a yogic summer in the GTA

I've finally been recommitting to my practice, both on and off the mat... and it feels fantastic! Yoga is definitely what was missing in my life when it got crowded out by stress, to-do lists, sleep deprivation... but I'm back in the game!

Toronto and the GTA is a great place to be for the summer of 2011 for yogi events... check them out!

What: Yoga Meltdown
When: July 17
Where: Centre Island, Toronto
Toronto is on the brink of a yoga revolution! For well over 40 years, Toronto’s Hare Krishna Centre has been the hub of exploring the deeper facets of yoga. The city's yoga community spoke loud and clear about their desire for a spiritual yoga festival and thus we are presenting the Fourth Annual Yoga Meltdown - a free outdoor yoga extravaganza!

What: Yoga4Change
When: Tuesday, July 19, pm
Where: Twist Gallery, 1100 Queen St W Toronto

I won't get into too much detail on this awesome event, as my friend will be writing a guest post soon! In a nutshell though, it's a yogathon fundraiser for the New Leaf foundation... and you'll have a chance to win one of my very own handmade malas!

What: Ananda Fest
When: July 30-31
Where: Keswick, Ontario
A weekend combining yoga, nature, music and lifestyle. The owners of Chrysalis Yoga, a great new studio i've recently fallen in love with in Burlington, will be teaching at this event, Canada's very own Wanderlust!

What: yoga practice on Rogers field
When: August 18
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto
"On August 18th, in conjunction with the Toronto Argonauts, we invite you to participate in theFIRST EVER Yoga practice to happen on Rogers Field! The event will combine a yoga practice, charity barbeque and Toronto Argonauts game…what a great way to bring yogis and sports lovers together! Yoga will begin at 2:30pm, followed by the 5pm charity BBQ and the evening will end with the 7:30pm kick-off of the Toronto Argonauts vs. the Saskatchewan Roughriders game. Tickets for the practice, entrance to the BBQ and the game are $30 each and can be purchased from the front desk at Moksha Yoga Downtown. If you would like to reserve a block of tickets, please email Erin at erin@mokshayogadowntown.com to make arrangements."

What: Yoga Festival Toronto
When: Aug 19-21
Where: National Ballet School, Toronto
I'm excited to be able to attend this event! An "urban retreat", yocoto organizes this weekend full of meditation, asana, lectures and more, right in the city. I volunteered last year and loved it. I'll be taking asana classes with Eoin Finn amongst many other great classes offered!

Namaste,
Callah
article and personal photos copyright of Callah at callahyoga.blogspot.com

reverberations

There is something about the final stretch of the year that is so exciting... especially in bloglandia.

I was super-excited to get an email yesterday from Emily - I've been selected as a top yoga blogger along with many of my fave yoga reads! Wow!

Next up, I read about the #reverb10 project on it's all yoga, baby.

What is it?

Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10, we'll do both.

This December we invite you to share your story and join us in reflection.

How to participate

Prompt Starting December 1, check in for daily creative prompts (some of which will be from published authors). You can also subscribe for complimentary inbox delivery, and watch for updates on Twitter.

Create Respond to the prompt. In a post on your blog, through a tweet, with photography, or however else you desire.

Share Participate and share your reverberations using the #reverb10 hashtag (on Twitter, Delicious or Flickr). Learn from the reverberations of fellow participants.

Sign up & follow on twitter!

Who's going to reflect and manifest with me?

Namaste,

Callah

article and personal photos copyright of Callah at callahyoga.blogspot.com

P.S. don't forget to enter the mala giveaway by Dec 1! If you're following on twitter or have re-posted, don't forget you need a separate comment for each entry!! 

I've got Wanderlust

I was so excited to see this post on Daily Cup of Yoga - all about Wanderlust 2011. Check out the highlights from the 2010 event.



The best part? There is going to be an event in Vermont as well... definitely driveable! I feel a road trip coming on... and the weekend is already booked off. So excited to take part in this... now I just have to wait for tickets to go on sale :)

See you there!

Namaste,
Callah
article and personal photos copyright of Callah at callahyoga.blogspot.com


P.S. don't forget to enter the mala giveaway by Dec 1! Don't forget to comment separately for each entry to count!

awesomeness in the GTA

Just thought I would share a few awesome events being put on in the Greater Toronto Area next month.

The New Leaf Foundation (bringing yoga to youth at risk in Canada) is holding an Urban Retreat Fundraiser with Michael Stone on Sep 12. Click here for details and to buy your tickets. I'll see you there!

The dinner plate project is being held in Pickering on Sep 19! This is a cool one - a hang-glider will fly a photographer over a group of people in the formation of a dinner plate, fork and knife to circulate an image worldwide bringing awareness to local eating! Really wish I could make it out to this one.

These events follow up the fantastic weekend I had at the Yoga Festival Toronto Aug 20-22. It's All yoga, Baby! wrote up a great review. I volunteered at the fest, so I was able to attend 5 classes, lectures and workshops with some amazing and local teachers, including Susan Richardson and Pat Linfoot. I'll definitely take part again next year!

I also picked up a little treat for myself when I was there... Michael Stone's newest book! 

Can't wait to explore it. It's actually many different authors contributing chapters on the connections between yoga and Buddhism, including Frank Jude Boccio, author of one of my favourite yoga philosophy books. Many other authors that I haven't explored yet as well, I'm excited to read this for my "book report" as one of my post-training projects!

Namaste,
Callah
article and personal photos copyright of Callah at callahyoga.blogspot.com