Earth Yoga hosts grand opening in Felton today - San Jose Mercury News

FELTON - At 26, Amanda Hamilton has turned her dream of opening a yoga studio into reality.

She will host grand opening for Earth Yoga, at 6245A Highway 9, from 5-7 p.m. today.

She is borrowing the business model of a studio in Santa Monica where she took classes, asking people to donate $10 to $15 per class but opening her doors to anyone regardless of what they give.

"I feel strongly that this is what the universe is calling me to do," she said. "The need for a safe space to gather and re-center is greater now especially due to the hard economic times that we are in."

Hamilton's dream has brought her full circle back to Santa Cruz County.

Originally from North Monterey County, she attended UC Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago. After graduating with a degree in history, she moved back to California.

She found yoga and took her first teacher training in the Vinyasa Flow style in Monterey. Next she moved to the Los Angeles area where she taught yoga.

In Santa Monica, she discovered kirtan, the chanting practice that led her to participate in a teacher training at Bhakti Yoga Shala, a donation-based yoga studio led by a husband and wife, Govindas and Radha.

That training, she said, taught her to trust herself.

When she visited a friend in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she discovered the empty shop in downtown Felton next to Chopstix restaurant.

It's small,

with room for at most a dozen yoga mats, but with "the beautiful redwood tree and the totem of a bear" outside, she felt it was the right place.

"The space found me," she said. "I called my teacher and asked 'Am I ready?' He asked, 'Do you think you are ready?'"

Her answer was yes.

After crunching the numbers, she signed a two-year lease and called on friends and family members to help make over what used to be Scoob's DVD. They redid the floor, removed lots of staples and painted the walls cream.

"It's nice and intimate," said Hamilton, who dressed up the ceiling with colorful fabric. "Some people are intimidated by larger places."

There are five instructors, some "well-seasoned" and others "fresh out of training," she said.

"I loved what she was doing this with the donation-based thing," said Roxy, an instructor who trained with Mark Stephens last year and saw Hamilton's ad on Craigslist.

Down the street is a long-established yoga practice, the Center for Healing, which offers classes at drop-in fees of $12 to $14, with discounts for students and senior citizens.

"We welcome any new business in town," said Claire Campbell, who owns Outback Trading Company on Highway 9 and practices yoga at home when she's not exercising her horse. "I wish her a lot of luck."

IF YOU GO

Grand opening of Earth Yoga

WHERE: 6245 A Highway 9 Felton CA, 95018

WHEN: Introductory classes 5-7 p.m. today; vegetarian food at 7 p.m. and live kirtan music at 8 p.m.

COST: Free

INFORMATION: www.earth-yoga.net or 206-5856

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Yoga performance enthralls audience at CWG opening ceremony - Economic Times

3 Oct, 2010, 10.15PM IST,PTI
NEW DELHI: With body, mind and soul in unison, over 800 performers gave a stunning performance of forming the shape of a sun using most difficult 'asans' (postures) at the .

In a seven-and-a-half minute performance, 816 Yoga experts did a 'Suryanmaskar', a series of yoga postures done in salutation to the sun.

Dramatically changing the choreography, the performers began to spiral to depict 'kundalini' or the coiled energy, an instinctive force that lies at the base of the spine.

This coiled energy gave rise to the gigantic installation of a person in the 'Padma Asana' -- the lotus pose.

From within this rose the seven chakras, the seven energy points of the human body thus creating the final picture.

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Commonwealth Games opening marked by yoga, rock - CBC.ca

Images are projected onto a kind of airship during the opening ceremony for the 19th Commonwealth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. (Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press)The Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, launched Sunday in grand style with elements that moved from ancient to modern-day.

An enthusiastic crowd of 60,000 in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi greeted hundreds of performers who opened the ceremonies with Tibetan horns, one of the oldest musical trumpets in the world with origins dating back to 1500 B.C.

Audience members included Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Indian President Pratiba Devisingh Patil and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee.

The event was livestreamed on CBC Sports.ca.

As dozens and dozens of horns blared, a massive helium airship began to grow and float up and the audience counted down from 10 to one, at which point the rim of the stadium erupted in torch-like fireworks.

Then hundreds of drummers from all over India hit their instruments as giant puppets danced and floated above them.

The drummers included a seven-year-old musical prodigy pounding on his drums by hand. The driving beat went on for more than 10 minutes as yellow and orange lights pulsed to it.

Singer Hariharan, who pioneered the fusion of traditional Indian music with modern stylings, performed Swagatam as schoolchildren, wearing red, white or green formed the flag of India.

The children painted a white cloth above their heads, which became Mehndi hands. Mehndi, sometimes referred to as henna tattooing, is a traditional ornate hand-painted decoration that is temporary.

As music played on, the athlete delegations walked into the stadium, first led by Australia, which hosted the last Games in 2006.Performers entertain a crowd of 60,000 with a classical Indian dance at the opening of the Delhi Games. (Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press)

More than 100 people from the Canadian delegation of 400 were led in by flag-bearer Ken Pereira, whose family hails from India. The Torontonian is a field hockey player.

After the athletes parade and official opening remarks, a cascade of dancers in classical Indian dance costumes infiltrated the grounds and performed "The Tree of Knowledge" segment, featuring India's guru shishya tradition with folk dancers and musicians.

That was followed by performers in gold lamé body suits doing yoga moves, eventually grouping around a luminous, electrical image of Buddha with coloured discs going from tailbone to its head to represent the different chakras.

In contrast to the tranquility of the yoga piece, the next section was a busy showcase of how the majority of Indians live — with a cavalcade of village-like scenes in which people carried fruit on their heads, rode bikes, danced in circles and carried pots or bricks around.

The grand finale included a rock 'n' roll piece by AR Rahman, who captured two Oscars for his compositions for the hit film Slumdog Millionaire. Rahman sang Let's Go,a piece that recalled a kind of stadium rock with modern and traditional dancers nodding to the beat.

He finished with his rousing Slumdog tune, Jai Ho. Rahman ended the song with the proclamation: "Let's go India!"

Seventy-one countries fielding about 7,000 athletes are participating in the Delhi Games, which end on Oct. 14.Two of hundreds of drummers perform in the early part of the show. (Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press)

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