Telluride Yoga Fest 2018: Gina Caputo

10 Jul Telluride Yoga Fest 2018: Gina Caputo

The 11th annual Telluride Yoga Festival, Thursday, July 19 – Sunday, July 22, features internationally renowned yoga instructors and leaders in the fields of health & wellness, among them, returning presenter Gina Caputo. New this year: four 1/2 day Thursday immersions, 9 a.m. – noon; 1 – 4 p.m. To purchase tickets or to learn more about the weekend, the lineup and the schedule, visit here.

And please scroll down to listen to a podcast featuring Gina Caputo.

Gina, bharadvajasana 2.

Gina Caputo is a wild and passionate yogini and an uplifting, empathetic instructor, whose clear and playful approach to a practice is a way for her students to find their edge, open up their minds, and fearlessly go where they have not gone before.

Among the many things we learned at Gina’s inspiring teacher training back in March at the Telluride Yoga Center were the definitions of flexibility and mobility.

Flexibility is the ability of your soft tissues to lengthen under load without injury.

Mobility is the ability to engage muscles to move joints through their full range of motion. Our body’s soft tissue flexibility, (as well as the joint capsule itself), can contribute to mobility, but also to our ability to exhibit strength at diverse lengths and in diverse ranges of motion.

In fact, the goal of mobility is to build strength gradually in greater ranges of motion and at diverse lengths (stretch), which is impacted by a number of variables.

In addition to external factors such as temperature, time of day, age, gender, clothing and environment, among the internal factors which inform our ability to actively control our body’s muscularly through a range is the elasticity of our fascia.

Among the many things we will learn at the 11th annual Telluride Yoga Festival, Thursday, July 19 – Sunday, July 22, 2018, is more about the fascia, when Gina leads an intensive titled “Fascia: Form & Freedom,” on Thursday, July 19, 1 – 4 p.m.

“In this workshop, suitable for yoga teachers AND practitioners, we’ll first explore what fascia is and its role in our physical embodiment. From there we’ll look at the connected web fascia forms and how that impacts our function. With that knowledge, we’ll move into experiential learning by using Self Myofascial Release (SMR) tools to explore the impact that gentle and focused rolling can have on healthy function of fascia, our nervous system, our range of motion and our yoga practice,” explains Gina.

But how to explain fascia?

Turn to what you turn to everyday: The Internet.

The Internet, often called simply “The Net,” is a worldwide system of computer networks – a network of networks in which users at a given computer can, with permission, get information from any other computer – and sometimes talk directly to users at those other computers.

Our bodies have a complex Internet too. Its structure is our fascia or the sheaths of connective tissue that, like cellophane or a fine mesh bag that holds delicate laundry, enwraps all our interior structures: bones, muscle, and organ. Ever dismembered a chicken? If yes, you have seen the glassy sheathing that encases the muscle and further connects muscle to the bone via the toughened tissue at the tendon.

That’s fascia.

Our fascia is like the Internet, not because it transmits information – more the task of the central nervous system, but because it comprises a web that connect various part of the body. In fact, the magic of the fascia system is that every part of the body is connected to every other part via this internet of tissue. The joy of practicing yoga postures is to surf this unique net of inner tissue from the skin of the scalp to the tip of the tailbone and cultivate a felt sense of inner sparkle and radiance in both body and mind.

Gina, vira 1.

On Friday, Gina leads “The Anatomy of An Arm Balance,” which is already full.

Her Saturday classes include “Simple is The New Advanced: Viniyasa For the Mindful.”

“Many of the Vinyasa Flow classes of today move at a pace and have a level of complexity that can make it difficult to experience the deeper dimensions of the practice and instead shift us into “keep up” mode. In this practice, we’ll align with the original intelligence of Vinyasa – to place in an intentional way, and still enjoy that flow qualities of the practice but we’ll move in a way that cultivates sharper inner focus, patience and persistence with challenge, and a broader and deeper sense of purpose. Without forsaking challenge and growth, we’ll explore how less really can be more,” she explains.

(Note: This class is filling too. Gina’s “Free Fallin: Tom Petty Tribute Flow” later that day is also full.)

But after a day drinking in yoga asana and philosophy all day, feel free to join Gina at The Liberty Bar & Lounge for a complimentary happy hour sponsored by Zen Planner, which supports the yoga community and its independent teachers and studio owners as they pursue their passion. The event is open to all Yoga Fest attendees.

Gina’s Sunday class, YINtrospective: The Truth Will Set You Free,” is also full, but you might want to get on the waiting list. The workshop is all about liberating your life force, then settling into a hip-centric, contemplative, Yin 2.0 style practice that offers the opportunity to explore the Truth that may arise when we make space for it.

More about Gina Caputo:

Gina, reverse mermaid.

Gina Caputo describes her passionate and inspired style of teaching as Integrated Vinyasa Yoga. The emphasis is on alignment and flow, anatomy and energetics, focus and release, work and play.

Gina recognizes and embodies the fact that creative movement and self-exploration are essential methods of conscious evolution and ways of discovering our limitless potential.

And because she came to the mat from an office chair, Gina understands how to speak to the modern-day householder yogi.

Gina Caputo is not one to let grass grow under her feet. In March 2016, she opened the Colorado School of Yoga in Boulder, with programs in Boulder, Vail, and Aspen emphasizing yoga education, continuing education, and building community and activism among yogis.

Gina also initiated a thorough and high-quality system for creating online yoga content that includes live classes, regular classes, tutorials, and tips.

In the past, Gina owned and directed yoga studios in Venice, CA., and Kansas City, MO.

When not teaching in her beloved Colorado, she travels around the world as the Yogini On The Loose.

An experienced registered yoga teacher (ERYT-500) through Yoga Alliance, Gina’s greatest influences have been Shiva Rea (Prana Flow®), Max Strom (Vinyasa), Erich Schiffmann (Vinyasa), and Denise Kaufmann (Yin).

Her deepest learning experiences came in the traditional manner of teacher/student apprenticeships with both Shiva Rea and Max Strom to whom she offers deep, humble pranams for their trust and confidence.

For more on Gina Caputo, go here.