2012 NamasteWorks Free Yoga in the Park
Civic Green Park – Highlands Ranch – May 30-Aug. 18

Meet our newest addition to Free Yoga at the Park and NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness

Troy Krebs L.Ac., 200HR PYT – Professional Yoga Therapist

Born and raised in Hawaii has kept Troy close to nature and her love for nurturing and growing things.

Troy spent fifteen years in the horticulture business before answering her calling to help and work with others.   She graduated from Chinese Medical School, has been practicing for over ten years, and was instrumental in building a wellness franchise practice in Lone Tree, Co. She later went to Beijing China to further her knowledge in Chinese Medicine.

Almost two years ago, Troy decided to start her own private practice. She specializes in women’s health issues including, fertility, delivering babies, emotional imbalances, pcos, endometriosis and a host of other women’s health issues. At the same time she started her private practice, she discovered her love of Yoga; so much so, she wanted to share her yoga with others.  She completed her 200HR Integrative Yoga Therapy training at NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness.  She runs a therapeutic workshop “Navigating the Natural Journey of Menopause” at Namasteworks Yoga.  Troy says, “Every time I come to the mat I learn. I enjoy being a part of passing on this rich tradition.”

Troy is also trained in 5-Element work to help others with emotional disorders, TCM trained to work with Cancer, Diabetes, Weight loss, Detox, Candida clean-ups, Migraines, and Pain of all sorts. For the past ten years, she has also applied her Chinese Medicine skills working at Craig Hospital toward spinal cord injury and brain trauma. Troy also touts a certification in Nutrition, Acupuncture and Herbal Formulas. Never one to rest, Troy recently was accepted into the Tibetan Cranial Sacral Apprenticeship Program.

Troy carries a deep desire to help people with their health and bring the body, mind and spirit back into balance in a natural way, we are happy to have her as part of our growing team on and off the mat.

Not the outdoor type – come join us indoors at NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, 5860 S. Curtice St., Littleton, CO 80120. We are not a walk-in studio, and offer private group classes, individual sessions and workshops for our clients. All classes require a RSVP. www.namasteworksyoga.com – A Place to Discover Yoga as a Healing Art.

2012 NamasteWorks Free Yoga in the Park
Civic Green Park – Highlands Ranch – May 30-Aug. 18

Meet our newest instructor, Arianna Shannon

Arianna has been finding inspiration as a yoga student since 2004, and completed her 200 HR Integrative Yoga Therapy teacher training with Nancy Levenson at NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness in 2011. She has a passion for yoga as a spiritual practice and as a direct channel for connecting with our divine mother earth.  Arianna will be supporting the lead instructors in the practice this year, getting her mat wet if you will,  before stepping out front in the future.  Please welcome her to our teaching staff.

Free Yoga in the Park opens its fourth season in Highlands Ranch on May 30.  Classes run every Wednesday and Saturday from 8:15-9:15 am, excluding June 19.  Click on our full schedule for all the details and we hope to see you out at Civic Green Park, located next to the Highlands Ranch Library for opening day.

Not the outdoor type – come join us indoors at NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, 5860 S. Curtice St., Littleton, CO 80120. We are not a walk-in studio, and offer private group classes, individual sessions and workshops for our clients. All classes require a RSVP. www.namasteworksyoga.com – A Place to Discover Yoga as a Healing Art.

by:  Nancy Levenson, 500 E-RYT, 1,000 PYT,  Professional Yoga Therapist

This week our clients leaned into themselves, developing a connection with Maitri, (Sanskrit: an unconditional friendship and love of oneself).  It’s easy to forget that self love and friendship is our starting point to exploring and expanding ourselves out into the world. It is through our own awareness of noticing and celebrating our positive self, qualities, skills, and way of being, that can embrace others with the same self love and unconditional friendship. Like carrying around two spheres, one inside ourselves and one outside ourselves, we learn how to find the center where the two spheres merge into one.

In our yoga therapy center, we work with clients to allow all of our desires, emotions and fears to unfold and open like the Lotus flower.  We delve deep inside the Manomaya Kosha, discovering lessons that we’ve learned and have yet to learn.  We develop a deep understanding of how our lessons become spiritual awakenings on our path to embracing our self and ultimately embracing a world with open arms and compassion. Can you sit with your own self in Maitri?  Take the time to explore this five minute meditation into self.

Maitri Meditation

Can you sit in the company of self?
Drop into your inner silence
Peel away the layers of your being
And see that gem that lies deep within

Can you meditate with self?
Open to your own heart, your own emotions
Touch the very essence of your soul
And step away from all that was, to be fully present now

Can you dive deep inside?
Explore the unconditional love of the one you sit with now
Accept compassion and friendship
And all of your experiences as they arise

Open yourself up to the bliss of self
What pierces your heart with love, fear, joy, sadness?
What is calling you from deep inside?
And how can you best serve you

Enter the crucible of Maitri
The unconditional friendship with oneself
Sit in silence, just allow, and just listen
You may discover a beautiful being has been with you all along

©NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, 5860 S. Curtice St., Littleton, CO 80120. We are not a walk-in studio, and offer private group classes, individual sessions and workshops for our clients. Also offering 200HR Integrative Yoga Therapy Teacher Training and Free Yoga in the Park – Highlands Ranch.  All classes require a RSVP. www.namasteworksyoga.com – A Place to Discover Yoga as a Healing Art.

by:  Nancy Levenson, 500 E-RYT, 1,000 PYT,  Professional Yoga Therapist

After five years of instructing yoga at Colorado’s largest retirement community, Wind Crest, I rolled up the last mat, tucked away the last chair, stacked the last block and shut the door.  I leave behind a joy filled journey and legacy of guiding seniors in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s through chair yoga, floor yoga, movement classes, breathing exercises, meditation and private sessions.

At a time, when yoga teachers were training to deliver the next best intense practice, I was off studying geriatrics, the senior body, somatic movement, restorative yoga and deepening my immersion in servicing a community that had not been really considered viable for the yoga business. It’s a door I knocked on, a door that opened and a journey I will never forget.

The door that opened for me at Wind Crest went way beyond yoga; it was a life enriching experience, one filled with many stories, fond memories, lots of laughter, some sadness when we lost people we loved and always filled with new friends and personal growth.  Each week brought new challenges, new learning experiences and new opportunities for me to grow a market that had never considered yoga before and for me to personally grow.

Each time one door closes another door opens.  I closed this door to move forward and focus on my own therapeutic wellness center, NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, located in Old Town Littleton.   Even though I opened this door a year and a half ago, I felt a need to nourish this experience, to explore what lies ahead with more veracity, and to peer deeper and see if there is another door even beyond this one. Our journey in life takes us through a series of doors, we just need to ready when they open and acknowledge when the time has come and they need to close.

NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, 5860 S. Curtice St., Littleton, CO 80120. We are not a walk-in studio, we operate as a private center for our clients. All classes require a RSVP. www.namasteworksyoga.com – A Place to Discover Yoga as a Healing Art.

Special Therapeutic Workshop
One Day Only – Saturday, March 31, 2012
9:00 am – 12:00 pm– $39

There are three positive words that can help you anytime you are feeling disconnected, “Find Your Center.”  When you say or think these three words, you are immediately drawn back to your inner self, toward your own vibrant energy.  For centuries, Mandalas have been used to draw us back to center.  Mandala means circle or center and everything in life has a spiral or mandala inside, from the smallest atom to our own solar system.

Mandalas are designed bring us inner focus and peace, to help us slow down, release stress, tap into our innate healing power and inspire wisdom in our life.  Carl Jung asserted that Mandalas are a key to personal transformation – they represent an archetype of wholeness. 

Take a symbolic journey inside yourself and unlock your own center in our upcoming workshop series, Dancing Around the Mandala.   Experience a fusion of creativity, quiet self-exploration, relaxation and movement as we discover how a mandala provides insight, healing and form to our inner dance. Our pilgrimage will include an hour of drawing and interpretation of your personal mandala, an hour-plus yoga practice and a relaxing meditative Yoga Nidra to deepen your awareness of dancing around the mandala.

We offer you a private setting to uncover the mandala in you. Led by Jenny Clark – 200HR PYT, Therapeutic Yoga Instructor and CMT. This one-day only workshop is $39. All materials are included and we encourage you to bring a snack. This program is limited to ten participants and an RSVP and pre-payment are required. Send your request through our contact page and we will hold your space and send you the details.

NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, 5860 S. Curtice St., Littleton, CO 80120. We are not a walk-in studio, we operate as a private center for our clients. All classes require a RSVP. www.namasteworksyoga.com – A Place to Discover Yoga as a Healing Art.

October Event
This Saturday 10/15/2011
10:00-Noon

Experiencing The Five Prana Vayus and Understanding Their Therapeutic Application 

Want to step your yoga teaching up a level?  The focus of this month’s YTOC (Yoga Teachers of Colorado) event is being hosted by NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness.

Come take an experiential journey through the five prana vayus; Prana, Apana, Udana, Samana, and Vyana. Prana vayus are the “winds” of our bodies and they are a very powerful and very subtle forces.  

With awareness we can quite literally find the flow of prana through the prana vayus! In this workshop, we will tune into these forces through the use of mudras, pranayama, and body awareness.  

As a yoga instructor, this workshop will enhance your knowledge of these energy currents, and enable you learn how they assist in yoga as a healing art or create classes to support a specific flow of energy.  

 Presenter: 

Nancy Levenson, founder of NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, a boutique wellness center offering yoga as a healing art.   A highly regarded PYT, professional yoga therapist, Nancy’s mission is helping others restore optimal health through mind, body and spirit practice.

Nancy describes her style of yoga as compassionate and expressive.  She focuses on an individual’s overall wellbeing by placing an equal emphasis on their physical, energetic, emotional and spiritual dimensions.  She received her 500-hour Yoga Therapy certification with Joseph & Lillian Le Page through Integrative Yoga Therapy and also holds a restorative yoga teaching certification.   

This event is free to YTOC Members and $20 for non-members.

Location:
5860 South Curtice Street
Littleton, Colorado 80120-1909
303.725.1434

200 HR INTEGRATIVE YOGA THERAPY TEACHER TRAINING 
Free Program Spotlight
September 7th, Wednesday Evening
5:30-6:30 pm

Jeanne Thornton and I held our second “Teaching the Inspired Class” – A Workshop for Yoga Instructors to help re-ignite that source of inspiration from which they teach, day after day, week after week, year after year.

I loved Jeanne’s introduction on Inspiration (In`spi*ra”tion) – too breathe life into. While the program is designed to assist teachers, it also re-inspires my own teaching. I continue to be awed by the amazing creativity that exists all around us. The opportunity to see everything with new eyes and to know that no two of us perceive an event, sound, sight or thought in exactly the same way. That we each find inspiration in different sources and that this inspiration can extend from one thought to another – flowing with unlimited motion. I thank all of the participating teachers for also breathing life into me.

©NamasteWorks Yoga + Wellness, LLC, http://www.namasteworksyoga.com, by: Nancy Levenson

These are my personal recommendations in finding a yoga school that is right for you.

Rather than simply going to the studio closest to your home or taking classes from a teacher whose schedule fits yours, it is worthwhile to look for the right school and the right person to train you. You need to find someone who is experienced and well trained and whose teaching style and personality you find inspiring.

It really depends on what you want out of yoga training. If your interest lies in getting into teaching as fast as you can with limited focus on the eight limbs of yoga, anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, asanas adjustments, pranayama, mediation, philosophy, Koshas, etc. then choosing a weekend program may be right for you. However, if you want an in-depth understanding of the yogic process, a well accredited school is worth every penny spent.

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of facilitating a yoga teacher workshop, Teaching the Inspired Class, with Jeanne Thornton. This workshop, targeted to new and experienced yoga instructors, was designed to help teachers “breathe life back into their classes.” Through a series of exercises, practice, meditation and small team breakouts, teachers were able to reconnect with their own source of inspiration and meet new teachers in the community. Below are some of the comments from the participating teachers.