mail@sheilaorourke.com
917-887-8798
310 East 23rd Street #7-J New York, NY 10010
TEACHING
1 hour private lesson - $90
1 1/2 hour group lesson - $100

TRAINING
I started practicing yoga in 1996 in San Francisco, CA. Studying primarily with Iyengar teachers, I began with an alignment focus. Since moving to New York in 1998, I have studied with Vinyasa, Anusara & Hatha yoga teachers and found the Iyengar background provided a strong foundation from which to work deeper in poses. Under the guidance of Jodie Rufty, a Vinyasa/Hatha yoga teacher in New York City, my practice expanded beyond postures. In addition to a deeper asana practice, I found ways to access serenity through Pranayama, Meditation & Chanting. More subtley, I have begun to live yoga everyday - when I remind myself to breath deeply, when I focus specifically on what i am doing in the present moment, when I stand and walk with my heart open and lifted, when I observe a feeling I am having and let it be, without judgement.

In January, 2002, I completed Teacher Training with Alison West in Soho, New York City. The training included asanas, meditation, pranayama, philosophy, anatomy and yoga therapies (for pregnancy, high blood pressure, etc.). I am currently applying to be a Registered Yoga Teacher with the national Yoga Alliance.

INSPIRATION
Jodie Rufty, is an angel. Through her teaching, I learned to go deeper in the poses by allowing myself to be where I am. Her classes flow, they work you, and they quite often end with a glorious neck massage (a practice I have adopted in my teaching). She also has a beautiful voice. She is available for private lessons and teaches at various studios around the city - including, very soon, her own!
jodierufty@aol.com

Alison West, with whom I did teacher training, is a wealth of knowledge and life experience. The teacher training is among the most compreshensive, organized and professionally run of all Teacher Trainings. It is also spiritually profound. Information can be found at www.yogaunion.com

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, opened a door in my spiritual life. It articulated the idea of Universal Truths which I had always felt but was never exactly sure what it meant. I know now.

Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope was the first clear definition of the totality of yoga that I understood and could apply to my daily life.



©copyright 2002
all photos belong to sheila o'rourke and may
not be used without permission

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WHAT IS YOGA?
Yoga is defined in the Sutras of Patanjali as:

      "yogah-chitta-vritti-nirodhah"

which translates to:

      "Yoga is the restraint of the modifications of the mind"

It is believed the workings of the mind - fueled from our experiences, our understandings & misunderstandings of those experiences, our dreams, our imaginations - can cause confusion & conflict. If one can still the mind, one can find truth. Yoga is a path to this stillness.

The intention of my yoga practice is to calm my mind and release my body in order to come to a place of clarity and grounding. A successful practice is one in which I have maintained a point of focus. It is after these times that I finish feeling calmer in body and mind and therefore with greater clarity in my soul.

I believe the purpose of yoga is to discover truth: the truth in the body, the intellectual truth, and at long last, truth in the soul, or divine truth. With the asanas, though I bounce between all three, I focus on the physical truth - a gross state of nature and one where I am firmly rooted. Maybe in the next life I will move on to the more subtle journey's or maybe I'll keep plugging away at my tight hips and shoulders. Either way is fine, as long as I keep moving in the right direction.

Om Namah Shivaya -- Shiva, who is Bliss, and Lord of Destruction, liberates through change and upheaval --

Just keep walking.