Lavender Sky Yoga is about being one with the universe
and feeling a link to all of life.
"A heart aligned with love, immersed in oneness, will affect life around it more than we can know."
– Llewelyn van lee

		Tara Engeran is the director and teacher at Lavender Sky Yoga. Tara's yoga teacher is Dona Holleman, a highly respected master yoga teacher who has taught world wide for over fifty years and resides in Northern Italy. Tara is certified nationally and internationally through The Yoga Alliance and through the International Association of Yoga Studios with Jyotim; which The Centered Yoga System of Dona Holleman is affiliated. As well, Tara is certified at the highest level through the Yoga Alliance, a certified Pilates mat instructor since 2000 with Physical Mind, and certified at the Advanced Level with Vortex Energy Work. Tara teaches in the Centered Yoga System using The Eight Vital Principles as taught by her teacher Dona Holleman to open the body in a healthy and graceful way-- to build strength, beauty, well-being, energy, and create one's own inner power. We learn to practice the asanas with the relationship to the center of gravity and the body moves soft and relaxed around this center, the Hara. It is with the full awareness of the breath and the body scape that one's true power begins to blossom.
Getting Started I always loved to move. I began ballet when I was two -- Ballet, gymnastics,piano and always being outside ruled. I grew up with five sisters, so my mother kept us quite busy; for me our back yard and neighborhood were my own private getaways and explorations. I loved to watch my mother practice her own movement -- Kundalini yoga which she learned from Yogi Bhajan in San Francisco where I was born, and the pilates excercises. I would just sit there with my paper dolls and be in amazement. My interest in yoga began in the late 80's while attending FIT in Manhattan to study textile design; and was renewed in the 90's, studying the Iyengar tradition in New Orleans while attending university there. As I studied with many well-respected teachers through the years -- I realized so many had worked with Dona Holleman. She has taught so many and inspired so many of the well known teachers of our time; so I knew I wanted to learn from such a master teacher! A friend gave me the book "Centering Down", a cult favorite among yoga practitioners; then in 2000, with the book "Dancing The Body Of Light", I used these books to integrate into my practice. But the only way to really feel and learn is to study and be with your teacher -- of course then it is up to you. In 2003 I began practicing with Dona in the U.S. on the West Coast with intensives and then to practice with her from then on in Soino del Lago, Northern Italy. I recently completed a 3-1/2 year program to be certified in the Centered Yoga System. I feel stronger than ever at this time in my life because of Yoga practice, staying positive, love, and always moving forard. I have three lovely children to keep me going. Each day is a blessing to explore our passions, so we can grow and flourish. My experience as a yoga teacher in the southern Louisiana area has allowed me to work with a variety of students. I have had the opportunities to work with students who want to deepen their practice as yoga teachers, as well as athletes, children, prenatal and postnatal women, and individuals healing from surgery or illness.

We begin with an inner awareness by infusing the 8 vital principles of the Centered Yoga tradition into our yoga practice.

The meditative state of mind. Relaxation Intent Rooting or the use of gravity. Centering Bodyscape Breathing Elongating

When we are Centered and balanced, we can flow in everyday life. Everything is smoother, calmer, and more relaxed. When we are Centered in the body, ideally all movements should flow into the Hara and flow out of it again. This happens with the Chi energy.

Chi Energy has its center in the Hara and is more subtle than muscular force. It is the energy, the force that moves from the Earth through the feet and into the rest of the body. Your Chi is in action when you move with a minimum of effort, resulting in lightness, vigor, correctness and beauty.

The Hara is the center of the pelvis between the navel and pubic bone. The asanas are the reorganization of the various parts of the body around the Hara. Without its awareness, one loses 80% of its power as a balancing center of stability.

On the physical level it stands for the center of gravity; on the spiritual level it stands for the seat of the spirit. It is the point through which the vertical force of gravity travels and is therefore the center of gravity or the point around which the human being keeps itself in balance. Any disturbance here will disturb the balance of the body (and can contribute to the disturbance of the mind and emotions). Every asana begins and ends with your center of gravity and your body moves softly and relaxed around this center.

Wu-Wei or Not-Doing is to move fluently with the forces, the body, and the mind, not fighting our way through things. For this, the mind and body have to be in a state of quiescence in order to reflect without distortion of the here and now. Patanjali states that the mind should be colorless like a crystal which reflects whatever object it is put on. The Greeks said: gnoti seauton, or know yourself. This self-knowledge is the self-reflection of the mind and the body, emptied of all thought and actions. Then the mind and body are in direct contact with the here and now in which the observer, the observed and the act of observation are one (the core of both Patanjali's and Krishnamurti's teaching). Once the body and mind are made quiet through self-reflection, one can stay in this state for a while, or one can move back into acting. Projecting an act, a wish or intent in this state of mental and physical quiescence has extraordinary power to self-fulfill, as there are no thoughts, actions and emotions to interfere with it. This is called jan-zu, or the act-that-does-itself, and has been amply described in such classics as “Zen or the Art of Archery” by Herrigel.

Wu-Wei or Not-Doing in the Art of Yoga, as far as yoga is concerned, most students practice the asanas from the point of view of the physical body, as a purely physical exercise. This is called doing. Wu-wei or not-doing applied to the practice of yoga means that the attention is focused on the inner energy body more than on the outer physical body. Though the classical Hatha yoga asanas are performed with great mental and physical precision, they are at the same time integrated with a specific kind of breathing which forms the bridge between the outer physical body and the inner energy body. Aligning each posture on the force of gravity with its inherent rebound effect, which renders the body light and fluid, this breathing is guided to fill the inner energy body and to make it strong, resilient and vital. Thus, there is an enhanced capacity for recuperation from the negative influences of daily life. At the same time, the daily wear and tear on the body is minimized, as the body does not move from a mere muscular point of view, but rather from the vitality of the inner energy body. Moving the body from the inner energy body is called doing-without-doing, in which the postures flow like water (the-act-that-does-itself).