Press Release: Balanced Rock launches Wild Yoga Teacher Training in Yosemite National Park

200-hour Yoga-Alliance Certified training incorporates nature and ecology into yoga

Balanced Rock, a Yosemite-area non-profit, has created one of the most inspired yoga teacher trainings in the country with its Wild Yoga teacher training taught by Dennis Eagan E-RYT 500, founder of Wild Yoga Adventure Retreats. Unique aspects of this eight-weekend program include two weekends learning inside Yosemite National Park, three weekends practicing inside a yoga yurt at a destination known for its sustainable practices, and three weekends at Dragonfly Health & Wellness in Mariposa, California. The course began in September 2011 and will continue through April 2012.

Besides in-depth practice in teaching asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breathwork), body alignments, teaching methodology, and traditional yoga philosophy, participants will explore the energies of the natural world as mirroring the processes of the human body. Participants will also be exposed to a wide range of sustainable practices including “leaving no trace” in the backcountry, using a composting toilet, and eating locally as well as energy and water conservation.

Yoga has its roots in a 5000-year old Indian philosophical tradition that has embraced the earth with masters practicing in nature. In our increasingly industrialized world, it is becoming harder to connect to the natural world. This course endeavors to reunite the energies of the earth with yoga. Balanced Rock Program Director and Yoga Teacher Training Participant, Heather Sullivan, says, “This yoga teacher training reminds us of the rhythms of the natural world and our interconnectedness with those natural cycles. Nature and yoga both unite mind, body and spirit and connect us with deeper truths about the energy that sustains each one of us. The ocean teaches us to breathe, alpines lakes allow for reflection and the moon reminds me to surrender to the tides.”

Balanced Rock’s mission is to inspire health and wellbeing through deep connection to nature and spirit. For more information or if interested in attending a future training, visit www.balancedrock.org, email info@balancedrock.org or call (209)379-9453. The 2012 schedule is now available online.

Ruminating on the Gita

As part of the 200-hour Balanced Rock Yoga Alliance-certified Wild Yoga Teacher Training 2011-2012, we are reading the Bhagavad Gita. Below are some of my impressions on the text so far. –Shannon Sodano

Reading this ancient text has felt much more relevant and enjoyable than I expected, and so far has left me feeling grateful for past experiences plus those that I’m currently a part of that are assisting me in understanding its teachings first hand.

First of all, it feels important, when approaching the Gita, to have an open mind to some of the overarching beliefs that it is based upon, that many Eastern religions and philosophies are rooted in but may be foreign to our Western culture. A main idea is that we are God or the single, universal Self, wanting to experience ourselves fully through a physical and earthly experience. Another main point is that we are doing this over many lifetimes. Both of these fundamental concepts, that we are God and will live infinite lives, are avoided or just lightly touched upon in Western religions my recent ancestors took part in. As a young adult, my mother was exposed to the idea of reincarnation and took to it quickly. Even as we explored various Christian religions growing up, spirituality was rooted in the idea that life was eternal and that we could never do anything completely wrong; life is just about the experience. She seemed to uncover for herself and our family a teaching of the Gita that says “scriptures are of little use to the man who sees the Lord everywhere.” (2:46) I am grateful to have been born into these open beliefs.

Living and growing in our modern times, it’s hard not to assume that life is about the things that we accomplish and the actions we take. Even the Gita acknowledges that there is something to this. Like our body needs activity to stay healthy, our life needs action for us to gain experience and face the challenges we chose to sign up for in this lifetime. A difference, though, lies in what we are taking action for. Karma yoga suggests that we do things for the good of all. Many religions ask that we do things for God. Missing in the West is the idea that God is in all of us. This is a concept that I am seeking to experience further through my own spiritual practices, with our yoga group, and through meaningful connections to other people and to nature. If we are taking action for the universal good (God) this includes doing things for others as well as doing things for ourselves. It’s not an individual offering their time and energy to the common good while disregarding their own needs, nor is it someone taking care of themselves at the expense of others. I am grateful to have an affinity for this idea and way of living.

I am of the belief that we can also find guidance in this earthly experience by following our joy. This can lead us to take action in ways that please and support ourselves while also benefiting others. My monthly trips out to California are charged with lessons on yoga, food, lifestyle, spirituality, and community that have permeated every single day of my life between visits. I feel as though they are helping me to experience a balance of teaching and learning on a regular basis. It allows me to let go of the idea that I may need to go home and do something for someone else and focus more on learning for the joy of it and common good without being attached to the “fruit” of an action or the outcome. Instead, as the Gita encourages, I feel more equipped to lead by doing. I recognize the benefits that come from being around people for learning and for sharing. I am seeing firsthand how getting away from everyday life (with trips or meditation) help us recharge and experience peace. Then, from this place, our greatest purpose may be to go back to where the people are. To be a lighthouse with even a glimmer of peace and balance that others can see and inspire all of us not to withdraw from our action but to find peace in our actions. Being amidst our earthly actions is where we will feel the most rewarded. After all, as the Gita says, “Death means the attainment of heaven. Victory means the enjoyment of the earth.” I am grateful to be here

March Yosemite Community Yoga Schedule

All classes are from 6-7:15pm at the El Portal School. Appropriate for all levels of yoga experience. Donation-based classes benefit the Balanced Rock scholarship fund and training for our yoga teachers.

Monday, March 5: Teaching holiday, no class

Wednesday, March 7: 6:00-8:00 pm: Shannon Soldano, Guest Teacher
Special Event: Spring Streaming, Getting in the Flow with Yoga and Food
RSVP appreciated to jp@blueoakom.com for advance food preparation. Sugg donation $15

Monday, March 12: Teaching holiday, no class
Wednesday, March 14: Jon-Paul Salonen

Monday, March 19: Eliza Kerr
Wednesday, March 21: Cintia Ramaciotti

Monday, March 26: Kate McHugh
Wednesday, March 28: Arin Trook

Special Yoga Event at Yosemite Community Yoga!

Spring Streaming:
Getting in the Flow with Yoga and Foods

with Shannon Sodano, Special Guest Teacher at El Portal Community Yoga

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
6pm – 8pm
El Portal Elementary Multipurpose Room
RSVP not required, but appreciated for food preparation.
RSVP to jp@blueoakom.com

This all-levels yoga class will be followed by a discussion on cleansing with food and simple exercises. During the discussion a hearty soup will be offered to participants—yummy food that is as easy and good for the busy householder as the endurance athlete.

Suggested donation: $15/person.

Shannon comes to us from New York City where she combines the overlapping health principles of nutrition, fitness and self care. Shannon’s background as an athlete taught her what foods and training worked best for optimal performance. She also learned how taxing too much work and not enough rest could be on the body. After receiving NYU’s first All-American honors in Cross Country running, she faced an injury that stopped her in her tracks. She explored solutions from western doctors, alternative medicine and the healing and strengthening effects of yoga. Her insight can help enhance your performance, reduce your risk of injury, and help you make the most of the coming Sierra Summer!

Shannon has a degree in Nutrition from New York University and is an affiliate of Exuberant Animal. She is YogaFit certified and is in process of completing her 200-hour Balanced Rock Yoga Alliance-certified Wild Yoga Teacher Training credential.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras As A Treasure Map, by Ben Lehman

This blog is written by Ben Lehman, participant in Balanced Rock's 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.

We experience the world though the filter of our own perceptions, and as a participant in the WildYoga training I am no exception. As someone enamored with exploring new territories and endlessly curious about what may lie around the proverbial river bend, introduction to the Yoga Sutras struck me as an adventure involving texts as ancient, mysterious, and influential as anything Indiana Jones would have braved a pit of snakes to uncover. Approaching my world as if on a perpetual adventure gave these succinct but meaning-rich verses an air of exotic excitement and as each syllable of Sanskrit resonated from my lips –samskara, purusha, citta, Samadhi, samyama, santosa- the sense of going on a treasure hunt steadily built.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.” – William Blake

Patanjali (and the unnamed Yogis, yogic scholars, and practitioners who came before him) may have felt, as I can imagine, that nothing could be a greater joy/gift/state of existence than to perceive or somehow gain awareness of everything, or as Alan Watts puts it, the whole blinkin’ cosmos. The shrewd yogic understanding is that each of us, underneath our superficial physical and mental layers, actually consist of or are in a sense apertures through which the entire cosmos views itself. From this philosophical point of view, yoga represents a means by which people can “cleanse the doors of perception,” or in other words “clean out the static from the attic” and come closer to perceiving things are they really are/reality as it really is... thus achieving the greatest treasure available to consciousness (as opposed to a treasure available merely to one’s physical existence/body, since the understanding is that our physical manifestation is simply a crude shell of matter and insignificant in comparison with our true self as part of universal consciousness, purusha. The sutras are Patanjali’s written distillation of a great oral tradition that outlines both the basic philosophy of the functioning of the mind as well as the disciplines and the practices which can result in control of the mind and subsequently awareness of the true self, ultimate bliss/peace/oneness with the universe. So, if we imagine the tenets of philosophical belief as landmarks in a mental geography and the attendant practices and disciplines as a sort of dotted line along which those seeking the ultimate treasure may proceed towards enlightening self-knowledge, we arrive at an image not unlike a treasure map. For each yogi(ni) the “X” may be found at a different spot depending on his/her beginning point and the degree to which the practices, disciplines, and underlying philosophies are adhered to in each individual’s life.

Although the author has done a great service in presenting so much material in so short a document, the real work is that of the yogis who encounter its teachings. As a mapmaker of old may have put countless hours into the craft, placing each town and trade route and dangerous region down accurately on the parchment, the real work remains to be done by those who seek the treasure.
I feel grateful and privileged to be on that path.

Why I Want To Teach Yoga, by Ben Lehman

This post is from Ben Lehman, a participant in Balanced Rock’s 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.


An adult black bear ambles among the waving grasses of a meadow, followed closely by two little brown cubs. All three are covered in thick fur that glows golden in the sunlight bathing the meadow. The mother bear approaches a fallen snag near a shallow pond with hungry interest. The log, devoid of bark and whitish from years of sun and snow, hides insects and other life– nourishment for a mother and her little ones. Moments later her huge paws are clawing into the brittle dead wood, shoveling aside decomposing bits, her wet nose sniffing into new passages, locating the treats she came for. The cubs observe, play, and tumble about their mother, content in the moment with all they need. They sniff, nibble, claw, sniff, nibble, and eventually move on. They are one with their environment, free from interpretation or discontent.

The vignette above is a scene I witnessed earlier this year and it’s one that brought me great peace and joy, for it represents a balance and a harmony that I feel the majority of people living in the world have difficulty relating to. In the scene, all is in its proper place. The sun shines down warm from above while water wets the roots and gives life to the grasses and for a time, the tree. The energy of the plants -both living and dead- moves up into the bodies of the insects, worms, rodents, etc. This energy in turn becomes the bodies of the bears and other complex creatures, man included. All is encompassed by a continuous motion of changing forms and properties of temperature, texture, color, and direction. To view the world this way is to view ourselves more clearly for what we are: Not separate entities subject to success and failure, happiness and sorrow at the whims of our external circumstances – but temporary manifestations of a much larger, grander phenomenon in which each specific part is most certainly “hitched to everything else in the universe,” as John Muir famously wrote. Yoga’s ultimate goal, as I have learned to understand it, is nothing less than self-realization i.e. the realization and recognition of our true nature. That is to say the practice of yoga can bring us closer to knowing ourselves as conscious facets of the whole entire cosmos. With this enlightened understanding the weight of everyday troubles seems trifling and we abide in the peace of our glorious existence. Though discomfort is an unavoidable part of our physical existence, we need not always suffer as a result, and yoga aids greatly in developing the equanimity to deal with setbacks and challenges physical and otherwise. The individual mind’s quest for control and answers to its questions is quieted and we can simply BE…like the bears in the story.

I desire to teach yoga because the practice yields so many benefits often lacking in the modern way of life: Peace of mind, fitness and flexibility of the physical body, discipline and control of thought processes and attention, and self-knowledge. To help guide others down a path to such noble world-improving qualities is a privilege I hope to share.

Knock Your Socks off at Women of Color Retreat

Annual Women of Color Backpack Trip
August 10-14, 2011
Summer 2012 dates to be announced



The 2011 participants knocked my socks off, and they went straight into the washing machine. We had one professional videographer and photographer who is also the mother of the 2 cutest twins known to man, an esteemed aerialist, a bald registered nurse on hiatus from her life in Portland, OR with her quadriplegic husband, and a tough, practical sister who has become a mother by taking charge of her two young nephews when her brother and the baby momma couldn’t do it. Plus, there were two instructors with enigmatic pasts…

The Women of Color trip for 2011 was incredibly fun and engaging. The conversations were often so compelling that I had to remind myself that we were on a backpacking trip. We often discussed how things run back in the default world, and offered reinterpretations of how things could be. I felt honored to be among these WOCs.
As usual, we all worked together to prepare the meals and perform other camp duties. What was funny was that 3 of the participants were mothers, and the fourth was self-described as having OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). So, trust me, things got done. We joked that the Balanced Rock screening process should be tighter, so that all BRF trips could run so smoothly!

Our destination was Ostrander Lake in Yosemite National Park. We spent one night in the Bridalveil Creek campground, which is near our trailhead. It was a surprise that there was a lightning-started fire nearby, which was controlled, but allowed to burn. That’s how they do things these days in YNP, after years of snuffing out all fires. It was smoky on the road, and we constantly debated the wisdom of sticking to our itinerary in the days leading up to the trip. We stuck to it, and it turned out alright. We did end up wearing bandannas like rogue desparados, but that was just for one day.

We took 2 days to get to Ostrander Lake, and found a deluxe campsite along the way to set up shop for the night. There was a lot of laughter and camaraderie along the way, and we followed the fine balance between moving juxtaposed with the need to not go too fast for any one participant.

Once the WOCs got to the lake, it was refreshing to dip in, as well as a plentiful source of water to sustain us. There is a busy campground at the lake, but we opted for a more primitive spot where we could be more secluded. We were lucky enough to encounter the Ostrander Ski Hut occupied by NPS rangers on a break. We introduced ourselves and got a tour of the facility. It is such a great place to ski to during the winter months.

There was an optional day hike to Horseman’s Ridge, overlooking Hart Lakes. On the hike, half of us took in incredible views, and figured our way off trail. We climbed in a giant crack in a huge boulder and saw a small frog, about one inch in diameter. A hummingbird flitted by Emily, who took it as an auspicious sign from a guardian friend.

There were so many shining moments. Two of my personal additions to the equipment list are something frivolous, but lightweight, and something meaningful that also weighs almost nothing. My frivolous object was biodegradable glitter, which we wore almost every day. Let me tell you, it takes a very secure woman to sport that kind of bling. On this trip, there was nothing but. Everyone had a knack for supporting each other, and for taking personal chances. In short, it was another typical Women of Color trip.

Did I mention that I’m still honored & excited to lead these trips? This was my sixth! Look for a fundraiser for this trip slated for May of 2012. We need your support to make this trip accessible to as many WOCs as possible! We are still a minority in the outdoor world, and it doesn’t help that many need to start from scratch in terms of buying the necessary personal equipment. Thank you, thank you, thank you!