The Classes at the Prana Yoga and Healing Center of Sarasota, Florida

LEVEL 1:  For students with little or no experience, including those that would like to get back to the basics.  Learn the fundamentals of yoga practice.

LEVEL 2:  For students with some Level 1 experience who have an interest in refining the fundamentals and deepening their practice.  Sirsasana (headstand), sarvangasana (shoulder stand), adhomuhka vrksasana (handstand), backbends and introductory pranayama are taught.

ALL LEVEL:  This class will emphasize optimal, anatomical alignment for each student’s body type through an introduction of basic to intermediate yoga postures (asanas).   Pranayama (breath awareness) and meditation techniques will be introduced as well.  Beginners welcome!

GENTLE:  Open to all students who would like a gentle approach to their practice.  Beginners are welcome!

RESTORATIVE:   This class is open to all levels and will introduce gentle, passive yoga postures in a quiet & tranquil setting.  This class is especially appropriate for those needing to replenish depleted energy levels, as well as those with chronic conditions who find a typical hatha yoga class too vigorous.

KUNDALINI:  In Kundalini Yoga, the bottom line is what works. And what does work, more quickly and more powerfully, than just about anything, is a combination of breath, movement, and poses, along with the science of sequence, rhythm, as well as mental focus and vibratory effect. Kundalini Yoga has the global effect of balancing the glandular and nervous systems, freeing up trapped energy, and serving as a catalyst for emotional healing and creative and spiritual expansion. The workouts in Kundalini Yoga have evolved, over thousands of years, with this global effect in mind.

Kundalini Yoga is a bright, beautiful, blissful experience of postures, mantras and breath. The postures and movements of Kundalini Yoga are designed to strengthen the nerves and glands, and the lymphatic and circulatory systems. The meditations, mantras, and mudras energize meridian points throughout the body to release reservoirs of energy and light.

View the Calendar for the complete schedule. 

General Approach in Yoga Classes and Workshops:

Approach to yoga is filled with a series of paradoxes. What is regarded as correct at one level is not necessarily correct at another. A few or more of the following levels may begin simultaneously. The levels therefore indicate increased maturity of approach rather than a linear approach to practice of yoga.

LEVEL 1: This is a physical or geometrical approach. It is considered foundational work for the beginner. It largely consists of outer alignment of the physical body in various postures. This alignment depends on generally accepted anatomical concepts of how an ideal body should look. For every individual an allowance is made to accommodate any differences between the left and the right sides, as well as any pain resulting from stiffness, weakness and injury. The mind is actively engaged in correction of outer geometrical patterns of the musculo-skeletal system. Most postures can be held for about a minute.

LEVEL 2: This is physiological approach. In this approach the muscle is educated to work in a much more efficient manner by transferring the weight bearing capacity to the bones. The breath and the mind begin to function with greater ease. It is an essential prerequisite to deeper penetration. Most postures are held for between one to two minutes.

LEVEL 3: This is organic approach. The health (as distinct from strength) of the body is determined by health of the pelvic organs, the abdominal organs, the heart, and the lungs. Physical and mental efforts take on a different mode of observation and corrections through receptive actions rather than directive actions of the previous levels. Postures are generally held for three minutes or longer. Physical alignment of the levels one and two may have to be modified to seek better organic effect.

LEVEL 4: This is pranic approach. As the mind becomes more passively alert the student is able to recognize various locations where the energy of prana does not flow freely. Attempting to increase the muscular effort often results in a negative effect. Even as the foundation of the prior levels is held, the mind now has to learn how to let go and stop interfering with the natural ease that is inherent in a healthy body. The nature of inner alignment changes as the mind learns to be alert even as it lets go of inadvertently held tensions. The mind that has learned to stop interfering is able to distinguish between useful thought activity to organize the external world and the useless often damaging activity of the internal world.

LEVEL 5: This is the sensory approach. The senses are called the window of the mind. Each sense allows a perception to take place. The untrained mind is not still and is not able to see the perception as it is. It colors the perception with pre-conceived notions, ideologies and agendas. A still mind is able to clearly see that it is a collection of thoughts, a collection of the past, and its exercise of will is necessarily partial. It is partial in the sense of not being whole as well as in the sense of being driven by preconceived agendas.

LEVEL 6: This meditative approach. The "doing" of the first level culminates into the "non reactive recognition" of the fifth level. The use of the will that is essential to the first level becomes an interference to the last level. Every effort to seek inner freedom gets resolved into a meditation which knows that the actions resulting from that meditation are choiceless. Real unconditional freedom finds itself resting on the ground which offers choicelessness - oddly enough that is the end of all struggle, an amazing ultimate paradox.

Drop in Yoga - $15.00

Private Sessions, contact Regina for scheduling.

Twin Hearts Meditation for World Peace $10 donation.

View the Calendar for the complete class schedule.