The Commons Brooklyn

The Bhagavad Gita says, ’ When the mind is still and quiet the Self reveals itself.’  Sounds wonderful, but getting to a still and quiet place in the mind can be quite a trip!  In this two hour master class with Lesley Desaulniers and Amanda Harding, we will explore how to access this inner calm when things get vigorous and intensely active ‘on the mat’.  Extending ‘off the mat’, we will explore how these lessons can help bring us tranquility enabling a deeper connection to our true nature amidst the chaos and challenges of everyday life.

LESLEY DESAULNIERS has been studying yoga and meditation since 1996, taking her practice to New York, Russia, India, and back. In her early twenties, Lesley was a resident at Ananda Ashram in upstate New York, where she intensively studied Sanskrit, meditation, philosophy, and Hatha yoga. She was later certified by Sharon Gannon and David Life and went on to teach at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in downtown Manhattan. Lesley continues to study, practice, and teach daily. Her classes are imbued with a rare blend of scholarly study, spiritual awareness, and good humor. To find out more about Lesley, please visit her website: www.authenticityproject.com

AMANDA HARDING was raised in a family of Broadway gypsies where yoga became a natural progression after a lifetime of dancing. Certified through NYC’s OM Yoga Center, she has been teaching privately for over 10 years as well as group classes at Prema Yoga, Equinox, The Shala, Park Slope Yoga, Yoga Center of Brooklyn and many others. Amanda teaches a vigorous and dynamic class incorporating the fluidity of dance and music with heavy emphasis on alignment, breath, patience and fun. Her wish is to impart to her students the many gifts she has received through her ongoing practice and studies – a greater sense of awareness, inner peace, strength, compassion and much joy.www.karunanyc.com