Thanksgiving Retreat - Yoga and the Arts: Kindling the Creative Fire

11/25/10 to 11/28/10

Presented by Swami Sitaramananda • Sylvia Nakkach • Stephen Longfellow Fiske • Pieter Veltevrede •

Retreat Details

Come enjoy a retreat where our inspiriation and creative talents can emerge and blossom. With the yoga practices at the foundation, let us kindly the flames of creativity and bring forth the unique gifts with which each individual is blessed. Through music, art, writing, movement and more, we will play, invent, express, interact and light the fire to manifest our visions into reality. Through yoga, participatory processes, lecture, discussion and sharing we will have fun, go deep and unearth the latent power that awaits our discovery.

Join award-winning singer, songwriter, author and producer Stephen Longfellow Fiske on this journey into our creative calling. Stephen is a longtime friend of Sivananda Yoga and has been an invited guest, presenter and performer at Sivananda Ashrams and centers since 1974. A disciple of Swami Satchitananda (a brother monk of Swami Vishnu-devananda), Stephen was close with Swami Vishnu, and carries the legacy of the lineage of Master SIvananda. He has produced nine albums of his music and is author of the peacemaker's handbook, "The Art of Peace" (he has new paradigm books). He is currently the producer of the Venice EcoFest, the largest outdoor green music and arts festival in Los Angeles. Stephen has performed widely throughout the US and abroad, delighting audiences with his songs, workshops and presentations.

Enjoy a vegetarian, healthy holiday with yoga, meditation, chanting, and inspiration from a group of extraordinary teachers.

The vegetarian Thanksgiving feast will make our turkey friends say "Thanks!"

This is an opportunity to share our creative ideas through music, writing, painting and other art workshops.

There will be a special Stephen Fiske concert and workshop on the Art of Peace.

Other speakers to be announced.

Cost

See below for accomodation rates.

Arrival and Departure

The retreat will begin at 7pm on Thursday the 25th with welcome, and will end by 3pm on Sunday the 28th.
Please plan to arrive at the Yoga Farm at least one day before the start of the course and to leave at least one day after the course completion.

We recommend that you spend at least a few days at the Yoga Farm before the start of your course. This allows your body and mind to rest, re-energize and be nourished by the ashram environment. You can then bring your study feeling relaxed and refreshed. You may also wish to stay for some days after the end of the course to allow the learning from your study to integrate more fully into your consciousness within the supportive environment of the ashram. If you decide to arrive early and stay longer, please register for the Yoga Vacation Program for those additional days. Please see the calendar of events for guest programs on offer around the time of your visit.

What to Bring

Other: slip on shoes, loose comfortable clothing, writing materials, meditation shawl or blanket, yoga mat, flashlight.

All books and materials are available in our boutique.

Reservations

To reserve a place for this course, please register online or email yogafarmregistration@sivananda.org. Then please call to give us your credit card deposit and confirm your reservation.

A deposit paying for your first night's stay is required for your reservation. Please note that in case of cancellation, no refund will be given. A credit note for other programs at the Yoga Farm (valid for one year) will be given.

About Swami Sitaramananda
Swami Sitaramananda is a Yoga and Meditation teacher for more than 25 years. She is presently the main teacher of the Yoga Teachers Training Courses offered at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, CA where she is serving as the director. She also teaches at other Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams & Centers in India and Nassau, Bahamas, Asia, as well as Centers along the West Coast USA, including her birth country, Vietnam. She is a direct disciple of Swami Vishnu-devananda. She was nominated by her teacher as Goraknath acharya (spiritual teacher, one of the holders of the lineage) in 1989. Her lectures are based on the four classical paths of yoga as well as the 5 points of Health.

About Sylvia Nakkach
Silvia Nakkach, MA, MMT, named by Utne Reading magazine as one of 40 cutting-edge artists that will shake the art world in the new millennium. Silvia has cultivated a voice that transport the listeners into the heart of devotion, she is an award-winning composer, psychologist, author, and pioneer in the field of sound, transformation of consciousness, and music shamanism. She is the founding director of Vox Mundi School of the Voice, an international school devoted to teaching and preserving sacred music traditions, with centers and training in Bahia and Rio, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and California. She is the creator, faculty, and main academic advisor for the Sound, Voice, Music Healing Certificate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco. She is also the founder of the The Path of Dhrupad Singing School in the States. She holds Master Degrees in Psychology, Psychodrama, Music Therapy, and Music Composition from Mills College. For more than 26 years Silvia has studied classical Indian music with maestro Ali Akbar Khan and Dhrupad singing with Dr. Ritwik Sanyal. An internationally accredited specialist in cross-cultural music therapy training, Nakkach has pioneered the integration of ancient sacred sound with contemporary practices of chanting, somatic and music psychotherapy. She has been involved in clinical research in the areas of micro-tonal singing and uses of the voice to induce meditative states. Her work has been integrated in a comprehensive curriculum of scientific vocal and sound healing applications known as The Yoga of the Voice�, a training that offers national certification. Silvia's interest in indigenous music cosmology and spirituality brought her to collaborate with many spiritual masters of Indian and South American shamanic traditions. In addition to published articles. Silvia is the contributor author of various books, including Music and the Human Process, Music in Human Adaptation, The Transpersonal Consciousness, Music Therapy and the End of Life. Silvia is presently working on her latest book. She has released several CD albums that have worldwide distribution. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her work at : www.voxmundiproject.com

About Stephen Longfellow Fiske
Stephen Longfellow Fiske is a multitalented individual whose dedication to peace, humanitarian, environmental and spiritual concerns has always found expression through his artistic pursuits. Since his first album release, Seeds of Peace, in 1980, through his current CD, Angels and Miracles, Stephen has established himself as an inspired performer and veteran poet/spokesman of the times. An award-winning singer/songwriter, Stephen has also authored the poetic & philosophical handbook, The Art of Peace, A Personal Manual on Peacemaking and Creativity (New Paradigm Books), now in its second printing. The Art of Peace also features 40 of Stephen's drawings. A long time student of peace and advocate of non-violence, Stephen was formerly the director of The Institute For Peace Studies and the co-ordinator of the Peacemakers Camps/Retreats of the early l980's. Stephen is a poet in his own right, giving expression and insights through his music, writings and presence wherever he goes. Stephen grew up in New York City. His mother was an opera singer and voice and piano teacher, and his father was a writer/editor. Stephen flourished in the arts and became a self taught guitarist composing his own original songs. An outstanding athlete, he attended NYU on a basketball scholarship and majored in art. But music became his main calling, and in 1968 he came to San Francisco and formed an acid-rock band "The Bycycle." After two turbulent years in the rock scene, he embarked upon his solo career and became a traveling troubador-minstrel man. Since then he has performed widely, entertaining and uplifting audiences with his insightful, poetic and often humorous songs and stories, and has recorded eight albums. His music has been featured in various films and videos, and he has written for, sung and done voice-overs on TV and radio commercials. He has raised a family of three children with his wife Nikki, and has also been a yoga teacher, a basketball coach, an avid backpacker/mountaineer, and a lecturer and workshop leader. Stephen has written, produced and performed his one man musical theater piece, "Minstrel Man" at the Electric Lodge Theater in Venice, California to enthusiastic audiences. He has won numerous awards including "The International Peace Music Award" in 1994, and has had his songs recorded by Luther VanDross and Jose Feliciano, among others.

About Pieter Veltevrede
Pieter Veltevrede is a internationally recognized Dutch master artist with hundreds of exquisite paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, Yantras and Mandalas. He is a disciple of Harish Johari and also studied with Johari's art teacher, Master Chandra Bal, and Suresh Johari. He tours annually in India, Europe and the USA exhibiting his art and giving painting workshops. For more information on Pieter Veltevrede and his artwork, please visit www. sanatanansociety.com