The Elemental Experience
Functional Yoga
Honors the differences between human beings and human bodies. A functional approach to yoga explores posture and practice from the inside out, not trying to fit the body into the pose but adjusting the pose when necessary to fit the body.
Yang (Form and Flow Vinyasa)
Yoga is a great way to improve your endurance, strength and flexibility. Yang (Vinyasa) yoga is rhythmic and repetitive with an emphasis on movement. It targets and tones the muscles and focuses the mind.
Yin
Yin Yoga not only helps improve your body, but also helps with mindfulness and meditation. Yin yoga targets fascia and is slow and static, like traction. The long holds in Yin restore harmony in the subtle body by targeting the channels that run through the connective tissues.
Meditation
The ultimate benefit of meditation is liberation of the mind from attachment to things it cannot control. The fruit of meditation practice is understood as natural presence. Presence is a mindful and clear recognition of what is happening here and now with an openness that includes the full experience of the moment.
Pranayama
In the yoga tradition, the breath is said to carry a person's prana (life force). Pranayama are yogic breathing exercises that allow us to quickly increase our energy, improve our mental abilities, relieve stress, and positively aid our overall health.
Community
Something beautiful inevitably unfolds when a group of people come together to practice. Something in the energy shifts as you leave your shoes at the threshold. You may come without knowing anyone in the room and by the end of the training leave with a deep sense of connection to the group of people who you've embarked on this journey with.
Teachers
Kenneth Graham
Founder and lead teacher of Elemental Yoga teacher training in Santa Cruz Ca. Kenneth has taught over 20 Teacher Trainings around the world and studied for over 20 years with numerous influential teachers, across diverse and intriguing philosophies. He has drawn on Darren Rhodes and Paul and Suzee Grilley for some of his deepest inspiration on how he currently teaches asana. Students love his eclectic nature. He has a unique ability as a teacher to make material accessible to students and is able to unite diverse teachings from asana to meditation to philosophy in a fresh and lively way. His mission is to bring together a community of teachers who are confident and well rounded in their knowledge and wisdom.
kennygrahamyoga.com
Darren Rhodes
Darren has been the director of YogaOasis studios in Tucson since 1999. Darren is featured in the impressive yoga poster, Penchant for Practice. His book, The Yoga Resource Practice Manual, includes practice instructions for 360 poses. Darren is the founder of Yogahour® and was named one of Yoga Journal's "21 Talented Young Teachers Shaping the Future of Yoga."
Paul and Suzee Grilley
Yin Yoga pioneers (and couple) Suzee and Paul have been practicing and teaching yoga since 1980. Paul earned a Master of Arts degree from St. John’s College, Santa Fe in the summer of 2000 and in 2005 was awarded an Honorary Ph.D. from the California Institute for Human Science for his efforts to clarify the latest theories on fascia and its relevance to the practice of hatha yoga. They now spend their time administrating and teaching the Yin Yoga Teacher’s Training program both in the USA and abroad.
Dr. Robyn Capobianco
Robyn earned her PhD under Dr. Roger Enoka in the Neurophysiology of Movement Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research is focused on the neuromechanics of flexibility, sensory contributions to movement, and how pain alters movement patterns. As a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, Robyn’s goal is to help people move and feel better both on and off the mat. Robyn was recently named one of the top 100 Trailblazers in Yoga & Ayurveda by Spirituality & Health Magazine.
Sean Haleen
Sean Haleen (500 E-RYT) is a celebrated Hatha yoga teacher and practitioner. Sean has practiced and studied yoga asana and philosophy since 1997 and began teaching in 2007. He now lives north of San Francisco with his husband and dog. He teaches public classes in San Francisco and Oakland as well as various 200HR and 500HR teacher trainings. In 2017, Yoga Journal selected Sean as one of the next generation’s top Yoga teachers.
Emily Perry
Emily Perry L.Ac., MTOM, E-RYT-500 teaches Bhakti Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Mindfulness, & leads kirtan. Her classes and immersions are infused with energetic alignment, mudra, chanting, & pranayama. Emily has chanted with Kalakar, Zach Leary & Nina Rao, and leads kirtan monthly in Santa Cruz. She teaches dynamic workshops at festivals, and leads retreats, immersions, and 200 & advanced teacher trainings globally. Her podcast, The Inner Shift, can be found on iTunes. emilyperryyoga.com
Jana Kilgore
Jana is a massage therapist, energy worker, registered ERYT 500 yoga teacher and a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner. Jana runs The Wellness Center at Breathe Together Yoga in Los Gatos, Ca. where she provides private Ayurvedic assessments and administers treatment plans. Jana is a gifted Ayurveda Educator who shares the wisdom of Ayurveda in yoga teacher trainings throughout the Bay Area and worldwide.
Katie Jacobson
Katie Jacobson is a Registered Yoga Teacher and Certified Ayurvedic Health. She currently lives in her hometown of Santa Cruz. She teaches Hatha Flow and Yin Yoga, and classes are often seasonally inspired. Katie provides tools to restore natural vitality through intuitive Ayurvedic living. She offers seasonal cleanses, focusing on nourishing whole foods + spices, as well as rejuvenating self-care practices.
Marcel Van De Vis Heil
Marcel is a teacher of teachers, leading teacher trainings in his hometown of Amsterdam and abroad, for over a decade. Marcel is one of the founders of the YogaGarden in Amsterdam and of the online yoga platform The Fat Yogis. He started his practice yoga 20 yrs ago, studying different styles and schools until he met Paul Grilley, the founder of Yin yoga, of whom he is a dedicated student and assistant to Paul’s teacher trainings. Marcel’s yang yoga style is uniquely created from his studies and can only be described as a functional approach of hatha yoga, with flow. However, his teaching of Yin yoga is directly in line with that of his teachers Suzee and Paul Grilley.
Elemental Yoga Topics
What you will learn:
- Yoga History and Philosophy
- Meditation, cultivation of your own practice and how to teach
- Pranayama, cultivation of your own practice and how to teach
- Anatomy Foundations: skeletal segments, muscle groups and the spine and its structures
- Skeletal variations and how it applies to yoga postures
- Yang (vinyasa) Yoga postures , their variations and how to teach them
- Yin Yoga postures, their variations and how to teach them
- Effective pacing, rhythm, and sequencing of a class
- Confidence-building through practice teaching
- Modifications and postural variations
- Creative and effective use of props
- Hands-on assists and adjustments
- Cultivating your voice
- Ethics and business of Yoga
- Ayurveda
This training is for you if:
- You have had a steady practice for at least 18 months
- You want to dive deeper into your own practice with a community of like-minded people
- You are ready to set out on a path of working as a yoga teacher
Texts and Additional Resources
Required Texts
- Inform Your Flow by Darren Rhodes yogahour
- Yin Yoga by Paul Grilley Yin-Yoga-Principles-Practice
- Thieme Atlas of Anatomy Thieme Atlas
- Your Body Your Yoga by Bernie Clark Your Yoga Your Body
Suggested Texts
- Yoga Resource Practice Manual by Darren Rhodes Yoga Resource
- Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar Light on Yoga
- The Bhagavad Gita by Juan Mascaro Gita
- The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali by Edwin F. Bryant Sutras
- Meditation For The Love of It by Sally Kempton Meditation
- Ayurveda The Science of Self Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad Ayurveda
- Ashtanga Yoga Primer by Baba Hari Das Ashtanga
- The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh Miracle
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn Wherever you go
- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer Soul
