Wednesdays, 2:15-4:15pm
2026 Dates: January 14, February 18, March 18, April 15, May 13, June 10, September 23, October 14, November 18, December 16

One class for: $40 teachers, $30 Samamkaya Teaching Assistants, $20 Students
Any 3 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students:  $105/80/54
Any 6 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students $180/150/100
Any 10 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students  $250/230/140

This course is approved as an IAYT CE Course! Take any 6 classes (12 hours) +  one 1 hour mentoring session for $240

Students with scoliosis have very specific needs with the nervous system, proprioceptive system and with pain patterns.  One must avoid muddled information.  Using prop set-ups, hand on adjustments and verbal instructions, Deborah Wolk will guide you in how to better teach your students with scoliosis.

This class is appropriate for all yoga teachers and for students with scoliosis. Teachers of other modalities (Pilates, personal training, etc.) may attend as teachers with Deborah’s permission. This class is not recommended for brand new beginners to yoga.

September 30-October 1
Wednesday & Thursday 2-5pm
Both Workshops: $160*
One Workshop Only: $90*
*Get 10% off by using the code EARLYBIRD by September 14

Samamkaya is honored to welcome back Sri H.S. Arun for his 8th visit to our beautiful studio! For more than 50 years, Arunji has practiced and taught yoga in India. He has been touring the US annually since 2005.

Both a science and an art, Arunjiʼs teaching of Iyengar yoga is simple, direct and effective. His wit and humor lend a positive energy to his classes. Known as “The Chairmaster”, Arunji uses many props in his teaching to assist in working with the asana. Each class consists of an asana practice including standing poses, forward folds, twists, inversions and backward bends, followed by a discussion about the art and practice of yoga. Keeping in mind Samamkaya’s focus on back care and scoliosis, Arunji may cover topics like spinal asymmetry, back problems and other therapeutic issues.

This is a unique opportunity to study with a warm, devoted and knowledgeable master teacher!

One year of yoga practice is required. No acute injuries, please.

November 7+8

Saturday & Sunday 9:30am-12pm & 2-4pm

Full Workshop: $220

One Day Only: $105

Saturday Morning Only: $65

Saturday Afternoon Only: $50

Sunday Morning Only: $65

Sunday Afternoon Session Only: $50

Get 10% off by using the code EARLYBIRD by October 26th

THE FINE LINE BETWEEN AESTHETICS AND ALIGNMENT 

In this workshop, Karin will show how the aesthetics of the pose are a higher realization of the form than an insistent carrying out of the form according to a preestablished image of the pose. As part of this presentation she will guide students as they learn to see asymmetric body patterns, to make sense of these asymmetries, and to correct them using small internal adjustments. This process, which involves observation and analysis, will demonstrate how a keen awareness of postural patterns changes the patterns. Seeing is acting. Only when you see something, can you change it. Small adjustments are born out of an incisive insight into what is being observed. You don't have to do much to do much.

This detailed deconstruction of the pose enables us to create intelligent actions in individual parts of the body which, when added together, will create harmony in the body as a whole. Through building balance and harmonious neuromuscular pathways in the areas near, adjacent to (or even further away from) the asymmetries, the body will work towards a higher level of aesthetic expression where the form is subsumed into the beauty of the pose itself regardless of whether that form is “the perfect expression of the pose.” There  is a fine line between beauty that is based on the balance of the parts and an imposed beauty which is based on an image one holds of the correct form. As filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky observed, “Beauty is in the balance of the parts.” Teetering in this liminal space between what the pose should look like based on unachievable notions of pure symmetry and what is actually achieved internally through a harmonious experience of our neuromuscular and skeletal systems working together illustrates this fine line between aesthetics and alignment. 

Karin Stephan is a leading Iyengar Yoga teacher with a career that spans over five decades. In 1972, she began studying with B.K.S. Iyengar whose teachings profoundly shaped her understanding and appreciation of the human body. She holds a Level 3 Iyengar Yoga Teacher Certification, and Iyengar's insights and acute sense of observation continue to be essential to her Yoga practice and her teaching. In 1985 she co-founded, alongside Patricia Walden, The BKS Iyengar Yoga Center of Cambridge, which was the first Iyengar Yoga center on the East Coast.

Karin has embraced Iyengar's definition of Yoga as “precision in action,” as this complements her own interest in structure and aesthetics. In her Yoga classes she weaves these themes of precision, structure and aesthetics, bringing these concepts alive with instructive imagery and metaphors which guide her students towards the essence of each asana. She also brings a wry sense of humor and anecdotes from her 83 years of lived experience.

November 21-November 22
Saturday - 2:00-4:00PM | Sunday - 2:30-4:30PM
Both Workshops: $95*
One Workshop Only: $55*
*Get 10% off by using the code EARLYBIRD by November 9th

Saturday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR SACRUM

This session will combine some of the work from our previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your sacrum. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to sacroiliac joint and sacral band issues. Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

• Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your sacroiliac joints and sacral band, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.

• How to explore the messages that your sacroiliac joints present to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create sacral spine health.

• Techniques to change your emotional responses to sacral pain.

Sunday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR LUMBAR SPINE 

This session will combine some of the work from previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your lumbar spine. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to lumbar musculature issues, trauma, and vertebra and disk conditions.  Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

• Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your lumbar spine, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.

• How to explore the messages that your lumbar presents to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create lower back health.

• Techniques to change your emotional responses to lumbar pain.

Liz Owen learned lower back therapeutics over a 25-year period immersed in Iyengar yoga. During this time, she studied with senior Iyengar teachers in the U.S., and both B.K.S. and Geeta Iyengar. Her expertise of lower back health and yoga philosophy brings both Eastern and Western wisdom to bear on creating a healthy lower back and will bring mindfulness and depth to your journey of maintaining lower back health in daily life.