Yoga Christy Teaches a variety of specialty workshops in Yoga and related disciplines in South Florida and travels nationally and internationally.

Please browse the listings below and call 443-865-0181 if you are interested in sponsoring a workshop at your studio. Help your studio thrive, learn new skills, and enjoy a great class!

DESCRIPTIONS OF AVAILABLE CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS:

Integrating and Protecting Your Spine: CORE & LOW BACK
Learn technical skills and exercises for proper coordination, flexibility, and tone in the physical and energetic center of the body. A strong core is important not only for good looks and proper posture, but also for preventing injury during Yoga and other exercise. We will cover not only physical strength and stability but also energetic alignment of the torso through awareness of the core and root bandhas.

Upper Body Strength with an Open Heart: CHEST & SHOULDERS
Learn how to open your chest and shoulders to stand more upright, and how to integrate the shoulder girdle properly for strength in Yoga poses and any sport or lifting activity. Improve key asanas like Downward Dog, Plank, Chatturanga, Backbends. Intermediates will learn how this applies to Wheel and Handstand.

Lower Body Strength, Flexibility and Skill: LEGS & HIPS
Learn technical skills and exercises for proper coordination of the lower body to properly support your knees and ankles and cure fallen arches. Open tight hip muscles and hamstrings for easier movement and pain relief. Get solid in your standing poses, balances, and flows. Learn how these skills apply to real-life activities like walking, running, lifting, and cycling.

Understanding & Balancing the Yoga Gunas (Energies):
SPACE, STRENGTH & SURRENDER
Develop an awareness of the the three fundamental Yoga energies or gunas: tamas, rajas, and sattva. Learn how to maximize your practice by creating a balanced approach between these fundamental forces of Yoga. Discover how your preferred guna may be dominating your practice and ultimately holding you back, and what to do about it.

"Technical Vinyasa & Intermediate Asana"
This class is very helpful to Yoga teachers and practitioners of vinyasa yoga styles, astanga, and power yoga.
Slow down and learn the technique that is left out in typical vinyasa class flows, integrate your fingers and toes, shoulders and hips, and find new levels of strength, flexibility, and coordination. Get expert hands-on help as well as skillful verbal direction to refine and expand your intermediate practice.
Students will refine their alignment in basic yoga postures and build towards more intermediate postures from a strong foundation. We will also bring mindful awareness to the mechanics of our movements, building specific elements of coordination into flowing sequences to develop graceful and non-injurious chains of movement.

Sunset Yoga
Enjoy the great outdoors, sometimes with spectacular sunset colors.
Practice Yoga with Mother Nature, and enjoy the supportive elements of water, earth, air, sun, plants, and animals as you connect to your body, mind, and spirit. This is an all-levels class focusing on physical alignment and opening, deep breathing, and mindful awareness. Beginners are welcome.

Beginner Yoga Series
A class focused on foundational yoga technique as expressed through basic yoga poses (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and life-energies (gunas). Each week's class will review deep breathing and principles of mindfulness and meditation,as well as in-depth practice of a number of foundational yoga poses. Students will be instructed in precise placement of the body and muscle usage for ideal biomechanics. Christy's teaching emphasises finding the balance between strength, spaciousness, and surrender in all the body's movements, as well as developing an intuitive understanding of your own body through self-observation

Therapeutic Yoga
A class focused on therapeutic yoga technique as expressed through active and passive yoga poses (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayama), and life-energies (gunas). Each week's class will vary to address students' needs in mind and body. Various types of requests will be honored, from stress relief to injury rehab to working out the body's aches and pains in certain areas.
Students will be instructed in precise placement of the body and muscle usage for ideal biomechanics. Christy's teaching emphasises finding the balance between strength, spaciousness, and surrender in all the body's movements, as well as developing an intuitive understanding of your own body through self-observation.

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YOGA CHRISTY'S
SPECIALTY WORKSHOPS:

Partner Yoga

Christy and Adam practicing Partner Yoga together

You do not need any Yoga experience to participate safely with your partner. Just wear comfy clothes that accomodate movement, and we'll guide you through the rest. We will do a variety of cooperative Yoga poses and meditations: some active, and some restful.

Partner Yoga is a wonderful way to learn to connect more deeply with your loved one. We will practice shared meditation, relaxation, and Yoga poses that will help us learn to communicate on a deeper level, build trust and the willingness to support one another, and help us work together to heal our physical aches and pains and emotional stresses.

Christy and Owen goofing around

Some of the exercises we do in class will be somewhat romantic; however, you are welcome to attend with a child, parent, or friend if you are willing to put up with a little bit of kissing and cutesy stuff from the lovebirds.

This is NOT a singles workshop or mixer. You will work only with the partner you bring to class. This is also NOT a sexual yoga class--we will be practicing the art of intimacy, which will deepen any relationship, including the one we have with our romantic partner. However, we do not need to interact on a sexual level to build an intense and absorptive connection with the divine (this immersion in the divine is what tantra really means). We will work with recognizing the divine in our partner and in ourselves, and surrendering our egoic attachments so we can truly become one.

Blissful Partner Relaxation

Christy's "Couples Yoga" program with Douglas Owen was featured in the Baltimore Sun in July 2005!!!

Call Yoga Christy with any Questions: 443-322-6525

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Thai-Yoga Therapy for Family and Friends

Christy is a Certified Vedic Thai-Yoga Instructor for The Vedic Conservatory.

Having taken up the dharma of teaching and sharing beautiful Thai-Yoga, I hope to offer it to you in its original form: as a folk art spread from master to student, parent to child. Thailand adapted the same ancient Vedic cultural roots that led to the Yoga tradition and Hindu religion in India. . . but in Thailand's friendly, open, casual culture, the concept of mind/body union is opened into a sharing between two people. Anyone wishing to receive and learn to give this wonderful exotic bodyworking art should take this course.

The entire series of classes is recommended for your maximum benefit. If you wish sincerely to help a loved one, friend, or family member, give yourself and them the gift of studying elegant and satisfying Thai-Yoga Massage.

READ MORE ABOUT THAI-YOGA TECHNIQUES

ALTHOUGH IT OFFERS NO CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT, this workshop series will also greatly benefit Massage Therapists, Personal Trainers, Yoga Practitioners and Teachers, Physical Therapists, Martial Artists, Dancers, and Athletes. Those with some Thai experience from workshops with Michael Buck or Christy Thorndill of the Vedic Conservatory, or with any other Thai Massage School, will greatly benefit from this guided and instructed practicum. Each class will be somewhat different, and we will attempt to cover requests and questions. The more you attend, the more you'll learn, but you can attend a single session if that's all you want.

Couples and Family Members will also enjoy our Partner Yoga Classes

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Essential Yoga
Intensive Course

Much more than a regular class, this 25-hour Intensive Course of mini-workshops will help you develop a complete understanding of how to practice Yoga, or deepen your Yoga practice. FOR ALL LEVELS! Beginners, Advanced Yogis, and Health/Fitness Professionals will greatly benefit from this thorough training.

Essential Yoga is a thorough course in Yoga, a timeless system for training your body and mind. Yoga is a process-oriented path where we make the conscious choice to develop our best potential of body, mind, and spirit. The real “essential” of Yoga is the knowingness that you can live joyfully in your body and create positive changes in every aspect of your life through persistent practice. Practice cultivates perfection. It’s that simple. You just have to do it. This course will get you started in this dynamic and powerful process, or help you deepen your practice if you’re already a Yogi or Yogini. The course will help you deepen your understanding of: mindfulness, biomechanics, breath control, and Yogic philosophy. You will practice applying the concepts in Yoga poses, meditation, and relaxation exercises, as well as occasional journaling and cooperative exercises.

The course focuses each week on a region of the body and/or a philosophical part of the Yogic path. Each class will feature a short lecture/Q&A section as well as a full Yoga practice and plenty of time for relaxation and meditation. (Beginners, please do not panic: we will NOT be exercising for the entire 2 1/2 hours!)

2007 Essential Yoga Class in Christy's Fells Point Studio, Baltimore, MD

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Yoga for Cyclists

Prevent Injury, Relieve your Soreness, Balance your Body, Increase your Awareness, and Improve your Ride through Life

Owen demonstrates "Reclining Hero", a great Quad stretch

Yoga Stretches can help relieve the most common ails incurred while cycling including: soreness, tension, stiffness, muscular adhesions and lactic acid buildup. Practicing these stretches regularly will help you relieve pain, improve range-of-motion, and increase flexibility in the major lower-body muscles used for cycling: hamstrings, calves, quads, and hip flexors. It can also help you relieve tension in your chest, abs, and back caused by hunching over your bike for long hours. Even those who ride long and hard can indeed improve their flexibility with some patience and practice!

Any experienced cyclist knows that stretching for a cool-down after every ride can make the difference between pain and pleasure. But often after years of riding, we ‘make-due’ with our limitations and pains rather than really feeling good all over. We grit our teeth and figure it’s worth it as long we can still pass riding up the hill, and as long as we can satisfy our need to ride.

As a Yoga teacher, I think it’s sad how many athletes settle for pain and stiffness as they push themselves to reach the next goal. Certainly it takes effort and determination to become a strong person, but the idea of “no pain, no gain” often encourages us to abuse our bodies, the wonderful tools we’ve been given, in order to get wherever it is we think we need to go. I encourage you to look at your sport from another angle, and try to find the balance between strength, spaciousness, and surrender.

Since most cyclists aren’t professional racers with trainers and coaches to guide them along the way, I encourage you to learn how to take good care of yourself! I also hope you’ll start to notice your body mechanics, and whether or not they serve you in the most efficient way possible. Better body mechanics will help you become a more efficient and stronger cyclist, and will protect your knees from injuries and strain caused by tension and misalignment.

As a long-time cyclist and Yoga practitioner, I have assembled these Yoga exercises to help you ride more comfortably, safely, and effectively throughout your life. I hope you will benefit from my experience as much as I have benefited from our my practice and the thousands of years of Yoga tradition from which I’ve learned. Namaste, and enjoy your ride!!!

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Yoga for Bellydancers:
Form, Flexibility, and Floating - all levels.

In this workshop, you'll learn great Yoga stretches and exercises to target your chest and shoulders, spine, hips and legs -- and how to breathe deeply for greater stretching success. Connect your breath with your balance, your mind, your emotions, and your movement and discover a greater sense of energy and grace. Get feedback on your body-mechanics and how to improve them for dance and life!

This course has been developed from my many years of personal Yoga and Bellydance practice, as well as being the personal trainer to two lovely Professional dancers, Dori Witt, Director of the Egyptian Sun Bellydance Troupe, and Baltimore's amazing tribal fusion dancer Naimah, shown here demonstrating her amazing sidebend with a sword.

I have designed "Yoga for Bellydancers" to address common flexibility issues Bellydancers face as well as cultivating a solid sense of form, balance, and body awareness which will help with grace, stillness, and fluidity in all movements. Practicing mindfulness and emotional presence will also help you develop a greater sense of charisma and connection with your audience.

The course will cover a variety of stretches for dancer's target areas: chest and shoulders, spine, hips and legs. We will practice with deep attention to our body awareness, bringing all parts of the body, breath, and mind into alignment with our stretches for maximum benefit. Christy will give advice and demonstrations on establishing an ideal body-mechanic and easy sense of balance in the legs, pelvis, spine, shoulders, and head. We will practice these in various poses with individualized feedback.

You will also learn how to practice deep breathing or pranayama, which is a powerful tool for managing performance anxiety, increasing your energy and stamina, and breaking up tension in the muscles of the abdomen, ribcage, and back. You will learn how to connect this deep breath to your stretching practice for greater effectiveness, and how to connect it to your movement for greater fluidity.

This is an all-levels class for those with or without Yoga experience. It will be helpful even to those with little or no dance experience, since all the topics covered relate to our general sense of grace and ease as women and people as much as they do to our dance training and performance. Yoga is a daily-life practice which can help you to care for, integrate, and understand your physical body, your emotions, your thoughts, your energy, and your bliss. Please join us, Namaste.

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Vedic Thai-Yoga Therapy
for Massage Therapists, Yoga Teachers, and Personal Trainers

Christy is a Certified Vedic Thai-Yoga Instructor for The Vedic Conservatory.

Christy is available to teach Thai-Yoga Bodywork nationally and internationally. Dates for 2009 are still being scheduled. Please email Christy if you would like to attend a class or sponsor one in your area.

READ MORE ABOUT THAI-YOGA TECHNIQUES AND HOW THEY CAN BENEFIT YOUR PRACTICE AT www.vedicconservatory.com.

We also recommend Thai-Yoga Therapy as a wonderful way to relate with your lover, mate, or family members. This is an introductory-level course, and the general public is welcome to attend. You do not need to bring a partner to this course, as we will practice with everyone in the class to build our confidence and sensitivity.