Sedona Yoga Festival 2019

Enjoy a Hatha Yoga class that is all about opening the hips; although some advanced asanas will be taught, Alissa teaches postures in layers so this class is well suited for beginner to advanced practitioners. Enjoy a fast-paced sun salutation and namaskar warm up. This will be followed by some deep hip openers, which will be held while practicing moving meditation techniques. Seal the practice in with breath and meditation to close out the session.

Myths of the PSOAS are dispelled! Discover the truth behind this organic, abused and least understood area of the deep core. Excerpts from Jo Ann's book, THE VITAL PSOAS MUSCLE, Connecting Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Well-Being, will be presented. Floor work called SATYA will be introduced, as taught to Jo Ann by Tias Little, author of the Anatomy of the Subtle Body. The diaphragm and psoas connection will be discussed, using pranyama and asana to experience this important area. Asana practice will end with the Constructive Rest Position and Savasana.

Join us in an invigorating and intensive hip opening session and experience precise and fluid movements that can remove tension on a physical, emotional, and energetic level. You will be guided to approach the opening of the hips in a fun and patient way, allowing the body time to respond. When the hips are open and loose, the rest of your body will feel more supported and at ease. Learn tech­niques to gen­tly stretch and open the hips. Increase flex­i­bil­ity, explore dif­fer­ent rota­tions of the hips and safe, effec­tive ways to open them, reliev­ing stress on lum­bar, sacroil­iac, and knee joints, plus you’ll clear, awaken and balance the two base chakras. The hip area is a com­plex clus­ter of pow­er­ful mus­cles, ten­dons, and lig­a­ments, and we can begin to loose the rota­tion, flex­ion, and exten­sion they need to remain agile. Life today requires that we sit too much — sports, such as run­ning and cycling (even walk­ing) demand hip strength but not flex­i­bil­ity, and every­day stress cre­ates ten­sion in your hip area. You will be guided to approach the open­ing of the hips in a patient way, allow­ing the body time to respond. When the hips are open and loose, the rest of your body will feel more sup­ported and at ease. Unstick your hips and get them glid­ing freely again!

We talk about working the “core” yet when we hear that, most of us immediately think of the “six pack abs” when in fact there is much more to the core than a nice looking stomach. The body’s “core” refers to the muscles around the abdomen, pelvis and back, they are also the spines primary stabilizers. The core muscles are almost always active, from sitting to standing, walking to running, the core muscles are at work stabilizing our body. Weak core muscles make one more susceptible to poor posture, back pain and injuries during activity. Core exercises train the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen to work in harmony. This leads to better balance, stability, lean and strong abdominal muscles, and a stronger, more fluid yoga practice.