Practice 

“If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower, a bird, a child; they are perfect images of the kingdom. For they live from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future.” - Anthony De Mello

My vision is to have this room above packed with students practicing Ashtanga yoga in silence each morning.

To create the experience and emergent energy that occurs when seekers come together with the common goal of moving, breathing and paying attention so God speaks.

To do this in a habitat close to nature and at the edge of a wild forest under the MistaPeo.

I first experienced this depth of practice in Mysore India on my 2nd trip when Sharath moved me to the early batch of students. 

Everyone in the room had an established Ashtanga practice and only needed optional help in a few pre determined postures like Supta Vajrasana. 

The result was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before or have since. 

It was one of the most powerful and memorable experience in my life and what kept me going back year after year. 

But now with life’s circumstance and responsibilities it is unlikely I will return. The time has come to now share what I learned and create the same experience in my home. The edge of Jasper National Park at Folding Mountain Alberta Canada. 

The room I have designed will be run exactly the same way I learned  from Sharath .

Except in my opinion…..even better.  

All the Ashtanga tribe says

“how dare you! How can you make it better than Sharath!” 

Ok better isn't the correct word. Different? Updated?

I’ll let you decide but I think even Sharath might agree.

A More Natural Garden

In the garden the soul and nature marry. When we love cultivation more than excitement we are ready to start a garden. In the garden we cultivate yearning and longing—those strangely un-American feelings—and notice tiny desires. Paying attention to tiny, hardly noticeable feelings is the garden way.

Bly, Robert. Iron John (p. 140). Hachette Books. Kindle Edition.

or 

The word garden in the mythological tradition suggests a walled garden. “Garden” suggests a place marked out, separated from farmyard, grain field, forest, or desert, in order that human beings can cultivate there precious plants or flowers. The gardener brings inside the walls rare roses, unusual grains, shoots from Persian pears, new varieties of apple trees, climbing vines. Natural plants develop by intent when inside the walled garden.

Mysore is a city. 

A city has more technology and less nature.

Technology is not bad and has provided tremendous benefits but it has its place and its dangers. 

Technology has hidden effects on our biology and minds so like any tool must be used with caution and awareness.

Have you heard the garden analogy when it comes to yoga practice?  

It makes total sense to me since our bodies come from nature not from a factory. 

Like plants in garden we don’t need to be constantly attended to once the planting has been done. 

They don’t need the gardener standing over top saying “ok move your leaf slightly to the left, now extend your roots deep into the ground” 

Plants do need the nutrients and protection a walled garden provides. They need 

Sunshine

Soil 

Water

Clean air

When I designed the practice room I ensured I kept pollution out and allowed the nutrients from nature in . 

There is no EMF. As in zero. 

There is no flicker and blue light at the wrong time of day

During practice time there is no unnecessary talking from the teacher and the students. 

There is no music

There are no phones, video crews, cameras and screens. 

Nature in. 

Technology….after. 

How it works

6::00 AM till 10 AM - Mysore Open Practice  

(Clint teaches and assists from 9 to 10 may change to earlier, to learn more about Clint click here) 

Prerequisites - ZOOM Call with Clint either option 1 or option 2.

1. People who don’t have a practice and want to learn or have questions  - For those people who don’t have an Ashtanga practice and have questions or want to learn sign up for free ZOOM talk here.

2. People who do have an Ashtanga Mysore practice and want attend - Anyone who coming to the Mysore Class must complete this Zoom call with me first. [Zoom link]

Pricing 

Visiting Ashtanga practitioners  - Singles $169 a night plus taxes which includes single accommodations in the seacan rooms, practice space, use of  kitchen facilities plus Nature Spa and sauna pass.  Weekly rate $999.00. 

*Please note the Seacan main floor rooms are directly under the yoga shala so are for students only. These room do not have the Organic cotton beds like the second floor rooms which are $259 per night. 

After Practice. Mountains. 

“Life is outside but we stare into a screen” - My remix of HDT quote

[Photos of us chilling in the Sun from Chris}

Since Northaven is located at one of the most popular and beautiful locations on planet earth the last thing you want to do is sit inside after practice. Instead you have the options of:

Epic Mountain Hikes

World Class Rock Climbing 

Soaking in the Miette Hot Springs

Swimming in pristine mountain lakes and rivers

Wildlife Viewing

Recharging in the Nature Spa with Sauna and Sunbathing

Nucalm Sessions

Eating and Drinking Organic and Local 

This is where things get alot different than in Mysore. 

Outdoor strength training, hiking mountain peaks, rock climbing, cold dips in the rivers and lakes, sauna, mountain biking and a ton of other activities just outside the doors of the yoga shala. 

Im not a big fan of what looks like resting which is really increasing inflammation and anxiety from sitting inside with a phone stuck to your hand and scrolling endlessly. I wrote a post on that here. 

I’ve found for myself that a more sustainable approach is to keep the dose of the practice low intensity (zone 2 heart rate) and not too physically demanding so you actually have more energy for the rest of the day. 

This level is different for every person. It might be all of second for one student and just standing for another. 

I’ve also found that if you hit a roadblock in the series physically that you want to overcome it works better and faster to figure out why then work on it outside of practice. What John Scott first referred to as homework. 

 Whether you want “homework” or instead just do less is up to you.  For those student that want to move past some of the obstacles in their practice I will offer workshops on how what I’ve done. 

Strength Training 

I 100% believe that many times we need to do homework outside of practice to prevent getting injured doing the Ashtanga sequence. I

’ve done this myself for most of the time I’ve been praciticing. 

The ironic thing is the more time you spend sitting at desk in front of the screen the more time you have to spend doing homework because of physical deficits it creates. 

Specifically gaps in your range of motion. 

The first time I wrecked my back I got out of pain by doing foundation training. 

When my knees were destroyed I got out of pain by using FRC. 

When I couldn’t do Baddha Konasana I got it from doing Gymnastics strength training adductor series. 

When I couldn’t lift up in Karadavasna I got the strength from doing the Strong First fighter pull up program plus dips.