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Dates
Sunday 03/30/2025 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Pricing
$55.00 Yoga: There When We Need It — The Power of Mudra with Doug Keller
‘Mudra’ is one of the most immediately available yoga practices, along with the breath.
The secret of mudra is its connection to the breath. Each finger connects facially to an aspect of the breath — both the muscles that move the breath, and subtly to the lobes of the lungs themselves. Mudra has the power to alter the breath and, with it, alter our inner state.
This is rarely explored, but the connection is quite tangible, and the tools of mudra are immediately available to you to steady and to alter your state. You don’t need a mat or a ‘yoga space’ in which to do it.
The session will include simple warmup stretches, exercises, and experiments with mudra and the breath, augmenting simple pranayamas with mudra.
The initial theme will be the qualities of empowerment described by the Vayus and supported by mudra: Vyana - inhabiting our place through feeling and sensation; Prana - being open to experience, enthusiasm, and hope; Apana - being grounded and centered, not giving into fear or becoming unkind; Samana - pausing in the inner space in which we are restored and renewed; and Udana - being strong and clear in our wisdom and intention.
We will add to this an understanding of ‘drishthi’ — the influence of the gaze of our eyes on the experience of the breath, regardless of whether the eyes are open or closed. This will help us further refine our experience of focus and the breath, and will lead to further pranayamas and meditations that bring together mudra and drishthi, giving you tools for steadying yourself. While this is in the context of meditation and relaxation postures, these tools can be utilized without anyone noticing in everyday situations.
Doug Keller
Doug Keller has been teaching workshops and trainings internationally in the therapeutic applications of yoga for 20 years, and is known not only for his effectiveness in communicating this ever-evolving approach in these trainings, but also for his extensive writing on the topic in magazines, journals and his two-volume work on ‘Yoga As Therapy.’ He has also served, in addition to his traveling and teaching, as a Distinguished Professor at the Maryland University of Integrative Health in their Master’s Degree program in Yoga Therapy.
His background reflects a lifelong commitment to studying, imbibing and sharing the vast field of knowledge and practice known as yoga. After receiving honors and graduate degrees in philosophy from the top Jesuit universities in the United States, Georgetown and Fordham Universities, and teaching philosophy at a college level for several years, he then pursued his ‘post-graduate’ education in the practical experience of yoga at the Siddha Meditation Ashram, Gurudev Siddha Peeth in India, for seven years. He spent a total of 14 years doing service, practicing, training in and teaching yoga in Siddha Meditation Ashrams worldwide. He received intensive training in the Iyengar system in New York City, mainly with senior certified Iyengar teacher Kevin Gardiner. He also practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in India, and became one of the first certified Anusara Yoga teachers, producing three highly respected books on asana, pranayama and yoga philosophy.
