Health and Fitness

[For Wah! click "Play"]

2008_hug1_thumb One singular sensation: "Her Wahness" is featured at the third annual Telluride Yoga Festival."Kirtan with Wah! Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band" takes place Friday night, 7:30 – 10 p.m. at the Telluride Conference Center in the Mountain Village.

Sound as a means of healing is a technique –  or a variety of techniques –  recorded in the ancient Americas, Africa, Greece, China, and Rome, and dates back at least to 5,000 B.C. The Yoga tradition has known for centuries that sound is the new apple a day –  only more so. Chanting mantras has physiological benefits such as increasing circulation to the different parts of the body, balancing heart rhythm, deepening exhalation; emotional benefits, such as inducing relaxation and mood elevation; intellectual benefits such as improving memory function and recharging brain cells.
[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Scott Blossom]

Scott Blossom and Chandra Easton arrive in Telluride from Tara Mandala just outside Pagosa Springs, where the husband and wife team teach a week-long workshop on the subject of "Shadow Yoga and Buddhist Meditation: the Pranic Pathway to Stillness," June 30 – July 7. All day on the opening day of the Telluride Yoga Festival, July 8, the couple teach an abridged version of the intensive for those interested in learning a set of practices for circulating and preparing the vital energies (prana) for meditation. They are also on the schedule with a variety of classes for all levels of practitioners throughout the long weekend.


Scott-2-IMG_0211e-print Scott Blossom was the very first  yoga instructor and therapist to sign on the dotted line when Telluride Yoga festival founder Aubrey Hackman needed a respected "brand name" in the industry to attract other high profile teachers to her nascent event. Blossom is also traditional Chinese medical practitioner and Ayurvedic consultant. A premise fundamental to Ayurveda is that all living things are innately interdependent. What sealed the deal for him three years ago was the fact the Yoga Fest would be a zero waste weekend and 25 percent of net profits would be donated to a local environmental non-profit. Blossom is now a Telluride Yoga Festival board member.

Scott is scheduled to teach an Introduction to Shadow Yoga, the Hatha lineage founded by his yoga maser Zhander Remete, a practice for Balancing our Inner Fire, and a session on Healing and Strengthening Bones, Joints and Nerves.

Lama Tsultrim Allione is among the presenters at the 3rd annual Telluride Yoga Festival, all deeply knowledgeable in the field of transformative practices, but primarily Yoga. Lama Tsultrim is the exception. She does not teach Yoga or the related science, Ayurveda. Lama Tsultrim...

Owl gulch hike view

By D. Dion

Telluride residents love the new Owl Gulch cutoff between the Jud Wiebe Trail and Tomboy Road, but they’re not the only locals who have been frequenting the new trail this summer. Bears have also been making their mark on the hiking route.

The young aspen trees all along the highest switchbacks of the trail are riddled with claw marks. Apparently the bruins woke up hungry after their winter nap and have been digging into the trees’ flesh, which is just beneath their bark. The inside of the tree bark has nutritional value not just for bears, but also for people, which is a good bit of information to have should you find yourself starving out in the woods. Of course, the average hiker doesn’t have nails or an appendage anything like a bear does, so you might also want to remember your Swiss army knife if you plan on getting lost and not bringing enough food.

 

By D. Dion

(editor's note: Telluride Kayak School and Jagged Edge are very much involved in the Ridgway River Festival this Saturday, June 26. There are opportunities to try out kayaks, or just enjoy being on the river. In addition, Telluride Kayak School is holding a 2-day beginner clinic this weekend. Check out the website for information.)

If you think the only things landlocked Colorado can thank Hawaiian culture for are loud floral dress shirts and the ukulele, think again: Stand Up Paddling has made the migration from the islands to our rivers, and there are already a lot of whitewater junkies on board the new trend.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Scott and Chandra]

Chandraheadshotforweb Scott-2-IMG_0211e-print Two separate but related events and three extraordinary individuals link two magical places, Tara Mandala and Telluride.

The event is a workshop on the subject of "Shadow Yoga and Buddhist Meditation: the Pranic Pathway to Stillness." The individuals leading the two intensives are the husband and wife team of Scott Blossom and Chandra Easton, joined by one of their teachers, Lama Tsultrim Allione.

The workshop at Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione and her husband David Petit, occurs first and unfolds over six days, June 30 – July 7. The retreat targets those interested in learning a set of practices for circulating and preparing the vital energies (prana) for meditation.