Through the process of interacting with yourself and others, you have a unique opportunity to clarify your values and goals, develop skills, and create support networks that will support you in making lifestyle changes that will promote your future personal well-being, and the health of your community.

Integral Health: Tools for Holistic Living

In the space between thinking and doing,
we experience a deep abiding sense of well-being.

In this free community education series, you learn and practice simple techniques to restore and promote personal health and community well-being on multiple levels - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, familial, professional, social, ecological, cultural. Each month a different practitioner from the community offers a session.

This winter and offer a series of four workshops related to one theme for a more in-depth experience. Dr. Ani Hawkinson will be offering an experiential introduction to the healing tradition of Ayurveda, and its sister science, Yoga.   Check back as more details about each workshop will be posted as we get closer to the workshop dates.

NOTE DATE CHANGE FOR APRIL

April 30, 7-8:30 p.m. Pranayama: The Science of Vital Energy

Praan in Sanskrit refers to the vital force, in particular the breath, without which we can only live for a few minutes. Praanaayaama translates as "extension of the life force, or breath". It has been used by yogic and ayurvedic practitioners as a means to discipline -- calm -- the mind and invite deeper states of consciousness as a means to understand the nature of human experience more fully in order to free ourselves of the suffering which comes from misperceiving our true nature. Modern research into some of these practices, have shown them to be beneficial in the treatment of most stress-related diseases.

In this workshop, we will practice and then reflect upon our experiences of several different praanaayaam techniques. We will also discuss briefly some of the physiological reasons why they have the effect that they have on the stress response.

NOTE DATE CHANGE FOR MARCH

March 26, 7-8:30 p.m. Ayurveda and Vikriti: The Science of Self-Healing

Ayurveda recognizes that each individual is unique. Furthermore, it acknowledges that there are many factors that contribute to what makes each person different from any other at any given point in time -- at conception, during gestation, after birth. The combined effects of the first two influences result in one's personal constitution at birth -- prakriti. Lifestyle interacting with prakriti determines one's current constitution -- vikriti . Health is a direct reflection of how closely your vikriti matches your prakriti, and the goal of the Ayurvedic medicine is to help align vikriti with prakriti.

In this workshop, we will learn about the three energies -- vata, pita, and kapha -- that make up your unique constitution in varying proportions. We will explore which energies are dominant in your vikriti and explore ways to bring those that are out of proportion from your prakriti back into balance.

February 19, 7-8:30     The Foundational Philosophy of Ayurveda and Yoga:   Samkya   

Who am I? Where did I come from? What will happen to me when my physical body dies? These are questions that people have tried to answer for millenia. Samkya philosophy provides a simple, yet elegant answer to these questions and forms the foundation for both the science of mind, known as Yoga, and the science of life, known as Ayurveda.   Samkya provides insight into how and why these two traditions evolved to form a comprehensive approach to understanding the human mind and body, the relationship between the two, and their relationship to spirit. These traditions teach us a way to live life that promotes a deep sense of personal well-being.

In this workshop, we will explore the concepts with our minds, and then allow ourselves to experience them in our bodies through a movement meditation practice that you can take home to practice on a daily basis.

May 28, 7-8:30              Yoga and Kosha:   The Science of Self-Realization

Natural Living: A Life of Balance

Health emerges naturally as long as we rest when tired,
Eat foods that nourish our bodies and our minds,
Think thoughts that evoke a smile,even laughter.
And above all else...
Cherish ourselves, one another, and our planet.

Natural Living workshops provide you with health-optimizing self-care skills and time to practice them. Topics include, but are not limited to, food preparation, stress management, and plant medicine and are selected according to season and participant interest & health needs.

2013 Summer Natural Living Series: Using Plants to Promote Health & Well-Being

This is a special summer series for people who receive medical care at HeartSong.

We will learn about one plant or herb in each workshop. We will learn to identify, grow and harvest each plant. We will touch it, taste it, drink it, tincture it ... And learn how to use it to promote health.

Sessions will be scheduled as plants become ready for harvesting and/or study.

All costs for the sessions are covered by your insurance as nutritional counseling. If you have been in for an appointment any time in the last 12 months, you are eligible to sign up for these mini-workshops.If you would like to attend these sessions and are not a HeartSong patient,you may schedule an initial appointment (also covered by insurance),and then join us.

SESSION 2: 6:00-7:30 Friday, July 12 or Sunday, July 14.

Relaxing Herb: MOTHERWORT Leonurus cardiaca

SESSION 1: Thursday, MAY 16, 2013 at 6 p.m.

Nourishing Herb: NETTLES

TO REGISTER: If interested, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Space will be limited so register early. You will need to register for each session that interests you when it is advertised.

VERY IMPORTANT: For this class, wear long sleeves, long pants, and bring garden gloves and a trowel, if you have them. We are going to be helping one of our nettles patches relocate to join another one as part of this workshop.

Yoga Heart: The Journey Home expander

In every moment life is complete.
This is all there is.
This is all there ever will be.
This is yoga.

Yoga is not something that we do. It is who we are. The practice of yoga opens our hearts to the experience of being human by inviting us to attend fully to the present moment. Yogic practices teach us how to do this with patience, skill, grace, and gratitude:

• Yama (nourishing worldly relationships),
• Niyama (clarifying personal values),
• Asana (developing physical resilience),
• Pranayama (regulating breath and energy),
• Pratyahara (withdrawing from distractions),
• Dharana (concentrating the mind),
• Dhyana (meditating deeply),
• Samadhi (merging into pure awareness).

In Yoga Heart, we explore how to free ourselves from the pain (stress) which arises in us because of our misperceptions of reality and our misunderstanding of what it means to be fully human.

The skillful physician finds the right medicine
for the right people
in the right places
at the right times
in the right dosages
And then invites them to do what they were born to do --
heal themselves

This monthly program introduces participants to the philosophies and science underlying the various approaches -- modern and ancient -- to the practice of medicine that form the basis for integral primary care at HeartSong.

• Health for Life: Ayurveda, the science of creating a long healthspan
• Body Systems: Functional medicine, the science of treating systems
• Healing the Whole: Homeopathy, the science of treating people
• Treating Disease: Allopathy, the science of treating diseases
• The Mind As Divine: Yoga, the science of personal liberation
• Synergistic Comprehensivity: Integral Medicine, the science of consciousness & healing
• Habits for Health: Lifestyle Medicine, the science of therapeutic lifestyles
• Perception As Reality: Mindbody Medicine, the science of subjective awareness
• Observation As Truth: Evidence-Based Medicine, the science of empiricism
• The Life Force: Naturopathy, the science of the healing power of nature
• Patterns of Disharmony: Biological Medicine, the science of restoring balance

Naturally Yours: Health Is Your Birthright

The secret to a long and healthy life is simple --
Study yourself, learn what nourishes you --
In mind, in body, in emotion, in spirit.
And then create a life that cherishes your individuality.

This monthly program provides a basic introduction to key elements of optimizing health - understanding yourself as a integrated whole, managing stress, eating well, resting deeply, reducing inflammation, exercising appropriately, and enhancing detoxification.

• The Body Whole: Understanding your body as an integrated whole
• The Mind Alive: Modulating your response to stress
• Food as Medicine: Personalizing your diet
• Restful Moments: Deep relaxation
• Pain as a Message: Managing inflammation
• The Body in Motion: Exercising for weight management
• Rejuvenation: Detoxification for longevity

Relaxed Living -- Personal Freedom

The beauty of stress is that you create it from within.
Thus you have the power in each and every moment --
to transform your life into an experience of deep and abiding relaxation.

Western medicine now recognizes that more than 50% of illness is caused by stress. This program helps people learn through direct experience and personal practice how to modulate personal stress through simple physical and mental techniques drawn from Ayurveda, an ancient science of holistic health practiced in India, and Yoga, its sister science of integral psychology. All practices taught in this course have been researched and documented in the Western scientific field of MindBody Medicine.

Scheduled practices include, but are not limited to:

• Breathwork
• Focusing on the body in movement
• Focusing on the body in stillness
• Seated meditation
• Guided imagery
• Vocalization
• Deep guided relaxation
• Deep listening peer practice