Matrika on the Go

February 16, 2013

Posted by Sharon

Click on this picture to find out what meditation REALLY is.

I’m taking matrika style on the go and you can find me offering yoga and meditation classes on Sundays and Mondays at mookshi wellness center! Save your space in a series today. I’m also offering a workshop for women and one for meditators. I hope to see you at mookshi soon!

GROUP CLASSES

Mindful Flow
Join me for this esoteric bliss mission! In this yoga series open to all levels, we move with the breath creating joy in open awareness. As our practice is a moving meditation, we use a variety of poses, breathing exercises and visualization techniques from Chinese, Tibetan and Indian yoga traditions to create flexibility and strength in body, mind and spirit. This healing practice will help you feel centered, relaxed and inspired. Enjoy a stronger and more flexible body as you build a foundation for profound happiness and tranquility.

SERIES I: Mondays, March 4, 11, 18 and April 1 from 10:00-11:15 am
SERIES II: Mondays, April 8, 15, 22, 29 from 10:00-11:15 am
Tuition: $60 for each series of 4-classes or $18 to drop-in on single classes (as space permits)
Register by contacting Sharon at (412) 855-5692 or send an e-mail to: sharon@yogamatrika.com

Meditation
Do you feel down, scattered, overwhelmed, anxious or bored? Is your stress level out of hand? Or, perhaps you have a regular meditation practice that feels stale and you need a new infusion of ideas, skills and inspiration to get you back on your cushion? Regardless of your reason, join Sharon for this open-level meditation series where we will learn a variety of meditation skills for both seated and moving meditation practices. Everyone can meditate and no experience is required. After each session you will not only feel remarkably happier, but you will have very specific skills for practicing at home and on the go.

SERIES I: Sundays, February 24, March 3, 10, 17 from 11:00-12:15 pm
SERIES II: Sundays, April 7, 14, 21, 28 from 11:00-12:15 pm
Tuition: $60 for each series of 4-classes or $18 to drop-in on single classes (as space permits)
Register by contacting Sharon at (412) 855-5692 or send an e-mail to: sharon@yogamatrika.com

WORKSHOPS

PERIOD.
A workshop for women facilitated by Sharon F. Rudyk
SUNDAY, April 14, 2013 from 1:00 to 3:30 pm
$35 (tuition includes a cycle tracker kit and all handouts)

Register by calling Sharon (412) 855-5692 or by sending an e-mail to: sharon@yogamatrika.com

In this workshop, you will be re-introduced to your amazing menstrual cycle on physical, spiritual and energetic levels. The cost of the workshop includes a kit with everything you need to learn about fertility signs and tracking the length and phases of your own unique cycle. Never be surprised by your period again! You will learn a unique yoga-based meditation to tune into the energy your moon cycle to help you time creative projects, big decisions and times for rest and rejuvenation. Respect your natural energetic rhythms and learn self-care techniques for PMS, painful periods and pelvic pain from the seemingly mysterious to ovarian cysts and other challenges to fertility and reproductive health for women. This workshop is for women of all ages and in all phases of cycling. Young women under the age of 17 may enjoy attending with a wise woman who is over the age of 25 who can support them in understanding this alternative approach to women’s health and wellness. Even if you are entering menopause or have experienced menopause, this workshop will be enlightening and you will learn techniques for greater health that you will use each and every day. This workshop is a beautiful way to heal your relationship with the cyclical nature of womanhood and embrace one of your greatest powers.

Location: möökshï wellness center, above Biddle’s Escape Café at 401 Biddle Avenue, Pittsburgh
www.mookshi.com or call (412) 407-7829

YOGA for MEDITATORS
A workshop facilitated by Sharon F. Rudyk
SUNDAY, April 28, 2013 from 1:00-3:00 pm
$25

Register by calling Sharon (412) 855-5692 or by sending an e-mail to: sharon@yogamatrika.com

In this workshop, we will explore a variety of yoga-based movements for body and breath that help prepare the body, mind and spirit for meditation. Sharon will introduce practice ideas for meditators who want to do yoga to help solve common obstacles faced by adults with a regular meditation practice. We look at ways to increase energy, calm agitation, relieve stress, open the hips and ease back tension. In this active workshop we explore asana that provide support for a seated meditation practice and a few restorative and rejuvenating tricks that super-charge the benefits of meditation. You will learn how to find a more comfortable seat, address aches and pains associated with a seated practice and find relief for physical obstacles that may be preventing you from enjoying a rewarding meditation practice experience.

Location: möökshï wellness center, above Biddle’s Escape Café at 401 Biddle Avenue, Pittsburgh
www.mookshi.com or call (412) 407-7829

About Sharon

Sharon F. Rudyk, MA, E-RYT, RPYT, DONA trained birth doula, has over twenty-years of experience with personal practice and teaching yoga and meditation. Her practice and teachings are informed not only by her advanced studies with Jill Satterfield in Vajra Yoga, embodied anatomy with Mark Chandlee Taylor and vipassana meditation with Bhante Pema of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center, but also from academic research in medical anthropology and East Asian studies. Sharon’s goal is to facilitate a deep practice that starts with an invitation. We are invited to explore the tools of the human experience: sensation, movement, awareness, breath and relationship and how we can use them to bring ourselves relief and to a place of well being. Find out more about Sharon’s unique style of yoga that includes a carefully selected combination of techniques and practices from Tibetan, Chinese and Indian yoga traditions through her website: www.sharonrudykyoga.com. Interested in all things related to “great expectations” and Sharon’s birth doula services? Then check out: www.pittsburghyogadoula.com.

Winter Class Descriptions

November 12, 2012

Posted by Sharon

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Check out the Winter Schedule during our preview in December (December 8-22, 2012)!

MATRIKA YOGA
An all-levels practice that combines techniques for physical postures (asana), breathing exercises (pranayama), visualization, stretching and relaxation from Tibetan, Chinese and Indian yoga traditions. Explore sensation and movement in body and mind as you build strength, increase endurance, flexibility and balance while relieving tension and stress.

MATRIKA FLOW YOGA
This is an eclectic hatha yoga practice similar to Matrika Yoga classes with an emphasis on longer vinyasa flow style sequences. Students of all levels who prefer a more physically active yoga practice will enjoy this class. This is a mindful flow practice and students are invited to flow at their own level and pace.

MATRIKA CALM/MEDITATION
All-levels meditation practices are one-hour in length. All sessions include some mindful movement, breath awareness and instruction in a variety of seated meditation techniques. Great for stress management

YOGA THERAPEUTICS
In these classes we use proven yoga techniques to address our physical, mental and energetic health issues. Based on student request and intake information, Sharon will teach students ways to use yoga practices to address: low back pain, circulation issues, cardiovascular health, stress and anxiety, mood, head/neck and shoulder tension and pain, weight management, arthritis and other common issues of well-being that can be supported through yoga.

MATRIKA PRENATAL YOGA & EXERCISE
This is a gentle practice for women in all stages of pregnancy to increase endurance, relieve tension and prepare for birth. Maintain your strength and feel as energetic and comfortable as possible during pregnancy.

ME & YOU YOGA and MOM & BABY YOGA
Me & You Yoga is a gentle practice for moms and infants and children of all ages. We do some stress relieving yoga for mom and some fun, interactive and playful yoga with wee ones. They love it! Create a beautiful ritual of shared time with your little one while introducing your children to yoga. Tuition is for one adult/one child. Each additional child is $8 per class. Mom & Baby Yoga is a postnatal appropriate class for moms with babies up to 12-months of age/crawling. Classes include a very gentle yoga sequence for baby that you can use anytime to help soothe, calm and delight your wee one. Moms benefit from stress and tension relief, exercises to help heal from birth and re-build pelvic floor and core strength.

KIDS YOGA (Ages 5-11)
It’s not easy being little! Children are natural yogis and benefit from body awareness, building compassion and learning techniques for finding calm no matter how stormy their mood or feeling. Playful yoga practices help reduce stress and anxiety while providing a gently active physical practice.

LITTLE OM PLAY GROUP
Michelle facilitates this play group for mobile infants (apx. 9-months) to toddlers up to three-years of age with developmentally appropriate activities that help little ones explore texture, creative movement, music, stories, songs and group socialization skills.

YOGA for WOMEN
This is a yoga class for women with a focus on practices that support reproductive health and optimum fertility. In a supportive, comfortable and non-competitive environment, learn movements, breathing exercises, visualizations and relaxation techniques that will support you in creating optimum fertility in mind, body and spirit. Excellent for women of all ages, this approach to the practice of yoga is designed to support aspects of health that may be of particular concern to women from menstrual cycle regularity, menopause, bone health, cardiovascular health, weight management, endocrine/hormone balance and more.

Welcome Cosy Makes Studio

June 12, 2012

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Starting later this summer, you will notice some changes in the studio space at Yoga Matrika as we welcome Cosy Makes Studio to share our little space at 1406 S. Negley Avenue. We know that change can be hard and be stressful, even when that change means wonderful things. So, I want to share with you what this change means for you so you can prepare.

The biggest change is that, starting in the fall, Yoga Matrika will no longer offer “drop-in” classes. All of our classes will require registration for a series of classes for a “semester”. Classes that do not meet a minimum pre-registration will be cancelled and all classes will have strict maximum attendance so that we can make sure that all students are comfortable and safe when they come to practice at Yoga Matrika. For years, this has been our specialty—–small, intimate classes where students receive the highest quality instruction. There are so many benefits to making a commitment to a series of classes and practicing in this way that it would be hard to even name them all, but I’ll name a few just to ease any upset that you may be having at the idea of not having drop-in classes anymore:

#1: If you make a commitment and pay up-front, you are more likely to actually attend class. If you know you can’t beg for more time on your class package and that you must show up for a specific class at a specific time, you are likely to put that class on your calendar and actually attend. No excuses!

#2: In a class that runs in a series, the instructor can plan a curriculum for that class and add new skills each week knowing what you did the previous week. This makes it a higher quality class because the instructor can prepare in a more specific way. As a student, you will also see progress in your practice and be able to learn new skills in a valuable way.

#3: You will get to know your teacher and fellow students and this makes practice more intimate and safe. Relieve yourself of the constant flow of new faces and needs and special requests………your instructor will be able to tailor each practice to the group that has registered and you will have the support and space required to truly relax into your practice without distractions. The student-teacher relationship is very important in yoga and by making a commitment to a particular class and with a particular teacher, you allow this relationship to prosper.

#4: I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired of trying to keep track of class packages, special deals, cancellations, substitutes, etc. This registration policy liberates us all from these concerns. Register and attend. There will not be another GROUPON, LIVING SOCIAL, coupon code, discount rate, unlimited……nothing. The series are all scheduled so that there is a minimum of one week at the end so that, if the instructor has to cancel a class, there will be a make-up class added. If YOU miss a class, you can purchase a make-up class package and take any other class on the schedule that has room to make up for it during that semester. Or, well, you just missed a class. It will be OK!

The other big change is that we will be sharing the space with a fiber artist. Trust me, this is WONDERFUL news. And, not just ANY fiber artist—-it’s our very own Cosy! Cosy could teach my fish how to knit and if you are a knitter, hooker or just fiber curious, Cosy is going to offer at least three classes a week for a variety of levels that will be perfect for you. Also, the front reception area will become a retail outlet for Cosy’s patterns, hand-dyed wool, kits and much, much more. You can purchase yarns, patterns and kits before or after classes or when Cosy has events and groups or by appointment. Cosy does private lessons too!

So, here is the least you need to know:

#1: You can continue to take fabulous, small-group yoga and meditation classes at Yoga Matrika with your favorite instructors this fall.

#2: You will be able to learn to knit, learn new knitting skills and purchase unique and hand-made yarns and patterns at Yoga Matrika starting this fall when Cosy Makes Studio opens at 1406 S. Negley Avenue.

Special Topics Series w/Anna Gilbert

September 24, 2009

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Special Topics Series with Anna Gilbert
10/14, 10/28, 11/11, 12/9
Wednesdays from 7:15 pm to 8:15 pm
$34 for the series of 4-workshops or $12 to drop-in

10/14 From Kitty Cat to Wagging Dog: Exploring the Spine in Asana
10/28 Is Your Triangle a Rectangle? Explore the Side Body in Asana
11/11 Are you Ready to Rumble? Explore Alignment in Warrior Pose
12/9 Let’s Twist! Explore spirals in seated and standing Asana

More information on topics and to register here:

http://dharmatribeonline.com/matrika/index.php?tab=event_detail&event_id=1704&class_type=session

Posted by Sharon Rudyk, Director of Yoga Matrika in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
https://www.yogamatrika.com/