Happy SPRING!! What's sprouting at OM this season?
Aerial Silk, a Virtual Practice Studio and an awesome schedule of outdoor summer yoga events!
Warm equinox greetings to all of you! Today I’m excited to share about the new things happening at the studio this Spring and invite you to join me for a gentle Ayurvedic detox program offered online this month. A lot of new ways to play and find community at Om Shala.
Get Lifted! New Aerial Hammock Yoga Classes at OM
Our brand new Aerial rigs are here and installed in our large practice room. Jess Trudeau is holding it down every Monday lunch hour and Thursday Night for mat based, aerial assisted yoga practice. The passes for the aerial classes are $20 to drop in, but get $5 off classes in March and try it out before you get hooked in earnest. Super fun way to incorporate a fun and useful prop. Want to see more of these classes? Drop us a line and let us know what times you would love to see more classes.
Mountain Mondays
Every summer, Om Shala struggles a bit financially to stay on top of our expenses when our sweet students and faculty depart, and many community members travel or spend the beautiful north coast dry season frolicking at the river, the beach or in the mountains (you’d be crazy not to!) We decided this summer that we want to go outside and play too! Coming soon, look for an entire summer’s worth of outdoor yoga events, kicking off with the start of Mountain Mondays, a new day hiking program that incorporates breath work, mindfulness, yoga and community connection. Miranda, Joe and the lovely Tamra James will be leading this mini-hikes to build the endurance for our big 3 day backpacking adventure this summer! Also included on the schedule will be weekly walking meditation, stand up paddle board yoga, the prana paddle on stone lagoon, surf yoga camp, river rafting and more! Keep an eye out for details as they are released.
All New Virtual Practice Studio on our Website
Did you notice a new tab on the navigation menu? Since I’ve taken over as steward of the studio, it has been my goal to bring Om Shala teachers and workshop presenters to our students who are traveling, have moved out of the area or have difficulty getting to regular weekly classes. There has been an explosion of online yoga classes in the last 10 years, and brick and mortar studios are suffering as a result—I think there is a balance to be achieved here. So, I have created a portal that brings the best of both worlds, you can support your local studio and also have the convenience of workshop content online.
Every month or so we will be featuring a new workshop, guided program or intensive in the virtual practice space. You can sign up through our site just like you do for our studio workshops, and you’ll receive a code to log in and access your content. This month we are kicking things off with a fabulous partnership with Traci Webb of the Northwest Institute of Ayurveda and are bringing you a guided spring Kitchari cleanse!
The course is live March 20-April 20th so you can begin and end your detox program at a time that is convenient. The program contains how-to videos, recipes, shopping list and tips and tricks from Traci on how to bring more balance into your life at this time of the year.
I have a story with Kitchari I would love to share. A few years back I started getting terrible skin inflammation. I tried everything to make these itchy red patches go away, but no matter what I did, the rash just kept spreading. Eventually it spread onto both eyes and was in both armpits and I was so miserable!!! I had a teacher who mentioned he thought that the rash was evidence of an imbalance in Pitta dosha and I should cut out the “hot” stuff in my diet. I had no idea at that time what he was talking about, and knew very little about the science of Ayurveda and the Doshas. So I started doing some research and decided I would try something called a Kitchari cleanse, frankly because my diet was so heavily based in heating foods that I didn’t even know how to begin to eat in a different way.
After 3 days on a kitchari exclusive diet all of my rashes disappeared. I mean completely! It made me a full believer in the power of Ayurveda to address disease and discomfort. I found the process to be so empowering—the diet is easy and nourishing, and I never felt deprived or sick the way I do when I’ve tried juice fasts in the past. Now anytime Pitta dosha starts giving me trouble, I just make a few days of kitchari and adjust my lifestyle and I have no problems. I hope the program we are offering can help with whatever imbalance you may be experiences at this time of transition in the seasons. You can check out more information by clicking the graphic above. Sign up on our workshops page or call/come by the studio front desk. Hope you’ll join me, I’m starting today!