Namaste,
Welcome to my Gaia Home!

I am a:
* Writer
* Yoga Teacher
* Cleanse Coach,
* Bodyworker/Energy Healer
* Breathwork Facilitator,
* DJ and Dance/Movement Guide.

(Scroll down this page to learn about my blogging on Gaia and my most popular pieces of writing!)



Photo Art: Robert Sturman - website here..


Mission Statement: My work is about creating a space that deeply embraces the yin and yang, shadow and light, of the human condition. This kind of unconditional presence is understood as a doorway into compassion,  ecstasy, insight, and the here-and-now sacred. I have been on this journey since 1989 and integrate multiple techniques to find the sequence of openings that is most effective, healing, empowering and transformative for each individual.



Cleanse the Body - Juice the Prana - Shake the Booty - Heal the Psyche - Cleanse the Body - Juice the Prana - Shake the Booty


MY VIDEOS

Click Here for the Esalen Dreaming Video
Click here for my Ojai Retreat Video
Click here for the Concentration Meditation Video
Click here for the Lovingkindness Mediation Video


On This Page:
1) Classes and Private Bodywork
2) Workshops and Retreats
3) Writing


1)  CLASSES & PRIVATE BODYWORK

 I teach ongoing public classes at Santa Monica Yoga and have a  private Big Sky Bodywork practice.

*The yoga classes integrate deep stretch, core work and flow sequences with mystic poetry, mind-body psychology and especially mixed soulful world music soundtracks . Some classes transition from yoga into ecstatic dance. But what does that mean?  From the Latin - ecstasy = ex-stasis, or moving out of stuckness (from static to ecstatic) ...and into flow! In this flow-state the doorway between the inner and outer worlds is open, soul rises to the surface, heart blossoms, mind expands, energy moves,  and transformation becomes possible.

*Workshops offer my grounded spiritual perspective on philosophy, psychology, transformational healing, energetics and anatomy in exciting experiential learning formats that include illustrated lectures, tailor-made Big Sky Yoga sequences and personal writing meditations that help integrate the process..

*The private bodywork sessions look at the whole person and address biomechanics, tension patterns, organ toxicity, and emotional high-charge points by using dialog, organ cleansing protocols and - on the massage table - the powerful energetic activation, gentle craniosacral unwinding, and focused deep tissue techniques that make up my Big Sky Bodywork.

  My full website for the above work is here.

Read my Four Initiations piece about my integrative approach to energetic initiation and mind-body healing using yoga and bodywork here.


2) WORKSHOPS & RETREATS

ESALEN

I also train others in my unique Big Sky approach - the next opportunity to study with me at that level will be at The Esalen Institute of Big Sur, California, September 7th - 13th 20008. The training is called
Urban Yogi: Training in Mind-Body Yoga   and its open to existing or aspiring yoga teachers, bodyworkers, psychotherapists and interested serious students. The focus is on bringing the insights and techniques of Somatic Psychology, as well as my own completely unique approach to anatomy, energetics and mind-body psychology to the art of teaching yoga.

Over the 5 days we will have morning yoga practice sessions, afternoon lectures and evening council to discuss and process the experience we are having together - there will also be deep extended periods of sacred space woven through the yoga for free form movement, journaling and other soul-work. My dear friend and co-teacher  for this training is Hala Khouri, M.A. - a very established yoga teacher, social activist,  and Somatic Experiencing therapist. Hala's website is here. I can't recommend her highly enough..

Sign up for the Urban Yogi Training at Esalen by clicking below!

Esalen's Website is here.


KRIPALU

The weekend of June 27th 2008 i will be at Kripalu in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, offering a three-day residential workshop called Big Sky Yoga: Integral Mind-Body Transformation that will also feature both experiential and cognitive learning as well as juicy deep stretch, flow yoga and moments of free-form movement. I can't wait - it's my first time at Kripalu and should be exciting and fun!

Kripalu's website is here.



OJAI ECO-SANCTUARY

Coming up April 10 - 13, and November 6 - 9, 2008, I have my next twice-yearly Big Sky Retreat to Ojai. This is an amazing opportunity to unwind, rebalance, hang out in a gorgeous setting with great people and deepen your practice. The schedule includes:

* Beginning instruction in 5 types of meditation
* Periods of "noble silence"
* Deep stretch, flow yoga, ecstatic dance and community council.
* Time for hiking, hot-tubbing, swimming or just hanging out!

There are still a couple spots left if you want to come along! Sign up or find out more here.


3) WRITING

I am probably the most widely read and widely debated, widely loved and widely hated blogger here on Gaia! This has totally taken me by surprise over the last two years. I do movie reviews, write theoretical pieces on spirituality and psychology, some current events stuff and more...

Here are my most-read blogposts:

1) So far my most read piece (around 15 thousand hits and counting)  is a very critical review I did on The Secret, which got me interviewed  by Ken Wilber's on his audio Integral Naked website.  Seeing as Ken is probably my biggest influence and the person I admire intellectually the most on this little blue planet, it was an extraordinary honor! You can read it here.


2) My next most well-read piece (almost 11 thousand hits and counting) is a lengthy two-part review and analysis of the astonishing movie Pan's Labyrinth which goes into the psychological and mythological symbolism of the movie from a depth psychology perspective ala Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, two other huge influences on my thinking and teaching. You can read it here.


3) In 2007 I created two first time events on Gaia (then called "Zaadz" - hence the prominence of the letter "z" in the upcoming names..) -  A discussion format called a Z-Bate in which two bloggers each took three blogposts to lay out a point of view and debate point with eachother in a respectful way, and something I called the Zymposium, which drew together a group of bloggers to write about the same subject over the course of a week. The zymposium was kinda like a conference with 7 different presenters giving a talk each day and then all of us hosting a panel discussion with an audience - except it was online!

 We ended up with several phenomenal pieces of writing and multi-media presentations, around 5000 readers and some very long and juicy conversations. You can read Zymposium Two - Riding The Kundalini Dragon: Integrating Altered States here and Zymposium One - Integrative Spirituality: Grounded Contemporary Perspectives here . Read the one and only Z-Bate with another prolific Gaian blogger, C4Chaos - called Faith, Reason and The Four Quadrants here .


4) I have also done an unfinished series of pieces analyzing The Matrix movies (the third movie has yet to be addressed.) You can start reading the 6-part series on the Matrix Trilogy here.


That's all for now.

Hope to see you around - stop by and say hi, leave a comment or two if you're inspired and sow some seeds for me!

~Julian