Check back for workshops offered throughout the year or ’“like” Yoga with Witold Fitz-Simon on facebook for up-to-the-minute updates.

Upcoming Workshops

Introduction to Pranayama: Establishing Your Practice

with Witold Fitz-Simon

A 4-part series at Yoga Union, NY

Click here to register.

Wednesdays: June 26, July 10 & 24, August 8
8:45am to 10:15am
Yoga Union
37 West 28th Street
4th floor
Manhattan, NY
212.510.7404

Price: $75 (day of) | Early Bird Discount: $65 | First Class Drop in Rate: $20 (applicable towards full series)

Pranayama is the subtle limb of yoga practice. It awakens and purifies the flow of life force, attuning the mind to the inner workings of the body, touching the organs and the nervous system, and preparing the student for meditation. It is an excellent bridge between active and contemplative forms of yoga. Based on the teachings of B. K. S. Iyengar, Donald Moyer and F. M. Alexander, In this four-part series we will explore the fundamental principles of breath as they relate to the essential pranayama practices: Ujjayi (Victorious Breath), Viloma (Interrupted Breath) and Nadhi Sodhana (Alternate Nostril Breath). Each class will include restorative poses, reclined and seated pranayamas. Students will receive personalized instruction and hands-on adjustments to help them experience pranayama and the breath in a new, freer way. They will be encouraged and supported to take what they learn in class into their daily practice to enrich the experience of the group work with guided sequences to practice at home.

Past Workshops

Ropes Yoga

Spring 2013/Yogasana Center, Brooklyn, NY

We all come to yoga for many reasons: flexibility, strength conditioning, stress relief, and overall fitness among them. We take class on a regular basis and discover freedom in the joints, power in the limbs, greater equanimity in the face of hardship. But, even though we practice regularly, we often find limits beyond which we cannot go. We discover limitations of the body and limitations of the mind: some part of us is tight, some part of us is weak, some type of pose seems beyond our capabilities.

Rope Yoga, also known as Yoga Kurunta (Puppet Yoga), can change your perspective figuratively and literally. You will use your arms to help your legs and your legs to help your arms, creating greater stability and range of motion in your joints. You will use your own bodyweight to create strength in new and unique ways. You will experience being upside down with steadiness and ease. Rope Yoga is a fun and safe way to expand the boundaries of your body and mind.

In four monthly workshops, Witold will introduce you to the four principal types of rope work. Each workshop will be a complete practice, including floor work and the use of more common props to prepare and integrate the body, with a major focus on the techniques and principles of practicing with the ropes.

Saturday March 2, 2013
Ropes Yoga: Standing

We will explore how to use ropes to make standing poses more accessible, creating deeper flexibility in the hips and legs, while opening the back and chest. Appropriate for all levels.

Saturday April 13, 2013
Ropes Yoga: Hanging

We will explore how to create greater length in the the spine and space in the joints by using our own body weight. We will also experience the restorative effects of hanging inversions. Appropriate for Level 2 and above; not appropriate for women who are menstruating, or for those with lower back issues.

Saturday May 11, 2013
Ropes Yoga: Swinging

We will explore how to open the chest, shoulders and back in movement sequences on the ropes, including the classic “Ropes 1.” Appropriate for Level 2 and above; not appropriate for women who are menstruating, or for those with shoulder issues.

Saturday April 13, 2013
Ropes Yoga: Reaching

We will explore the use of ropes in creating integration and connection in active inversions and abdominal poses. Appropriate for Level 2 and above; not appropriate for women who are menstruating.

Reset, Restore, Renew: New Year’s Day Workshop

January 1, 2013/Yogasana Center, Brooklyn, NY

Start the year right with this class for all levels of yoga student. Designed to detox and purify both the physical body and the energy body. Come clear away old thought patterns and bad habits, put the tensions of the holiday season and the trials of the past year behind you. The class will use the Eastern model of the chakra centers as a way of exploring the energies in the body and the energy we put out in the world. It will be a predominantly quiet and meditative practice using chanting and restorative poses to open and balance the different chakras. More than anything, it is a forward-looking and optimistic practice that will create and hold space for possibility and change in the new year.

This hugely popular workshop has been an annual tradition at Yogasana for the past six years.

Vishamanyasa: Unexpected Asana Sequencing to Shed New Light on Poses

October 2012/Yoga Union, New York

In Ashtadala Yogamala, the collected works of B. K. S. Iyengar, Mr. Iyengar outlines the practice of vishamanyasa, an orderly linking together of seemingly irregular poses. More than just the idea of pose and counterpose, this mode of practice presents challenging transitions that penetrate deep into the body, creating openings and connections that might otherwise be untapped. In this 3-hour practice workshop we will explore back bends and arm balances, back bends and twists, forward bends and core poses, in a challenging and light-hearted sequence. Appropriate for intermediate and advanced students.

A Structural Flow Workshop: Indispensable Principles of Alignment in Motion

September 2012/Yoga Union, New York

In this 3-hour practice workshop, we will apply the clarity and precision of structural yoga to the practice of flow yoga. Combining principles of developmental movement with the mind-body integration of the Alexander Technique, we will explore how to transition safely and effectively between poses. By connecting the limbs to the spine and developing a clear connection between the head and neck, students will learn how to transition smoothly and efficiently in such a way that will allow for more freedom in the joints and space and support for the organs and breath. This will help to clear out interference patterns in the mind and body creating efficiency of movement, allowing more mental focus and physical energy to be applied to the more important spiritual components of any yoga practice. Students will walk away having had a challenging and integrating experience with lots of personal attention. Appropriate for people with a dedicated Level 1 practice and above.

Yogasana Center 2012 Summer Intensive

with Witold Fitz-Simon and Kristen Davis

July 2012/Yogasana Center, Brooklyn , NY

Our 6-day intensive offers a unique opportunity to embrace your practice in a profound and challenging way. With our combination of Iyengar-style Yoga and the Alexander Technique, we bring a keen sensitivity to the interplay of mind and body. This allows us to quickly dive deep into the subtlety of alignment. With creativity and light heartedness, we look to uncover the universal truths of how we function as a whole. Through this lens, we’ll be addressing your individual needs and issues, and refining the asanas to facilitate fluidity and ease.

We will alternate teaching, Witold teaching the first three mornings while Kristen teaches the first three afternoons, and then swapping. The morning classes will be more vigorous, focusing on standing poses, variations in inversions, backbends and arm balances. The afternoons will have a slower pace with gentler, quieter poses, such as forward bends and hip-openers, along with restoratives and pranayama.

A solid week of devoted, intelligent yoga training can be transformative. Your yoga practice will flourish. You’ll be left with new information, fresh inspiration, and a renewed commitment to yoga.

Developing Your Own Practice

with Witold Fitz-Simon and Kristen Davis

June 2012/Yogasana Center, Brooklyn, NY

Yoga classes offer us direct teachings and guidance from knowledgeable instructors. They give a sense of community, of being together on the same path. Both of these are essential elements in supporting and developing an understanding of the fundamental self as taught by Yoga. The missing piece is personal practice, where yoga becomes a necessary component of your self-care, and a tool for slowing down and connecting to your inner wisdom. The time you spend on your mat at home becomes a time of play and discovery where you can work at your own pace, explore your own interests and take care of your own needs. This will only further your experience of class—heightening your ability to adapt the teacher’s instructions to your body, and aiding you in staying connect to yourself when relating to others.

In this series we will explore the specifics of how to establish and develop a home practice. We will delve into the theories behind effective sequencing—how to determine what to practice when. Now we know that a regular home practice is easier said than done. No worries, we will address the common obstacles of not having enough time, not having space, not knowing what to do, not being sure if you’re doing it correctly, along with any inner conflicts that inevitably arise. We will offer you daily support and mentoring, and with baby steps get you practicing on your own everyday.