The Therapeutic Wisdom of Yoga
with Doug Keller
Practical Yoga:
21st Century Wellness &
The Pranayama Tradition of
Hatha Yoga
February 17-19, 2023
ONLINE Training and Workshops
Doug Keller has been teaching workshops and trainings in the therapeutic applications of yoga for more than 16 years, and is known not only for his effectiveness in communicating this ever-evolving approach in these trainings, but also for his extensive writing on the topic in magazines, journals and his two-volume work on ‘Yoga As Therapy.’ He has also served, in addition to his traveling and teaching, as a Distinguished Professor at the Maryland University of Integrative Health in their Master’s Degree program in Yoga Therapy. This program is state-approved and accredited for granting a Master’s degree in this field, and is fully accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
We are pleased to present this training in some fundamentals that illuminate the therapeutic wisdom of yoga.
The online experience carries some special advantages because of its format.
ALL those who register will receive recordings to download permanently and watch at your own time. This includes the lectures in high quality video with the course notes in hand; and asana practices.
This gives you even more content and learning than is normally possible in a live training, and in a way that is practical and not overwhelming — or exhausting!
Schedule for each day:
All Levels Asana Practice
We will begin with an all-levels practice as a warm-up which will include a practice of pranayama.
Discussion Session
After a short break, we will meet for our live discussion session via zoom to dive deeper into our training topic introduced in our asana practice. Questions can be asked through the chat function during the lecture, and there will also be time for live question and answer at the end of each session.
Workshop Topics - use links for detail descriptions
| Friday, 2/17 | 6:30-8:30pm PT | A Welcome Innovation |
| Saturday, 2/18 | 2:30-5:30pm PT | Contemporary Echoes |
| Sunday, 2/19 | 2:30-5:30pm PT | Keys to the Deeper Realms |
Registration Rates:
ALL registrations MUST be received at least 1 day prior to workshops to get workshop links.
If you choose to register by check, MAIL check & required information:
Two Dog Yoga, Attn: Doug Keller-2023, 12743 26th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125
ALL REQUIRED registrations must include:
Name, Phone, and email with payment along with dates of specific registrations.
Two Dog will confirm via email receipt of payments received by US Postal.
NOTE: Full refunds available up to one week prior to start of workshop, 10/14/2022
| Workshop | Cost |
|---|---|
| Entire workshop: Friday, Saturday & Sunday | $110 |
| Friday, February 17 | 6:30-8:30pm PT | $30 |
| Saturday, February 18 | 2:30-5:30pm PT | $45 |
| Sunday, February 19 | 2:30-5:30pm PT | $45 |
Registration
Registration for Full Workshop: Friday, Saturday & Sunday workshops | $110
To register fill in your email and phone number below, then click "Register Now PayPal".
Friday evening, February 17 | 6:30-8:30pm | $30
To register fill in your email and phone number below, then click "Register Now PayPal".
Saturday, February 18 | 2:30-5:30pm | $45
To register fill in your email and phone number below, then click "Register Now PayPal".
Sunday, February 19 | 2:30-5:30pm | $45
To register fill in your email and phone number below, then click "Register Now PayPal".
Workshop Descriptions
Practical Yoga: 21st Century Wellness and the Pranayama Tradition of Hatha Yoga
This weekend webinar is a combination of movement practice that is manageable in your living room or den, and a journey of practice and learning regarding pranayama — one that will illuminate the tradition and highlight its practical relevance for us here and now.
A key feature is to show that, while yogic pranayama is compatible with and resonates with contemporary ideas of breathing practice and therapy, it goes further and deeper in ways that are surprisingly relevant to contemporary ideas about our nervous system and health.
Pranayama has long been an essential — though neglected — part of hatha yoga that made the innovative approach of hatha yoga such a unique contribution to the whole history of yoga. We miss an appreciation of these practices when we lack context for understanding them. And the ‘yoga language’ of pranayama can also obscure its relevance to contemporary understandings of wellness by seeming overly esoteric.
This weekend is about learning and doing the fundamental practices of pranayama and connecting them to our yoga practice — and more than that, it is about providing context, understanding, and appreciation of how deeply relevant these practices can be to health challenges we face today.
We’ll be connecting the ‘yoga language’ of pranayama to contemporary understanding of the nervous system and how it works to maintain our health, even touching upon the origins of the ideas of the chakras, and how a proper understanding of the chakras as tools for practice provides guidance and depth for our breath practice.
At the completion of the weekend, you’ll have had some refreshing and manageable asana practices — with some new insights — and a firm grasp of the fundamental pranayama practices, including an understanding of their compatibility with contemporary understanding of the breath. This will include layers of insight into the spirituality of the practices not touched upon in modern accounts.
Return to Workshop Topics
- Friday: A Welcome Innovation - 2 hours
The yoga tradition has been a constant process of rethinking and reframing itself, with ever greater insights into human well-being.
After an asana warmup session (of primarily evening-appropriate floor poses opening us to the breath), we’ll delve into an appreciation of pranayama in the Hatha Yoga tradition, with enlightening contrasts to preceding traditions, including Patanjali.
With that background, we’ll be reintroduced to some of the most fundamental practices, starting with Ujjayi — how to refine our experience of them, keep them interesting and engaging, and how to use them as tools for relaxation and meditation
Return to Workshop Topics
- Saturday: Contemporary Echoes - 3 hours
The asana session will explore fascial release in asana, not just as promoting muscular and joint flexibility, but the subtler experience of ‘flow of prana’ tied to the breath that the yogis emphasized as central to the practice. This will be a ‘flow’ of poses, but a relatively ‘slow flow’ that does not emphasize physical challenge as much as it does the space for feeling the nourishing quality of the breath as it enlivens the body and makes it shine.
From there, we go further into the innovative perspective the hatha yogis take on traditional ideas of the Nadis, Vayus, and so on — and the profound relevance of these ideas to our contemporary understanding of our nervous system, and its vital role in regulating our hormonal and immune systems. This is especially important for addressing the problem of regulating the inflammatory conditions at play in contemporary health challenges such as chronic fatigue as well as long haul covid.
The benefit of the ‘yoga language’ and ideas is that, once understood, they can be more intuitively accessible, palpable, and tied to practice in a way that scientific analyses of the problems cannot. Our emphasis will be on bringing together yoga ideas and contemporary insights in a way that illumines our practice. We’ll include exercises and practices that help us to bring about an inner shift to a more ‘sattvic’ state of calm homeostasis.
Return to Workshop Topics
- Sunday: Keys to the Deeper Realms - 3 hours
The asana session will explore simple approaches to ‘bandha’ and even ‘mudra’ in ways that support stability of body in the practice, as well as a deeper, supported experience of the breath.
We’ll carry this forward into the ideas of the hatha yogis that provided keys to the deeper realms of breath and consciousness. This will include an illuminating background to the idea of the Chakras — where the ideas came from, and how they evolved from esoteric tantric ideas into tools for practice that help us to regulate and understand our inner states — with surprising insights into what we are ‘witnessing’ when we ‘witness’ the mind in meditation.
Intimately tied to this is an understanding of breath as dharana, as well as the profound role of yoga nidra and the states of awareness we experience there as well as in meditation — and we will certainly include a practice of yoga nidra and of meditation!
Return to Workshop Topics
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