Yoga Upstairs Retreat: Moving into Spring

Spring brings longer days, light and a new energy. You’re invited to flow with nature through a weekend of seasonal transition and inspired transformation.

Please join Cara and Stephanie as we move into Spring with a 3-day retreat in the serene Desert Hot Springs, March 31st – April 3rd, 2016.

Nestled against the magnificent San Jacinto and San Gorgonio mountains of California, we’ll step back from our daily routines and into the Nurturing Nest— a Zen-inspired, tranquil hideaway to relax, reflect and recharge. The Nest mineral retreat is just minutes away from Palm Springs, Morongo Bird Sanctuary and Joshua Tree National Park.

Strengthen and rejuvenate body and mind with an immersion filled with mindful breathing, meditation, and asana– then steep your soul in healing mineral waters to seal in your practice each day.

The Moving into Spring yoga retreat package includes:

• Three night accommodation at the Nurturing Nest
• Six all-level intimate yoga classes
• Six nourishing vegetarian meals
• Hot springs mineral soak at your leisure

Dig deep in the garden of your soul, and grow into Spring refreshed and delighted with us at Yoga Upstairs.

For more information, pricing, and to register for this event, please click here.

With gracious love and light,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

 

Yoga Upstairs Open House!

Yoga Upstairs requests the pleasure of your company for our 2016 Open House to kick start your New Year!

Enjoy the FREE juicy offerings every day this week through Sunday, January 10th.

Ever talk yourself out of yoga because you’re new to the practice, or don’t have a yoga mat?

We’ve got your covered. Not only are the classes free, we provide all the yoga props you could possibly need for an enjoyable experience in our studio–blocks, blankets, bolsters, straps, mats, and even a rope wall are free to use compliments of Yoga Upstairs.

You can check our class schedule for a style your most interested in, introduce yourself to the owners and teachers, ask any questions, and let us help you find the best classes for your needs.

Revitalize your body and spirit at our dynamic, fun-filled, Open House. Tap into your intuition, release old energy, and move into creativity and awareness. Registration is required, as these free classes fill up quick in our cozy yoga space.

What’s best is, if you’re new to the studio and want to keep your yoga mojo going after our Open House is over, we offer a new student special; $45 unlimited membership for your first month!

C’mon over, and get to know Agoura Hills’ friendly little yoga studio. We promise you’ll feel a bit more healthy, a lot more happy, and breathe more easy into 2016. We hope to see your on your mat!

With great gratitude,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

Yoga Upstairs Holiday Potluck Gathering!

Please be our guest to celebrate the holidays

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Join fellow students, teachers, and the YU family at our studio between 4-6pm for an afternoon of joy, laughter, yummy yogi food, and good cheer.

Your friends and loved ones are more than welcome!

Please bring your community spirit, and a vegetarian dish to share. Due to allergic and dietary sensitivities, please also bring a card or piece of paper listing ingredients used in your dish, it’d be much appreciated.

Also, please feel free to bring games, activities, and/or talent for everyone to enjoy.

Our very own lovely founder, Cara Sorkin will also be offering a Rope Wall Workshop before the party begins between 2-4pm.

This workshop is a free gift to YU members, and $35 for non-member guests. Come hang with us! Register here now, as wall space is limited in our cozy little yoga studio.

Not only is this special event to honor you, our precious community, but also Mr. B.K.S Iyengar’s birthday!

Move with reverence while you use your whole being to celebrate his unique tradition of yoga. For more details, and to register your spot in the workshop, please click here.

Namasté dear one. Looking forward to seeing you and your loved ones for festive fun!

With joyous love,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

Thanks for Giving: Feed Those in Need with Yoga

The holiday season is here! Next week, you’ll be busy preparing for one of our nation’s favorite celebrations: Thanksgiving.

We’ll soon come together to share cherished time and a more than plentiful meal with our loved ones– all in the spirit of giving, abundance, and connection.

But what about those who don’t have this kind of holiday luxury? Those who can’t see their families, much less share a special meal with them?

At Yoga Upstairs, we’re blessed to be able to share the over abundance of this holiday with those in need in a super simple way– and you can help. With every Facebook check-in at Yoga Upstairs during this month, you’ll provide a meal for a child refugee through our studio partnership with Sweat Angels.

Just by coming to your yoga classes, and checking in at Yoga Upstairs, you become a Sweat Angel– it’s that easy for you to make an instant positive difference in the world. Through November, Sweat Angels is giving to the The Hunger Site.

*Note: If you haven’t noticed it in our studio, there’s a small video kiosk letting you know which cause YU + Sweat Angels are contributing towards through your check-ins.

All month, your check-ins help bring food to the tables of displaced Burmese refugee children. These children live in boarding houses due to an ongoing civil war in the region. Parents send their kids to distant boarding schools in rural provinces of Thailand “in [an] effort to further their education and avoid the risks of unsafe child labor.”

Read more about how The Hunger Site helps to Protect & Feed Burma’s Schoolchildren, and their partnership with Sweat Angels.

Thank you for everything you do, for giving, for the difference you make to your loved ones, and the people around the world who need your help.

With supreme gratitude and love,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

Reflect, Uproot, and Reap the Harvest of Your Yoga

Fall is upon us, and with it comes a natural period to embark on your own inward journey through the season. Autumn also gifts us primed time to reflect and fully express gratitude for the all blessings brought through the year. Read more about our upcoming Ojai Gratitude Retreat; a three day immersion on how to truly receive with grace.

Through uprooting and processing energy that has come to full fruition during the warmer months, we are not only nourished by what we harvest, but cleared of that which we no longer need.

Increasing nightfall brings an opportunity for us to embrace and observe the deeper, darker elements within ourselves. By taking internal stock of mind, body, and soul, we line ourselves up with the Earth’s natural contracting cycle.

Here are a few tips on how to align with the Autumn season through your yoga practice:

• Balance and cleanse with pranayama (breathing exercises) that clear the lungs of stored emotions such as stress, sadness, or grief. As we shift into a slower season, use breath meditation to consciously slow down and center yourself.

• Autumn is governed by the element of metal, which dominates our digestive and respiratory systems. Twisting yoga postures will aid in regulating the digestive organs, and help eliminate built-up waste from the body.

• Stronger blowing winds can cause increased restlessness, or feelings of being ungrounded. Notice the growing air within your own system. As it activates, it can cause dryness of skin and stiffness in joints. Nourish yourself by staying hydrated, and using moisturizing oils to keep your body and skin feeling supple. A stabilizing practice, such as restorative yoga with longer time in savasana can also help to counter these energies.

All our efforts we put forth through the vibrant sunny seasons can be savored before the dissipating daylight shifts us into darkness. Autumn is a time of transformation. Use your practice to feel grounded, abundant, clear, and balanced.

With so much love,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

Receiving with Grace: Yoga Upstairs Gratitude Retreat

 

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” -Meister Eckharte

Autumn marks the time to be thankful for the blessings and bounty brought by each passing year. And it’s with great pleasure we offer you an opportunity to fully express just that during our Gratitude Retreat on October 30th – November 1st.

Guided by our beloved founding teachers Cara and Sri Hari, you’ll spend three days and  two nights immersed in full appreciation for life’s infinite gifts. Set upon the breathtaking grounds of Private Ojai Estate, you’ll explore your own genuine sense of thankfulness through deep gratitude meditation every morning, and renewing yoga asana practice twice a day.

In the sweet silence of guided meditation, you’ll have time to truly pause, reflect, and dive deep into your inner pool of peace. Through a series of yoga sessions, you’ll feel revived and blessed for your ability to simply breathe and move mindfully. Cara and Sri Hari will offer attentive individual instruction, while also creating a close-knit community with those on retreat.

Are you a yogi-friendly foodie? We definitely are, and are excited to savor six fresh, sustainably-sourced meals that will be provided over the weekend, lovingly prepared by local food maestro Chef Caspar Poyck (aka The Inquisitive Chef).

Chef Caspar will not only present delectable, healthy offerings influenced by his vast world travels, he brings a unique approach to food as a certified Digestive Therapist, and CHt who focuses on psycho-somatic healing. His culinary work is dedicated to furthering research on “correlations between emotional dispositions, diet choices, digestive issues, [and] auto-immune problems.”  (whatmakesyoueat.wordpress.com)

Private Ojai Estate features a spectacular salt water hot soak spa, replete with cold plunge pool, wading areas, and cool deck. With plenty of personal time, feel freely connected to nature throughout the indoor-outdoor living spaces on-site, or hiking on a nearby hillside trail. The lovely town center of Ojai is also easily accessible for your enjoyment.

This is your chance to reap the harvest of receiving with grace. Please join us, and experience the lifelong gift of an attitude of gratitude. Namasté.

For more information, pricing, and to register for this event, please click here.

With gracious love and light,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

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Restore & Relax with Yoga Nidra at Yoga Upstairs

Imagine experiencing a journey to the most profound level of relaxation possible.

On September 20th we’re thrilled to welcome guest teacher Maggie Mellor to guide you through the experience of Yoga nidra, an extraordinary path to deepest parts of the true self.

You might wonder…

What is Yoga Nidra?

It’s a lesser known practice referred to as “Yogic sleep”. It’s an ancient method used by swamis and yogis for centuries as way to explore the deepest state of sleep, but consciously.

A yoga nidra practice typically entails a series of “subtle exercises”, or exercises without movement that will prepare you for a journey through the upper chakras and body system.

Through this technique you’ll systematically navigate your own whole being. On a physical level you’ll discover the condition of your musculature, joint system, and nervous system–all while lying down very comfortably. On a subtle level, you’re given an opportunity to dive deeply into your true emotional and mental state without reaction or judgement.

“Yoga Nidra is the wisdom that rests within the shadow of all other forms of yoga” -Imran

Practitioners often report feelings of interconnectedness with the Universe while in this lucid state between waking and unconscious sleep.

Through a yoga nidra practice it’s possible to heal from:

• Insomnia
• Anxiety
• Bodily tension and chronic aches
• Recurring pain from injury
• Psychological wounds or trauma

Benefits of yoga nidra can include:

• Reduced stress
• Improved regular sleep
• Overall increased sense of joy, peace, and well-being

The beauty of this profound practice is that it’s available to anyone. No prior experience with yoga or meditation are required to enjoy yoga nidra. All props are provided at Yoga Upstairs during this workshop. Comfortable, loose-fitting, breathable clothing is recommended.

Teacher Maggie Mellor is “recognized as an E-RYT500 yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. She has been practicing yoga for 45 years and teaching yoga since 1992… She has studied extensively with Eric Shiffman, Shiva Rae, Gary Kraftsow, and Rod Stryker. She also holds degrees in Psychology and Education and has spent 30 years gathering information on healthy conscious living.” (easeintoyoga.com)

We hope you’ll join us on this magical journey to awakening your authentic, peaceful, infinite soul. Namasté.

Energetic exchange for this event is $35.

To register for this event, please click here.

With loving gratitude,

The Yoga Upstairs Family

 

Welcome, Friends, to Yoga Upstairs’ New Blog!

Welcome to the Yoga Upstairs Post—a yoga blog for happy, healthy living in Agoura Hills and beyond!

Through this blog, we hope you’ll find a valuable resource that will inspire more ways to explore your inner yogi both on and off the mat. We’ll share:

• Easy tips for your daily yoga practice
• Tasty nutrition advice
• Seasonal posts on how to stay balanced through the year
• Announcements about special yoga events, guests that come along the way, and much more!

We’re excited to provide a great new way for you to stay in the loop about “what’s happening Upstairs”. Our friendly little yoga studio in Agoura Hills couldn’t have come this far (almost 10 years!) without you, our treasured community–infinite thanks for sharing this incredible journey with us.

Our favorite benefit of being a small and cozy yoga studio is that we can really focus on serving you personally. We’re dedicated to staying closely connected to our growing family of Yoga Upstairs members in as many ways as possible.

We truly hope you enjoy our new blog. As always, we’d love to see you (online and in the studio) so please be in touch. Because it’s all about helping you live a happy, healthy, beautiful life. Namasté.

With deep gratitude,

The Yoga Upstairs Family