Weekend with Gary Kraftsow

12:00-3:00pm - Viniyoga for a Healthy Structure

Do you think that the goal of āsana is to do the postures correctly, or to use the

postures to understand and transform your body? Understanding how to manage your energy is a fundamental life skill for achieving and maintaining optimal health and well-

being.

The Ancients evolved the science of āsana practice to help us establish a conscious

relationship with our functional anatomy and through that relationship, we can deepen

our understanding of our current structural condition, gain insight into how our structure

is changing over time, and learn how to select, adapt, and combine appropriate āsana-s

to address our changing needs.

Focusing on the spine, we'll consider what is essential for creating and maintaining a

healthy and integrated structure and learn how to adapt and sequence āsana for

optimal strength, stability, and range of motion. Explore how breath-centric āsana can

help you move through life with stability and ease.

4:00-7:00pm - Viniyoga for Healthy Physiological Function

Though a healthy structure is important, in the long run, learning how to optimize

physiological function is even more important for longevity.

One of the “open secrets” of Yoga practice is understanding how to adapt the breath

to influence the autonomic nervous system and support sympathetic-parasympathetic regulation. Most physiological issues are linked to sympathetic-parasympathetic dis-

regulation, as either a cause or a symptom.

The Ancients evolved the science of breath adaptation in āsana and prāṇāyāma to

help us establish a conscious relationship with our autonomic nervous system, attune to

its condition, and influence sympathetic-parasympathetic regulation to optimize

physiological processes.

Focusing on the autonomic nervous system, we'll consider how to create and maintain

balanced energy throughout the day. Then we'll explore how to use breath-centric

āsana and prāṇāyāma as functional tools to help you move through life with vitality and

relaxation.

10:00am-1:00pm - Viniyoga for Increasing Energy & Building Vitality

The lack of energy and vitality, the experience of fatigue, and the loss of motivation are

common experiences for most of us. These experiences can be the result of an

unhealthy lifestyle and are a common symptom of many conditions, and even of

medical treatments.

From the perspective of Yoga teachings, the key to managing these experiences lies in

our ability to create a conscious relationship with our autonomic nervous systems and how to adapt and apply practices that will help restore balanced sympathetic-parasympathetic regulation.

In this session, we will discuss causes of low energy and fatigue and then explore

principles and practices to help you manage fatigue, increase energy, and build vitality.

We will end with a practice designed to restore energy and vitality.

2:00-5:00pm - Viniyoga for Stress Management & Better Sleep

The ongoing challenges of changing conditions, circumstances, and relationships create

stress. Often, our responses to stress complicate our health and well-being.

In fact, these responses can be a causal, or a contributing, factor in illness, and a

complicating factor in healing illness. Chronic stress impacts our system at anatomical,

physiological, emotional, and cognitive levels which, in turn, can impact of relationships

and our productivity. One of the common symptoms of stress is sleeplessness. Sleep is

an essential biological function that not only determines our physical and mental energy

and alertness but is also necessary to keep everything in our bodies and minds

functioning correctly.

From the perspective of Yoga teachings, the key to managing stress lies in our ability to

create a conscious relationship with our autonomic nervous system to adapt and apply

practices that will help restore balanced sympathetic-parasympathetic regulation. In this

session, we will discuss the stress response, strategies for creating better sleep, and

then explore principles and practices to help you manage stress and improve sleep.

Each session will include a presentation, and practice, and time for dialogue and Q&A.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

PURE Yoga Texas | Downtown Austin, 506 Oakland Avenue, Austin, United States