[Live Streamed] Summer Solstice Yoga Mala with Tuladhara Yoga Teachers

Join Tuladhara Yoga teachers Leslie, Story, Alicia, and Kara for a Summer Solstice Yoga Mala like you have never experienced. You will be invited to set intentions, embrace emotion, and balance your lunar and solar energies. This online Mala will be accessible to all, combining Sun and Moon namaskars, heating and cooling flows, and plentiful modifications.

Each of the four teachers will lead 27 salutations, culminating in 108 when the epic event is complete. Each of the four quarters will represent different energy and each teacher will offer a specific intention for their set. Students will be encouraged to move at their own pace, modify as needed, and take opportunities to reflect and journal.

The Summer Solstice is a celebration of the return to the light. The Solstice reminds us of the powerful light within each of us and the full potential of our individual and collective consciousness. This is a fertile time to set intentions, seek right action, and walk-in alignment with your beliefs.

Date & Time: June 20th, 2020 @9am -12pm

Cost: $20

About the instructors: Alicia Barrett, Story Gilmore, Leslie Whitecrow, and  Kara O’toole

Alicia Barrett is someone that has benefited from the transformational and healing power of yoga and wants to share her passion with her community. Her path to Yoga has not been a traditional one. She received her BA from Western Washington University in 1998. She soon after fell into her first business role working as Regional leader for a smaller retail chain. In 2004 she left that role and went to work for a large Fortune 50 retail company in an executive role where she held many positions including a position leading international expansion efforts in Vancouver, BC. She was known for great business results, the ability to develop talent through great coaching, and building great teams through promoting inclusion and team work. Although her Yoga practice had always been a big part of her life, she felt that something was missing and decided, in 2014, to pursue her 200 hour Yoga Alliance accredited teacher training certificate through Semperviva Yoga and she continues to enrich her studies receiving her 500 hour certification in 2016. She has had the fortune to train with well known teachers such as Sean Corn, Sienna Sherman, Michael Stone, Max Strom, Rolph Gates, Bernie Clark, Tina James, Gloria Latham and many others.

Before I had a consistent yoga practice, I would find myself coming back to the mat again and again when I needed sanctuary. With life struggles happening and emotions swirling, my yoga mat and the many studios I found myself in became the way and the places I did the hard work, the healing.  I came to yoga when I needed it in a very reactionary way.  I used the physical practice and release of the yoga asana to heal the hurt and get to a point of, “ok, I’m good,” then moved on again and away from my mat until the next emotional battleground.  Eventually the cycle became tiring and I had the thought, “Why do I have to keep starting over?  Why does the sense of peace and contentment keep slipping away?” I sought my teacher training experience as a way to deepen my own practice and understand more of what yoga offers.  There is always more to learn, but having been exposed to more depth and seeing the benefits of yoga play out in so many different ways I knew immediately I wanted to teach and to share what I’ve learned. Yoga offers a way and a place to hit pause- to expand the space between what occurs and how we proceed.  Through teaching, I hope to help others find space to pause.

Leslie first came to yoga in 2007 thinking it would be relatively boring and not challenging enough for her physicality. Boy was she wrong! After that first Bikram class she was humbled, worked-out, opened up and hungry for more! Thus began her journey. Leslie has studied in a variety of different styles of yoga and completed her 200hr RYT in 2013, through Yoga Works. Ever the enthusiastic learner, Leslie pursued deep study with Ashtanga, Iyengar, Tantra, Nidra and Baptiste styles of yoga which now incorporate themselves into her very fun and challenging vinyasa classes. Since 2015, Leslie has been lead faculty for 200hr yoga teacher training programs. In 2018 Leslie became certified as  Mudra Therapist.
Leslie teaches in the traditional way she was taught with a flair of playfulness.
In addition to teaching yoga, Leslie’s passion extends to her healing practice, employing shamanism, Energy healing and specialized kinesiology.

Kara O’Toole RYT® 200 brings over 30 years of dance teaching experience to her yoga classes and is devoted to sequencing aligned poses with a joy of movement and breath. Her love of yoga has been building for over 20 years and her practice has been fueled by the restorative power yoga has had in her life as a retired professional dancer. Kara has studied with many inspirational yoga teachers, most significantly Shiva Rea, Troy Lucero, Djuna Mascall, Kathleen Hunt, and all of the amazing teachers at her Yoga Tree San Francisco teacher training. Kara holds a MFA in Dance from the University of Washington and moved to Tacoma from Orcas Island with her family to serve as the Artistic Director at the Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center (TUPAC). She is excited to join the inspired community at Tuladhara Yoga. Outside of the studio Liz enjoys spending time with her husband,Adam, and their daughter, Ada. As new residents and an active member of the Junior League of Olympia, she’s fallen in love quickly with the scenery, the kindness of the residents and the city overall.