UPCOMING EVENTS
Bliss is Everywhere!
Feb 4-5
Meditation Series
Starts March 10
Foundations
April 25-29

Svaroopa® Yoga Themes

Each Svaroopa® yoga class is based on a theme, and each theme includes a set of poses for a particular purpose. In all classes, the core purpose is to open your spine by methodically releasing the tension from habitually contracted spinal muscles. This core opening prepares you to experience the specific benefits of each individual theme. With a year of dedicated practice, you will likely notice change that you could not have imagined at the beginning: Opening, healing, and transformation in your body and mind — and in your life.

While the themes are progressive, as a beginner you do not have to start in a class with the first theme, Daily Practice. However, home practice is so important that we recommend that you make an appointment for a private session to learn a home practice as soon as you begin classes at River Time Yoga. Classes with Themes 9 through 12 are open only to students who have established an effective home practice.

Class Theme Descriptions

Daily Practice Theme || 1 || This is the first theme, and whether you are a beginner or a long-time practitioner, Daily Practice is essential. In the words of Swami Nirmalananda, "The things you do daily are the most powerful, which is why you need to do your yoga breathing and poses daily. If you aren't removing the blocks, then you are probably installing more of them." In the Daily Practice Theme, you learn the primary spinal release poses thoroughly. You learn them in straightforward sequences that are easy to remember and practice at home.

Lower Spinal Release Theme || 2 || In lower spinal release, you deepen spinal opening. You focus on the poses that provide you with predictable and reliable benefits. You discover that Svaroopa® yoga practice provides you with immediate and reliable effects such as increased leg strength, realigned knees and feet (and the healing of such conditions as plantar fasciitis), lengthened low back, lessening or elimination of sciatica and sacroiliac joint pain, improvement in shoulder, neck, and jaw pain - and a quieter mind!

Upper Spinal Release Theme || 3 || In this theme, you begin to identify the areas of your upper spine that are tight. To quote psychologist Fritz Perls, “It is the awareness…of how you are stuck that makes you recover.” In this theme, you experience more systematic spinal opening from tail to top to begin to unlock the vertebrae behind the heart.

Abdominals Theme || 4 || Poses to enable to you activate your abdominal muscles are featured in this theme. You learn that there is much more to abdominals than "doing gut busters." You find that Svaroopa® yoga has a different perspective than the exercise industry. You find that when your spine is released and you can use your abs, you gain unexpected benefits in your life: your digestion and elimination improve; menstrual difficulties are reduced; as your organs are able to recede into a hollowed midsection, your belly automatically flattens; more importantly, internal organs receive an increased flow of blood for improved health generally; mental improvements include increased clarity and focus and the ability to see and speak your own truth.

Backbends Theme || 5 || Backbends are the primary counter poses (movement in a different direction) for your daily life. We sit to drive cars, we sit for desk jobs, we dine in forward bends, we may relax by reading or watching TV in forward bends — we even sleep in forward bends! By moving the hip joints in the opposite direction, backbends are an antidote to the habitual "crunch" of the daily grind! A Backbends theme class provides experiences in two types of backbends.  Backbends for the lower spine lengthen your sacrum – the location of your “bliss wiring” – promoting feelings of exhilaration.  These poses release habitual contraction from the psoas muscle, which is activated in the fight or flight response to stress.  Backbends for the upper spine are heart openers — unlocking the gateway to your capacity for compassion, for yourself and others, as well as to the source of your inner knowing. 

Standing Poses Theme || 6 || The standing poses bring more challenge into your practice. While the core opening of the Svaroopa® yoga approach reliably opens you to the Bliss of Being (which is the meaning of the Sanskrit word Svaroopa®), the standing poses teach you to be able to open into that inner bliss even while you stand in the world and in the midst of life's challenges.

Forward Bends Theme || 7 || In this theme, the deeper forward bending poses take you even more deeply into yourself - and your Self. This deep opening of the spine can bring you a lot of change, in your mind as well as your body. Some find longstanding emotional patterns beginning to dissolve with this opening.

Neck and Shoulders Theme || 8 || Here you learn to recognize the openings in neck and shoulders that result from consistent, ongoing, and deepening spinal release over time. Versions of classical poses for arms, shoulders, and neck illuminate these areas of your body. Throughout this theme, you clear away blockages in the upper spine as you lengthen the spinal muscles through the ribcage. You may notice greatly improved posture as a result.

For classes themes 9 through 12: if you do not already have an established daily practice, you have two options: 1) Move to another class time focusing on earlier themes; 2) make an appointment for a private session to learn the most appropriate daily practice sequence for your needs.

Balance and Inversions Theme || 9 || For many, this theme is especially challenging, as you learn to balance on the earth in less familiar ways - on one leg and upside down! This theme does a great deal to change perspective in new and illuminating ways. An established daily Svaroopa® yoga practice helps make this theme effective in opening you to these benefits.

Classical Poses Theme || 10 || This theme is noticeably much more physically challenging than previous themes. (Please see note above for prerequisites.) You need to be able to take care of your body in order to take classes in this theme. It is possible to do these uniquely challenging poses in a way that releases your spine. In this theme, you continue as well with Svaroopa® yoga core opening. But with these classical poses, you may experience spinal tightening instead. So it's imperative to have a practice established to continue your core opening at home daily.

Vinyasa Theme || 11 || In this theme you will explore whether you can learn to flow in a sequence of poses in order to open your spine. Here you will learn to "put together" all that you've previously learned in Svaroopa® yoga classes. Again, a daily home practice is a prerequisite.

Seated Poses and Twists Theme || 12 || This theme is the most meditative of all of the themes. It is the culmination of a year of Svaroopa® yoga classes. You will learn the seated poses in detail, and you will experience why the seated poses, in the ancient tradition of yoga, are known as the most important poses. You will also experience the lovely blissful effects of the classical twists.

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