Earth and Sky Yoga Studio offer a range of regular specialised workshops to enhance your understanding and practice of yoga and provide and opportunity for deeper exploration of specific practices including meditation, yin yoga and restorative yoga.

Winter is the most Yin of all seasons and during winter it is important for us to find the right balance between rest and movement. While our tendency can be to hibernate through winter with a doona, a good book or Netflix, this can lead to both physical and mental stagnation. It is important to maintain health and vitality during winter by continuing our Yoga practice, nurturing the breath, stretching, and strengthening the body from the 'Yinside" out and releasing fascia to enhance full range of motion.

In winter, Yin sequences target the kidney and urinary bladder energy channels (qi), which are the longest energy channels in the body. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Kidney energy is known as the "Root of Life" and is regarded as the most important reservoir of essential energy in the body. Overwork, stresst, and anger can deplete kidney energy which in turn lowers the immune system making us more vulnerable to winter colds and flus. Our poses will focus on harmonising these energies to boost immunity and restore vitality. When the kidney qi is balanced clarity of thinking returns, courage is enhanced, and will-power restored.

We will finish our Yin Yoga workshop with a powerful Yoga Nidra practice for deep relaxation with inner awareness. No previous experience in Yin Yoga or Yoga Nidra is required to attend this workshop, everyone is welcome.

Each part is a pre-requisite for the next.

Contribution: sliding scale - from $180 to $300 (intro onlu - $50). We would like to make this training both accessible and sustainable. Please contribute at the top of your ability.

Contact: Kate Raffin - 0488 550 979 or kate@kateraffin.com

More info about Kate: www.hearttakmatters.com

Heart Talk Matters is based on the work of Marshall B. Rosenberg, author of "Nonviolent Communication Language of Life"
www.cnvc.org

Yin Yoga is the perfect antidote to the yang energy that fuels our busy Sydney lifestyles. According to tradition, Yin and Yang are in everything. Yin is stable, unmoving and hidden. Yang is changing, moving and revealing. Yin and Yang always co-exist: one is never present without the other. This is also true of yoga - a balanced yoga practice features both yin and yang styles. This makes Yin yoga a perfect complement to your weekly yoga and/or Pilates practice.

Yin Yoga is a grounded, mat-based practice targeting specific areas of the body. Poses are held in stillness, for several minutes. There is minimal striving/effort involved. Mindful connection is prioritised, wilst the breath is guided inwards. The body is lengthened, with space created in the fascia. This leads to improved joint mobility, range of motion and flexibility, and so to reduced stiffness and soreness. The nervous system is calmed.

Yin Yoga is suitable for all ages, fitness levels, shapes and sizes. It is a contemplative practice, characterised by slow, mindful movements.

Members: FREE. Non-members: $40 (paid at the studio)

Please book in with your teacher in class or via email: info@earthandskyyoga.com.au

At the heart of Earth & Sky is Anusara® (www.anusara.com) - a simple, elegant yogic philosophy and methodology in which body, heart and mind are brought into alignment through practice. 

Anusara yoga Immersion Workshops, allow you to deepen and evolve your practice on every level and are led by Earth & Sky’s director and senior Anusara yoga teacher, Cassandra Missio. You will be immersed in yoga philosophy, yogic physiology, pranayama and meditation. This rich and inspiring environment offers you a unique opportunity to experience the expansive qualities inherent in yoga. Over eight weekends we will teach you to integrate the key elements of the Anusara teachings into your practice, and how to integrate yoga into your own life more fully.

Importantly, the Immersion Workshops stimulate the development of a kula (community of the heart), among whom students delve deeply into key Anusara yoga teachings. Working together, focussed on heart expansion and inspired biomechanics, students grow towards the realisation of the potential inherent in their individual lives and practice.
This series of eight Immersion Workshops is open to all Earth & Sky yoga students wishing to enrich their own practice and understanding of yoga. The Immersion worksops are also perfect for aspiring and existing teachers as they are the prerequisite first step towards Anusara teacher certification.

Topics Covered:

• Anusara asana practice and discussion of methodology
• Philosophy
• Pranayama and meditation
• Yoga anatomy
• Group discussion & personal contemplation

These eight Immersion Workshop weekends are held across: Friday evening 6–9pm; Saturday afternoon 1.30–5pm; and Sunday 8.30am–3.30pm.
Earth & Sky members and qualified yoga teachers receive a 10% discount on the Immersion Workshops.
For further details, or to express interest in reserving a place for our 2020 Immersion Workshops, please email info@earthandskyyoga.com.au

Your Teacher

Cassandra first came to yoga in her early twenties whilst travelling. She knew after her first class that she had stumbled upon a very powerful and potent discipline that left her feeling grounded and clear. She has been teaching yoga for 15 years and began her training in 2002 by undertaking a traditional teacher mentoring apprenticeship at The Art of Yoga in Summer Hill.

She has continued to develop her practice and teaching skills studying on numerous occasions with the founder of Anusara yoga, John Friend and many of his senior teachers. She has studied regularly with meditation and philosophy teacher Carlos Pomeda and Yoga Therapist Doug Kellar. After many years of refining her teaching, Cassandra became a certified Anusara yoga teacher in 2009. She teaches a wide range of classes from beginners to advanced as well as more specialised restorative and prenatal classes. She has many dedicated students who have been attending her classes for over 10 years. She has also established a busy private practice and teaches many one-on-one yoga therapy sessions per week.

She is inspired to offer teacher training at Earth and Sky Yoga Studio as her part in helping maintain high standards and integrity in the teaching of yoga.

In the Anusara tradition, Cassandra’s teaching style weaves precise bio-mechanical alignment and heart centred philosophy with the intent to offer an experience of freedom and lightness to the body and the heart!

Please call Cassandra on 0413 303 484 or email her cassandra@earthandskyyoga.com.au to discuss your interest and for a prospectus and application form.