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A Weekend of Bhakti

Astrud Castillo is a yoga teacher and kirtan wallah living in the Bay Area. She has been teaching nationally and internationally since 2001 and is a senior teacher at Laughing Lotus in San Francisco, and the primary teacher of Nancy Hwang Nomellini, a teacher at 8 Limbs. Astrud’s teachers Mark Whitwell, Jasmine Tarkeshi, and T.K.V Deskichar have inspired and fueled her practice for several years. She is devoted to transformation and wakefulness through the healing power of sound, vibration, asana, pranayama and most importantly relationship.

All offerings will have chanting, meditation and conversation and are open to all levels.

 

Schedule of Classes:

  • Friday, June 14, 6:00-8:00pm: FLIP IT! Invert your body and your perspective
  • Saturday, June 15, 12:30-3:30pm: Backbends, Bhakti & The Bhagavad Gita: A Heart-Opening Practice
  • Saturday, June 15, 7:00-8:30pm: Kirtan – Devotional Singing
  • Sunday, June 16, 12:30-2:30pm, The 4 Keys: Bhakti in Action

 

Friday, June 14, 6:00-8:00pm

FLIP IT! – Invert your perspective and your body: Vitarka Badhane Pratipaksa Bhavanam, Yoga Sutra 2.33

How we can use our bodies, breath and mantra to cultivate peace, when our minds are disturbed due to fear, adversity, and challenge? This workshop will explore flipping our perspective and surrender while building heat and exploring inversions/going upside down.

Vinyasa practice – creative and mindful sequencing

All levels are welcome.

$50 advance, $65 after

 

Saturday, June 15, 12:30-3:30pm

Backbends, Bhakti & The Bhagavad Gita: A Heart-Opening Practice

Bhakti is the yoga of devotion and a practice that aims at deepening your relationship to the Divine or to what you hold sacred. It may take shape as an attitude of gratitude or through one of the nine practices that stem from this tradition. We explore personalizing what is sacred. We will explore some of the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras and discuss Japa and Kirtan practice. Learn how you can weave this practice into your everyday life let alone your asana practice and infuse the mundane with devotion. This fluid and devotional workshop will include heart openers, backbending, and devotional chanting, with creative and mindful sequencing.

$70 through May 15, $85 after

 

Saturday, June 15, 7:00-8:30pm

Kirtan – Devotional Singing

Join Astrud for an evening of Kirtan – devotional chanting. Through the power of sound and vibration we shake things up from the inside out, we surrender and cut through ideas and beliefs of separation and celebrate the powerful union with the Divine, with Peace and with each other. Love and devotion are the essence behind the practice of Bhakti Yoga and the ability to surrender, glorify and celebrate that which breaths us!

$25 advance, $35 day of

 

Sunday, June 16, 12:30-2:30pm

The 4 Keys, Bhakti in Action

How do we co-exist with ourselves and others, both on and off the mat, in a way that cultivates peace of mind? Join Astrud for a heartfelt, powerful, and transformative practice, as we unlock the door to personal freedom by using the Yoga Sutras (1.33) to explore our relationships.

Using practical wisdom from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the heartfelt practices of the Bhakti tradition, we will strengthen our ability to navigate challenging situations and to use them as opportunities for personal growth. As soul scientists we will use gentle movement, mantra, and meditation to deepen our self study, also known as Svadyaya, and to deepen our connection to what is sacred in all our relationships. We will chant, breath, flow, sit, reflect and celebrate!

$50 through May 15, $65 after

Location: Capitol Hill

Cancellation Policy:  Refunds of 90% up to five days prior to workshop. No refunds allowable after that time.

 

About the instructor: Astrud Castillo

Astrud CastilloAstrud Castillo has been teaching since 2001 nationally and internationally. Her teachers Mark Whitwell, Jasmine Tarkeshi and T.K.V Deskichar have inspired and fueled her practice for several years. She is a senior teacher at Laughing Lotus, leads kirtan in the USA and Europe, leads retreats to India annually and teaches Bhakti Yoga teacher trainings. She is devoted to transformation and wakefulness through the healing power of sound, vibration, asana, pranayama and most importantly relationship.

Astrud is a San Francisco based Kirtan Wallah and has been leading Kirtan for over 15 years. She travels from coast to coast and Europe leading Kirtan, teaching Bhakti and Yoga workshops. Her CD “Hari Om” can be found on Spotify and I tunes. The opportunity to serve and her devotion and commitment to wakefulness and to the Divine is what motivates and inspires her.

Kirtan is a metaphor for how much we are like the sun and how each and every-one of us have the capacity to generate more light in the world one breath and mantra at a time. The act of communing within music and chant regardless of religious or spiritual beliefs is one of the most beautiful and uplifting aspects of experiencing Kirtan. Yoga means to yoke to unite, to bring together and to make whole. There is a longing to connect with spirit, with goodness, with light and with one another regardless of class or beliefs.  Singing the sacred names awakens us from the inside out. The mundane is infused with devotion and suddenly becomes inspiring and meaningful.

Join me as we sing in the key of “WE”

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