Open Sky Yoga Center in Rochester, New York

Dear Friends in Yoga,

So many openings and adventures on the Path.

Fascinated by the Fibonacci series and the natural scale of harmonics. It changes how I practice breath and asanas, and how I look at the architecture of the world.

Teaching is a lot more about the underlying invisible patterns, the process of building the foundation, than about achieving the pose as a finished product. Showing the way to the pose, giving signs, in French en-seigner (give the signs to find the way) is teaching. As students have a wide range of range of motion, kinesthetic awareness, body-mind connection and previous life history, we have to find a common ground. So, what makes a posture more "advanced" is very subjective and also cultural. For example, supta virasana is a 2 on the scale of 1 to 60 in Light on Yoga, so for India it is almost like savasana. For students in the West it could be quite a hellish pose or not even possible. So we have to show the homeopathic dose of the pose or the beginning tracks to go on the journey, extract and collect the various ingredients, decompose and recompose the pose. Experienced students know how to adapt in the moment without frustration and also have the ability to anticipate their needs, nothing to do with the ability to do. Otherwise, if we based levels on physical ability alone, we are in the yoga Olympics department or back to the competitive self-destructive pseudo-military world of gymnastics. And if you have the chance to be in the "final stage" of an asana, have full awareness of the vayus, the currents of energy in the pose. Turn it into a shamanic experience and a meditation, literally standing in the middle, medi-stare.

As Robert Frost experienced as well:
We dance around in a ring and suppose,

But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.  

Ask yourself: How does the asana as a human being, a living creature, vibrate, resonate? If it was a choir, a sound or a note, what would it sound like?

Here are some opportunities to experience yoga in the next few month at Open Sky Yoga:

YOGA AND DEPRESSION: Dec. 10-11. Offering for the second time this workshop to minimize depression and anxiety (PDF).

CHAPIN MILL RETREAT: Dec. 2-4. The annual residential retreat at Chapin Mill, a great resourcing and gathering. Pranayama early morning, organic gourmet meals, etc...and lots of yoga and rest. (PDF)

TEACHER TRAINING 2012: More substantial journeys also like ETT2012 (PDF), the 200-hour teacher training and advanced yoga studies, beginning in March. We are taking applications (PDF).

CRETE: July 8-15, 2102 a Yoga vacation (vacant empty mind!) in Crete. Right on the beach with Cretan cuisine!!! (PDF)

SOUTH INDIA: Dec. 28, 2012 to Jan. 11, 2013. Our third Journey to South India (a pilgrimage to the Source) also is gradually filling up. Ayurvedic massages, visits to extraordinary temples, treasures of Unesco....yoga and journaling...If you are seriously interested email us with questions, concerns, etc. We always have to go beyond the fear of the unknown to find ourselves! (PDF)

SOLSTICE: Dec. 16. In Rochester, Rick Lynch will offer the annual restorative ritual of the winter solstice (PDF).

WEEKEND SEMINARS open to all students and teachers. Nov 4-6 Hamilton CA (PDF), Nov 12-13 Toronto, CA (PDF), Nov 19-20 Buffalo (PDF), and Nov 26-27 Rome (Italy) (PDF) ....

And of course the ongoing weekly classes are still happening, offering a creative and traditional approach to yoga, cultivating authenticity the best we can in the obsessive vata-aggravated world ruled by fashion, fitness, plastic surgery, marketing and pseudo-spirituality!

See you soon at the Public Market in Rochester, Heraklion or Thanjavur!

Francois Raoult

Open Sky Yoga