Workshops & Special Events
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*Diving into Ecstasy: A Private Play-shop for Couples!!
Interested in deepening your 'Sacred Sexuality' practice with your partner?
Enjoy a 3-hour long private class/practice session,
In which you and your partner can deepen any of your favourite elements from my tantra workshops!
Click here to find out more!
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* New Moon Gathering: A Monthly Wine and Cheese Soiree at Follow Your Bliss
Every month on the Friday nearest the new moon, a group of healing-arts practiitoners gather at FYB and offer 20-minute samples of tthier services. So far, we have had Reiki, Pranic Healing, Reflexology, Chair Massage, Reconnective Healing, Palmistry, Tarot readings, Yoga Nidra, Hypnotism, and Thai Yoga Massage (to name a few!)
These parties allow new clients a chance to see how this eco-conscious, community healing home is developing and enjoy the socializing and networking over some wine, cheese, and great conversation! With Child Care provided (upon request), it is a great chance to mingle, network, and share resources, while sampling amazing and affordable healing arts in between!
Space is limited, so please email to reserve your spot. And please pass this invitation on to your communities, especially to people that you know could benefit from some self-care and positive vibrations!
When: The Friday nearest the new moon.
Offering: $20 admission, which includes your first 20minute treatment (or two people for $35!)
~ Each additional treatment, just $10 each
Click here for upcoming dates and practitioner listings.
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* Ganja Yoga - Cannabis-Enhanced Yoga Classes 
When the mind is stilled in yoga, the psychological experience of time ceases to exist. Altered states, such as those produced by cannabis or deep meditation (and the coupling of the two) can help us to bring our awareness deeply into the present moment, producing transformative effects that can carry forward into ordinary consciousness.
While it is important to cultivate a meditative state without dependence on external medicines, cannabis in its many forms is entheogenic ("God within") substance has been used by spiritual aspirants for thousands of years.
Come explore the depths of your inner world and yogic practice in a safe space. Bring your own weed for a vaporizer café and chat (approximately 30 minutes), followed by a profoundly trippy yoga class, set to mystical music (approximately 75 minutes). Light munchies served afterward. All levels for yoga.
To learn more, click here.
When: Thursday, September 16th 2010 ~ 6:30-8pm
Where: 'Earth & Fire' - 489 Queen Street W. Toronto
Offering: $15 includes munchies - byop (Bring your own pot)
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Friday Afternoon Mini-Retreats
Enjoy the pleasure of deepening your practice by taking time at the end of the month to unwind and revitalize. Held on the last Friday of each month, these three-hour long mini-retreats include a 90-minute asana class, an in-depth prana yama practice, mantra repetition, a new form of meditation as homework for the month, an extended yoga nidra, and a cup of tea. This intensive takes the form of a Vippasana retreat in that there is completely no conversation until tea is served.
Please respect, and surrender into the silence!
When: Friday, October 1st, 5:30-8:30pm
Offering: $25
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Coming-Soon!
... Here’s a taste of up-coming Workshops & Special Events, to wet your whistle!
* Ecstatic Consciousness, Ecstatic Masturbation: A Two-hour workshop for Anyone
Only after spending years practicing Tantric consciousness through masturbation would ancient Tantrikas share their experiences with a partner. Learn ancient techniques and philosophies surrounding ecstatic self-pleasure, practice occupying the body fully, and experience desire for impersonal sexual energy instead of for a particular person. Plus, experience a Chocolate Meditation! – Everyone welcome. Please wear comfortable clothing for light yoga.
Recommended: Ecstatic Consciousness, Ecstatic Life.
* The Ecstatic Woman: A Bi-weekly 2-hour group for Women*
This group is on-going, and allows all types of women to come together to talk about practicing the techniques and philosophies of Tantra in our psycho-spiritual-sexual lives. New ideas and readings will be recommended, focusing both on partner-sex, solo sacred sex, and general Tantric life-practices. Focus will be on issues that are relevant to the group – such as intimacy, gender roles, body image, sexual healing, and communication. Maximum 10 women. Please wear comfortable clothing for light yoga.
$12/session
$10 if you book 5 sessions
$8 if you book 10 sessions
$6 if you book 20 sessions
(* ‘Women’ includes trans and self-identified women)
* Journey Through the Chakras: A Fourteen-Week Intensive Course
In this intensive course, we will begin an in-depth study of the physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual structures of the seven main chakras, spending two weeks on each. Half of the course is devoted to an intellectual understanding of the chakras, and half is devoted to transformational experiential understanding of the sacred energy centres. Various chakra-awakening exercises will be practiced, so that you can begin to experience your own inner shakti energy. There will be weekly readings and meditation practices for homework, creative reflection about your chakra excesses and deficiencies, and sharing with your fellow journeyers. Maximum 8 participants. No experience is necessary. Please wear comfortable clothing for light yoga practice.
2.5 hours per session, 14 weekly sessions - $280, includes a complimentary “chakra workout” with Tracey Tief
* Following Your Bliss: A 4-Week Guide to Designing and Manifesting Your Dream Life
In this course, we will use intention, ritual, yoga, vision-boarding, mantra, EFT (Emotional-Freedom Technique), and journaling to creatively brainstorm how to “Follow Our Bliss”. In this intensive course, we will design our dream lives and realize what specific steps need to be taken in order to touch heaven.
4 weekly sessions, each 2 hours long
$80
* Intro to Meditation: A Four-Week Workshop, with Dee
Meditation is the art of calming the mind and becoming single-focused, either on the breath, a spiritual object, sound, or thought. In this beginner's workshop, we will practice and explore a number of techniques in order to begin to develop a personal meditation practice. This workshop is suitable for those new to meditation or for those looking to re-fresh their practice.
This 4 week workshop uses yoga asanas (postures) to open, stretch and prepare the body for meditation. Leave feeling refreshed, relaxed, and peaceful. No experience necessary. Please wear comfortable clothing for light yoga asana.
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Past Workshops and events
Here's how Follow Your Bliss has rocked the socks last year!!
Belly Dancing with Nimmi
Follow Your Bliss will be offering a 2 hour belly dance workshop with Nimmi! During the first hour, Nimmi will break down all the basic moves and isolations at a comfortable and enjoyable pace. The second hour will be devoted to putting the moves together to create beautiful mini-dances that you can take home and share with friends, partners, or just your talented self!
Those who have coin belts at home, can bring them. If they have any other belly dance gear (coin bra's, etc.), they are totally welcome to wear them during the workshop! All levels and genders welcome.
Spring Feng Shui Event
Spring manifests itself with Abundance. Abundance of foliage and flowers and a feeling of re-birth all around us. Welcome the same into your home. Open the doors to Prosperity and Happiness by simply introducing a few Principles of Feng Shui. You may very well already doing all you can to have a healthy body and enlightened mind… but what happens if you go home to an unbalanced home… are you avoiding all that good effort ?
First ~ We will identify all aspects of Universal Abundance and how to create it in your own life.
Second ~ Exercises to help you create abundance every day. Connect your “doing” with your “being”.
Third ~ Learn 7 Feng Shui practices to immediately welcome abundance into your home.
Palmistry and the Elements, with Melanie
This 1-hour workshop introduces participants to the four elements (earth, air, water and fire) as they appear in palmistry. Participants learn which element they are, and how to assess elements on the hand in others
All workshop participants receive a 25% discount on a future palmistry session with Melanie.
Yoga - Palmistry for Women with Dee and Melanie
Have a lady’s night in with your girlfriends and sisters! – We’ll start with a 45 minute yoga class (suitable for all levels) and then learn basic palmistry over yummy treats, created by one of Follow Your Bliss’s culinary goddesses!
During the palmistry section, Melanie provides an archetypal overview through the shape, texture, flexibility, nail type, element, and drawn symbols of your hand. These provide insight into your communication style, personal/social tendencies, key challenges to self-actualization, and suggestions for stress management and personal growth.
Palmistry Foundations, with Melanie
This workshop provides a brief overview of the history, origin, and current contexts of palmistry. Key concepts are reviewed and discussed, with an emphasis on how time, energy, intention and form intersect in palmistry and other healing modalities.
Ecstatic Consciousness, Ecstatic Life: A Two-hour Workshop
In this intro to Tantra, we’re all invited to explore the world of form through the five senses—taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound. Realizing the illusion of duality, we consciously experience the physical in order to transcend it. Learn the basics of Tantra, including powerful meditation techniques, and get ideas for how to bring Tantric philosophy into your life. Everyone is welcome. Previous experience with Tantra is great, but not necessary.
A New Earth: Awaken to Your Life’s Purpose, A 10-Week Study Group
Eckhart Tolle shows you how to become free of fear, unease, discontent, and other dysfunctions of the human mind, by going beyond identification with the ego. The deep inner stillness that underlies his words serves as a transmission that will reveal to you your own inner depth, a dimension of consciousness that is one with the eternal Now. This is the only place where true happiness can be found.
In this 10-week study group, we will discuss how we relate to, and practice Eckhart Tolle’s suggestions for being fully present in the moment, which helps us to ‘transcend our ego-based consciousness.’ Our intention is to make practicing ‘presence’ a way of living and being in the world. This group has a lot of independent study and reflection. For homework, we’ll read one chapter of his book, watch his webcast with Oprah, and journal about our experiences with consciousness. Then we’ll meet to share an enlightened conversation about our practices. No experience is necessary.
Aum Class with Cello Chanting
Cello-Chanting uses the Cello, Kora, Shruti Box, and the Bansuri to create a vibrant musical texture that accompanies Group Chanting/Humming. All of these instruments create sounds which help bring the mind into a state of Tranquility. After Ten Minutes of Sound, one then Meditates in Silence for Ten Minutes, while observing the Breath. The stark contrast of Sound vs. Silence allows one to go deeply into both. Silence gives the Mind rest, so that one feels refreshed and ready to enter another Ten Minutes of Sound. Each Ten Minutes of Sound allows us to explore the different layers of the self.
For more information, check out Lucas’ website: cello-chanting.com
Moving into Bliss, with Noreia
Join us for a free-style barefoot dance & movement jam. A non-judgemental space beyond the rigidity of right or wrong, or technique. An experiential playground that allows for the exploration of embodied expression of the truth of the present moment. Here we practice listening, trusting and surrendering to the wisdom of our bodies through music.
The world rhythms and beats invite us to shake off our stress and tensions and dance our prayers. A lighthearted and fun way to relax, heal, rejuvenate, and connect with Source energies. No dance experience necessary.
Friday Afternoon Intensives: A Monthly Mini-Retreat
Enjoy the pleasure of deepening your practice by taking time at the end of the month to unwind and revitalize. These three-hour long mini-retreats include a 90-minute asana class, an in-depth prana yama practice, mantra repetition, an new form of meditation as homework for the month, an extended yoga nidra, and a cup of tea. This intensive takes the form of a Vippasana retreat in that there is completely no conversation until tea is served. Please respect, and surrender into the silence!
$25 per session, or book 6 sessions for $90
Mantra Chanting to Appreciate Your Life, with Gary
In this workshop we will open the door to acceptance and celebration using the sound of our voices and our true sincere heart. Singing ability is not required! We shall learn how to engage with deity mantra, as a technique to actually feel the sparkling essence within ourselves and all life.
As the wheel of Karma spin us, so too we will spin the wheel of Karma.
Astrology and Health Presentation, with Kelly
Astrology has a rich history, especially in the field of health and medicine. The focus of this presentation is to share with attendees some of the basic philosophy and theory around the ways in which astrology can be used to guide the healing process. This has both spiritual and physical implications. Handouts and directions to further resources are provided.
Autumn Nature Stroll & Yoga Practice, with Lisa & Dee
Please join us on Sunday, October 4th for a leisurely walk through Edwards Gardens. We’ll meet at dusk, and meander through the park, connecting to nature, and to the stillness within. Our stroll includes: Gentle walk with yoga poses for every body, Salutations to the sun, as it sets beyond the horizon, Intention and connection practices to end the journey.
‘Sita Sings the Blues’ Movie Party!
Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."
Earth. Air. Water. Fire. - Understand, Embody, & Express Your Element!
In this workshop, we will... Discuss the cross-cultural contexts of the elements, Assess your hand's element, what this means in palmistry, Align your element with an earth/air/water/fire yoga series, Express your element with a post-yoga, meditative elemental collage!
Gathering Possibilities - collaging workshops with Catherine
Open your artist’s eyes to the joy of collage! The theme for this introductory workshop is “Gathering Possibilities”, and it will show you how to combine images from magazines, leaflets, and calendars into nearly infinite arrangements of colours, patterns, and shapes. Participants will be invited to gather images which speak to them and create a collage piece which expresses personal possibility. All materials will be provided. Cost: twelve dollars, no art experience necessary
The facilitator of “Gathering Possibilities”, Catherine Raine, has exhibited her collage work at the annual art show at Sheena’s Place (2007 and 2008). She has also initiated collage bees at her home and in art-friendly coffee shops. Sample pictures of her art can be found on her blog at c-raine.com. Catherine is excited to share her love of collage with the Follow Your Bliss Community!
When: Monday, July 19th, 5:30-7:30 - "Collage Your Animal Spirit Guide"
Offering: $12
Learn to do the Didgeridoo, with Sher-Doc
The didgeridoo is a wonderfully healing instrument. Just hearing the sound instantly grounds and calms people. While playing it, is a great abdominal and aerobic workout. It burns calories, increases your
breath capacity and eliminates snoring. However the most healing thing about it is that it can transport you to ‘Trans State’. The brain usually operates in Beta Waves (above 12 Hertz). Experienced
meditators can consciously slow their mind, slow their brain waves to the Delta range (0.00… - 3 Hz) which most people only ever experience while their in a deep, rejuvenating sleep, when Human Growth Hormone production is greatly increased and thorough healing takes place. The didgeridoo can produce sounds as low as can go, i.e. down to the 0.00… range, thus through playing the do, you can experience some of the benefits of years of meditation.
I often here “Ohh, the ‘Didgeridoo’ That’s such a hard instrument to play.” - I beg to differ, for I can teach most anyone how to make some pretty wicked beats in a matter of minutes. During this 2 hour music lesson, I’ll show you many different techniques and work with you to get it sounding good.
I’ll provide the didgeridoos, but if you have one of your own please bring it along. Tea, Kombucha and Rawlicious treats will be provided, but once again feel free to bring a treat to contribute.
Core Yoga - Explorations in Sound and Movement
In this special yoga class, students are invited to travel deep within to the core of themselves, finding deep inner silence. Bohdan Ruzycky creates a visceral soundscape using voice and drum, while gentle yoga poses and breath-work are used to awaken the essence, or core, of our being-ness, so that we can experience ourselves as sacred and divine.