yoga workshopDynamic Aging: Menopause & Movement
Make movement supportive, not depleting, in this new phase of life.
HAND-PICKED EXPERIENCES
Editor's Picks
Curated events selected by the BrightStar team — transformational gatherings worth your time.
20 events curated
yoga workshop
yoga workshopTouch, Trust & Asana with Marti Procházková
A three-hour exploration of body intelligence and conscious touch led by long-time Jivamukti yoga teacher Marti Procházková. The workshop investigates what happens in the body during asana practice, where stability originates, how movement unfolds, and the role respectful touch can play in deepening understanding of a pose. Rather than treating the body as something to be corrected, this session examines how subtle guidance, weight shifts, and pressure can help the body perceive direction, support, and possibility. The first ninety minutes consist of continuous yoga practice woven through with hands-on assistance and adjustments. The second half focuses on selected poses, exploring what to observe in the body, where to offer support, and when to allow the body to find its own path. The workshop welcomes all experience levels and encourages participants to attend with a partner, friend, family member, or anyone close. The intent is shared exploration of how the body communicates and what it needs.
yoga workshopShake Loose: Fall Release With Yoga and Foam Rollers
This five-day workshop at Esalen Institute invites participants to explore autumn's natural rhythm of letting go through yoga, foam rolling, and somatic movement. Led by Ulrika Engman, a certified Anusara and Halprin Life/Art practitioner, the program weaves together dynamic vinyasa flows, long-held poses, and myofascial release techniques to bridge the tension between holding and releasing. The work addresses the seasonal shift toward winter by cultivating deeper sleep habits, grounding the nervous system, and reconnecting the body's natural patterns of rest and activity. Participants will practice alignment-based asana, explore stillness through savasana, and use soft foam rolling to awaken proprioceptive awareness and emotional resilience. The emphasis falls on concrete somatic techniques rather than conceptual teaching, allowing practitioners to discover their own embodied wisdom as the season changes.
yoga workshopTherapeutic Yoga Works: Training for Your Next & Best Decade
This six-day workshop at Omega Institute blends physical therapy, fitness, and yoga into an integrated practice designed to improve whole-body mobility within a breath-centered framework. Led by physical therapist and therapeutic yoga specialist Nydia Tijerina Darby, the training emphasizes postural awareness, core strength principles, and the physiology of breath. Daily practices gently mobilize the entire body while encouraging the relaxation response, leaving participants with the sensation of having received a full-body treatment. Short learning sessions introduce foundational concepts, and participants leave with resources and knowledge to sustain a therapeutic yoga practice at home. The workshop is structured for practitioners at any age and fitness level seeking to move with greater ease and grace into the next phase of life.
yoga workshopContacting the Space Between: Gestalt, Feldenkrais, and the Subtle Body
This five-day workshop at Esalen explores the relationship between habitual physical patterns and our capacity for ease, presence, and relational awareness. Drawing on the Feldenkrais Method and Gestalt process, Kate Flore and Dwight Pargee guide participants through experiential inquiry into how the body organizes itself through gravity, contact, and environment. The faculty investigate the role of fascia, early developmental patterns, and self-organization in shaping movement and sense of self. Using Esalen's natural setting as a laboratory, participants learn Awareness Through Movement lessons designed to refine functional movement and cultivate sensitivity to the subtle body, the space between self and other, and the ground beneath. The work is grounded in the premise that when bodies are given conditions for curious, attuned engagement with their surroundings, greater freedom and choice become available. This is not a physically demanding workshop but rather an invitation to slow down, notice, and refine how we meet the world through our flesh and awareness.
yoga workshopMyofascial Release Journey: Exploring Musculature through a Vedic Lens
This weekend immersion examines the fascia and connective tissue through both anatomical precision and traditional yogic wisdom. Instructor Brie Burbank draws on more than two decades of bodywork experience and fifteen years of teaching to integrate contemporary myofascial concepts with vedic principles. The program combines movement, stillness, breath work, and hands-on techniques to reveal compensation patterns, restore ease to the body, and clarify each participant's unique alignment needs. Sessions are designed to be immediately applicable, offering accessible practices that extend beyond the retreat into daily life. Participants learn to identify different fascia types, discover their constitutional dosha and how it relates to connective tissue health, and practice with various myofascial tools including gua-sha stones. The retreat emphasizes both somatic exploration and practical skill-building, creating space for deeper self-understanding through the body.
yoga workshopAcroYoga Free Trial Class
AcroYoga combines asana practice with partner acrobatics and trust-building exercises. This free trial introduces the fundamentals of the discipline through balance work, cooperative movement sequences, and foundational partner poses. Participants learn to develop strength and body awareness while practicing the collaborative nature of the practice. The trial class serves as entry point for a six-month progressive program running from November through April, structured in three phases: foundational technique, fluid sequencing, and inverted partner work. Best suited for those seeking to deepen their yoga practice through dynamic movement, group engagement, and the interplay between stability and play.
yoga workshopA Better Back: Moves to Help Your Spine Last a Lifetime
The spine is engineered for remarkable mobility, yet the same anatomical architecture that permits flexion, extension, and rotation also creates conditions for pain and injury when movement patterns are inefficient. This workshop addresses the disconnect between how we typically move and how our bodies are designed to move. Rather than prescriptive exercises or one-size-fits-all protocols, participants learn to read their own spinal anatomy and develop a personalized toolkit of movements that honor both individual structure and starting point. The instruction emphasizes practical application to everyday activities and common yoga poses, examining how alignment principles translate to downward dog, core work, push-ups, standing, and walking. Throughout the program, spinal care is reframed as a daily practice of nutritive movement, accessible and sustainable across a lifetime.
yoga workshopYoga and Qigong: The Dance of Heaven and Earth
Daniel Orlansky, founder of Yoga of Energy Flow and director of yoga teacher training at Boston University, leads this three-day workshop exploring the convergence of yoga and qigong as complementary paths to embodied awareness. The program weaves together yang practices of strength and flexibility with yin practices of suppleness and flow, grounding participants in both Taoist concepts of effortless movement and meditative yoga sequencing. Through breathing exercises, classical qigong forms such as Golden Lotus and Swimming Dragon, tapping techniques for meridian activation, and concentration methods, students cultivate balance across opposing energies: heaven and earth, sun and moon, masculine and feminine. The work emphasizes the principle that when the body flows like running water, it remains perpetually renewed. Participants develop practical tools for detoxification, postural ease, and sustained mental clarity.
yoga workshopThe Sacred Column: Integrating Asana and Anatomy of the Spine
Designed for yoga teachers and serious practitioners, this residential workshop examines the vertebral column through lecture, demonstration, and embodied exploration. Instructor Judith Lasater guides participants through the structural and functional anatomy of the spine, with emphasis on its role in asana practice and energetic cultivation. The program investigates what distinguishes each spinal region, how specific poses affect the vertebral column, and how to teach in ways that honor its integrity. Morning sessions pair theory with active practice; afternoons focus on quieter asanas to illuminate the spine's relationship to breath work, meditation, and restoration. Throughout, participants observe how the vertebral column interfaces with the pelvis and shoulder girdle, deepening both personal practice and teaching capacity. Participants are asked to prepare by reviewing relevant anatomy chapters in the required text beforehand.
yoga workshopLiving the Practice: How to Keep Growing as a Yoga Teacher
This three-day workshop at Yogaville addresses the ongoing development of yoga teachers committed to deepening both their personal practice and their capacity to serve. Led by Swami Asokananda, an accomplished teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, the program explores what distinguishes effective teaching across time and cultures. Participants examine the spiritual dimensions of hatha yoga that inform authentic instruction, the cultivation of presence and attention in students, and the personal practices that sustain a teacher's growth. The workshop balances teaching philosophy with practical skills, creating space for reflection on one's own journey as an educator. Rather than prescriptive techniques, the program offers a contemplative approach to the question of how teachers continue to evolve—both in their understanding of yoga's deeper teachings and in their ability to communicate them with clarity and integrity.
yoga workshopTai Chi and Qigong for Back Pain: Empower Your Healing Journey
Master Yang Yang, PhD, and spine surgeon Dr. Roger Hartl lead a weekend exploration of tai chi and qigong as gentle, evidence-based approaches to chronic back pain. The practices draw from traditional Chinese healing and martial arts, integrating slow, intentional movement with stillness and functional meditation to release tension, improve spinal alignment, and strengthen core stability. Participants will examine how these time-tested methods support sleep, balance, and stress regulation without force or strain, making them accessible to those managing pain as well as those seeking sustainable well-being. The workshop is grounded in clinical research, including a randomized controlled trial of 350 participants published in the North American Spine Society Journal. Dr. Hartl will offer clinical perspective on multidisciplinary spine care. A Saturday evening special event brings together science, movement, and music with internationally acclaimed musician Yang Ying. No prior experience necessary.