Thanksgiving
Weekend Schedule:

Since 1966 Michel Swornik has searched for what Yoga offers. He has taught and practiced many forms of yoga and meditation. He has also studied many related teachings.

This class is aimed at people who have practiced for some time (intermediate to advanced students) and are very familiar with the basics of Hatha Yoga Pranayama and meditation. We aim to deepen our practice. This class is supported on the flow of the breath and on the search of balanced effort [so as to find a sattvic way of practicing]. We explore the deepening of poses as well as finding the “place’ within the koshas [sheath of energy] where the efforts are no longer an attack on the physical frame and where the posture becomes a union with our deeper nature. Consequently the classes are not extremely aerobic and the postures are not especially acrobatic. The class lasts two short hours but the effect will last the whole week. The spirit of quest is the central theme. It is ideal if you are a teacher or if you have practiced for a long time. If you have felt that your wish for meditation has come to a stop because it “became boring”.

If you have practiced Yoga (all types) and feel that you would like to renew your enthusiasm, this is the class you are looking for. We all prize a feeling of community and yet we prize our freedom from dogma, from “must” and ought. We all cherish our Saturday meeting (more than a class). Some come every Saturday, some from time to time some miss for a while, but we have a strong feeling – we want to be here. Families can block our progress, friends may at times, make us feel inadequate or indebted, but in our group we feel that we belong. So, after we finish our class we usually go for brunch in a local place – no strings attached.

In his own words:

“When we begin practicing Yoga….

…we are sometimes unaware of the possibilities that we are approaching. Yoga is a science that can give us tools to understand what our true purpose for living is. Yoga can also be a lens through which we can discover a universe which, without it would remain unseen. Yoga is a catalyst of transformation and a Rosetta stone to help us understand our life. Yoga is a complete science of life. However to use it we need help – because when we need Yoga the most it is often when we feel the incline to practice but we do not have the correct frame of mind or a sufficient amount of energy – this is why we need a class like this one.”

…we often feel Yoga is a boon for the body; and it is. Then as we move the body and we start becoming more proficient, we are no longer only moving the body but we begin to move within the body: the body becomes a place – and we are no longer the body. We discover that the “place” where we are traveling is only limited by our minds and we realize that we are none of the spaces that we visit, and then we begin to contemplate liberation.”

…it is like a hat that we put on and take off – we practice and we feel great; we stop and we go back to the grudge of habits and put back on the chains of daily life. Through practice we discover that Yoga is also a state of communion with the inner light of our being. Then we find that we are but a little splash of the whole of life and that our being, to become realized, must go back to its own source and that our daily meditation is the path.”