A Life Worth Breathing

Friday, March 11th

6pm-8pm

$60
All levels

This special workshop is focused on lifting us up from burn-out and re-igniting the inner fire,

transforming depression into inspiration and anger into courage. Experience Max Strom’s unique renewal class.

Workshop will include a talk based on ideas from his new book, vinyasa-flow, breathing, and meditation.

Strength, Grace, and Healing
Saturday, March 12th

1pm-3pm

$60
All levels

The intent of yoga is not only to increase our strength and flexibility, but also to promote health and vitality.

The next layer is to transform our behavior from coarse to gracious, and to transform even our very thoughts,

from chaos to beauty. Experience Max Strom’s unique prana-flow class, with emphasis on emotional transformation.

Class will include a short talk, vinyasa-flow, non-dogmatic philosophy, breathing, and meditation.


Learn to Breathe, to Heal Yourself and Your Relationships
Saturday, March 12th

4pm-6pm

$60

All levels

How does the way we breathe affect our stress level, quality of sleep, depression, and even our relationships?

Breath penetrates, breath invigorates, and breath heals. The class begins with a lecture and then moves into simple but

profound breathing exercises, and gentle movement. The effect of these done in sequence can lead to profound release and calm.

Other benefits may include increased energy and mental clarity. Once people have experienced the power of their own breath,

they understand why it is called Life force. Class will include a lecture, breathing exercises, very gentle breath-initiated

movement, and meditation.

Helpful reminders from Max:

· Do not eat at least two hours before practice and eat lightly.

· Dress in loose fitting clothing.

·Arrive a few minutes early & leave your cell-phone in your car.

· Before class, inform Max of any injury or special condition.

· Breathing workshop is not advisable if pregnant.

ABOUT MAX

Born with severe clubbed feet, Max Strom spent much of the first six years of his life with his

feet confined in plaster casts and braces. Today he is an innovator, teacher and author.

Teaching since 1985, Max is known for inspiring and impacting the lives of his students and has

become one of the most respected teachers of personal transformation and yoga worldwide. 

His teachings are a culmination of his life experience and many years of study.

His methods address the internal, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our life,

physical healing, philosophy of living, self-enquiry, breathing exercises,

yoga postures, and meditation.

Max is author of the newly released

A LIFE WORTH BREATHING (Skyhorse 2010).

You can see more of his work on his 2DVDs:

"LEARN TO BREATHE

to Heal Yourself and Your Relationships"

"MAX STROM YOGA

Strength, Grace, Healing"

Max's Meditation CD

Purchase Max's merchandise here:

http://maxstrom.inticketing.com/catalog.php?sid=&email

Read Max's article published in

The Huffington Post 

April 7, 2010

Worldwide, billions of people covet the industrial world's wealth and are replicating its system of modern consumerism as rapidly as possible. But what they are ignoring, perhaps perilously so, is the fact that as materially well off as the industrial world is, too many of us are also chronically living what Henry David Thoreau coined "a life of quiet desperation."

According to John M. Grohol, Psy.D. in the PsychCentral News, in America alone, over 10 percent of the population, (over 30 million people), rich by the rest of the world's standards, exist on antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. And the ever-growing use of sleep-aid drugs has increased to over 56 million people, according to Denise Gellene with the Los Angeles Times.

So, if the emerging nations obtain the wealth and technology they desire, it is likely they will discover the same shocking revelation that Americans have discovered: They are still not happy. Americans are depressed and stressed out. What can be deduced from this is that our careers, cars, smart phones, and even our flat-screen TVs will not ultimately make us happy, healthy, or feel that we live a meaning life.

One of the great hopes in all this is that in the past decade there has been a huge upsurge in people embarking on self-examination. People are again asking the big question, "What is this life about?" And no matter how hard we may try to deny it, the answer we are left facing is a spiritual one.

Because of this reawakening, yoga is sweeping across the globe at a dazzling speed, as millions are turning to yoga not only to exercise, but also as an alternative to the experience of a spiritual gathering they cannot find in a church, synagogue, mosque or Web site. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the chief difference between religion and Western-style yoga, and that is that Yoga is usually offered in a nondogmatic format, which makes it inclusive to many more people. Because of its message of healing, unity and a simpler life, yoga may be one of the great rays of hope for our future. Why? Because worldwide, yoga is being embraced primarily by college-educated, upper-middle-class thinkers and businesspeople in positions of power--the very strata of society that has the power to make the changes this world so desperately needs.

In my own experience as a teacher of yoga and personal transformation, I witness many white-collar businesspeople park their $85,000 cars, turn off their cell phones, and walk into yoga rooms in a courageous attempt to transform their bodies and emotional states without the use of pharmaceuticals. The transformation is powerful to observe. Through the practice of special breathing techniques, meditation, and a sequence of postures, one day they experience a sense of calm beingness that they have not felt in years or even decades. This wondrous heart-opening consciousness triggers the profound realization that a 90 minute, $20 yoga class fulfills many of their essential needs, more than any of their other possessions they have worked like dogs to obtain. This life-changing insight compels them to reassess the value of their priorities and their very purpose in life: Who am I? Why am I? Where am I going?

The world at large could reap untold benefits as the core of the world's white-collar workforce becomes more concerned with opening their hearts than filling their wallets. I believe that most yoga teachers can attest that yoga is visibly de-stressing and healing countless people each day. This new wave of peace and tolerance can be felt rising, and not just in America; the wave has now stretched across the seas to Europe, the Far East, and even the Middle East. International power-cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Berlin, London, Istanbul, and Tel Aviv all offer yoga classes in impressive yoga centers. Lives are being changed and are souls re-inspired to reach beyond themselves and into the possibility of a greater world through peace, health, nondogmatic spirituality, and a conscious life.

Because of the enormous influence of yoga teachers, I believe that what we teachers need to do next is to focus on ethical renewal, teaching by example first and also by planting seeds in our yoga classes. Ethics must become a focalized component as it is one of the missing links in modern society, as made clearly evident in the collapse of the banking system. In this world, it is not enough to be smart and well educated, we must begin to see our fellow man and woman to be as important as our own families. The Yoga Community, and particularly its yoga teachers have a meaningful influence over the white-collar strata of society, including those in pinnacle power positions. So, it is our responsibility to inspire our students to set an example to infuse their highest ideals into their work and workplace, always looking for win-win events and holding firm that the end never justifies the means. Perhaps the impact of yoga on the world will ultimately be in opening people's minds and hearts and helping to guide our actions on an exemplary course through history.