Author Archives: Sean Connolly

Playa Purusha: How a Costa Rican Yoga Retreat Helped Reboot My Life

Community, Life and Yoga, Philosophy, Stress Management, Yoga Retreats, Yoga tips and hitsBy Sean Connolly February 18, 2016 1 Comment

The setting sun perches over the surf of Playa Hermosa, a tangerine jewel that dapples the waves and the Costa Rican sky in a soft palate of reds, pinks, and gold. A dozen of us stand in a circle in the sand, moving our bodies to music. The movement of our limbs is hypnotic, and beautiful.…

It’s been more than two months since we had to c

It’s been more than two months since we had to close our doors and yet, thanks to your presence, we have stayed solidly connected online. #thanks. We hope this message finds you safe and healthy.

Like so many of you, togetherness has been the medicine that's gotten us though life's most difficult challenges. It will continue to be so. Yet, at this time, we want to acknowledge the struggle to move forward without the kind of intimacy and support we can only receive by being together, in the flesh - of which there is no true supplement.
In response to rapid changes, existential uncertainty, and circumstances beyond individual control, every person is being asked to make choices that bring them into higher alignment with their personal values and most sacred integrity. That said, three of our teachers have chosen to move away from the Yoga Union online platform and are instead leading classes on their own various individual websites and media pages. Those teachers are: Winter, Chris, and Natalia. We wish each of them blessings on their endeavors. May they, along with each of us, discover our truest sovereignty and most beloved community as we continue down the interesting, tragic, and beautiful path of life. Oh what a wild ride it is!

Please keep an eye out for the wonderful new and returning teachers joining us online. We look forward to sharing practice with you soon.

Sincerely,
Annie, Todd, and the Yoga Union team

We are honored and thrilled to welcome D’ana Bap

We are honored and thrilled to welcome D’ana Baptiste to our schedule of online classes. Join her this Friday at 4:00. Link in bio.

A yoga teacher from Oakland, CA, D’ana’s ultimate "message" is to find one's own way in the big "mind-body” world. D'ana has trained or influenced nearly every teacher in Utah's Mountain West, and continues to be a pioneer in the yoga community and the fitness/wellness movement. She has over 30 years experience in and influence over the yoga industry, and has built a community of dedicated yoga practitioners who love her philosophy of embracing ALL that life has to offer, using ALL the senses to do so. D'ana manages and organizes workshops and retreats around the country and in Mexico. She has written three books about the Yoga Sutras and about how yogic principles support real life. She learns much about life from hanging out with her three boys and her granddaughter, who help her keep it real.

Big shoutout to all the pets out there, holding it

Big shoutout to all the pets out there, holding it down by giving and receiving love so free. And to all beings everywhere, for that matter, who still feel safe enough to snuggle. You are medicine! Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

“Every victorious warrior draws his strength fro

“Every victorious warrior draws his strength from the highest source; his love.” - Tapan Ghosh

There is a warrior within each of us. Adversity is what calls that warrior forward. When the warrior hears the call, often love seems absurd and impossible to access. Nevertheless, the warrior must fight. Thus, they go to battle with their cold heart hidden under armor of anger and frustration. The warrior attempts to hide their heart - to fight without it. But that kind of fighting, one disconnected from love and forgetful of purpose, generates suffering, along with more destructive weapons, and thicker armor.
The thickness of one’s armor determines their degree of resistance to the transformational power of love. It limits their efforts to take on adversity, which always lies ahead. The strategy of the heartless warrior is mostly unconscious. But it is completely exhaustive. It leads to the tragic death of the warrior and indeed, the world.
To be a great warrior requires training in fighting AND loving. It requires fighting while remaining open to the generative power of love which always wants in to do its work. Unless the warrior learns to fight with love, they are destined to become nothing more than a weapon themself.
In what ways is the universe training your warrior to fight well now? In that adversity, how can you draw on your highest source ( #love ) and deliver that to the world? ❤️ 🌍 ❤️ #warrior #love #openheart #strategy #yoga #yogawarrior #spiritualwarrior #poweroflove #stayopen #staykind #stayloving #adversity #challenge #struggle #warriorwisdom

Join Annie Adamson for Virtual Vinyasa Sunday morn

Join Annie Adamson for Virtual Vinyasa Sunday mornings at 9am. Access link in bio.

Annie Adamson is co-owner of Yoga Union Community Wellness Center and founder of Primal Vinyasa. She brings over a decade of experience practicing and teaching Yoga, Workshops, and Trainings. Annie’s deep love of mythology, natural movement, and the study of Earth Medicine traditions inspire her work. She is certified in Anusara, Power Vinyasa and Hatha Yoga.

In 2006 Annie met her beloved teacher Sianna Sherman, and instantly connected to her poetically inspiring, heart-centered teaching. Annie has since been studying with Doug Keller for Yoga Therapeutics and Tami Kent founder of holistic pelvic care for woman. Annie has also taken many courses in KMI and Anatomy Trains. Annie has helped hundreds of clients find greater freedom in their bodies and specializes in one-on-one Yoga Therapeutics for injury rehabilitation. She also finds great joy in training students to become teachers and has run successful Teacher Trainings at her studio for the last 9 years. Annie is inspired by the great mystery of life, nature, community and family.

When we're going seamlessly down our path and we’re confronted with an obstacle, we often feel angry, annoyed, frustrated...😡. These are normal human responses to having selected a destination and getting forced to realize we can’t get there as planned. The important thing to keep in mind is that, regardless of how we feel about it, that obstacle is an important part of current reality - of the nature of things. If it’s not going away any time soon, it’ll need to be reconciled and navigated, regardless of how we feel about it. We can burn a lot of energy and time kicking and cursing, or we can accept it as a challenge - an opportunity to strengthen our character. 💪
Yes, this new unexpected challenge, placed before us by circumstances beyond our control, can be viewed as an opportunity when we remember that, what’s in our control is less the circumstances of our life and more our responses to those circumstances. 💡
Keeping this in mind helps keep our energy and attention on that which we can control, which helps us avoid expending excessive energy and attention on the things that are outside our sphere of influence. Too much focus on things outside the realm of our control unnecessarily exhausts us and ultimately robs from our ability to improve the actual nature of current existence.
We’re saying this because we’re practicing keeping it in mind ourselves and we figure, it may be helpful for you as well. 🤗
We’re grateful to still be in this path with you, despite the obstacles. We look forward to seeing what’s to come of it. It is our prayer that what’s to come is greater unity of all earth’s creatures. Greater love and connection. We’ve seen a great deal of this already and we feel hopeful for its continuance.
Many blessings 🙏

Rolf Gates is teaching live on our new virtual pla

Rolf Gates is teaching live on our new virtual platform this Friday, April 10 at 4pm.

Rolf Gates, author of Daily Reflections on Addiction, Yoga, and Getting Well - as well as the best-selling Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga and Meditations on Intention and Being: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga, Mindfulness, and Compassion - is a leading voice in contemporary yoga, and his work is used as a resource for yoga students and teachers worldwide. He conducts vinyasa intensives and 200- and 300-hour teacher trainings internationally. A former US Army Ranger and social worker specializing in addiction, Rolf brings his eclectic background to his teaching and life. His work has been featured on television and in print, including Yoga Journal, People magazine, and Travel and Leisure. His first children's book, Yoga Friend: A Pose by Pose Partner Yoga Adventure, was published in 2018. Rolf is a graduate of the Kripalu School of Yoga.

Join "The Flow of Being" - a special Vinyasa session with Rolf Gates. This will be a dynamic class including Vinyasa, meditation, and connection. The yoga will be a synergy of the freedom of a powerful Vinyasa class and the structural integrity of yoga's therapeutic alignment principles. The class is open to all. The only 'requirement' is that you show up, do your best, and let your best be good enough.
Register on our Live Stream page. Link in Bio.

Many of you are on your knees at this time. Strugg

Many of you are on your knees at this time. Struggling with serious questions about where your at and how to move forward. How are you going to make it through this? How are you going to navigate being responsible for order in your homes while you’re disrupted from your routine? Cut off from your friends, family, and community. Cut off from your jobs.... You may well be feeling at a total loss for how to meet the challenges that lay before you.
Remember this: whatever steps you take from her - whatever direction you may pivot, whatever solutions you come up with, whatever inactions too, whatever words do or don’t leave your mouth, whatever you do or don’t do now will be colored by your state of being.
You may not have the power to control your situation right now, but you do have the power to control your state! And THAT power is enough to change everything.
We have a plan to help you through these challenging times.
So stay close friends. We are your community. We need each other now - to stay healthy, to stay sane, to stay in our center, which may just be, in times like this, the most dependable place around. When we are in our center, when we’re monitoring our state and actively grounding into our bodies - when we’re coming from that place of embodied presence, we generate the best possible actions, which yield the best possible outcomes.
Stay connected to your center. Join us for online classes. Link in bio.

Yoga, movement, breath, and community ARE essentia

Yoga, movement, breath, and community ARE essential business, especially in times of chaotic uncertainty 🌪
In the nearly two decades of practicing yoga & fourteen years of studio ownership, we’ve been present to the folks in our community who have had to weather some very serious storms in their lives. We’ve weathered a few ourselves ☔️ It’s always been our policy that, for folks going through a particularly difficult time, yoga is on the house. Many have taken us up on the offer and leveraged their practice as a processing tool. We have heard countless stories from our beloved community about how yoga and community played an integral role in healing from the trauma of loss, and kept them sane as they navigated extreme existential uncertainty 📖
Right now, we are all going through a difficult time. On top of that, our house has been closed down. We have no available sanctuary to offer 🏡
While we understand the logic behind the government ordered shelter in place laws - and safety is paramount - closure seems like it adds insult to injury 😢
We find ourselves wondering why so many corporate monoliths remain open while so many small businesses have had to close up shop 🖐

Yoga teaches us to let go of our grasping for things beyond our control so we can free up bandwidth for that which we can 🙏

If you didn’t know, we opened an online class platform where you can enjoy a full virtual class schedule for just $15 per month. If you’re not able to pay this, please reach out so we can help. If you want to help ensure a sanctuary to return to after this blows over, please tell your friends far and wide about our virtual offerings. Encourage them to lean into yoga this way. There’s never been a better time for practice than now 🕰
Thank you family. Stay safe and healthy 🧘🏼‍♀️

As of Tuesday, March 17, the doors of Yoga Union C

As of Tuesday, March 17, the doors of Yoga Union Community Wellness Center will be closed along with those of our collaborating business, Prema Health. This marks the first closing for anything other than holidays since we opened over 20 years ago. Needless to say, our hearts are heavy from having to make this decision. It is not something we are choosing, but rather something we feel we need to do in order to meet the demands we are facing.
What next?
Introducing Virtual Y.U.
In order to continue providing yoga classes that support the stresses of your life and times, we have implemented a new online yoga platform. It is our intention to maintain close resemblance to our existing yoga schedule via live streaming. Virtual Y.U. allows our teachers to lead classes and you to join classes live from the safety and comfort of your own homes! While we recognize this is not the same as practicing together in physical space, we sincerely hope it continues to support your healthy practices of movement and breath as we navigate what it feels like to experience a pandemic coupled with social distancing.
We are hoping to implement this online platform as early as tomorrow, 3/17. Please stay tuned for details.
Weekly Community Check In
We plan to launch a Weekly Community Check In via Zoom . The virtual gatherings we hold will address three fundamental intentions:
1. To continue to share the medicine of togetherness.
2. To hear the needs of our community and provide aid.
3. To share in our humanness amidst what could potentially be a very difficult time. Please stay tuned for an invite to this virtual conversation.

We hope these offerings will help us all through the challenges that lie ahead. We are holding you all in our hearts as we navigate the complexities presenting us. Please know, we will do our best to continue to show up for you.
Love and blessings,
Yoga Union

“Cleanliness, from a yogic perspective, doesn’

“Cleanliness, from a yogic perspective, doesn’t mean simply washing our hands and bleaching our countertops. It includes the thoughts in our mind + the way we speak to ourselves & each other.”

What practices help you show up centered and ready

What practices help you show up centered and ready for rising pressures? 🌊
What can you do to keep a clear head and a loving, open heart? ❤️
If you practice yoga/movement, this may be a time to lean in a little heavier. If you have a meditation practice, this may be the time to make sure you're making the time. 🧘🏼‍♀️
What other practices might help you fill your cup?
🥛

Togetherness and unity. 🤝 Each individual is a

Togetherness and unity. 🤝

Each individual is a whole part of something greater than themselves. Just as an atom is a whole part of a molecule, which is a whole part of a cell, which is a whole part of an organelle, which is a whole part of an organ, which is a whole part of an organ system... like Russian dolls, the “great chain of being” means life is stacked - one being, not just ‘beside’ but ‘inside’ the next 🤯
What are you a part of that’s bigger than your individual self? 🌍
#pdxyoga #yogainpdx #pdxyogascene #pnwonderland #pnwphotography #namaste #namasteeveryday #yogaeverydamnday

Peace is the product of listening and feeling. D

Peace is the product
of listening and feeling.
Distractions are not short cuts.
We must meet our inner voices
as students, interested.
Only after we have been heard
and felt into
may we come to rest
in peaceful silence.

#rest #silence #peace

Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens w

Healing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens when we choose to come together and witness the truth of existence. It happens when we stop filtering reality and start tuning into what’s truly there. It happens when we quit pretending and finally surrender to the way things really are. It happens when we put down our mask and finally let our true face show. It happens when we stop twisting others into who we want them to be or who they’d like us to make them, and start seeing them just as they are. Healing needs radical acceptance of reality. If it’s painful, we need to say it’s painful and we need to be heard. If it’s frustrating, we need to express the frustration and know that we’re not going to hurt others or scare them away with it.
We all need healing. We can all show up in greater transparency. We can all let our insides show. It might be messy. Own it anyway. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It just has to be honest and real. We can all repress less and forces less repression on others. We can all practice being less reactive when another’s truth seems to make us look bad. We can all practice owning our feelings without blaming others. #healthyrelationships

We've moved Chris' Thursday 5:30 Hatha class into

We've moved Chris' Thursday 5:30 Hatha class into the North Studio. This means we'll be able to accommodate more of you in there. We believe the change is a higher service to the community.
Please continue preregistering for this and all YU classes. Preregistration helps foster a more easeful check in experience.
Sincerely,
Yoga Union

What energies are alive in you right now? What’s

What energies are alive in you right now? What’s stirring your heart? What’s driving your gut? Can you feel into those sensations more deeply? Can you touch and validate them with your breath? We’re not conjuring anything up here. Only sensing what’s already in us. What’s trying to come up?

Become aware of that which is waking up in you. What wants to move and be expressed? From that place, let yourself be animated by emotion - energy in motion. These energies need a voice. Words aren’t sufficient. They need a language older than words. They need to be expressed through the whole body, not just the mouth. Let them move all of you. Grant them your trust, your consent - that they can lead you in a dance. With every lift of your limbs, with every twist of your spine - meet them with awareness and breath, so that what’s compelling you in action is doing so with full transparency. No filter. Let yourself be taken on a ride. Your job is to keep sensing deeply into what’s moving in you and let it move you. Keep granting it the license of your breath. Breath and awareness lead the way. 📷 @nataliegildersleeve @primalvinyasa @age_rebel @_kate_saul_ @annamitralove

What are you going to do today to open yourself to

What are you going to do today to open yourself to the world? “If you are waiting for anything in order to live and love without holding back, then you suffer.” @daviddeidaquotes

No human can discover their potential without a co

No human can discover their potential without a collection of others encouraging their work. This doesn’t mean we all need a squad of cheerleaders behind us. It can simply be others doing similar work beside us.
When we move, breathe, and self-reflect together, we generate the energy needed in order to take us further down the path. When we travel down that path together, we widen it, making it more available for others to traverse as well. How are you harnessing the power of the collective on your journey?
#letsgettogether #letsgotogether

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