4th Annual Esalen Yoga Festival June 8-13, 2008
SAY Festival: Celebrating Service, Activism, and Yoga
Say your Truth, Say your Purpose, Say your Intention
Led by Sharon Gannon, David Life, Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, Katchie
Ananda, Suzanne Sterling, plus special guest leaders Jon Robbins and
Tara Guber.
FOR REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION CLICK
HERE
The SAY Festival will be a unique opportunity to for us to discover and
be profoundly moved by the connections between the yogic path and the
way of divine service or Seva. We will explore possibilities and
purpose, cultivate a vision for change, learn to organize and activate
an outreach effort and see an action develop from thought to fruition.
This week, through yoga and conscious conversation, indulge in a
groundbreaking, passionate, thought provoking, soul illuminating
experience that demands we ask questions, invites us to become forward
thinkers, encourages us to put thoughts into action and welcomes us to
be part of a larger vision for interpersonal and global change.
Together we will explore the crisis and opportunities in the world
today including environmental issues, cruelty to animals, poverty,
sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS, and explore what we, as individuals
and as a collective, can do to raise awareness and resources and work
together towards making a difference that brings good health, abundance
and happiness to all. This week will be a chance for us to come
together in sacred community as we explore yogic methods which can
enable us to become spiritually activated in order to become
positively, politically active.
Be in a community that supports forward and often radical thinking.
Develop your own purpose through visualization, yoga, meditation,
creative intention, proactive dialogue and prayer. Make a commitment to
service in your local community, become a leader, and develop your own
action for change. Together we can be a part of this Great Turning and
part of building a truly life sustaining world...together we can
remember and celebrate the power and beauty of life as we work for
social change.
The festival begins on Sunday evening with an opening gathering to set intentions for the week to come.
Early mornings will be devoted to the contemplative and internal practices of pranayama and meditation.
Late mornings we’ll practice a variety of asana methods: dynamic
vinyasa flow, devotional Jivamukti method, and heart-centered Anusara.
Afternoons will be free to receive massages, soak in Esalen’s hot
springs overlooking the Pacific, rest, recharge, and connect with other
yogis.
Late afternoons, we’ll reconvene for two very special tracks:
Off the Mat, Into the World™ afternoon intensive led by
Hala Khouri, Seane Corn, Suzanne Sterling, and Katchie Ananda
(www.otm.org). This is an introduction to the nationwide program which
will be launched in February, 2008. We will take you through a process
of self-inquiry designed to help you get clarity to move into action in
your community. This is a process of finding your purpose and living
it, both on and off your mat.
“Activists in Action” sessions led by John Robbins and Katchie Ananda,
Sharon Gannon and David Life, and Tara Guber. Explore a range of topics
from veganism to environment and health, from sustainability to the
dynamics of relationships in open forum workshops encouraging healthy
community dialogue, information sharing and playful experimentation.
Evenings will be held in sacred ceremony with live music and chanting,
movement, ritual, and playful celebration to rejoice in our
community and intention of the week together.
Important information, please read: This festival will be full and
spirited – expect to sweat and be in very full classes with yoga mats
close together. All meals will be 100% VEGETARIAN (VEGAN AVAILABLE) the
entire week. There will be a limited number of partial scholarships for
those demonstrating financial need; please inquire when making
reservations. All classes will be mixed-level with the exception of one
limited-size, dedicated class for beginners (those with very little or
no yoga experience or with physical limitations). If you would like to
be in the dedicated beginner’s class, make sure to ask when making your
reservation. We will have some mats and props on hand but recommend
bringing your own for hygienic purposes. You’ll need a yoga mat, towel,
a zafu or cushion for meditation, block, and strap.
Leaders
Sharon Gannon and David Life are the creators of the Jivamukti Yoga
Method, which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all
beings. The Jivamukti Yoga method emphasizes Vinyasa, scriptural study,
devotion, prayer, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal
rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism. Their
passionate focus on the original meaning of the Sanskrit word "asana"
as seat, connection, relationship to the earth is as practical as it is
radical at this time of global and consciousness shift.
www.jivamuktiyoga.com
Seane Corn is a long time activist for various political, social and
health efforts, Seane uses her influence and national platform as a
yoga teacher to raise awareness and money for important causes. She is
committed to helping globalize the yoga community to raise awareness
and funds for HIV/AIDS. Her vinyasa classes are an eclectic fusion of
various healing and Spiritual modalities making them challenging,
intuitive, insightful and uplifting. Seane is also a co-creator of Off
the Mat, Into the World, an organization offering nationwide training
programs combining yoga and sustainable activism. www.seanecorn.com
Hala Khouri has taught yoga and the movement arts to a wide variety of
people ranging from schizophrenics and at-risk youth to mommies and
rock stars. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and is
currently working toward a Doctorate in Somatic Psychology. Hala is
also a co-creator of Off the Mat, Into the World, an organization
offering nationwide training programs combining yoga and sustainable
activism. www.halakhouri.com
Katchie Ananda is an activist, dancer, artist, priestess and yogini who
has devoted more then twenty years to the study and integration of
Yoga, and has been leading others along the path for almost two
decades. She inspires her students to be the change they seek in the
world and teaches that Yoga is as much a practice in the class and on
the mat as it is out in the world. www.yogasangha.com
Suzanne Sterling is an ecstatic vocalist and composer whose devotional
music has been commissioned for film, theatre and DVD. As a teacher and
priestess she has combined ritual and activism for many years.
She offers a unique blend of music, sacred ceremony and activism to
conferences and festivals worldwide-most recently as featured
speaker/artist at several Yoga Journal Conferences, The Institute of
Noetic Sciences and Earthdance where she led the worlds largest Spiral
Dance for 5000 people. Suzanne is also a co-creator of Off the
Mat, Into the World, an organization offering nationwide training
programs combining yoga and sustainable activism.
www.suzannesterling.com
John Robbins is widely considered to be one of the world's leading
experts on the dietary link with the environment and health, John is
the author of international bestseller DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA, THE FOOD
REVOLUTION, THE AWAKENED HEART, and the widely acclaimed RECLAIMING OUR
HEALTH. He has been a featured and keynote speaker at major conferences
sponsored by Oxfam, the Sierra Club, UNICEF, and many other
organizations dedicated to creating a healthy, just, and sustainable
way of life. He is the founder and Board Chair Emeritus of EarthSave
International, an organization dedicated to healthy food choices,
preservation of the environment, and a more compassionate world.
www.foodrevolution.org
Tara Guber is a 28 year practioner of yoga, a teacher, producer and
philanthropist, Tara is the founder and co-author of the nationally
recognized Yoga Ed. program at The Accelerated School in Los Angeles
which provides daily yoga classes that are integrated into the
curriculum as well as classes for parents, school staff, and the
community. Tara’s recently published and award-winning book, “CONTACT:
The Yoga of Relationships”, presents an inspiring new vision and
philosophy of yoga created to inform and enhance your relationships
with friends, lovers and yoga partners. www.contactyoga.com