Playing your Opposites: A Hatha Yoga Workshop
May the forces that
bind you, set you free.
The world is filled with opposing energies. As a young child we quickly learn the
energy and power behind the oppositional response, No. Moving about our daily lives through
the cycles of sun and moon we constantly experience oppositions such as
open/close, rise/fall, summer/winter, calm/agitation, give/receive,
right/wrong, and past/future.
Hatha Yoga itself is defined as the combining of such oppositional
energy, the sun energy “ha” and moon
energy “tha”, to find true liberation
beyond the confines of space and time.
As Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita, true freedom comes from knowing
that human suffering is rooted in the illusion of real verse unreal.
Hatha can also be translated as determined effort. In this workshop we will work to fully
know and inhabit the oppositions inherent to the asana and pranayama practices
in order to unbind and release back to center, finding our own true nature. Physically we will explore dynamic directions
of energy that oppositely spiral, contract, and move in straight oppositional
lines throughout the alignment of postures and the movement of breath. Philosophically we will assist the
practice with the Guna and Chakra theories of Hatha Yoga, as well as supporting
theories in Buddhism and Taoism.
This workshop aims to bring acute awareness to the play of opposites in
worldly existence, so that one can transcend the unreal and sit in the true
center of the self in peace.
3-5pm Saturday, September 15th at Om Factory NYC.
For more information and to register for this workshop, click here.
*Stay around after the workshop for a short info session to
learn more about Om Factory’s Teacher Training program with lead instructor
Amanda Wentworth.
About the Instructor:
Amanda Wentworth is the director and co-teacher of the
Teacher Training program at Om Factory, a 200-hour Hatha Vinyasa registered
school with Yoga Alliance. She
actively teaches classes, workshops, and retreats to students of all levels
around the globe. Recent personal
training in therapeutic yoga applications supported by both Ayurveda and
Traditional Chinese Medicine inform a practice that is both an efficient and
mindful exploration of the present moment.