PACIFIC COAST, MEXICO > BEACHFRONT YOGA

The co-owner and on-sight Yogi, CJ teaches an Ashtanga Vinyasa flow style of yoga that integrates interdisciplinary yoga practice, philosophy, pranayama and meditation. Her energy and enthusiasm evokes the essence of yoga as she approaches every class with grace and inner joy. 

CJ also is a gifted dancer, choreographer and national champion gymnast. She has studied with many inspiring teachers including Shiva Rea, Tias Little, Seane Corn, David Swenson, Doug Swenson, Richard Freeman, Cindy Lee, Beryl Bender Birch, Judith Lasater, Larry Schultz, Baron Baptist, John Friend and Rod Stryker. CJ also facilitates 200 hour, Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher Trainings each year.

Her Vinyasa yoga style synchronizes movement and breath, and will take you on a journey of rhythmic dance unifying the body, mind and spirit. This flowing sequence of asanas (postures), combined with pranayama (breathing techniques) encourages flexibility, strength, and circulation. You will move through sun salutations, dynamic sequencing of poses, final relaxation and meditation. The yoga classes are specifically designed so that by the end of your retreat you will have learned new postures, strengthened your body, and transformed your current practice. Beginners and advanced students alike will find their senses awakened as they embrace the heart of yoga.

Classical Ashtanga yoga is known as the Eightfold path of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras; the practice of yoga that combines breath control and a flow of sequential postures. The eight ‘limbs’ of Ashtanga are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. The very essence of yoga pervades every aspect of the Retreat Center's approach to individual positive change, teaching us how to exhibit qualities of a yogi, not only in our practice, but also in our daily lives.

Understanding Pranayama

Pranayama works as the basis for spiritual awakening in yoga. Although this is the supreme aim, Pranayama brings about tremendous benefits along the way, including increased energy, improved perception, and accelerated development of various brain faculties.

What is Pranayama?

To most, Pranayama is control of breath. However, this is an incorrect interpretation. It must be understood that ‘prana’ is an energy or life force that is universal in nature; it is omnipresent. A portion of that prana is also present in the human body. It flows at a deep level to maintain the body and its organs.

The goal of Pranayama is to increase the quantum of this life force (Prana) so that it can reach out to ‘hidden’ recesses of the brain. This helps in expanding the human faculties and combating degeneration.

How does Prana operate?

All the life force or Prana lies as dormant potential energy called the ‘pranashakti’ or ‘kundalini.’ It resides at a center which is found just above the genital area, called the ‘mooladhara chakra’.

According to yoga, this prana flows from the base ‘mooladhara’ center up along the right side of the spinal column into the center, which lies at the top of the spinal column. This center is called the ‘Ajna Chakra.’ The prana also gets distributed to the whole body through a different set of nerve channels so that it reaches every atom of the body.

This is how prana operates in the normal body, and the scope of Pranayama is to extend this influence beyond the physical body.

Qigong is the cultivation of the vital energy called Qi (chee), the force that animates every living being. Practicing the art of Qigong opens the flow of Qi throughout our bodies helping to keep us balanced, strengthened, fit, healthy, and at peace.

The word Qigong (pronounced ‘chee-gung’) is derived from two Chinese characters. Qi (or Chi) refers to our vital energy, life force, or breath. Sometimes translated as “the vapor of the finest matter,” its character represents the steam that rises from a grain of cooking rice, symbolizing distilled essence. ‘Gong’ means practice or cultivation. Qigong, then, is the cultivation of the vital energy the Chinese call Qi, the force that animates every living being.

Drumming and Dance

Drumming and dance have played similar roles in cultures all over the world: celebration, communication, marking rites of passion, invoking spiritual ecstasy, and promoting healing. 

A drum circle, or rhythm circle, is at its heart a group of people gathered together into a circle for the purpose of making music with percussion instruments. The makeup of this group, along with the instrumentation and the skill of the facilitator, determines the direction that the circle will take.

Meditation

Begin every day with meditation on the Pavillion, overlooking the morning sea. The human body has an instinctive ability to shift into profound rest states in order to heal, energize, integrate, tune up and assimilate learning. Mediation promotes a heightened awareness of the details of everyday life, turning the “normal” into the magical.