Spring Cleanse reboot event

I am so excited to announce:
"40 in 14"- a spring cleanse tune up for those who love their 40 days of freedom experiences!

The details:
Dates: Sunday, April 17th- Sunday, May 1st.
Times: 6:30-8:30pm
What: We will be doing a cleanse tune up in 14 days that will consist of:
         - Sunday Evening meetings which include a 1 hr yoga practice and 1 hr info share
         - Nutritional education support, including a 1 day juice/smoothie/master cleanse
         - Taking a vacation from Sugar, Alcohol, Caffeine, Tobacco/drugs, processed foods
         - Daily movement commitment
         - Daily meditation commitment, recorded and emailed to you
        - Daily Pranayama practice
         - Life Coaching session with the fabulous Laura Todd of www.lauratoddcoaching.com
         - Two FREE Events: a Sound Bath healing session on March 18th and a Yoga/Coaching session on April 10th

Price- $129

Bring yourself into a natural seasonal Spring Cleanse to keep your healthy lifestyle on track!

Contact me for more information!

See you there!
Elizabeth

TWO UPCOMING SPRING YOGA RETREATS!

WOW!!! Skalitude amazed me at first sight! 

My breath was taken away by the sweeping views, the clever eco-friendly bunkhouse and the fact that its off the grid. That stuff makes my heart sing!

I am so excited and honored to be leading a long weekend of yoga, nature immersion and education about the Gunas (elements of nature as taught by the yogis). You will return home nourished, rested and connected to the world from the inside out.

BOOK NOW! Early bird pricing ends April 14, 2015!

Yoga in the North Cascades!

YOGA IN THE NORTH CASCADES!

 

     October 3-5, 2014

 Fall into Bliss:

Uncover the secrets of Tantra and Ayurvedia for a blissful fall season

Journey into your most vibrant self while practicing yoga and celebrating the beauty of nature! The North Cascades Institute (AKA the ‘American Alps’) is a mere 2 hour drive from Bellingham and will be our home for this weekend of nourishing yoga, hiking, food and spectacular scenery!

CHILD CARE DURING 2 YOGA CLASSES IS AVAILABLE AND INCLUDED!!!!

Your weekend will include: Two nights lodging, organic nourishing meals (dinner Friday through lunch Sunday), four yoga asana classes (Friday PM, Saturday AM and PM, Sunday AM), morning meditation, a guided hike with NCI naturalist, and a surprise workshop involving creative practices to guide you to your happiness. You will return centered, nurtured: this weekend promises playful bliss!!!

Rate: $357 quad, $367 triple, $407 double, $568 single. Some off site camping is available at many nearby campgrounds with yoga only option or yoga-food option available. Please contact for more information.

YOUR FACILITATOR:  Elizabeth Ruff, RYT, LMP, wants to live in a world where Happiness is the priority. As a Bodyworker, Yoga Teacher, and Adventurer she's a veteran retreat leader of Seasonal Wellness Yoga weekends at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, and is the facilitator for the Dynamic & Experiential Anatomy for Yoga Teacher training course at 3Oms Yoga. Elizabeth has taught yoga for 11 years, is a Soma Neuromuscular Integration® Bodyworker, mountain athlete, artist, gardener, reader, mama and lover of life. A former Back Country Guide, her wisdom of our natural world threads into her yoga classes seamlessly. She excels at the pursuit of play and brings the joy of adventure to each of her yoga classes. Elizabeth weaves ancient tantric teachings into seasonal Ayurvedic yoga practices, creating an experience that will burn through stagnations, leave you balanced and ignite your passion for life. Learn more about Elizabeth at www.manabodyworks.com                                                                   

 Space is limited! Call 360-224-2330 or Email Elizabethruff@gmail.com

Yoga in the North Cascades Summer Vitality

YOGA IN THE NORTH CASCADES!

Summer Vitality: Breath, Yoga Asana and Meditation for the Summer Season!

June 6-8th 2014

Journey into your most vibrant self while practicing yoga and celebrating the beauty of nature! BRING THE FAMILY!!! The North Cascades Institute (AKA the ‘American Alps’) is a mere 2 hour drive from Bellingham, WA and will be our home for this weekend of nourishing yoga, hiking, food and spectacular scenery!

CHILD CARE DURING 2 YOGA CLASSES IS AVAILABLE AND INCLUDED!!!!

Your weekend will include: Two nights lodging, organic nourishing meals (dinner Friday through lunch Sunday), four yoga asana classes (Friday PM, Saturday AM and PM, Sunday AM), two morning meditations, a guided hike with NCI naturalist, and a workshop on Ayurvedic (the sister science to yoga) practices for whole-being balance in the summer season. You will return centered, nurtured: this weekend promises playful bliss!!!

Rate: $357 quad, $367 triple, $407 double, $568 single. Some off site camping is available at many nearby campgrounds with yoga only option or yoga-food option available. Please contact for more information.

YOUR FACILITATOR:

Elizabeth Ruff, RYT, LMP, has taught yoga for 11 years, is a Soma Neuromuscular Integration® bodyworker, mama, mountain athlete, artist, gardener, reader and lover of life. Her wisdom of our natural world threads into her yoga classes seamlessly. She excels at the pursuit of play and brings the joy of adventure to each of her yoga classes. Elizabeth weaves ancient tantric teachings into seasonal Ayurvedic yoga practices, creating an experience that will burn through stagnations, leave you balanced and ignite your passion for life. Meet Elizabeth at www.manabodyworks.com.

         Space is limited! Call 360-224-2330 or Email Elizabethruff@gmail.com

FIRE & ICE: A Yogic Exploration of Inner and Outer Climate Change

YOGA IN THE NORTH CASCADES!

A mere 2-hour drive from Bellingham, “The North Cascades Institute seeks to inspire closer relationships with nature through direct experiences in the natural world.” This glorious haven in the “American Alps” will be our backdrop as we practice yoga, hike, and celebrate the FIRE & ICE of our inner and outer worlds.

Your weekend will include: Two nights lodging, organic nourishing meals (dinner Friday through lunch Sunday), four yoga asana classes and two morning meditations, guided hike with NCI naturalist, and interactive guest lecturer with Ms. M Jackson, MS. This weekend promises playful bliss!!!

Rate: $305-$380 depending on lodging choice. Some off site camping is available. Please contact for more information.

YOUR FACILITATORS:

Elizabeth Ruff, RYT, LMP, has taught yoga for 10 years, is a Soma Neuromuscular Integration® bodyworker, mountain athlete, artist, reader and lover of life. Her wisdom of our natural world threads into her yoga classes seamlessly. She excels at the pursuit of play and brings that joy to each of her yoga classes. Elizabeth weaves ancient tantric teachings into seasonal Ayurvedic yoga practices, creating an experience that will burn through attachments and resistance, leave you balanced and ignite your passion for life. Meet Elizabeth at www.manabodyworks.com.

         

M Jackson, MS, is presently at work on her Ph.D., researching the human dimensions of glacier retreat and climate change discourse. She currently works for National Geographic in Alaska and Iceland teaching climate change and glaciology. Previously she was a U.S. Fulbright scholar to Turkey, earned a Masters of Science in climate change and environmental narratives, is the author of the forthcoming book “While Glaciers Slept,” served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, and now runs a small farm in the Cascades of Washington State.   

Space is limited! Call 360-224-2330 or Email Elizabethruff@gmail.com

Yoga on the Go: Try This NOW....

Ok, stop. Whatever you are doing. Reading this, playing on your computer. Sitting in a chair with terrible posture. Stop.

Stand up. Reach up over head. Fill your lungs. Feel gratitude for life as you exhale.

Now bring your palms together in front of your heart. Lace your fingers to one another. Circle your wrists.

Release your hands. Bring them behind you to interlace at your low back. Push your knuckles toward the floor and open your heart.

Inhale.
Exhale.

Now, you may return to your terrible posture. Thank you for loving yourself.

The Five Elements

The Five Elements of Yoga





Photo credit: Sprengben [why not get a friend] / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA





Found in the Chakras

I came across this amazing photo and was reminded of the elements related to our Chakras: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Chakras are energetic discs that spin along our shushumna nadi and link our physical body with the greater cosmos. Artist Alex Grey has depicted this system in his art series the Chamber of Mirrors.



Alex Grey's Psychic Energy painting shows the Chakras along Shushumna Nadi



From Roots to the Heavens

The first Chakra, at the base of our spine, is Muladhara and connected to our roots. It is related to our basic needs (Food, Shelter, Security, Elimination). Our roots connect to the EARTH, and this is where we are able to find the resources we need to ground, to discover our core and get the nourishment for which we can grow from.

Moving up our spine we encounter Svadisthana, our second Chakra. This Chakra is related to the element WATER and is located near our reproductive organs. This energy is used for the reproduction of a human, and also used for creative endeavors. Svadisthanka Chakra also houses our emotions (note: MOTION!) and can flow tears, burst laughter and contain the river of experiences between.

FIRE is the quality of Manipurna, our third Chakra. This is contained in our Solar Plexus, the seat of our sun. The big, barrel chested WWE wrestler walks in a way that thrusts his third Chakra forward, symbolizing power and force. Our fire can also been stifled by forward-rolling posture (think of the 95 year old who is nearing her life's end, her posture will show diminishing fire with the forward rounding), by poor digestion or eating highly processed and non-organic food. Our third Chakra is connected to our passion and our purpose and it connects the heavier elements with the lighter ones of our heart, voice and intuition.

Our heart center is called Anahata Chakra and related to the AIR element. Air is movement and the Anahata Chakra is the source of our ideas and love. This air flows down through our arms to envelop others into a hug, and it flows upward to feed ideas to our throat Chakra. Our heart is filled by the purification of earth and water elements by burning fire, and the smoke and steam that rises up informs our heart as to our passions, creative satisfactions and foundational capacity to support ourselves.

The 5th element along our Chakra journey is ETHER, the element of Visudu Chakra, or our throat Chakra. Our throat serves as a bottleneck and filter for all of the ideas and expansion of our heart as it emerges into the world. Ether is expansive and flows beyond our atmosphere. The old saying, "Be careful what you wish for," is quite literal in regards to our speech. What we speak about is a call to what we are manifesting in our lives.

Agni Chakra (our 3rd eye, between our eyebrows) is the center of our intuition and Sahasrara Chakra (our crown, or 1,000 petal lotus) is our gateway to higher knowing, or god. Sahasrara Chakra is very open in babies, in that soft spot of their head, as spirit is moving into their body over the first year of life.

Stay tuned for some yoga practices to awaken the different Chakra centers, and move forward with curiosity!