Kitty Yoga News!

Kitty News July 2009 - New Schedule! 

Hi Kitty Yoga Friends and Students,

Welcome to the first installment of the Kitty Yoga news, where I will provide updates on classes, yoga theory and my teaching focus.  I am so excited to share my experience and passion for Yoga, health, movement and spiritual centering with you - my friends and community.

New Schedule:

 It has been an exciting and challenging venture to start a new business during this troubled economy.  I am restructuring my class schedule for summer to grow classes that work for my students and teachers.  I am also continuing to offer $10 classes.  Classes are 45 minutes at noon and 60 minutes at other class times to make yoga available for students who may be limited in their time and money. 

 Web page schedule:  http://www.templeparlor.com

Back Strengthening/ Hip Opener Series:

I have been focusing on teaching my students the structural principles I learned in Iyengar Yoga; to develop body awareness and self knowledge in their yoga asana practice.  I learned this series from my wonderful teacher, Aadil Palkhivala, who recently taught a back care class at Samadhi Yoga.  This sequence is for developing a healthy relationship with your lower back, hips, feet and legs. This sequence fits into the category of what I call "Yoga Medicine". 

Beginning student, Rebecca Sayre says, "I appreciate the low back and hip sequence because it teaches me the foundational elements of the poses in a way that I can grasp.  I really see progress in my feet, ankles, hips and hamstrings.  I am now finding in my body a deeper understanding of my body alignment in both my Yoga practice and in my daily life.  I haven't found this attention to detail in any other classes I've attended in Seattle".

About our Teachers:

Kitty Wittkower

My original teacher training was with Aadil Palkhivala, with whom I apprenticed for two years. My training focused on asana technique, with a special emphasis on therapeutics, for injury and illness. My yoga spirituality follows in the tradition of Sri Aurobindo; whose main premise was to bring the spiritual life down into our experience here and now.  Felicity Green Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher, was the female guide for my teacher training.  She is truly a gem here in the Northwest.

My teaching includes chanting, asana technique; including hatha, vinyasa, and pranayama (breath awareness). The mythology and stories of yoga provide a metaphor to embody the emotional spirit of asana: Devotion.  Attention to developing symmetry is also part of a yoga practice. Symmetry can be cultivated on right to left, front to back, upper and lower, and inner and outer, body axis.  Moving into advanced work, the subtle energetic pathways of the meridians become revealed and the connection to the greater universe is experienced.  The Yogas are designed to develop us to become an extraordinary being through consistent practice of all the aspects of yoga:  

Hatha - the asana or postures develop the body systems

Jana - the development of the mind through study of philosophy, cultivating a flexible mind.
Bakti - the development of devotion through singing, chanting and mantra.  Devotion is the highest form of emotional expression according to Yoga philosophy.
Karma - taking action in the world to relieve the suffering of others.
Raja - this yoga encompasses the practice of all the other yogas, when one practices all the yogas one becomes like a King or Queen regardless of their financial or social status, regal, kind, wise, and helpful.

In 1992 I was certified in the Iyengar method, and have practiced yoga since the early 1980s; completing another teacher training, with Shiva Rea in Seattle in 2005. My continuing education with other yoga luminaries includes: Dona Holleman, Dharma Mitra, Ana Forest, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Gary Kraftstow, Kathleen Hunt, and most recently, Les Leventhal.

Maraha Dickens 

Maraha began practicing Yoga as a way to deepen her relationship with her mother.  What she found was not only a closer connection and common interest to share with her Mom - but also a way to connect with her self. When Maraha moved to Seattle she began attending Kitty's classes in Queen Anne, where she became a dedicated student who progressed quickly in her knowledge of Self and Yoga.  After two years, she was ready to go further than was possible in an ongoing weekly class and Kitty suggested she study with the inspired Yoga Teacher - Dona Holleman author of Dancing The Body Of Light, as well as many other publications.  In 2007, she began her teacher training with Dona in Soiano del Lago, Italy. 

Maraha's classes seek to merge technical precision of the asana with the body's wisdom to create the opportunity for students to discover the connection between the intention of the mind and the body's inherent wisdom.

We welcome you to join our Yoga Wellness Community!

For me, Yoga has been a way of life for 25 years and is woven deeply into the fabric of my life.  Temple Parlor/ Kitty Yoga was built on the principle of creating a pain-free body for the exploration of the gift and joys of life, here and now, using the tools and wisdom of Yoga. 

If you'd like to support our school of Yoga:  please forward this newsletter to five people who you think might benefit from our Yoga teaching and classes at Ballard Health and Wellness Center. 

 Namaste—Kitty and Maraha

Many thanks to our friend and photographer:

Patricia Ridenour photo of Kitty in Garudasana underwater (Eagle pose)

Thanks to Peter Mumford for my web site and keeping us up to date!

Thanks to my teachers Aadil and Felicity for my profession!