ASANA + FORM (Thursday July 1st)
with Abbie Galvin

In this session we will explore our practice through how to identify and reconcile injuries, foibles, new and old aches and pains. Physical yoga can be seen as a manifestation of our unconscious. Technique is conscious. All technique, starts out in a linear way, with rules, tenets of theory and exploration of measure. Through time and practice that initial linearity becomes dimensional and spherical. In order to get there, we will meet ourselves in our pain, our old injuries and our impediments, examining how our structure impinges on our organs and why we can't get into a pose for a myriad of unknown reasons.

TEACHING + SEQUENCING (Thursday July 8th)
with Alex Sharry

In this session we will explore what underpins the questions that surround sequencing yoga classes by examining what we are really seeking through sequence. Crafting a potent sequence is less about the doing of a pose and more about organizing and articulating oneself in a pose. Learning to teach Katonah Yoga can feel intimidating because the heart of the material can’t be located on a map, it sits invisible at the intersection of our life and our practice. The task is that you live what you teach, proof it against your own humanity and articulate it through your experiences.

THE MAGIC SQUARE (Thursday July 15th)
with Abbie Galvin

In this session we will explore how to use the magic square as a tool, to read the body as a map, in order to integrate a vision of ourselves personally and communally. When we envision the nine squares of a dimensional cube as an abode, we can shift our imagination from squares with numbers to rooms of a house; each room having its own character and purpose. And when we superimpose that dimensional magic house onto a body, the very personal abode, information emerges about the direction of our intensions, where we are in time and space, which way we are facing, what we are attentive to and what we are missing.

PRANAYAMA + MEDITATION (Thursday July 22nd)
with Maya Moverman

In this session we will explore pranayama as a technique for rising above the physical body and into the esoteric realm. Controlling the breath, channeling it to where we want it to go in and out and around the body allows us to channel consciousness in and out and around our lives. Breathing is an autonomic process, one that functions without our conscious effort. When made conscious, the breath acts as a tether to the moment we’re currently in; it’s a true mediation between the past and the future and an amalgam of the corporeal and the immaterial.

BODY READING (Thursday July 29th)
with Abbie Galvin

In this session we will explore body reading. Reading a body, assessing a pose, interpreting where one is heading, is the art of seeing. Poses show propensities of behavior and how personal habits are articulated in the practice. When we look at a yoga pose, we reference the ideal form of it so that we have a template, a map, a criteria to look for. Form that is not functional, that is dysfunctional, is not sustainable. Our work is to transform the personal to a formal form that functions formidably.

TAOISM (Thursday August 5th)
with Kyle Henry

In this session we will review the Five Element system and explore our consciousness through the lens of Taoist theory. Much of the theory we use in our practice is based on the ancient principles of Taoism. We use theory to support living in a body with more imagination, perception and insight. Taoism challenges us to release our personal grasp on reality and attune ourselves to the universal laws of the natural world. When we study nature and its patterns, we gain insights into our own patterns.

FACE READING (Thursday August 12th)
with Abbie Galvin

In this session we will layout the landscape of a face through the five elements and explore how the face reveals specific insights about the function of the organs and the glands. Face reading is an ancient Chinese art in accordance with Taoist principles. Following universal laws of nature, one's face is a blueprint of their narrative. And just as we read feet and hands as indications of someone's nature, one’s face is another map of a self, a life and its potentials. 

THE GLANDS (Thursday August 19th)
with Chase Connolly

In this session we will explore the connection between the pranayama practice and our glandular system. The endocrine system is made up of glands that produce hormones that regulate all of the organ functions of the body. The glands are physical organs within the body, yet are so subtle that a healthy dose of imagination is required to tap into their felt sense. The breath work practice can help facilitate a simultaneously more subtle and profound exploration of our own interior. By setting up a good container, we can free ourselves from muscular effort and participate in practices that change our endocrine system.

THE THIRD STRAND (Thursday August 26th)
with Abbie Galvin

In this session we will explore how to make the implicit information, our third strand, more available to us, for a richer more expressive personal journey. We use the idea of a braid that holds us together in order to explore our three natures; Lunar, Solar and Stellar. Our first nature, habitual and inherited, is unconscious. Our second nature, experiential and conscious, is the one we use for growth and purposefulness in the world. But it is our third nature, our implicit, soul’s nature, accessed by the first two, that completes us. This is the third strand of our esoteric braid, our imagination, our choices and the artistry with which we live our lives and embody our personal narrative.