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Second Annual Yoga Benefit
for Second Harvest Food Bank

with Yoga teachers:
Kelly Blaser, Samantha S. Brown & Alice Kennedy

When: Sunday, November 24th 4:00-6:30 pm

Where: Yoga Center Santa Cruz  428 Front Street

Yoga creates within us an abundance of joy, love, and compassion.  It is a potent practice of the heart to share with others, and in the great spirit and beauty of the harvest we have the opportunity to give back.

Please join us for a special group practice as we raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank in order to nourish the many Santa Cruz families that go hungry everyday.  The group donation will be matched with a private donation.

Please arrive early and reserve your spot  by emailing: alice@yogawithalice.com

$45 minimum donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds
Tea and light snacks served following class.

Getting into the CORE

Saturday September 7th
2-4:45 pm

The dictionary says that the core is “the central or most important part of something.”  Often neglected in an asana practice, the body’s core is an essential part to awaken, strengthen and lengthen for the health of our spine and our entire body. We will be spending time doing all of these things and examining the essential part of the core in various foundational asanas (postures)

Backbends that feel GOOD!

Sunday September 8th
12-2:45 pm

So often, the gauge of a successful backbend is how deep the bend is and how it looks.  This workshop challenges that concept and will NOT be focused on the exterior form but how it feels from the inside out.  We will use what we learned on Saturday and add to our understating by breaking down some of the keys that make the backbends feel delicious at the moment AND the next day!

Both workshops are mixed levels,  but not appropriate for beginners who have had fewer than 8 classes or students who have any serious therapeutic needs and would be better served in a private session.

Where: Pacific Cultural Center

1307 Broadway Ave. (@ Seabright), Santa Cruz, CA

To register:

$40 per class before Aug 24th
$45  per class thereafter

$70 for both classes before Aug 24th
$80 for both classes thereafter

Students are encouraged to attend both sessions, as the second session builds on the first.  These workshops will sell out.  Please register early.

Laura Christensen is a passionate, inspiring, highly skilled national and international yoga teacher who has been a dedicated student of yoga since 1990 and has enjoyed 23 plus years of study under many senior teachers in many different yoga styles.  She is dedicated to uplifting and empowering her students and cultivating a safe place for deep and real connection within and without.  Expect to be profoundly transformed on and off the mat as she skillfully and supportively challenges you and evokes the best version of yourself.  Her powerful presence, authentic voice and focus on integrity motivate students to discover new depths within their hearts and new heights in their asana (posture) practices.  She is honored to be the November 2012 Yoga Journal cover model and featured teacher, and to be featured in several Yoga Journal issues and online videos over the last 10 years. Her focus includes great attention to the breath, core work, balanced energy, intelligent alignment and practical life-supporting inspiration.

To learn more about Laura please visit www.laurachristensen.com.

When:
August 16-18, 2013

Where:
Trails Within, Graeagle, CA

Friday, August 16th * 5:30-7:30pm * $30
Steadiness & Fire  (Hip Openers & Standing Poses)
Find the fire in your hips and steadiness in your feet as we open up and root down into where we are.  Expect a fun, mixed levels class to help you feel settled.

Saturday, August 17th * 9:00-11:30am * $35
Opening Joy (Backbends)
Widen your expanse of great happiness by opening the upper back and shoulders.  This will be an intermediate practice that will help blossom the potential at your heart.

Saturday, August 17th * 3:00-5:30pm * $35
Compassion (Twists and Forward Folds)
Revolving and evolving around the dance of compassion for yourself and others, we will explore the sweetness of twists and forward folds in an intermediate practice.

Sunday, August 18th * 9:00-11:30am * $35
Freedom to Fly (Arm Balances)
These challenging postures can build love of flying and freedom.  Expect an intermediate class that will help you get off the ground and be free!

BONUS! Afternoon Hike and Contemplation
Sunday * 1-3:00pm * $15
Enjoy a group hike in the Lakes Basin where you will be led in a guided contemplation by Alice. Space is limited!

Sign up for all four sessions for $110 before August 1st
($25 savings!)

To register:

email Info@TrailsWithin.com or call (530) 836-1500. Space is limited.

Trails Within is located in the charming town of Graeagle, CA. Graeagle is a gateway to the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains and a unique opportunity to step back into a simpler time and lifestyle. Experience endless hiking and biking trails, crystal clear alpine lakes and rivers, beautiful flora and abundant wildlife. A perfect retreat destination, where days and nights pass by with ease and peacefulness.

More info @ Trails Within’s website.

When:
Saturday, June 1st, 2013
2:30-5 PM

Where:
Pacific Cultural Center
1307 Seabright Ave  Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Intermediate/Advanced

Inversions are potent, powerful, and perspective changing poses. Some energize you and build power and vigor, while others calm the body and minimize anxiety. A healthy and well-rounded practice of both fiery and cooling inversions cultivates equipoise and clarity.  Join Sean and Alice on a journey that will nourish your body and mind, and help you learn to see the world from upside down and inside out.

Sean Haleen (ERYT) is a celebrated Hatha yoga teacher and practitioner from San Francisco. Having practiced yoga from a young age, his understanding runs deep both on the physical and philosophical levels.  After teaching thousands of hours of classes and workshops, yoga is his full time job and passion, and he regularly appears on the pages of Yoga Journal. He has taught yoga to a variety of people including high schoolers, homeless groups, recovering drug addicts, and queer youth.

Alice Kennedy is an alignment based Hatha yoga teacher.  Known for her light-hearted playful approach, Alice’s classes bring a sense of fun and community to the practice of yoga.  Alice studied Anusara yoga with Darren Rhodes, Christina Sell, Kenny Graham, and Samantha Shakti Brown from 2004-2012, and is deeply guided by that method.  She has also learned a unique blend of care and therapeutics to help heal the body and mend the heart.

$30 before May 26
$35 thereafter

To pay and register:

For more info: alice@yogawithalice.com
Scholarships and work trade available

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Sunrise Yoga:  8:30-9:30 am
(Cowell’s Beach at Main)
Breakfast:  9:30 am
Beach Cleanup:  9:00 am-Noon

Start your day by nourishing yourself with a yoga practice led by Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher Alice Kennedy and stay to help clean the beach. Please bring warm layers, a yoga mat and a reusable cup. Breakfast courtesy of Whole Foods Market.

WHAT IS COASTAL CLEANUP DAY? California Coastal Cleanup Day, an annual beach and inland waterway cleanup, is the state’s largest volunteer event. In 2010, over 82,500 volunteers removed more than 1.2 million pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, lakes, and waterways. When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by Ocean Conservancy and taking place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events in the world.

For more information visit CoastalCleanupDay.org or call 1-800-COAST-4U.