ALIGNMENT SCHOOL
with ty landrum
welcome
Asana is about opening up and making room for ourselves to breathe. As we open up, breath surges gently through the body, moves down old pathways and washes away the sediment of the past. It overflows like a river in a long and heavy rain, leaving us refreshed and renewed.
The potency of this practice depends on good alignment—not just in our bones and tissues, but in the opposing movements of prana and apana that shape our breath. These are the movements upon which all living organisms depend—opening and closing, expanding and contracting, forming and dissolving.
Ordinarily, we push and pull on these forces, jostling for better position, but making more dissonance within ourselves. Through the practice of asana, we learn to move with these forces, expanding and contracting with our natural rhythms. This is the yogic secret to living a gracious life.
Alignment School explores the yogic art of working with breath and posture to find internal balance. It celebrates the moment when the opposing phases of the breath come into their natural fullness, when there is svasti, or "good flow,” between the different levels of our being. And it evokes that flow with good alignment.
Asana instruction today tends to focus on the choreography of yoga, but Alignment School studies yoga from the inside. Together we explore the subtle physiological engagements that make the postures refined, and we rediscover the internal forms of breath, bandha and mudra that bring the practice alive.
Alignment School will invite you into the surprising depth of asana practice, where you begin to unravel from the inside, and lose yourself in the quiet exhilaration of coming undone. It teaches you the fine art of lifting yourself out of energetic stagnation, so you can embrace your body, and embrace your life.
AS1: Internal Forms
The foundational program of Alignment School is Internal Forms. This essential program consists of 9 live online workshops, each covering a different aspect of alignment. These are not flowing practice sessions, but explorations of the internal patterns of engagement that give the asana practice depth and potency. Most sessions will involve plenty of movement, so come prepared to explore your body on the mat.
Each session is 90 mins long: 60 mins of live instruction and 30 mins of interactive play and conversation. Descriptions of individual sessions are given below. Sessions can be taken individually, but taking them all together in sequence is highly recommended, as each session will illumine the others. Taken together, they will give you an unusually rich perspective on postural alignment.
Saturdays, June 17-August 19 at 3:00 PM WEST (Lisbon)
Single sessions: $40
Complete course (9-sessions): $330 | $250 for members.
You will have access to the videos for two years. Members will receive an access code via email.
ENROLL
1. Prana and Apana
Learn the visceral vocabulary of postural alignment.
Saturday, June 17 (15:00 WEST)
2. Surya Namaskar
Explore the essential movement patterns of this foundational sequence.
Saturday, June 24 (15:00 WEST)
3. Lifting Support
Find unusual stability in simple postures by lifting support from the earth.
Saturday, July 1 (15:00 WEST)
4. Equal Standing
Discover the internal balance of the "zero position" in postures of many kinds.
Saturday, July 8 (15:00 WEST)
5. The Lotus Flower
Open the lotus slowly, following crucial advice for hips and knees.
Saturday, July 22 (15:00 WEST)
6. The Coiling Pattern
Connect with the stabilizing power of apana with this essential pattern.
Saturday, July 29 (15:00 WEST)
7. Backbending
Bend gracefully with a supple diaphragm and a longer spine.
Saturday, August 5 (15:00 WEST)
8. Bandhas
Learn the simple secrets to these potent but elusive techniques.
Saturday, August 12 (15:00 WEST)
9. The Five Pranas
Trace the inner path of the yogic breath, and bring new vitality to the body.
Saturday, August 19 (15:00 WEST)
AS2: Primary Series
This program explores the alignment of the Primary Series, with a depth and richness that you will not find elsewhere. You will amass a comprehensive collection of detailed video instruction, with 15-30 minutes of material for each form. These videos offer copious advice for working with difficult postures, and they show you how to adapt and modify the postures for situations of all kinds.
New material will be released on Wednesdays, and we will meet the following Wednesday to discuss. Our live sessions will involve no formal practice. Instead, we converse about our experience practicing (and teaching) the forms. There is much to talk about. This is an essential course for Ashtanga teachers.
Starts October 4 and runs for 6 weeks. Live Sessions on Wednesdays; Oct 11 - November 15 at 7:00 PM WEST (Lisbon)
Complete course (6-sessions): $220 | $180 for members.
You will have access to the videos for two years. Members may request their discount code via email.
ENROLL
AS3: Second Series
This program explores internal alignment for the Second Series in exquisite depth and detail. We wind slowly through the series, studying every movement and form. You amass a huge library of instructional video, with 15-30 minutes of material describing the alignment of each posture, and offering alternative, modifications, and strategies for working constructively toward difficult forms.
New material will be released on Wednesdays, and we will meet the following Wednesday to discuss. The idea is that you watch the video material during in the week and explore what you learn in your own practice. We meet online each Wednesday to discuss your explorations and talk at increasing depth about the process of unraveling into which they lead. In this way, we work through the forms and through the fabric of your own experience. This is an essential course for Ashtanga teachers.
The first release of material will be November 15. Our Live Sessions begin Wednesday, November 22 and last until December 27; 7:00 PM WEST (Lisbon)
Complete course (6-sessions): $220 | $180 for members.
You will have access to the videos for two years. Members may request an access code via email.
ENROLLdeepen your practice
Take all three Alignment School programs
$700 | members $500
Alignment School Full PackageABOUT TY
Ty has an unwavering love for this unique somatic discipline, which he began practicing back in 2005. With a formal background in philosophy (PhD University of Virginia), Ty has a rare talent for bringing the theory of yoga alive, not just in words, but on the canvas of the breathing body. He sees yoga as conscious participation in archetypal patterns of human development, patterns that he is ever drawn to explore.
QUESTIONS
If your question isn't answered below, please reach out to us at [email protected]