of mind, body and spirit. This practice both challenges and invigorates, all the while fueling an inner curiosity to see what more shall be offered.  For me this is like the journey of life. Yes, yoga is the metaphor for this earthly existence  that meets me for who I am and who I might become. Namaste!