Join Erin Fleming and Heather McKenzie for Spring Into Wellness - A women-only retreat focused on blending the best of yoga and fitness. Treat yourself to a long weekend practicing yoga and exploring new fitness classes, while enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma and the amazing, all-organic meals by chef Carol Cleveland Bojarsky (a graduate of the Cordon Bleu).

Chinese New Year is the significant festival of the year, and 4078 is the Chinese Metal Tiger Year, starting February 14! 2010 the Metal Tiger is a vibrant year that moves with speed, sharpness, and is filled with change. 

Metal is Yin--inward, observant, and contracting. It's associated with the lungs and the primal spirit of a White Tiger. For the Chinese, the Tiger represents courage, power, passion, and magnificence. In Hindu mythology, the Tiger is sacred to Durga, Divine Mother and Goddess of Energy. She rides a Tiger, symbolizing unlimited power, and her consort, Shiva, wears a tiger skin, designating him beyond the bounds of our world.

Metal and lung are linked to boundaries, and how we "take in" and "let go." Practicing Yoga can unveil our bodies; observing inhalation and exhalation in different poses connects us deeper within the moment-to-moment experience.

Bring Heaven and Earth into your practice through mindful breathing. Pranayama, breathing techniques, refine our breathing ability and increase awareness and understanding of energy flow.

In the auspicious Chinese New Year season, here are ways to greet the Tiger's roar!

• Invigorate the lungs with shoulder/heart openers and chest expanders
• Calm metal elements with deeper breaths through out the day
• Tame your tiger with Yin Yoga meditation
• Luxuriate in a longer Savasana (final relaxation)

恭喜發財
Gong Hay Fat Choi

Always wanted to learn how to meditate but didn't know where to start?  This workshop will offer you a few easy tools and techniques to help relax your body and quiet your mind.  Simple meditation practices, discussion, and time for Q&A will help give you the confidence to try meditating on your own.