Yoga with Lisa
Mondays at 6:00pm and Saturdays at 10:30 am
Shedding new light on the inner workings of the asanas, this class offers an embodied exploration of the transformative and creative potential of Hatha Yoga. Students will learn to actively support their practice from within, finding integrity by opening deeper layers of consciousness in every cell, tissue and system of the body. It will empower you to move beyond a formulaic approach to performing asana to perceiving the essence of each posture in the vibrating fullness of the moment. This direct experience of Unity remains with you on and off the yoga matt changing the way you experience yourself and life.
Yoga with Lynn
Saturdays at 9:00 am
Vinyasa Level 2(Jivamukti style)– a flow style asana class emphasizing breathing, classical postures, yogic scriptures, Sanskrit, and meditation linked in an innovative/unexpected way. Everyone is welcome to this open level class, but students with at least one month of experience in flow-style yoga and students who are looking for more of a physically challenging class will find this to be a better fit.
Yoga with April
Sundays at 5:45 pm
Explore the power of yoga for restoration and renewal in this slow flow class with April. Students will move slowly through poses with focus on alignment and balance of effort and ease. There is an emphasis on breathing and each class will include specific instruction in pranayama (breathing exercises) and relaxation techniques to both release stress and bring new energy and life force into the body. These techniques can be practiced anywhere to help you manage stress at home or in the office and can be used before sleep to ease insomnia and improve your quality of sleep. Leave class feeling refreshed and ready for both a great night’s sleep and a joyful week.
Yoga with Dezza
Wednesdays at 8:00 pm
Dezza offers a mindful approach to an eclectic flow-style hatha yoga practice. Expect to strengthen your muscles, breathe deeply and deepen your flexibility all while releasing stress and strain from body and mind. Classes include sun salutations, flowing sequences of poses, breathing, twisting, floor poses and deep relaxation. This class is open to all levels, including beginners. Dezza’s classes are challenging, so get ready to work.
Ven. Soorakkulame Pemaratana (aka. Bhante Pema)
Meditation with Bhante Pema
Mondays at 7:30 pm
In these meditation classes, students will learn the correct posture of the body for meditation, movements to prepare for seated meditation and a variety of meditation techniques that are appropriate for both beginners and more experienced practitioners. You will leave each class empowered to use these techniques in your daily life to improve your quality of living. Every class includes some instruction, practice and then discussion. The techniques that are taught are secular and these practices should not conflict with any current religious affiliations and/or beliefs. Please bring your own meditation cushion, pillow or blanket to use for your comfort. If you are not physically able to sit on the floor for long periods of time, we will be happy to provide you with a chair to sit on. Read more about this curriculum here.
Mark Chandlee Taylor, Director of the Center for BodyMindMovement
Mark is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT™) accredited by the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. A certified teacher and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering® (BMC™), he has taught in the School for Body-Mind Centering in Massachusetts and Germany, and served as the school’s U.S. Program Director and Program Coordinator. He was artistic director and choreographer for Dance Alloy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and for Mark Taylor & Friends in New York, and served as a member of the Princeton University dance faculty. Mark teaches movement and embodiment practices in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Central and South America, and maintains a private practice in Pittsburgh.
Yoga with Sharon
Tuesdays at 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm, Thursdays at 10:00 am
Please see the Matrika Prenatal Website for information on my Prenatal, Postnatal and Childbirth Preparation
In my Matrika Flow classes, students of all levels will be challenged to move with their breath, explore the boundaries of their body and energy through physical postures (asana), and bring focus and calm to the mind through emphasis on alignment and breathing practices. We build heat in the body to burn impurities and ignite our own ability to create, renew and release any habitual mental or physical habits that hold us back from being our best selves. The power we build is from the inside out and this creates strength in bones, muscles and core of the body.
In my Mindful Flow classes, we create a moving meditation starting with the Vajra Opening Series and invoke meditations on the heart, loving kindness and compassion throughout the practice. This is a slow, but intense practice, that pulls the cerebral energy down into the center of the body so that we are grounded and have access to our deepest intuition and authentic truth. The intensity of the practice allows us to release deeply held tension and open to our ability, as humans, to transcend our bodies and lived experiences to be more compassionate, forgiving and non-violent. This practice is healing, strengthening and powerful even as the slow pace, deliberate movement and meditation practices bring us to a grounded and centered state.
INSTRUCTOR BIOS
Lisa Clark
Lisa Clark, Lila, is one of the leading innovators of the integration of Yoga and Body-Mind Centering and has been actively engaged in the training, teaching and development of yoga for 28 years. A teacher’s teacher, her teaching approaches asana mindfully, gently and deeply — helping students to move beyond a formulaic approach to performing asana to embody yoga in a creative, authentic and life-nurturing way.
Lisa is a certified Teacher and Practioner of BMC. She is Program Director of the 1st European Body-Mind Centering Embodied Anatomy & Yoga program in Germany with Moveus. She was Program Coordinator with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen for The Yoga and Body-Mind Centering Programs at the School for Body-Mind Centering in Amherst, MA from 1999–2004. She is founder and Director of EmbodiYoga, a 230 – 500 hour yoga teacher training and advanced studies program for 10 years(www.yogabodymindandspirit.com); She has led workshops and teacher training programs for The Yoga Journal, The Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, Rodney Yee, Shiva Rae and many wonderful yoga studios throughout the world.
Lisa is an inspiring teacher with a daily practice of postures, pranayama and meditation for more than 30 years. Her love and passion for yoga was reignited by Shupadham Yoga, developed by partner Plamen and herself. Lisa feels the unity found in practicing Shupadam permeates every moment of her life.
Plamen Karagyozov
Plamen Karagyozov, Paramanand, is coming from what it may seem an eclectic background with multiple trainings in sports, dance, movement and healing. A successful competitive swimming carrier, shattered by a broken ankle, put him on the path of self healing and deep inner discoveries. With a graduate and a post-graduate degrees from the National Sports Academy in Bulgaria, Plamen became a teacher in PE, Coach in Sailing and a Therapist with a broad range of healing modalities, such as Classical, Sports and Cosmetic massages, along with Reflexology, Acupressure and other Eastern techniques. Since coming to the United States, he received training in Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Watsu and became a Teacher of Body-Mind Centering. This natural progression lead Plamen deeper and deeper in to the wonder, named Human Body, where the physical, mental, intellectual, energetic and spiritual intersect and sneak into the subtle. There he discovered Shupadham Yoga, which he currently develops with partner Lisa.
Come and join him in his unique and fascinating journey, which he believes, will lead to Liberation.
April Lechwar
April brings to her teaching a gentle and understanding awareness of the of the body’s ability to recover from injury and illness through yoga. Her approach emphasizes Ahimsa, or non-violence, and honoring your body and its limits in this moment. She believes in the therapeutic value of yoga for mind and body. April began her own yoga journey to heal body and soul, and feels extreme gratitude to be able to help others on their journey.
April is a 500 hour RYT in Hatha Yoga with additional certifications in Restorative Yoga and Reiki. She has also studied Sanskrit, Ayurveda and Ayurvedic body treatments, Thai Yoga Massage, Yoga for Children, Yoga for Pregnancy, and Yoga for Athletes.
Dezza Pastor
Dezza is in the process of completing her 200-hour teacher training through Yoga Matrika. Her yoga journey began with an introduction to yoga during a high school gym class, but Dezza finds that there is always something new to learn on the exciting path of yoga. She has found her own personal practice to be both a source of comfort and transformation. She strives to apply the mindfulness that she works for on her mat to everyday interactions.
Ven. Soorakkulame Pemaratana (aka. Bhante Pema)
Bhante Pema is a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka. He was ordained in his early age and received higher ordination in 1997 after completing 10 years of monastic training. He holds a bachelor’s degree with first class honors in Buddhist Studies from the University of Peradeniya and a master’s degree in philosophy from the National University of Singapore.
He has lectured at the University of Peradeniya and the Buddhist and Pali College of Singapore. The Transcultural Society for Clinical Meditation in Japan gave him the 2008 Haruki Award for his research paper on Meditation and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. He is currently the abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center in Natrona Heights. He conducts regular lectures and workshops in Buddhist teachings and meditation in the Buddhist center and other places in the area including the State Correctional Institution in Pittsburgh.
Lynn Rescigno
Lynn was one of Pittsburgh’s first yoga teachers. She began teaching ashtanga after a small community of yoga practioners sprang up on Pittsburgh’s South side. Sri K Pattabhi Jois, Tim Miller, and Maty Ezraty were her first gurus. Lynn moved to NYC in the early 2000′s to study/teach at Jivamukti Yoga School with Sharon Gannon and David Life. While in NYC, Lynn studied at The Iyengar Institute, Laughing Lotus, and The Breathing Project. Lynn also brings to her teaching a 20 year background in choreogrphy and dance. Lynn holds certifications in Ashtanga(primary series), Jivamukti(800hr), Yoga Anatomy(the Breathing Project( 100hr), Pre-natal(Laughing Lotus-50hr) and Pilates(600 hour with Ramona Kryzanowska.
Sharon Rudyk
Sharon Rudyk, MA, E-RYT, R-PYT is the owner and director of Yoga Matrika. She has two Masters degrees, one in Chinese and East Asian Studies and another in Cultural Anthropology. This academic work helps to inform her practice, creative process and understanding of what it means to be human. Sharon studied and practiced vinyasa flow, but has made a more significant personal commitment to Vajra Yoga (Jill Satterfield), meditation, embodied anatomy and mindful practices in the past ten-years. She has designed both a 200-hour teacher training program and a 100-hour certification program for fertility support, prenatal and postnatal yoga. Both training programs are registered with Yoga Alliance. She teaches Matrika Prenatal and Matrika Mom and Baby yoga at Yoga Matrika and at Magee Womens Hospital.
