YogiEv.com: Student Feedback - Yoga for Anxiety Workshop

I thought it might be helpful to new students and returning ones to repost this link to the recap of the Yoga for Anxiety Workshop as originally taught several years ago.

The practice and teachings have evolved since that time, and the workshop at YogaCo in Santa Monica on Saturday, November 14th, 2-5pm will reflect the evolution of the practice.

In particular, there will be a guided meditation with harmonium offered at the conclusion of the workshop, sometimes called The Surrender Meditation, which I have been offering on special and rare occasions at YogaCo in Jennifer Pastiloff's classes recently. The Surrender Meditation merges techniques from Yoga Nidra ("Yoga Sleep") and traditional Savasana ("final relaxation") with Sanskrit Chanting and harmonium music.

The Surrender Meditation is a progressive relaxation and rejuvenation sequence which works on the first 3 Koshas ("sheaths"). There are 5 "sheaths of existence" in Yoga Science, and most Yoga we practice especially in the West is about alignment of the first 3 sheaths: the physical body (annamaya kosha), the energy body (pranamaya kosha), and the mind body (manamaya kosha).

Anxiety is energy in the body which effectively splits the connection and alignment of the Kosha system. When the Koshas are brought back into alignment, a profound feeling of peace and balance emerges naturally. It is the Alchemy of Yoga, and the magic of life.

Whether you're an experienced Yogi, a Yoga Nidra devotee, or just interested in feeling more calm and peaceful, you can rest assured you won't have experienced anything quite like The Surrender Meditation. This combined with the yoga sequencing of the workshop, will leave you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, balanced and at peace.

Here is a link to the recap of the old workshop with student feedback. More info to come as we approach the November 14th YogaCo date.

YogiEv.com: Student Feedback - Yoga for Anxiety Workshop

YogiEv.com: Yoga for Anxiety Workshop 11-14-09

As I prepare to come out of teaching hiatus to offer this workshop at YogaCo in Santa Monica on Saturday, November 14th, 2-5pm, I went back to read the old blog, and I find the information to be just as valid today as it was several years ago when the workshop was first conceived and taught.

Here is the link to the original blog about the workshop, and I will also post a link to the recap which includes student feedback. More info to come as we approach the date for the YogaCo workshop.

YogiEv.com: Yoga for Anxiety Workshop on 12-16-06

Stop Anxiety Attacks Here: Evan Kopelson's Video Solution

It's been a while since I posted to this blog.

Since leaving the yoga teaching profession and taking my practice inward, my life has seen much transformation and I continue to be struck and awed by the power of Yoga.

Anxiety is an energy I am familiar with and have taught workshops about.

This video offers a solution for people suffering from anxiety or panic attacks.

The solution is natural and does not involve medications or expensive therapy.

I recommend this because I know it works.

It is not yoga nor meditation but the technique is sound and has some similarity to Tonglen.

I wish you all well and will blog again soon.

I plan to rebuild Yogi Ev Dot Com with more features to serve the yoga community soon. The old site is still up at http://yogiev.com

You can find me on social media at any of these locations:

http://twitter.com/evankopelson
http://facebook.com/evankopelson
http://linkedin.com/in/evankopelson
http://myspace.com/deeplikespace
http://blastcapnews.com

OM Peace Peace Peace . . .
Yogi Ev

Obama Day

As President Obama walks former President Bush to the helicopter
which takes Bush away from The White House, I can't help but feel
gratitude for Yogi's and peace holders worldwide, as we all share in
the conscious co-creation of a new era on Earth.

In the Yogic traditions the world we call "the real world" is a
reflection of the collective state of consciousness, which in turn is
created each moment by the ever-evolving consciousness of each
individual.

Spiritual practice in the yogic traditions is meant to help us see
the veil of separation between the state of the external world and
the state of our inner consciousness, and to take responsibility for
the world we create with our thoughts and our actions. In the yogic
traditions there are no victims. We are all co-creators of our own
realities.

May the changes manifesting on this auspicious day, on our home
planet Gaia, Mother Earth, continue to reflect and support a new era
of peace and prosperity rising in our hearts and minds, and
blossoming out into our Lives.

In Love and Gratitude,

Yogi Ev

Teaching Sabbatical / Spiritual Musings Fall 2007

Sweet Yogi's and Friends,

I am about to embark on a brief teaching sabbatical in order to deepen my practice.  My last class for 2007 will be this Saturday 11/17 at 10:30am. 

In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, he talks about the Yoga of Action (Kriya Yoga).  According to Patanjali, personal transformation can be achieved thru Kriya Yoga, which requires 3 practices:  Tapas ("a burning effort"), Svadhyaya ("Self-Study"), and Ishvarapranidana ("surrender to the Infinite").  These practices are performed as rites with consistency and awareness, and lead to union with the Soul.  Let's look at these 3 elements of the Yoga of Action and how these teachings are relevant today:

Tapas can be anything that creates the heat necessary for transformation of the body.  It usually refers to doing some kind of work today, or withholding from something that brings immediate pleasure (or relief from pain), in exchange for a long-term benefit.  For instance, a diet can be Tapas practice.  If I don't eat that candy today, my body will feel better tomorrow.  But wow that candy looks delicious right now!  If we refrain from indulging, while keeping our mind focused on the longer term benefit rather than the short term denial, we are practicing Tapas.  On the yoga mat, when we hold a challenging pose for a few extra breaths, while maintaining a slow steady pace of breathing and calm facial muscles, even though it burns(!), this is Tapas.  Tapas practice generates the heat ("Agni") that is the fire of transformation.  Tapas fuels the fire of personal transformation.  It is this recognition that can often motivate us to find pleasure in our Tapas practice.

Svadhyaya includes all forms of sincere self-inquiry.  This includes meditation (to know our essential nature), asana (to know the body), journal writing (to know the mind), and the study of spiritual scriptures (to know our ancestors and learn from their wisdom).  Patanjali recognized that spiritual scriptures (of any religion) are an important form of Self-Study, because the scriptures have been around for a long time, and came as a result of people doing their own Self-Study.  Therefore any writings that have stood the test of time as spiritual scriptures, are valuable tools for Svadhyaya and can help propel our transformation and union with the soul.

Ishvarapranidana means surrender to the Infinite, or devotion to God, or contemplation of the vastness of nature.  No matter what one's personal belief about God or Spirit or Nature, even if one is an Atheist, one can appreciate when surrounded by nature that there is "something greater" about the world we live in.  It doesn't need to be a single Creator we ponder.  Just that we, in our limited human capacity, are humbled and awed, when we contemplate the vastness of the Universe.  This takes us out of our ego-mind and opens the heart for personal transformation.  

This is an auspicious time of year -- as the days shorten, it is nature's cue for us to take some time to turn our attention inward -- the autumn and winter months are good times in spiritual practice for us to take stock, replenish our resources, and deepen our prayers.  

The world is evolving.  There are growing pains.  If you have an overactive or hyper-sensitive empathic sense, as many yogi's do, you may even internalize distant suffering as your own, and experience great pain.  If you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, consider it vital at this time to seek healing in any way that is meaningful to you.  Yoga, massage, Reiki... open the space... allow healing to occur.

We can help ourselves and each other by making a commitment to our practice, especially during hard times and times of uncertainty in the world.  Global Climate Change, Wars on Peace... there's a lot going down on Earth right now.  Not to mention ever-increasing bombardments of energy and information coming from the Cosmos as we approach the year 2012.  

Our commitment to practice holds a space for consciousness -- a space for consciousness to evolve as technology evolves.  As we become flexible, we experience events and difficult or toxic individuals with more resiliency.  As we find balance, the world around us becomes balanced.   

I will be using this time to go deeper into all 3 aspects of Patanjali's Kriya Yoga, to open a space for my continued evolution as spirit in body, and to find more comfort in the body I have been blessed with in this lifetime.

Speaking of blessings... this is also an auspicious time to sew the seeds of gratitude...  For those of us who are able-bodied, with relatively undamaged limbs and joints, we can give thanks and awe to the universe almost continuously for this blessing, to walk and move freely about the Earth.

I would like to send prayers and blessings to soldiers and military families across the globe, and to all beings regardless of nationality or religion.  

Here are some prayers and blessings I keep in my heart:

"Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bavantu" -- "May all beings experience Peace and be free from suffering".  

The Universal Prayer:  "May the evil become good, may the good obtain peace, may the peaceful be free from bonds, and may the free help set others free."

May beings living in darkness awaken and turn to a path of light.

There's a lot of ways to say it.  May all be happy and free.

Kara will be covering most of my classes in my absence.  Kara is a wonderful teacher who is new to the Yoga Desa community.  Please support the studio in my absence and stay committed to your practice.  I will be teaching again starting Saturday, January 5, 2008.  

As always, feel free to contact me.  If things come up, in your practice or otherwise, I'm here to help if I can.

I wish you many blessings for the upcoming Holiday Season, and hope to see you this Saturday for my last class of the year.  

Be well, and know you are loved.

OM Peace,

Yogi Ev

Yoga for Anxiety Workshop - New Date

The Yoga for Anxiety Workshop scheduled for August 18th at Yoga Works
Pacific Palisades will be rescheduled for some time in early 2008 as
part of a 6-month series on emotional energy.

I'll keep you posted as soon as I have the new date.

Peace,
Ev

Trance Music by Yogi Ev

Hello Yogi's and Friends!

This is a work-in-progress of a new dance track I'm doing in my Pro Tools studio. I have a lot to learn and this is nowhere near a completed track. I'm just psyched it even sounds halfway decent. It's not "yoga music" but hope you like it.

To listen while continuing to browse the blog or my website, simply right-click (if you have a windows computer) or control-click (if you have a mac) the mp3 song link below and choose "open link in new window".

test1.02.mp3

To leave a comment, click below where it says "0 Comments" (or whatever number is there). If you don't have a blogger account you can choose "Other" to leave your name, or just choose "Anonymous". Enjoy!

Love and Peace,
Yogi Ev

test1.02.mp3

untitled trance music
(c)2007 evan kopelson
all rights reserved

Yoga Schedule Update - June/July

Greetings Yogi's!

Just a few quick schedule updates at Yoga Desa...

Week of June 25th:

Monday 6/25 9am

Tuesday 6/26 9am

Thursday 6/28 9am

Saturday 6/30       10:30am

Week of July 2nd:

Monday 7/2 9am

Thursday 7/5 6:30pm

Saturday 7/7 10:30am

Week of July 9th:

Monday 7/9 9am

Saturday 7/14 10:30am

Also as of now, the Friday 11am Easy Does It class is cancelled.  Thank you everyone who supported that class and I look forward to seeing you on Mondays or Saturdays.

Please visit YogiEv.com often to check the blog and leave comments for the community.

Happy Summer!

Peace and Love,

Yogi Ev 

Evan Kopelson

www.yogiev.com

What does Yoga mean to you?

There are so many definitions of Yoga.  Literally the Sanskrit word Yoga derives from the root Yuj which means yoke or to bring together or to unite or more simply union.

Union of what?  Good question right?

The yogi's talk about the koshas or layers of being.  Kosha (another Sanskrit word) means "sheath" or "layer" and in yoga there are 5 layers of being (koshas) that make up who we are.

The first layer is what's called the food body (the annamaya kosha).  This is the physical body, fed by food.

The second layer, the pranamaya kosha, is the pranic or energetic body.  Some call this the aura.  The pranic body is fed by breath, as prana (life energy) travels on the breath.

The third layer, the manomaya kosha, is the mental body, which is fed by thought energy.

The 2 other layers deal with the subconscious and unconscious, and the bliss body, which is the soul merging with the infinite.

In yoga we mainly deal with the first 3 layers:  body, breath and mind.  When these 3 layers come into alignment, a shift occurs.  We feel more connected.  And in many ways, we are.  

In these moments of union with the different layers of our own being, yoga has the potential to become a spiritual experience.  It's hard to describe, but if you've ever felt it it's impossible to deny.

Have you ever felt anything you'd describe as a spiritual experience during yoga?  What was it like?  Does it happen every time?  

Please tell us about your experiences and what yoga means to you.  Thanks!

Peace and Light,

Yogi Ev

Evan Kopelson

Welcome to the new Blog!

You may notice there's a new look to my blog. I'm excited about this because you can now leave comments and ask each other questions or share ideas and experiences.

You can get to any page on YogiEv.com from here, simply by clicking one of the links on the right, in the "LINKS" section.

If you have quicktime on your computer, you can listen to "Jay Hanuman" on my Home page, it's a sweet lullaby in Sanskrit, composed on the harmonium.

Hope you enjoy your visit to Yogi Ev dot com. I'll be blogging from time to time, posting thoughts, topics and queries... so come by often and share your comments.

All thoughts are welcome here on Yogi Ev.com! Blogs, classes, workshops, music, the website, life, spirituality, teachers and healers, ashram or retreat experiences, stories from your journey, offerings from the heart... everything you share enriches the community.

Thank you for being!

Love and Light,

Yogi Ev
Evan Kopelson