2008 Workshop and Retreat Schedule

   photo: Robert Sturman

*New 3-Part Workshop Series for the Summer!

This Big Sky Yoga Series emphasizes mind-body yoga, energetic anatomy and offers an opportunity to experience Julian's unique background in yoga, psychology, bodywork and holding sacred space for healing.

Format: Lecture, Focused Big Sky Yoga Sequences and Techniques, Personal Writing Meditations to integrate the process.

June 8th Big Sky Yoga: Hips, Low Back, Grounding and Pleasure

The health of the low-back is defined in many ways by the relationships between pelvis, spine and hips. Come and experience a three-hour workshop that focuses on the anatomy and mind-body energetics of this important area of your body. What does it mean to be grounded and alive to your own potential for pleasurable existence? Something like 80% of Americans will suffer from low-back pain in their lives - learn how to support the health of this vulnerable area. From a mind-body perspective we say that if the story of your life is written in your body, whole chapters are stored in the hips - and as the hips open, the psyche heals and the relationship between pelvis and spine becomes more fluid and healthy.

Anatomy Focus: lower spine, piriformis, sciatic nerve, ileo-psoas, hamstrings, quadriceps & hip flexors.
Mind-Body Focus: inhabiting the lower body with groundedness and pleasurable aliveness.
Energetic Focus: Chakras One and Two.

We'll explore through exciting illustrated lecture, tailor-made Big Sky Yoga sequences and personal writing meditations.

July 20th Big Sky Yoga: Breath, Energy, Power and The Open Heart

Your physical tension patterns define your breath-capacity and your breath-capacity defines how much energy you have available. The diaphragm breathes your breath and is the doorway into energetic awakening but also to opening the heart. The physical heart sits on the diaphragm and is moved by deep breath. In mind-body terms, the heart is the center of emotional operations. We'll look at the relationships between boundaries, personal power and love and the all important distinctions between healthy vs toxic anger, and compassion vs codependence.

Anatomy Focus: diaphragm, erectors, the heart, pectoralis minor, brachial plexus, rhomboids.
Mind-Body Focus: bringing self-worth, healthy power and boundaries into relationship with genuine compassion and the capacity to love deeply.
Energetic Focus: Chakras Three and Four.

We'll explore through exciting illustrated lecture, tailor-made Big Sky Yoga sequences and personal writing meditations.

Aug 17th Big Sky Yoga: Neck, Shoulders, Jaw and Becoming Who You Are

The jaw is the last line of defense against speaking your truth, expressing your emotions and putting your creative voice into the world. The neck is the passageway from heart to mind to voice and the bridge between the brain and the rest of the body. Most of us carry extraordinary amounts of tension in the jaw, neck and shoulders. This can be reflected down into the low back and hips as well as through the entire head and have an effect on the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid and nervous system. What does it mean to be emotionally, intuitively and creatively open and speak your truth? What are the implications for your sense of self-actualization - becoming who you are professionally, personally and spiritually?

Anatomy Focus: upper trapezius, levater scapulae, scalenes, brachial plexus, scl, masseter, pteragoids, dura.
Mind-Body Focus: integrating thinking, feeling, intuition and self expression.
Energetic Focus: Chakras Five, Six and Seven.

We'll explore through exciting illustrated lecture, tailor-made Big Sky Yoga sequences and personal writing meditations.

All workshops are at Santa Monica Yoga on Sundays from 2-5pm.
Cost: $60 on the day, $50 paid up to a week in advance. $135 for the whole series in advance or on June 8th.
www.santamonicayoga.com to sign up or call 310 396 4040

* Please note: As of May 1st Open Sky Yoga is called Big Sky yoga, due to the previous name already belonging to another yogi...

Big Sky Yoga: Integral Mind-Body Transformation
June 27th - 29th
(2 nights, Friday through Sunday)
Kripalu, MA

Julian Walker, the originator of Big Sky Yoga, is fascinated with the possibilities of a twenty-first century spirituality that is both grounded and fluid, intellectual and embodied, psychologically deep and playfully ecstatic. In this workshop, he shares his contemporary, holistic approach to yoga, anatomy, mind-body psychology, and working with energy via breath and intention.

Sessions will feature illustrated lectures, deep stretches, core work, flow yoga asana sequences, free-form movement blossoming into ecstatic dance, a sharing circle, and heart-centered meditations. Using soulful music and poetry in his facilitation, Julian holds sacred space for all aspects of self that emerge in the circle of awareness created by shared practice. Both morning sessions will include Big Sky Yoga practice, and Sunday morning will also involve writing exercises.

Visit www.kripalu.org to register

Urban Yogi: Training in Mind-Body Yoga
with Julian Walker and Hala Khouri
September 7 - 13
Esalen Institute
Big Sur, California

for yoga teachers, bodyworkers, therapists and interested students

Bringing together asana, energetics, anatomy and somatic psychology, Hala and Julian place modern yoga in a truly East meets West context. During this weeklong intensive we will explore yoga as both an ancient shamanic ritual practice and as a contemporary mind-body process. This engaging and multi-faceted workshop incorporates transformational flow, deep stretch, ecstatic dance, as well as group process and practical healing and teaching tools.

Yoga teachers find themselves in a unique role as contemporary spiritual guides. Julian and Hala use their experience creating and facilitating a support group for yoga teachers together to address common roadblocks and misconceptions about what it means to be a teacher today. Their post New Age philosophy challenges some current beliefs about spirituality and invites us to think critically about what spiritual and psychological growth means.

Anatomy, psychology, energy and consciousness all come together on the mat. How do we map out a landscape that includes these rich and meaningful elements in a grounded, pragmatic and authentic way?

These are the topics we will cover:

* The Healing Process of Yoga: practical tools and definitions.
The body-mind connection
The triune brain: new doorways into transformation
The physiology of trauma and trauma resolution

* Sacred Psychology: the teacher student relationship.
Understanding Transference and Counter-transference
How to work with projection, power and boundaries
Personal process as the foundation of effective teaching
and healing

* Fine Tuning Asana: instruction and sequencing.
Asana as a multi-dimensional experience: physical, mental,
energetic, emotional
Sequencing with a purpose: Intention in Form
Creating and tending to Sacred Space
Anatomical assessment and incorporating bodywork

* Psyche and Spirit: What really works (interactive dialogue)
Contemporary spirituality, critical thinking, real world energetics, grounded transformation.
The chakras, psychological development and the shadow

Your presenters have spent over 15 years integrating yoga and counseling. Hala Khouri, M.A. is certified in Somatic Experiencing and Julian Walker is transformational bodyworker. Both teach yoga and lead workshops and retreats internationally. www.julianwalker.com, www.halakhouri.com

To register go to www.esalen.org or or call 831-667-3005
For more information email info@halakhouri.com or call 310-663-4644

Big Sky Retreat
November 6 - 9, 2008
Click HERE to find out more and sign up. Any questions, email yogijulian@earthlink.net

Held at the Ojai Eco Sanctuary, this signature retreat is a tour-de-force, taking you on a well-planned and methodical journey through several phases and aspects of 21st Century spiritual practice!

problems watching the video - click here

At the ojai eco sanctuary's beautifully designed facility, nestled into Ojai's pristine and peaceful valley, we explore:

* Signature Big Sky Yoga deep strecth and flow yoga sessions designed to: awaken energy, create opportunities for healing, release stress, and make meditation effortless.

* Integrated, (optional) signature Big Sky Bodywork from practitioners trained in my uniquely transformational approach.

* Introduction to Concentration, Lovingkindness, Insight and Witness meditations from the Yogic and Buddhist traditions, along with periods of Noble Silence to ground, reflect and receive the beauty of our natural setting.

* Free-form yoga and Ecstatic Dance expertly facilitated to allow unselfconscious expression and play.

On retreat, there are also periods of free time to hike, swim, jacuzzi, or hang out and do nothing at all!

Delicious and healthy meals by Ambrosia Gourmet Catering.

* The Big Sky Concept
The Big Sky Retreats have evolved over the last 13 years of me teaching classes, workshops and retreats while engaged in my own in-depth study of multiple disciplines - yoga, bodywork, ecstatic dance, philosophy, meditation, psychology and mind-body energetics.

As my teaching evolved I began to include more music and poetry in my classes - I also got excited about the image from Zen Buddhism of the "Big Sky Mind" which has much in common with the yogic metaphor from Witness Meditation of consciousness as an open space within which all phenomena - thoughts, emotions, sensations, egoic identifications etc - arise and pass away, leaving only luminous clarity.

So the Big Sky Retreat concept is one of integrating a full-spectrum approach to spiritual practice.

I guide participants through an arc of experience that includes both personal reflection and group celebration, both periods of silence and excercises in deep listening and sincere speaking, both slow deep stretching and vigorous flow yoga, both carefully structured class time and space for ecstatic free form yoga and dance.

For those who choose to take the plunge, Big Sky Bodywork can also serve as a powerful synergizing energy on retreat. Click here to find out more.

By the time we sit together in closing circle on Sunday afternoon - nestled into the beautiful Ojai valley, we have all had a taste of that spacious clarity within which the radiant tapestry of this integrative experience has been unfolding.

But don't take my word for it - come to my classes and worskhops in town, book private bodywork sessions with me and my trained Big Sky practitioners and come up to Ojai on retreat and let's play!

Big Sky Deep Stretch and Meditation Workshop
Sunday January 13th 2 - 5 pm

"Flow down and down
in ever widening
rings of being.."
~Rumi

Start the new year with this beautiful way to deepen your practice. Experience Julian's signature Big Sky Deep Stretch sequence combined with an introduction to 5 different sitting and walking meditation techniques from the yogic and Buddhist traditions.

Most of us are intimidated by meditation. By combining meditation with deep stretching and breathwork, Julian will gradually introduce you to several different doorways into the powerful awareness and deep relaxation that meditation provides.

As always the experience will be rich, revelatory and transformative!

Don't miss it...

$50 up to a week in advance
$60 on the day

Click here to sign up www.santamonicayoga.com

* Coming Soon - A brand new workshop for the Spring called Big Sky Healing Arts: A Map to Radical Transformation

Big Sky Partner Yoga and Massage Workshop

Yoga, Touch, and Communication
Sunday February 10th
2 - 5 pm
Santa Monica Yoga

Julian's Big Sky Yoga is an tremendous tool for self exploration, healing and awakening awareness of energy. Big Sky Partner Yoga and Massage is based on Julian's in-depth research and experience (since 1994) teaching yoga and in his busy private bodywork practice. He combines breath, supported partner stretches and intentional touch to weave an extraordinary initiatory 3 hour experience for participants.

This workshop is designed to:

* get you comfortable doing partner stretches
* create a space to ask for what you want
* explore the shared experience of giving and receiving
* be a fun environment to be "in your bodies" together

An excellent way to deepen intimacy and begin exploring the possibilities of ecstatic embodiment with eachother. Come with lover, spouse or close friend.
Just before Valentine's Day!

$50 up to a week in advance
$60 on the day
$90 per couple up to a week in advance

www.santamonicayoga.com to sign up

Community Building

Ever wondered what the person on the mat next to you does for a living, where to get a good massage, find a yoga friendly accountant or realtor, or how to make friends with similar interests from yoga class?

Go to my brand new Community Building dicussion board at http://julianwalkeryoga.zaadz.com/discussions to get started listing your professional services, discussing your experiences, and introducing yourself.

Zaadz.com is an online social network serving a fast growing community currently numbering in the 50,000's - it's a place to connect with others about creating positive change in the world!

See you there....

New Audio CDs!
Radical Transformation: A Map to Mind-Body Ecstasy

Radical Transformation: A Map to Mind-Body Ecstasy is finally ready, and features amazing new cover graphics from Namaste Interactive!

This is the 8 CD audio collection of the four most exciting lectures, plus four applied yoga classes from my 6 year running, sold-out Yoga and the Chakras workshop series. I am thrilled because this represents a very powerful, tangible portrait of the work I have been creating and sharing with some of you for so long. Its a great introduction for new people, a focused yet elaborate refresher course for those already experienced in my Big Sky approach. Click here to order and to learn more about this audio collection!

Big Sky Flow Yoga and Ecstatic Dance
March 1st, 2008
Saturday, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Yoga Works
1835 Newport Blvd.
Costa Mesa
(949) 642-7400

This is an experience you don't want to miss! We'll start with some core work to get grounded in the body and then transition into juicy flow yoga to get the energy moving. Next we shift seamlessly in guided free-form dance.

What does that mean? Well, it's not a performance and it's not a night club. It's an opportunity to step out of the box and allow your body to move in it's own most natural way as an active meditation - dance as spiritual practice. It's fun, profound and ultimately ecstatic in the true sense of the word - which means to "move out of stuckness."

We close with deep savasana meditation - body humming with aliveness, mind expansive and clear, heart bright and open.

For all levels of yogi and no previous dance experience is necessary. Come as you are - that's always the doorway in.

OSHA: A Map to Radical Transformation
Sunday, March 9th (2 - 5PM)
Santa Monica Yoga
1640 ocean Pk. Blvd.
Format: Lecture/Discussion, Big Sky Yoga Practice, Personal Writing Meditations

Come and spend an afternoon at the forefront of our evolving
understanding of mind-body spirituality and psychology.

Prana? Chi? What is "energy" really?
Harnessing the power of breath
Mind-Body healing and transformation in yoga
Grounded spirituality
Chakra anatomy

Julian will explore topics like these and distill them down into three key insights that we will then apply to the yoga practice session. We end by integrating the information and rich experience of practice with personal writing meditations.

$50 up to a week in advance
$60 on the day