This is a one-hour Synchronized Vinyasa Yoga Class. For Live Love Teach Yoga Teacher Trainings see www.liveloveTeach.com

A lot of what we love about this approach to teaching is what is not being said and not being done.  We believe in simplicity and challenge. 

We teach connection.   Complexity forces the student into their heads.  A wall of words of instruction forces the student to filter out the teacher, disconnect actively. 

We believe the class should be student-centric versus teacher centric. What to say comes from what the teacher sees, so it is relevant. 

(Heads-up- this is a video of whole hour class - Bigger than usual file, 1.3 gig.) 

We thought it would be fun to Go-Pro one of our synchronized vinyasa classes. It was the 2015 Thanksgiving morning class at Rhode Island Power Yoga. The class was co-taught by Philip Urso and Renee Deslauriers. They both had a head-mounted go-pro - so you get their view - plus there were two more fixed go-pros.

This is a good example of a Synchronized Vinyasa Yoga class as taught by the LIVE LOVE TEACH Yoga Teacher Training School. www.liveloveteach.com

SYCHRONIZED VINYASA--- 

When Philip asks you to match group breath - soon after you will follow the vinyasa listening to the group breath only- with no cues from Philip...just the breath to repeat/follow the previous salutation. 

TEACHERS notice how Philip inserts "how yoga works" language.

Lauren owns Firefly Yoga in Enterprise AL.  She is a 500-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Certified by Live Love Teach

Class begins 1.5 minutes into recording. 

"Lay down your arms, and come without defense into the quiet place where Heaven's peace holds all things still at last."  ACIM L.190

NOTE: Class starts at about 6 minutes into the recording.  Skip ahead, or if you are interested in Eating Disorders and Yoga, LLT graduate Chelsea Roff describes her work as Founder and Director of Eat Breathe Thrive, a non-profit organization that prevents and helps individuals fully recover from eating disorders through yoga.

Mandy Roush is co-founder of Root Down Yoga with her husband Nick. She is a Live Love Teach Facilitator and travels to studios to introduce Live Love Teach teacher principles to the teachers.  If interested, info@liveloveteach.com.

A lot of what makes this class powerful is what she is NOT saying and NOT doing...

Incorporating Drishti or "focused gaze" into moving Vnyasa and other LLT teaching techniques. 

A discussion about the class by the teachers follows below this post.

The next Live Love Teach Training is with Philip in RI March 22 - 29, 2014.  See www.liveloveteach.com for an up-to-date schedule. 

 Part 1 of the discussion immediately the above Vinyasa class taught at the Live Love Teach Yoga school Teacher Training January 2014 Ft Worth. With Philip Urso and Stacy Dockins, owners of Live Love Teach Yoga Teacher Training.

The next Live Love Teach Training is with Philip in RI March 22-29 2014.  See www.liveloveteach.com for an up-to-date schedule. 

Live Love Teach 500-hour Weeklong "Unhindered and Unbound" Yoga Teacher Training, Ft Worth Studio.

Immediately following Stacy's class posted above, while still on their mats, the teachers discuss their insights int o the class. With Philip Urso and Stacy Dockins.

Hi -It’s Philip

Just back from a weeklong Advanced Yoga Teacher Training given by Stacy and me  at Stacy and Dave Dockin’s newest  studio, in Ft Worth, Texas, on the Trinity River Trail.   It’s truly beautiful and I look forward to offering more trainings there.  Next month Stacy is offering a 200-hour for new teachers, and many others.

This is a class taught by the group of “graduating” teachers at the very end of the week.  Enjoy!

Audio from a great yoga class-  from Live Love Teach's Yoga Teacher Training APpleton 2012.  A 5-day Yoga Teacher Training.  a mixture of teachers from beginning teachers with 20-year veterans all come together for thei amazing class.

1 Barb Earle - FIT
2-Tomomi Kojima-FIT
3. Sharon  Melesko - FIT

Caroline Tesar
Catherine Stiffler
Christie McClure
Debbie Heinritz
Jan Marnocha
Josif Wittnik
Justin Albring
Karen Harrington
Marcia Schaller
Mark Taub
Robin French
Sally Larkin
Traci Cooley
Wanda Schnetzer
Wendy Cullitan
Theresa Wilson
Maggie Martinez
Rita Burlingame
Denice McClure
Mary Beth Howell
Tamsy
Jolene Detremont
Kelly O'Connell
Jolene Park
Cindy Adams
Rachel Kirvan

Philip's public class during a teacher training at Live Love Teach teacher Mandy Roush's thriving studio. 

I discovered that Dayton is a haven for hipsters!   I was at Practice Yoga - a cool studio there owned by a Live love Teach teacher – Kathi Kizirnis-  and Kim Carter.  I taught a weekend for a teacher training they were doing…and also taught some public classes- this is one of them.

The first 18 minutes is a Q and A you might find interesting.  The rest is a compact, fast moving dynamic vinyasa class.  A tad over an hour.     As always, we assume you already know basic poses and alignment. 

If you want just the class, cue it up at 18 minutes and get into down dog!

This is a class from our recent 5-day LLT teacher training in Mexico.  The teachers all took a part and taught it on the last day.  One remarkable part is that there is are number of teachers who never taught before this training and they are just mixed in …as always we assume you already know basic alignment-  this class is one hour and 20 minutes.  

Intr Paula Romkey

Sun A:  Cameron Graves
Sun A:  Shaena Campbell
Sun A:  Bill Prysock

Sun B:  Josif Wittnik
Sun B:  Ellen Bain

Standing 1:  Maxine Munro
Standing 2:  Tomomi Kojima
Standing 3:  Leslie Hunter
Standing 4:  Dave Parr
Standing 5:  Danielle Jacobs

Balance 1:  Mary Beth Howell
Balance 2:  Chelsea Paxton
Balance 3:  Scott Resch

Core 1:  Andrea Andriopolous
Core 2:  Izabela Melo

Backbends 1:  Melinda Roland
Backbends 2:  Mary Mackinnon Boyd

Hips 1:  Tamara Hilliard
Hips 2:  Elizabeth Auten
Hips 3:  Jessie Braun

Seated Folds & Twists:  Sue Jones
Reclined Postures:  Laura DeMaria

Inversions:  Lisa Walker

Savasana:  Marisa Tingle

Here is a 45-minute Dynamic Vinyasa class.  Philip Urso starts it and Stacy Dockins finishes it  -as usual we assume you already know basic alignment and want to flow. 

Then Deborah Williamson takes you through a 35-minute Yoga Nidra.  If you have never done the Yoga Nidra- “yogic sleep” you may find it exceptionally restful.  One study I saw claimed 1-hour of Nidra was equivalent to 4-hours of “regular sleep.  You could use these together or apart!  The Nidra begins at about 42 minutes in--- Enjoy! 

Live music by Kellie Lin Knott – if you listen you can hear a big fire crackling in the fireplace.

 It you’re ready to practice, get into Chair pose, Utkatasana right now!

I thought you might enjoy this very unusual class.  It is a teacher training drill from Live Love Teach’s recent 5- day training in Montana.  It is a complete 75-minute class, yes, but it is taught by all the teachers in training – 3 minutes each!  In this drill, you will hear the teachers playing –playing is the right word-  with breath and flow, tension and release, and expanding their range of expression. (Most of the time we are broken into small groups- occasionally we join into one big class)  There are all levels of teachers here- brand new teachers and experienced ones ,  and – many styles- teachers of vinyasa, ana forest, astanga,  and others.  More info see http://www.liveloveteach.com/

As always. we assume that you already know basic alignment and want to flow.  This is not for raw beginners, but if you know basic poses and alignment you should be ok.

Brief announcement of Philip's new Yoga School, formed with Stacy Dockins and Deborah Williamson: Live Love Teach Yoga School, then flow into 1 hour class.

Short meditation discussion; class starts at 10 minutes

Steady and relaxed

 all equally unreal

The innocence of the pose.

Fun filled, quick but complete hour class!  Great energy at Deb's studio as always in beautiful Appleton WI

This is a Sunday 8AM class that builds consistently.  What do you value? Being right or happy.  winniing the arguement or Love?  What is the overriding priority in your life?

If you say love is, then why aren't you always loving? 

When you are not loving can now be seen as the greatest of gifts, showing you exactly where your priorities are off.  Where healing, forgivness, awakening is needed.  Where love is not the top priority, is your compass showing precisely where your spiritual work is.

Alignment means the charge of the fight in the pose disappears in stability and relaxation.   This smaller class feels like a relaxed, private class.Side crow from standing prayer twist  Excerpts from Seinfeld episode, The Opposite. Repelling girls.  The power of being authentic.Opposite abwork.  Emergency hip pose.  Girdles.  Ray Long.  The body exhibit.  Purpose of alignment.  

Yoga Bootcamp 2

HEADS up This is not a yoga class, but the first discussion from the Day Long Yoga Bootcamp I taught in September at ALL That Matters, the largest holistic health center in New England.  This discussion follows the class posted called Bootcamp 1.  You are going to get the entire bootcamp- pretty close.

This discussion is about Intuition and what blocks it.  We first discuss the idea a flow from the book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety.  It defines Flow, what we call presence, as the space in-between boredom and anxiety.   His study included athletes, but applied to all of us.  We want to increase our experience of flow or presence because we get a large hit of intuition, and that always feels great.

At about 11.5 minutes we begin to draw a map of what blocks us from our intuition- this is pretty fun. The map we draw is called the “red donut‿ “almost famous‿ from my Podcast, “A Crash Course in Miracles.‿  This is pretty fun discussion and expands pretty far.  I hope you enjoy it.  Please look in the iTunes window- a picture of a red Donut in included with this post.   If you are looking for more yoga, it’s coming in the next few posts- there may be one more discussion first- maybe not.  Then I have a backlog of classes to post.  Thanks.

Please note: This is Part 1 of a day-long "Yoga Bootcamp" I taught in September at All That Matters, the largest holistic health center in New England.  You might want to do this with a friend.  It's 2:41:00 in total or you could take parts.  It begins with a talk on Intuition into a Short meditation (7 minutes) which begins at 19:00 and flows into the Baptiste Vinyasa Yoga Class at 26:00. 

00:00 Intro talk about Intuition (19 min)
19:00 Meditation (7 min)
26:00 Baptiste Vinyasa Yoga Class  (2 hrs, 15 Min)

I may post the other 2 parts of this bootcamp next, then I have a backlog of regular classes to post. 

Some Listeners had asked for information on me.  Here it is:

Philip Urso has studied A Course in Miracles for 12 years and publishes 2 popular podcasts on The Course on iTunes. He regularly leads workshops/intensives on The Course, often with Course themed Vinyasa yoga. 

He is certified to teach Baptiste yoga by Baron Baptiste and has assisted Baron at over a dozen 8-day teacher trainings nationally and internationally.  He teaches at his studio, Salt Pond Yoga and also at the largest holistic health center in New England, All That Matters.  Both studios are in Rhode Island.  He can be reached at philip@saltpondyoga.com.

Teaching A Crash Course in Miracles  at Midwest Power Yoga they let me teach a little Yoga, too.  Awesome studio and community!

how to prepare your mind for laughing

Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga is amazing.  I rave about it here.  I am Certified by Baron Baptiste.

1. You need to be an experienced beginner.  You will need to know basic yoga poses and safe allignment.
2. Helpful to have a block and strap (or tie is a good substitute). 
3. Heat the room.  Ideally, 90 degrees F and 60% humidity (use a humidifier if possible). 
4. You will sweat alot.  Have water and towels nearby.
5. If you get tired, dizzy, or find your breath has come apart and you are panting, take child pose, regain Ujayii breath, and rejoin the class.
6. As with all exercise programs, you do so at your own risk.
7. To download class, see classes below and right click where it says "pod." Click on "Save Target as."  Put the file where you can find it.

The ultimate book on the practice is Journey into Power, by Baron Baptiste.  This is one of the best selling yoga books ever. This will show every pose and explain safe alignment, the sequence and the philosophy.

For more info...see SaltPondYoga.com

Thanks philip@urso.com  (The picture is Lisa overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License and  licenses from ASCAP and BMI.

Slow-building vinyasa

What is presence?  Trying out my 15 year old daughter as announcer!

<p>&nbsp;My Odeo Channel (odeo/efc640acfc23675d)&gt; </p>

Friday afternoon smooth flowing fun class-  active vs passive spirituality

In this class I was substituting for another vinyasa teacher- it's an hour long "hour of power."  When the class saw me come in, they were, well, a little afraid.  So I was a little, well, nice, and maybe a little, um, easier than usual. 

the fundamental error is of identity

"The prize is in the process." 

-Baron Baptiste

In yoga class, as in life, we have an experience.  As soon as we name the experience, something happens.  Naming or labeling the experience is like opening a file of our past experiences under that name. Our past judgments rush in and color in the experience, dulling presence.

When this happens, we no longer see reality. All we see is our own past judgments pasted on what we see and even feel. We become disconnected with reality. In a very real sense, we are alone in all the universe. This state, (and one of anxiety*), is what we experience most of the time. 

Sometimes we come across an experience that has no past reference in the mind.  The mind is suddenly stilled.  There is no memory to dull the experience.  This surprising break in the dullness frees us to experience what we are: love's presence.  Usually it feels like awe, like when we cross above treeline on a new mountain peak the first time. 

In this class we practice not naming what we feel.  We simple let the experience be shown to us as it is now.  We practice looking intensely at the reality, the sensation and the breath, instead of the dull experience of yesterday's sensation.

As always, the aim of the class is to expand our awareness of the rush that we are and learn how to regain it when the dullness tries to work its way back.  Once we learn at will how to feel the rush of what we are, the dullness is intolerable.   (*It's not just the dullness, but also the anxiety and the drama, but that's for another class.)

philip

Baptiste Power Vinyasa yoga at SPY, a rainy Saturday morning. Coming into alignment physically, mentally, and coming into being.

Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga. "I was having an imaginary conversation with a person who wasn't there; I was feeling bad about the way it was going." "The answer is so simple, it eludes us." "An unanticipated wheel is a great joy. You haven't killed it yet with anticipation, dread." "The present is so important because that is where we join. Everything else is solitary confinement."

This was Bridget's first yoga class ever-  The best day of her life!  So I had Shaun model Sun A and the class loved it.  A fun review.  The actual class begins 7 minutes into the podcast in case you want to skip ahead and you will start in Mountain pose.  The class made good fun of my Jennifer Anniston analogy near the end, so I threatened to hold them in hydrant for a long time. 

This fun class generally follows the flow of Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga.  This is the last class I taught at Innerlight Studio after 4 years there.  The quote at the end of class is from A Course in Miracles.