Some thought it could never be done. Others questioned what we would teach and why? But despite the non-believers, YogaSlackers went forth and delivered the first ever official teacher training, probably one of the most vigorous and diversified out there, with great success. This marked the first time that all of the original YogaSlackers from across the country were in attendance to share their stories, skills and craziness in the same place and same time and witness the transformation of the next generation of slackers into jedi ninja warriors of balance, acro and adventure skills. And get ready… as the next generation of YS teachers are fierce, super fierce!
The 10 day training offered students a vigorous schedule of yoga, slacklining, daily conditioning (Harder, Faster, Stronger anyone?), advanced acrobatics drills and partner work. With our friend Stacey holding it down in the kitchen and offering super nutritious meals and snacks we were all able to go strong through the 15 hr days of training, conditioning and practice teaching, oh yeah, and doing a 7 hour adventure race including mountain biking, trekking and rappelling through a really fun course taking us to Mexico and back. The adventure race experience was offered about half way through (when most trainings probably would have offered a rest day) and everyone rocked it- perhaps in part due to the 40 minutes of hardcore YogaSlackers unique conditioning circuits every day indoors and on the slacklines.
One of the greatest parts of the location at Liberty Advance (a super awesome and creative retreat center located in the desert just an hour outside of San Diego) was the freedom to build and develop the ultimate slackline experience.
We set up over 15 locations for daily practice slacklining and practice teaching as well as a rodeo line - a super slack slackline that dips down in the middle creating a ton of swing back and forth, a 60 ft long line, 170 ft super long line and probably everyone’s favorite- the water line set up across the Liberty Advance pool (see video below).
Through daily practice on these various lines the YogaSlackers teachers developed some of the most well rounded slackline skills and abilities of anyone we know. With advanced acrobatic conditioning drills, calibrations and flows in the afternoon the teachers worked with each other to push their abilities in basing, flying and communication as they developed muscles unique to balance and co-ordination so as to also parallel the work done on the line.
There was also an arts & crafts portion of the training composed of making outfits out of a slackline keeping in mind the YogaSlackers motto "it's not a thong" as a key element to the design process.
Thankfully the hot tub (with optional late night sing alongs) eased tired muscles, as did the spontaneous dance parties, late night movie sessions with “slacker stack” cuddling as everyone piled on the floor and couches under whatever yoga props we could find. Some of us displayed true slacker form and continued to sleep on the floor all through the night until the next morning and it’s good to know that the essential slacker skill of floor crashing resonates well with the group.
As I look back on the training it is definitely with a bit of sadness that it is all over. Watching these students transform into super strong ambassadors of slack I realize how privileged YogaSlackers is to have these 23 rock stars going back into the “real” world to share the practice along side us. We started teaching yoga on the slackline simply because we found it super fun (and super addictive)…I don’t think any of us imagined it would come to this and this teacher training surpassed our wildest dreams. The experience of meeting and working with everyone is worth more than words and the memories will stay strong for generations to come. We wish them all well and look forward to spreading the slackage to new heights in the upcoming months and years.
May you go forth and prosper in the name of slack!
-Adi & and the YS crew: Jason, Sam, Chelsey, Dan, Paige, Paul
And BIG THANKS to our amazing sponsors for supplying product (especially caffeinated and high energy product!) to keep the students and teachers going through the 10 days…big ups to:
Despite the sirens from the approaching emergency vehicles, the big rental truck in my blind spot was determined not to let us in his lane as we entered the merge to get off the exit and sit in even more traffic trying to get to Cape Cod MA on a Saturday (a drive that should take about an hour any other day and took us 4 hrs due to beach traffic). Having had my turn signal on for several minutes and the emergency vehicle bearing down on us, the scary truck driver sped up ever time there was an inch of space so as to prevent our very packed car of five people from making any headway.
"I think we should speed up" Sam said as the truck persisted in denying us access.
"Hey!" the truck driver shouted at us, "Do you have something to say to me?"
"Ummmm?" I responded to the rest of the car
"I flipped him the bird" Sam commented casually.
"Sam!" we all shouted (while also laughing) realizing that a guy in a rental truck had nothing to lose by hitting our car and he was now even more agitated.
"Hey! you gotta problem man?!" The driver shouted again at Sam.
"Yeah. You should be nicer" Sam hung out the window and screamed out as I looked for another way to escape from the scary truck, quickly merging in the other direction and zipping around to put several cars between us.
Truth was we were all a bit agitated after being in a car for 3 hours already trying to get to the Naukabout Music Festival where our friend's Barefoot Truth
were performing and we were to make our musical debut on stage with them slacklining and doing Acro during a song. To add to the fatigue factor, Sam, Jason and Chelsey had arrived that morning from Salt Lake on the red eye and despite sleeping a bit in the car, they were still quite zombie like bringing a bit of Adventure Race no sleep style to the music festival scene.
At this point it was 3pm and we were still 20 miles away with a stream of red lights in front of us. Barefoot Truth was scheduled to go on stage at 4pm. The outcome did not look good for the YogaSlackers, especially with a surly rental truck driver behind us determined to set Sam straight on what "nice" means on the East Coast.
Our fearless navigator and Boston YogaSlacker Reg, navigated us through traffic while also feeding us amazing food that he packed (bonus points for any navigator that ever brings food for us on a road trip- you will automatically become a YogaSlackers team member, no questions asked). Reg has a strong resemblance to Harry Potter in appearance and in magical powers and we think he must of cast some secret spells to actually get us there in time and navigate google maps on the iPhone and after another hour of traffic it was 3:57pm and we were finally making our way off the highway with just 3 miles left to the fair grounds.
"Where you at now?" Garret, our friend (and the very talented harmonica player in the band) kept checking in each minute trying to figure out how to get us back stage when he was supposed to be on stage with the band.
"Just 3 more miles...stall the band!" we begged, hoping we would have time to still rig the set up before they played.
"We have to go on at 4 but we'll make the first song really long and I'm not playing in it so try to get here in the next 7 minutes so I can get you in." Garret remained confident that we could pull it off.
We skidded around a turn and sped up the back entrance to the fair grounds as Garret was waving us forward towards the stage. We parked the car as he tossed us wristbands and then bolted to get on stage with the band for the next song- in a matter of seconds we could hear his harmonica blaring from the stage about 30 ft away. We had actually made it....now to figure out how to slackline across the stage.
Sam and Jason ran to the stage to check it out. Sure enough there were two posts on stage right and left, allowing us to set up a line across the front of the stage surrounded on either side by speakers, microphones, musical instruments and a 5 foot drop if we fell off towards the crowd. It could work- we just couldn't fall.
After they set up the line really high making sure it would clear all of the (rather costly) obstacles, we gathered on the side of the stage and worked on a strategy. Garret informed us that they wanted us to perform to "All Good Reasons" one of our favorite songs, and we got super psyched and formed a plan for our onstage debut.
Garret introduced us as we took our positions on the sides of the stage. As the song started Jason slacklined onto the stage from stage left doing a warrior one pose on the line as the crowd went crazy.
Chelsey followed, walking in on the line from stage right taking hand to big toe pose welcomed with more cheering and applause as she set up for an Acro performance in front of the line with Jason.
Sam walked in on the line from the left taking his famous mayurasana (peacock pose) in the center of the line facing the crowd as they roared with excitement and applauded.
Pressing from mayurasana back up to standing on the line, Sam walked off and tagged me in as I took a backbend over the line facing the crowd, realizing just how many people were out there (they looked even cooler upside down) and then spinning around and coming up to sit on the line- trying to find balance while overcoming the fear of knocking over expensive stereo equipment. Standing up from sitting, the line felt especially wobbly and I felt the energy from the crowd supporting me as I walked out into the center of the stage in front of easily one of the largest audiences I have ever slacklined in front of (Jason estimates that the crowd was 20,000...Sam, Chels and I estimate that it was more like 1,000 people).
Any nervousness left my body as I felt the support from the band on one side and the amazing applause and cheering from the crowd on the other. Lowering down to pigeon, I heard Garrett rocking out on the harmonica behind me as I flipped into a shoulder stand on the line seeing Chelsey flipping through the air on Jason's feet in front of me- it all felt a bit dreamlike- like a really amazing dream to really great music.
As the song sadly came to an end we all gathered on the stage with the band and gave a wave to the excited crowd. We made our way off the stage and then set up slacklines in the crowd by the vendors allowing people to give it a try while Barefoot Truth kept playing in the background followed by a bunch of other great sets including Bela Fleck. Hanging out with Garret, Will, Jay, Andy and Wayno, we enjoyed catching up with the band and helping them work on forearm stands in the grass along with some AcroYoga poses while making plans to manifest a future tour together including collaborative projects at places like Wanderlust, Bonnaroo and Coachella all while touring in a tour bus with a hot tub of course.
All in all, what started with 4 hours of gridlock New England traffic with scary aggressive drivers ended with an amazing music festival with great friends and people, including our favorite band who we know will be super big one day and we will reminisce about the time we arrived just in time to slackline across the stage with them.
We love what we do, especially when it involves our amazing friends. Big thanks to Barefoot Truth, especially Garrett for lining everything up and Reg for getting us there! check out their latest album Threads here: www.barefoottruth.com
The OR (Outdoor Retailer) show is a little bit of outdoor madness that descends upon Salt Lake City twice a year. As usual the Yogaslackers are here in force working with the Prana Rejuvenation room (yoga classes and relaxation space), connecting with sponsors and friends, and anything else that seems necessary. Here are a few details and pictures from some of a busy day...
Start out early to get there in time to teach a yoga class before the show opens for exhibitors that are stuck in their booths all day.
AcroYoga demonstation at the Inov-8 booth (showcasing the evoskin "shoes")
Sam take a call on his cell phone
more AcroYoga - this time on a Yakima rack
Discover that hand to hand scorpion pose works (and looks cool)
(ok, that was yesterday, but I like the photo)
and more AcroYoga - this time flying lots of people at the Prana Booth
I just woke up from a 2 hour nap and am at first very confused as to where I am. “Am I still dreaming, when is someone going to pinch me?” I realize that even if I am dreaming, it is not going to end anytime soon.
Jason and I have been taking 2 hour driving shifts since Reno. We left there this morning after an amazing weekend at the Wanderlust Yoga/Music Festival in Squaw Valley, CA. We are driving Beaver's Burning Man Bliss Bike and the left over Prana goods to the Outdoor Retailer show where Sam and the rest of the Prana crew our awaiting our arrival.
As the YogaSlackers we are used to having our many passions collide together. One weekend we will be blissed out teaching an amazing workshop or retreat, and the next weekend we are suffering, sweating and breathing hard riding up a steep loose fire road with no end in sight at 4 am in the morning. When people ask us who we are and what we do, it is the hardest question. This question is usually answered after a long pause and a big inhale.
However, this weekend all of what we do came to a head, so luckily we were able to show and tell people what we are all about
Beaver gives Chris a ride on the burning man bike
First off, Sam, Tom, Daniel, Jason and I showed up to the Wanderlust Festival after an 18 hour drive from Wyoming where we just got off our Annual Too Much Fun Expedition (click here for more info). Adi and Paige met us there- it was like a mini YogaSlackers Reunion! For three days we helped set up the village, played, connected, took classes, and taught to anyone who wanted to learn the art of doing yoga on a slackline. Then on Saturday morning, while Paige, Adi and Tom held down the YogaSlackers camp- Jason, Daniel, Sam and I started a 24 hour Adventure race in Lake Tahoe. Jason, Daniel and myself made up one team, and Sam joined our good buddy Glenn on another team. After finishing the race at 7:30 the next morning and taking 2nd place, we rushed back to the festival to entertain and hang out on the slacklines. At 5 pm, Sam took off on a plane with Beaver to SLC, while Tom, Daniel and Jason worked until midnight packing up the Prana booth. I had my best intentions set on dancing it up to Beats Antique with Adi- however, I made a mistake by sitting down... and by the time I got back up again, it was 6:30 am the next day.
In addition to being the first time we have ever competed in an adventure race in the middle of an event, it was also the first time most of us were all together in the same exact spot! (we were missing Dan and Paul!!)
None of this could have happened without our loving and supportive Slacker Family and Prana- our sponsor who are also more like family.
Many, many thanks to those who reminded us to eat and drink the day before and after the race.
Thank you to Tom, Adi and Paige for representing the YogaSlackers Camp and spreading the love.
Thank you to Prana and Beaver for being supportive and letting us set up tents in your back yard, take showers and eat your food.
Thank you to DK and Anusara for inviting us to this amazing festival that fuses together so many awesome and vibrant communities.
A very tired Jason and Daniel on the cable car
Chelsey looks a bit fresher than Jason
A slack of Yogaslackers
The non-stop fun and craziness doesn't stop there- we are enroute to the Outdoor Retailer show, where we will be teaching yoga and running the Prana Rejuvenation room, other wise known as an amazing escape and sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of the show. From there, Sam, Jason and I will meet Adi in Boston where we will be performing at a Barefoot Truth Concert, and then teaching a week long YogaSlackers Summer Camp Retreat at Kripalu. If we don't see you in our near travels- we hope you are having fun and slacking often.
Check our Adelaide's bog for more info on Wanderlust here
This past weekend, team YogaSlackers hosted END-SPAR: Extreme North Dakota - Spring Primer Adventure Race. This 6 - hour adventure race was the newest in a series of "Extreme North Dakota" races, and designed to help grow the community and introduce new teams to the sport, as well as give athletes the confidence needed to return for the 12 hour END-AR race in September and vie for the cash prizes. 18 teams braved the cold sorry weather for a course that included slacklining over a river, mucking through a swamp, an underwater checkpoint, two rogaines (orienteering sections) and several mystery challenges.
There were some great athletes, and it was amazing for us to see so much action in the Great Plains region. More videos coming soon!
Hey - just found this article about a workshop yesterday. Apparently Jenny (the writer) was there in the background watching. We never even knew. She did a nice write up - and here it is:
YogaSlackers, along with local North Dakota Young Entrepreneurs Group will host a winter Triathlon - The IceMan. If you are in the northern MidWest come out and race! We'd love to have you. Team Relay or Solo "Snowman" competitors welcome. Check out what we have in store for you here!
It was an 85 degree day in the middle of October when Colorado weather shined on us for the first ever combined Slackline/AcroYoga workshop in Denver, hosted by YogaSlacker Sam with support from AcroYoga teacher Jen Leisch. A longtime vision of Sams has been to combine slacklining, yoga, and AcroYoga into one experience, in order to fully explore the idea of body awareness and ones own internal energy. After some late night planning sessions as well as a full run-through in the park, Slacro Workshops were ready to be presented to the masses. The day was split into two: a morning session focused on kneeling, sitting, and standing, while the afternoon was arm balances, inversions, and backbends. With over a dozen students in attendance for each part and three slacklines set up, the park became Slacker haven for the day.
Students first experienced some asana to warm their bodies up, mimicking poses that train for or can be done on a line. From here, each element was supported by conditioning, AcroYoga partner and trio poses, and then finally, taken to the slackline, where Sam explained, demo-ed, and patiently oversaw the students. Afterwards, all enjoyed a demo of some slackline vinyasa by Sam, giving everyone something to work on. All in all, a successful day in the Slacro training labs, and the first time this infused workshop style has been presented! Stay tuned for the next installment of workshops coming to your neck of the woods!
Kirpulu was a great experience we indoctrinated 11 new slackers into our world. YogaSlacker’s Summer Camp for the YAH (Young @ Heart) Started at 9am after an amazing Breakfast. A 45 min vinyasa practice with Jason Magness, lead the class through lots of personal growth in Flexibility, Strength and balance. Then Adi Carter took over for the next 45 min for a focus on the CORE, every movement should originate from the center. Break for Lunch then it was Slacklining, Acrobatic conditioning, therapeutic flying tie massage or full on AcroYoga. Optional Activities Rock Climbing(not really optional we just tell you that), Trail Running, Thi Massage, hoola hooping and more. Some of the highlights were: • 170 ft rock climb in the Gunks with amazing vistas • A 4 mile trail run complete with Mud, stream jumping, Yoga inspired inversions, and avoiding porches on the windy roads leading to and from the trailhead • Smiles lots and lots of smiles • First time climbers overcoming fears • The steady progression of wobbly legged slackliners to controlled still standers • Guy’s Chauawa sounds • Amazing weather • The Food • Everyone’s willingness to push their limits Jason, Chelsey Adi and Sam thank everyone for trusting us and playing with us. We look forward to our next Fall Camp maybe.
Sam's short and sweet report of the last week at Red Rocks Rendevous.... Started with a 3am wake up call after 3 days on the road. 3 mile run, 8 pitches of "unimpeachable groping 5.10" and epic rap through 6 parties on the same route, 5 people hanging 600ft in the air off 2 bolts. Then a 3 mile run back to the car to find out we were 40min early for the mandatory meeting.
2 hours later Chelsey and the Rest of the YS crew were first on stage to represent, soon we were doing acro yoga on stage for the group Athlete picture.
During the meeting we found out that trees were not an option for setting up the lines for our clinic so at 8pm it was off to Lowes to see what we could improvise. bending a saw horse on the first theory we decided to construct our own anchor. A 2x6 cross 3ft high. the 20ft boards were on sale so we found ourselves sawing 3'3" chunks of board using the shopping cart corral as our saw horses.
10:30pm we have been awake for 19+ hours and we are sitting in the taco bell parking lot finishing our first meal of the day and waiting for the drill to charge so we could build our first ever prototype anchor.
It worked we tested out the anchor in the taco bell parking lot. Were in bed at 1am with the alarm set for 5am.
By 7am we had fabricated 6 anchors pounded 6 20 inch steaks into the ground creating 3 working slacklines.
We taught over 75 people the basics of slacking, including 25 in rain, snow, hail and 40mph winds.
We finished up the weekend by climbing all day Monday at moderate mecca, then driving 500miles to start the next adventure.
Chelsey here following up: Sam is now in Grass Valley getting the Peace Car all fixed up, the last we heard the transplant was going smoothly and he should be here in time for our 8 hour adventure race on Saturday. In the mean time, Jason and I are running around trying to pack everything that we will need for the next 6 months... from packrafts- to climbing gear- to handstand blocks.... whoo!!
The transitions from one thing to the next are so swift sometimes that it is hard to remember where I was just the day before. And now we are off again. Or at least a few of us are.
Within the last two weeks we've been fighting to survive on the Montana expedition, teaching yoga and acrobatics in Salt Lake at the OR show, high-lining in hotel atrium, learning to pole-dance, teaching and practicing intense yoga and acrobatics, learning hand to hand, long intense conversations and relationships, a huge monsoon which turned the streets of Tucson into a midnight whitewater playground. Then back to Salt Lake teaching two workshops and now off to Canada in the morning.
I need to get more sleep!
Sam will be heading to SantaCruz to meet up with Paige and Adi for Slackline demos and the Slacrofest. We'll keep you updated on it all.
Well, I never intended to do it honestly. Not really. It was 11th anniversary of the founding of Anusara, and Darren Rhodes was holding a special 2 hour class. It had been strongly suggested over the past 6 months that I meet Darren, so after a day of climbing I ended up there with my mat rolled out next to Scott Turpin, on of the most advanced practitioners in Arizona.
The class was amazing, full of good energy and inspiring stories. One such story related a 4-hour practice that Darren had shared with Anusara's founder John Friend. About 3 hours into the practice, John had turned to Darren and said, "108 dropbacks". Darren stood there smiling...thinking it was a joke. A few moments later, he was approached by yogini Amy Ippoliti who said, "Um, I think he is serious."
Moments after finishing the story, Darren invited a student who had never done a dropback to the front of class. He assisted her with a few, and then to her surprise, he had her do one on her own. She was pretty overwhelmed with the feeling of empowerment that came. So much of what keeps of from out potential is fear.
He then told us we would all assist each other into doing a few. Then he turned to Scott.
"108 dropbacks" he said. They he looked at the girl to Scott's right. "108 dropbacks." As walked back by me, he looked at me and with a raised eyebrow said "Anyone else want to join them?"
His eyes were not challenging me to the task, they were inspiring me.
I stepped to the front of my mat, centered myself, brought my hands to the front of my heart and arched up and back. As soon as my hands touched the ground, I smoothly lifted back up.
At the end of June, I (Jason) headed over to a little island in the North Sea for the Terschelling Yoga Festival. Organized by the strong Kundalini communities in Amsterdam, Germany and England, the festival welcomed all sorts of Yoga, including AcroYoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Hatha, traditional Thai Massage, laughing yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and of course Kundalini.
After years of teaching at Yoga Journal conferences and other somewhat swanky venues, this was much more my style! Everyone (teachers, organizers, participants, etc) camped the entire time. There are no cars allowed on the island, so as participants dis-embarked from the ferry, we were all handed a bicycle. The meals were all communal and simple, prepared with love and mantras by the Kundalini cooks of the Golden Temple in Amsterdam.
There was kirtan every night, ecstatic dance, a kiddie blow up pool for bathing....everyone brought their own utensils and plates. There was almost zero waste or impact. All the yoga was done outside or in big tents. Some classes started with a 20 minute ride followed by a 30 minute hike to a huge empty windswept beach.....then there would be a frenzied stripping off of clothes, 15 minutes of cold skinny dipping, and then an hour of yoga. No one seemed to mind being dirty and sandy in the least. My type of people. True yoga if you ask me. The asana was powerful and beautiful, but almost an afterthought with so much power and life in everything.
I taught two Ashtanga classes (one primary series, and one Intermediate series) and also some Acro classes with Dieke and Iris. Of course we set up a slackline as well! We also did a mini- Adventure race training one day, and I managed to get us lost....par for the course I guess.
I certainly want to go back next year.
I was the only one who didn't speak German or Dutch or French.....
This is a little bit outdated, but life has been barely allowing most of us time to breathe....the activities have been so rich and rewarding. Luckily, most of us have yoga as part of our daily lives so the "inhale. exhale" thing is pretty familiar.
In mid June, a group of 8 of us traveled to San Carlos Mexico to play. We shared a nice condo, kite surfed on the beach, ate group meals, practiced yoga in the mornings, and did hours of AcroYoga all afternoon. On the last day we discovered a beautiful estuary where we took pictures until the sun set. I am blessed to have been a part of it all. I think John will agree. Not only was each person there amazing, but John and I were the only boys, and the other six were all strikingly beautiful women.
Such is the life of a Slacker. enjoy the images
On an eco note, we tried to minimize our waste and brought back as much of our own trash as we could, especially the many bags of recycling. If you travel to Mexico, please take your own water containers if you can, or buy a 5 gallon container there and return it before you leave....bottled water is not the answer!
Well, I (Daniel) just got back from an amazing weekend with Lina, Jason, and at the very end, Paul. To cut a long story short, we finished strong in first place at the Desert Winds Heat Wave 1, despite a pretty horrendous navigation error and a police visit in the middle of the night. We were "dirt-bagging it", i.e. sleeping on the ground outside of our cars, and the cops told us we would have to sleep in the car. We emptied out my van and slept in the back (very cramped, none of us could stretch out fully in any direction). In the morning, it was a fun, quick race in a very cool setting. It was set up in the hills to the northeast of Las Vegas, near Lake Las Vegas. The race started out kicking cactus, dodging golfing greens (very interesting trekking), then a straightforward arrow-following mountain biking leg, and a fun paddle on the lake to finish it off. The "senior" YogaSlackers team finished 1st at 5 hours, 5 minutes, and the "junior" YogaSlackers team finished 4th, at 6 hours, 6 minutes.
After the race, we were treated to a hotel room by the Junior YogaSlackers, and we blew a few bucks in the casino. Over the next few days we climbed in Red Rocks, played and slacklined in a few parks. We were sprinkled off our sunday night bed (a park in the eastern part of the Red Rocks basin), and camped out with Paul on the last night. I drove home last night, and I'm off to school today. This race is my first win, ever! Sweet!
Taking yoga off the mat in the name of mindfulness, Slacro Fest is the first official merging of yoga slacklining and AcroYoga in the setting of Williamsburg Brooklyn at McCarren Park (L train to Bedford or L / G to Lorimer stop). Join NYC yoga slackers and local AcroYoga teachers and experience the yoga practice in an entirely new setting while supporting a fundraiser to help raise awareness and support children living in extreme poverty in Cambodia. Check out products from our eco-conscious sponsors and learn about simple ways that you can be more mindful in your daily life. Come as you are and feel free to bring, friends, family members (especially kids) and pets. We will be located in the park near the baseball diamonds by the farmer’s market (towards the corner of Driggs and Lorimer). Please bring some food to share and anything else you like to do outdoors. Rain date on June 7th please check www.adicarter.com for more details The Mindfulness Challenge- Based on the karmic management teachings shared by Geshe Michael Roach in The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life, the Mindfulness Challenge is a project designed to raise awareness and funding for the Cambodian Children's Fund while educating individuals about simple things that they can do to be more present in their daily lives. The goal is to raise $20,000 by the end of 2008 and produce a paper mandala of the responses to the question: what’s one little thing that you do in your daily life that’s mindful, that reminds you to be present, and that you would love for more of your friends to do? more details at (www.adicarter.com/mindfulnesschallenge) An eco-conscious fundraiser with all proceeds going to support The Mindfulness Challenge suggested donation $10 www.yogaslackers.com www.acroyoga.org Sponsors prAna To-go-ware
4 of the 5 yogaslackers will be meeting up there. The first time we have had this many slackers in one spot besides may be the Green Yoga conference last year.
The 10 day training offered students a vigorous schedule of yoga, slacklining, daily conditioning (Harder, Faster, Stronger anyone?), advanced acrobatics drills and partner work. With our friend Stacey holding it down in the kitchen and offering super nutritious meals and snacks we were all able to go strong through the 15 hr days of training, conditioning and practice teaching, oh yeah, and doing a 7 hour adventure race including mountain biking, trekking and rappelling through a really fun course taking us to Mexico and back. The adventure race experience was offered about half way through (when most trainings probably would have offered a rest day) and everyone rocked it- perhaps in part due to the 40 minutes of hardcore YogaSlackers unique conditioning circuits every day indoors and on the slacklines.
