12/2011
Winter is coming to Asheville. Stay warm with asana.
I will be teaching a weekly Ashtanga Primary Series class at the Asheville Community Yoga Center on Thursday's at 4pm until 2012. I will away on Thursday, December 22nd.
I'm honored to pick up many of Michael Johnson's classes at West Asheville Yoga and the Asheville Yoga Center between December 13th and December 21st.
Those class times are as follows:
Tuesday Dec 13: 12-1:15 vinyasa (West Asheville Yoga)
Wednesday Dec 14: 9:30-11am vinyasa (Asheville Yoga Center)
Tuesday Dec 20: 12-1:15 vinyasa (West Asheville Yoga)
Wednesday Dec 21: 9:30-11am vinyasa (Asheville Yoga Center)
New website coming soon by Dragonbutterfly Design (me!)
5/2011
2010 was an intense year. I left the Bay Area in May to participate in the Dreamtime Circus Peruvian tour and departed in June to journey through Bali, Lao, and Thailand until September. The next few months involved caring for my father as he died and then moving to New Orleans and then on to Asheville where I completed a Permaculture Certification and decided that Asheville was the place I wanted to stay. As we move into the full bloom of Spring I am exploring, connecting, and rooting down in my new home. I will be taking new private students and exploring teaching at studios in the Asheville area starting in May, 2011.
I have a particular fondness for moths and butterflies and their process of transformation. Instars are the stages of caterpillar metamorphosis between each molt. As the caterpillar grows and successively sheds its skin, it transforms. I find a similar process in the practice of yoga--ever evolving toward taking flight. Though the caterpillar may only know it is eating, whether or not it has an intent to transform, it is the nature of the being to do so. To me, the process mirrors the human being involved in the practice of yoga.
Here is a fun page explaining the metamorphosis of a butterfly.
Bio:
Rich began practicing yoga in gyms in 1999 but thanks to the teaching of Jen Malone and David Vendetti in Boston, he gave up the gym membership for a full time commitment to Ashtanga yoga. In early 2006 he left his home in hurricane ravaged New Orleans to pursue his devotion to yoga and his passion for performance in San Francisco. Rich completed his teacher training with Clayton Horton and David Lurey at Greenpath Yoga in 2006 and has done additional Ashtanga training with David Swenson and Richard Freeman. Though devoted to his roots in Ashtanga Rich believes that exploring and practicing a variety of yoga styles provides valuable perspective and has diversified his training with teachers including Shiva Rea, Max Strom, Ana Forrest, Dharma Mittra, and Les Leventhal. He also has a special love for AcroYoga.
Rooted in his own experience, Rich believes strongly in the principles of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika--that physical yoga is spiritually transformational. The hatha yogi need not seek transformation, for in the practice transformation finds the yogi. Rich's vinyasa classes mix elements of traditional Ashtanga with his experience as a circus aerialist, dancer, and acrobatic. With variations provided for students of all levels, his classes challenge one to mindfulness of the body and focus on the breath while striving to further one's personal practice in a spirit of humility, compassion, and playfulness. Rich strives to provide a meditation in motion that leaves one both energized and full of tranquility.
In addition to his activities as a yoga teacher, Rich does graphic and web design for the the yoga, healing, and arts communities with clients including Yoga Tree San Francisco, tells original fairytales as Onkel Woland, and does circus and fire performance. He has worked with the Dreamtime Circus, Lucid Dream Lounge, and Copper Lantern Fire Theater. During his time in the Bay Area he also frequently volunteered for the fire and metal arts school, The Crucible.
Now in Asheville, he hopes to keep sharing creativity and light with this beautiful community.
a little pranayama for you...
Design by dragonbutterfly design.
Yoga photos by Daniel Garcia, Focal Intent Photography
Fire Breathing Photo by Curtis Finger, Finger Photography
| 510.717.5607 | rich@instaryoga.com |
