HATHA YOGA

All the yoga courses run for 8 weeks and are limited to 12 students. Because the classes build skills cumulatively from week to week, an 8-week commitment is the minimum amount of time needed for an introduction to yoga or for the development of each aspect of a balanced yoga practice. Eight weeks, combined with the small class size, also gives the teacher time to get to know each student individually and to customize instruction for each student's particular needs.

Although there is a make-up policy for missed classes (described on the registration page) we do not accept drop-ins.

Beginning Yoga
If you are new to yoga or returning after a break, we advise a beginning course. These classes offer instruction in a basic series of asanas (postures/sustained stretches) designed to create a familiar and balanced physical routine. Relaxation and breathing techniques are introduced to reduce stress and restore energy.

Gentle Yoga
Gentle yoga is a highly effective way for people who have physical limitations to experience the many benefits of hatha yoga. In this class, we practice gentle stretching, strengthening, and balancing techniques as well as restorative postures and guided meditations that leave the students relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. Gentle yoga is appropriate for prenatal and postnatal students, students with back issues, and for highly stressed individuals who need to just let go and totally relax.

Intermediate Yoga
Students who have attended at least 16 weeks of beginning yoga or who have had other yoga experience should consider this level. Classes include more difficult asanas (postures/sustained stretches) with emphasis on precision and refinement of technique.

Restorative Yoga
If you are recovering from an illness or injury, have a chronic illness, or are fatigued or depleted, restorative yoga is ideal. Classes include breathing techniques and adaptations of classical yoga postures that gently support the student with props. Students experience renewal, rejuvenation, and an increase in energy.

Pre-Natal Yoga
Pre-natal yoga is a wonderful source of physical, emotional, and spiritual support for pregnant women. It keeps the body strong and flexible, combats fatigue, backache, and digestive disorders. The practices create a state of calmness and inner clarity and provides powerful focusing and breathing techniques for labor and delivery.

Our classes are small and provide an opportunity for personal attention which is essential for the rapidly changing pregnant body, and poses are adapted to meet the needs of the individual student. We emphasize balanced posture, abdominal strengthening, lumbar (lower back) strengthening and stabilization, as well as breathing and relaxation.

Private Yoga Therapy
These one-on-one sessions draw on hatha yoga, meditation, and relaxation techniques to develop and maintain a practice that meets the student's individual needs.

MEDITATION

Meditation is the simple yet profound practice of rediscovering what the poet T. S. Eliot called "the still point of the turning world." Students learn to use ancient, yet relevant, practical techniques to access and connect with a profoundly tranquil, healing internal state. The meditation courses, like the yoga courses, have a limited class size and a curriculum that builds from one week to the next. Each course requires a commitment of 6 weeks.

Introduction to Meditation
This course familiarizes students with basic meditative practices based on a unique classical system. Techniques include the creative practices of mantra meditation (inner sound), breathing techniques, the healing power of imagery, and mindfulness meditation. Students are supported in establishing a daily habit of meditation.

Meditation Workshop
This course expands on the techniques taught in Beginning Meditation to deepen the practice of meditation and provide a forum for discussion and mutual support. This workshop brings about a more subtle awareness of the transformational process that is initiated through the practice of meditation. The many dimensions of meditation and its effects are explored and experienced in a sharing, compassionate environment.

CHAIR YOGA

Chair yoga is a highly effective way for people who have problems walking and balancing to experience the many benefits of hatha yoga even while practicing yoga sitting in a chair or a wheelchair. Susan Morton has developed an integrated chair practice through years of experience in working with elderly and handicapped students, and people with M.S., Parkinson's, and arthritis. The practices include both flexibility and strength work. With a simple daily practice, one can experience the relaxation that comes from stretching and the confidence that comes from strengthening the upper body, abdominals, and legs resulting in increased energy and a sense of heightened well-being.

DYNAMIC LUMBAR STABILIZATION AND STRENGTHENING

This unique offering of the Yoga and Meditation Center of Montclair can be studied privately with Susan Morton. We also introduce a few of the basics of Lumbar Stabilization and Strengthening in Beginning Yoga classes. If you suffer from chronic lower back pain, you may benefit from this program, which was developed at the San Francisco Spine Institute. Based in part on yoga, dynamic lumbar stabilization and strengthening relieves back pain and prevents lower back injuries by increasing the strength and flexibility of the muscles that support the spine.

YAMUNA BODY ROLLING

Effective at preventing injury, stimulating bone, and freeing restrictions, Yamuna Body Rolling is an outstanding way to produce profound change in the body. It combines the strength and toning effects of exercise with the releasing of massage. Yamuna Body Rolling can be done on its own or as a compliment to your yoga practice.