Dharm atma yoga
From EcoReality
Contents |
Classes
Fall 2010 Session Begins....Call 537-4847 to Register or Come to Class Sept 7&8 to get discount pricing!!!
ALL LEVELS KUNDALINI YOGA CLASS
- Tuesdays 7:00- 8:30 pm Sept 7-Nov 23, 2010 (NOTE: Sept 14th exception. That week it will be Wed Sept 15th 5pm)
- 210 Cedar Lane Studio, Salt Spring I. - entrance at drive labelled "studio", road parking
- Theme: Living Lightly, Living Well
- This is for men and women, any level or by drop in
LADIES AND BABES KUNDALINI YOGA CLASS
- Wednesdays 10:30 am - 11:45 am Sept 8-Nov 24
- At the Core Inn, Hereford Ave, Ganges, Salt Spring I.
- Minimum 5 people
- 250-537-4847
PRENATAL YOGA CLASS
- Wednesdays 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm Sept 8 - Nov 24
- 210 Cedar Lane Studio - entrance at drive labelled "studio", road parking*
- Minimum 4 people
- any stage of pregnancy welcome, birth partners welcome also
Please see pricing for info.
Pricing
- Drop-Ins are $12 for fall 2010
- Register for the whole series with the Peace Pass = $110 for all 12 classes until Nov 23 2010
- A Balance Pass = $60 for any 6 classes
- Bring a friend for a free first class (new students only)
- Call about private classes and personalized pricing today.
- A reciprocal exchange of energy activates the full benefits of learning and teaching yoga.
Class Descriptions
All levels and physical/spiritual needs welcome at all classes
Living Lightly, Living Well Class
- Tune up your physical wisdom and strength
- Learn a system of practice that brings awareness and growth in personal inner wisdom
- Integrate positivity, personal power and life goals – bring alive the yoga on the mat!
- Apply practical systems for cleansing the mind of old habit patterns
- Harness and contribute to group energy
- for all levels.
- You will be guided through physical warm ups, learning about the philosophical theme for the class, a series of postures and breathwork (pranayama) designed for that theme, deep relaxation, meditation and class closing ritual.
- Alternative poses and options will be given to suit your personal needs at your level.
- All students are acknowledged for their unique "level" and way of being in the world. Students are taught at that level, and small class sizes ensure an enriching, close connection to the teacher and the teachings.
LADIES AND BABES - post natal and prenatal yoga classes
- Kundalini Yoga for pregnant and post-natal mothers and babies is an inspiring, gentle yet powerful experience.
- These classes are designed to celebrate women's bodies and minds during this transformative gift of life!
- It will be modified to suit the group needs, and always draws on Kundalini Yoga teachings for the specific physical and emotional/spiritual needs of new mothers.
- Some common focus points include: hormonal system balancing, hips/abdominal strengthening, heart and lungs and upper back strengthening, restorative postures and breathwork, preparation for labour using meditation and breathwork and leg-hip openers.
- Bolsters, blankets and pillows are available and useful in this class to maximize flexibility, rest and rejuvenation.
- There is time to connect and share personal stories of your journey with other mothers and to gain from community after class (bring a snack to share and enjoy down time with other mothers!)
- Please bring what you need to be comfortable with your baby or growing womb
- Washroom facilities available
- Please bring your own water bottle.
- Note! Dads and grandparents and friends are always welcome if they understand the classes are focussed on women's bodies and lives, during pregnancy and beyond.
Shannon's experience as a Doula feeds into her creation of these classes to serve women during pregnancy and labour and beyond to achieve physical and mental/spiritual rejuvenation and relaxation and strength and wisdom for birthing and wellness.
The class will focus on breathing, physical and energetic preparation for childbirth. It will include some hatha warm-ups and postures for specific needs at various stages of pregnancy. It will also include Kundalini kriyas and meditations, pranayamas (breathing) and relaxations.
Coming Soon: Workshop: Yoga and Health for Mother and Child
Private Classes and Workshops
- Personalized for prenatal, postnatal, education needs
- Created for you by Shannon using her Doula (DONA certified), Yoga (KRI certified), Personal experience
- Small groups, very affordable rates.
- Once or twice a month is feasible right now.
- Call Shannon 250-537-4847!!
Examples:
- 'Childbirth Education: Preparation for Conscious Birth' - stages of labour, medical interventions, partner yoga, breathing, meditation,postpartum infant & mother care
- yoga for mamas - prenatal/postnatal
- beginner
- kundalini power class
- women's health
- living lightly - sustainable lifestyle yoga
- restorative
- other health needs
- Available at your location or Cedar Lane Studio, Salt Spring Island
- Schedule-dependent.
- Please call Shannon 537-4847. ~ $40/hr
Fridays at 4am - Early Morning Yoga and Meditation
Sept through December 2010"
- Leader is Nomi (Sat Guru) Lyonns
- Location: 334 Cusheon Lake Rd
- Shannon Cowan leads some weeks
- Can arrive anytime and slip in
- Please wear a head covering for meditation 5:30-6:30am
For current information on Early Morning Yoga it is always helpful to call at least 12 hours in advance to confirm: - Shannon 537-4847 or Nomi 537-9299
Doula Services
- Shannon is a Birth Doula who assists in prenatal education and preparation, labour and delivery, and postpartum
- A Doula is someone who serves the mother physically, emotionally and to source information for effective decision-making during the transformational time of pregnancy and birth
- See [Doulas Association of North America] for more information
- Shannon offers personalized packages unique to each family and sliding scale based on household income
- First meeting is free and to see if it is a fit for both parties, contract to be drawn up and signed at second meeting
Contact
Telephone Shannon Cowan 250-537-4847, KRI Certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher (9am-7pm please).
What is it?
Dharm Atma Yoga is a vehicle for the teachings of Kundalini Yoga. This is a venue for learning and practising the yoga of awareness, including breath, posture, sound, meditation, diet and lifestyle.
Dharm Atma is the spiritual name of Shannon Cowan. It means Soul on a path of Right Action.
A Kundalini Yoga Teacher follows the Code of Ethics [1] to guide others in the practice to discover the wisdom and power within ourselves through ancient teachings. You will experience yourself and learn tools for creation of your dreams through yoga and meditation, including Sacred Sound&chants, awareness, relationships and communication.
About the Teacher Shannon Cowan
Shannon Cowan (nee Binns) Ph.D. Biology (Ottawa 2001), KRI certified Yoga Teacher (Ottawa, 2001), CD(DONA) (Vancouver, 2008)
Shannon began practising Hatha Yoga at age 16 with her parents. She experienced her first Kundalini Yoga class (as taught by Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.) in Ottawa in 1998 and did her Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training (KRI Approved) in 2000. She began teaching Kundalini yoga classes at Rama Lotus Yoga Center in Ottawa in 2001 and continued to teach in Vancouver at UBC and some community centers 2002-2008. Shannon has attended the Kundalini Summer Solstice retreat and celebrations and International Peace Prayer Day in New Mexico four times (2001-2004). Shannon received the spiritual name DharmAtma from Yogi Bhajan in 2001.
She moved to Salt Spring Island and opened Dharm Atma Yoga in September 2008 and is honoured to meet and guide you in your spiritual and physical wellbeing and self-care.
Teaching and Research
Shannon is bilingual English-French and she grew up in Ontario. She did some studies in Herbalism and Classic British Phytotherapy as a diploma during her undergraduate in Biological Sciences at U of Guelph. She chose to attend graduate school to further study medicinal botany. She received a Ph.D. in Biology (Echinacea) at the University of Ottawa in 2001, and became a biology professor at Bishop's University and then at the University of British Columbia, where she still holds a position as Adjunct Professor in the Food and the Environment Program, in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Shannon's science teaching experience includes undergraduate courses in Agroecology, plant physiology, evolution, cell biology and lab, herbal medicines for nursing students, and for graduate students: integrated studies in land and food, and various experiential plant and agriculture-based workshops and case studies.
Shannon trained as a birth doula with DONA in November 2008 and has worked with five mothers in their birth experiences. References available.
Permaculture, Food and Health
Shannon has taught the "soils" component of a Permaculture Design Certificate Course (September 2009), she has taught medicinal plant gardening workshops at UBC Farm and taught several courses using Problem-Based Learning methodology. She initiated an off-campus Sustainable Agriculture Apprenticeship program out of UBC called "Sowing Growers" that is linked to the UBC Farm 8 month apprenticeship program called "Sowing Seeds". While at UBC full time, Shannon supervised more than 20 directed studies students in Agroecology and other undergraduate Plant Biology Research Projects. Shannon has supervised 6 graduate students at UBC since 2003, four of whom she still actively supervises.
Ecovillage Development
|Shannon Cowan was one of the four co-founding members of EcoReality Cooperative on Salt Spring Island. Her journey has taken her on a different path, and she learned a lot about community, self and farming in her time living at EcoReality Farm.
Well Being and Responsibilities
Please respect this space, it is shared by many users and is a space of Higher Consciousness.
Dharm Atma Yoga and EcoReality cannot take responsibility for lost, stolen or damaged items.
The instructor(s) strive to provide teaching that is suited to each inividual’s needs. As individuals, we each hold the ultimate responsibility for our own well-being. This class/workshop/program is not intended to replace professional medical advice/treatment.
All student participants will be required to read and sign a waiver before their first class.
More About the Practice
Yogais the union of spirit with body and mind. It is a form of integration and holistic practice through which humans can realize and act from a place of wholeness and compassion. In sanskrit jugit means to join together or to yoke. It is about joining an individual's unit consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness.
Kundalini Yoga is called the yoga of awareness because it utilizes breath, posture, sound and meditation or directed attention to achieve states of integration and elevated consciousness. Kundalini Yoga is a technology and a science. In the history of what we know today as yoga, Kundalini Yoga falls under the category of a Raj Yoga.
Raj Yoga. Union of individual consciousness with Universal Consciousness is the goal of Raj Yoga. Raj literally means king in sanskrit and refers to the mind as the king of the organs and the place where this type of yoga practice is mainly focussed. Yoga Chitta Vritti Naroda means Union Halts the Waves of the Mind. Raj in this sense also refers to the ancient lineage of yogic teachings - a practical method that was taught by the Rishis or kings over 2000 years ago in India to other kings in their lineage for the purpose of Yoga - ie. to realize the Self through Union with Ultimate or Universal Consciousness, sometimes referred to as God or One or Creator or God Head.
Later, Patanjali was a man who compiled and summarized these teachings from the Raj Yoga lineage and made them more widely available as The Yogic Sutras. Patanjali's yoga differs from Raj Yoga in that it consists of the Eight Fold Path of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, dharana, dyana, and samadhi, while the Raj Yoga focusses primarily on the last two dyana- single pointed concentration or mindful meditation and samadhi - diving into the inner universe, zero point, neutral mind and shuniya.
Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan follows the ancient teachings of Raj yoga and also the entire Eight Fold Path of Patanjali. It is a holistic practice of inner focus, breath, movement, sound and calming of the waves of thought in the mind as a means to achieve a neutral space, integration and union with Higher Consciousness or the Macro Self, Goddess, Earth Consciousness, Creator, etc...
Yogic Lifestyle Kundalini Yoga is a lifestyle that involves much more than exercises practised occasionally in a group. The goal of Kundalini Yoga Teachers is to guide students to experience and live in a space of their Highest Consciousness where they achieve the capacity to love and serve themselves and others even more effectively than their own teachers have/do. It offers tools for cultivating characteristics of leverage, the power to transform ourselves and others; legacy, integrity and ongoing living awareness; lineage, a history and a line of transmission of teachings as a technology that is whole and remains viable over time.
Each Kundalini Yoga class offers teachings in breath, posture, sound and meditation, as well as philosophical teachings about the yogic lifestyle as taught by the Master of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D.
Examples of yogic philosophy includes, but are not limited to:
The mind...practice using it as a tool and disidentifying with ego.
The benefits of eating sustainable, vegetarian diets and preparing your own food for community with love.
Recipes and foods for health based on Yoga and Ayurveda.
Ishnaan, the practice of bathing with cold water for health, vitality, longevity and physical and psychic cleansing.
Much more...
