Mindfulness. Healing. Community.

Swaha Yoga at LHA is a collective of teachers sharing their knowledge of contemplative practices and healing arts. We offer weekly classes and workshops in Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, Tibetan Buddhist practices, meditation, children’s programs, and more.

We work in support of Louisiana Himalaya Association, offering classes in their beautiful Community Center at 623 North Rendon Street in New Orleans. A portion of our proceeds supports the work of LHA at home and abroad. For more information on this organization, visit www.lhainfo.org

View Schedule

Weekly Class Schedule | Summer 2017

Our classes are offered on a sliding scale/pay-what-you-can basis. Please support yourself, our teachers, and other students by paying the amount that is appropriate for you.

Suggested $5 – $15 per class.

Monday

5:00 – 6:00 AM
Kundalini Sadhana
with Kate

7:00 – 8:00 AM
Meditation Practice, Vajrayana
with Tom
*free

8:30 – 11:30 AM
Buddha Babies (ages 1.5 – 4)
with Courtney
enrollment required

5:30 – 6:45 PM
Kundalini Yoga
with Steph

7:00 – 8:00 PM
“Burn it Down/Be the Light”
Radical Dance Aerobics
with Kate

Tuesday

8:00 – 8:45 AM
Qigong; Morning Healing Practice
with Mark
*on break June 13, 20, 27, and July 4

9:00 – 10:15 AM
Hatha Flow Yoga
with Samantha

6:00 – 7:00 PM
Meditation Practice; Vajrayana
with Tom
*free

7:00 – 8:15 PM
Rest and Restore (including Yoga Nidra)
with Courtney

Wednesday

5:00 – 6:00 AM
Kundalini Sadhana
with Kate

7:00 – 8:00 AM
Meditation Practice; Vajrayana
with Tom
*free

8:30 – 11:30 AM
Buddha Babies (ages 1.5 – 4)
with Courtney
enrollment required

5:30 – 6:45 PM
Hatha Vinyasa Flow Yoga
with Chloe

Thursday

8:00 – 8:45 AM
Qigong; Morning Healing Practice
with Mark
*on break June 15, 22, and 29

9:00 – 10:30 AM
Hatha Flow Yoga
with Abigail

5:30 – 6:45 PM
Kundalini Yoga
Instructor Varies

7:00 – 10:00 PM
Creativity, Sweat, and Connection
with Erin Bell
*July ONLY
**Sliding scale $10 – $30 for 3 hour class

Friday

5:00 – 6:00 AM
Kundalini Sadhana
with Kate

7:00 – 8:00 AM
Meditation Practice; Vajrayana
with Tom
*free

See Special Events for upcoming workshops

Saturday

6:30 – 8:30 PM
Contact Improvisation Jam/Workshop
with Dutah

See Special Events for upcoming workshops

Sunday

9:00 – 10:00 AM
Tonglen/Bodhichitta Meditation*
with Wink
*free

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Tai Chi
with Mark
*on break June 17, 24, and July 1

See Special Events for upcoming workshops

Special Classes and Events

Space is limited, please pre-register
SwahaYogaNOLA@gmail.com

The Yoga of Sound

Join Dr. Igor Iwanek for a journey into Nada Yoga; the mindful practice of awakening the sound within.

Topics explored may include:
-Energy center (chakra) reinvigoration using sound
-Mindfulness chants
-Focus & relaxation aiding mantra practice
-Managing emotions through conscious sound practice
-Fundamentals of Indian music system (raga) which facilitates sound meditation practice
-Thought provoking, inspirational & relevant discussions on:
emotions & life cycles, eye & ear dichotomy, inward gazing, symbols & numbers, thoughts & vibration, repose & listening, audible & inaudible sound, Vedic & Sufi philosophy of sound, stories & myths, etc…

Saturday, July 8, 2017
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Early-bird Registraion $40 until June 30, $50 thereafter. To register, please email SwahaYogaNOLA@gmail.com

For more information, visit http://thinkartmusic.com/workshops—yoga-of-sound.html

Teachings with Chamtrul Rinpoche

Day and a Half Teaching on 12 Links of Interdependent Origination

Saturday, July 22
10:00am-12:00pm & 3:00pm-5:00pm
Sunday, July 23,
11:00am-1:00pm

Free and open to the public.
Donations to help with travel expenses will be much appreciated.
Please arrive at least 15 minutes before the event begins.

An envelope will be provided for an offering that you can present to Rinpoche at the end of the teaching. This offering reflects
your appreciation of the teacher and the Dharma.

For more information, visit Chamtrul Rinpoche’s website:
www.bodhicitta.org

Additional events with Rinpoche are scheduled in and around New Orleans.

Buddha Babies

A class for toddlers to learn and explore yoga, meditation, free-play, and more in a peaceful setting. Positive, respectful care encourages children to play creatively, learn problem solving, and feel their feelings. Snack provided.

Monday and Wednesday Mornings

Enrollment required. *NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FALL 2017!

facebook.com/BuddhaBabiesNOLA

Our Instructors

Courtney McGuiness

Swaha Yoga Director and Instructor

One summer, Courtney quit her job and ran away to summer camp. Working as the resident yoga and dance teacher, she realized she never really wanted to do anything else. Courtney completed Yoga Teacher Training in June of 2008 at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in her home state of Massachusetts, and moved to New Orleans the following year. After years of personal and professional practice, continuing education, and plenty of dreaming, Courtney launched Swaha Yoga in the late spring of 2016.

As a teacher, Courtney believes in promoting physical health and safety, along with mindful awareness in each moment. Her Gentle/Therapeutic Yoga class is intended to offer students of all ages and abilities a space in which to let go of tensions in both mind and body, creating balance.

Courtney is also the Founder and Lead Teacher of Buddha Babies, a R.I.E.-inspired classroom for toddlers to learn yoga, compassion, emotional awareness, and play.

Steph Smith

Kundalini Yoga Instructor

Steph is both a Certified Kundalini Yoga and Swan River Yoga Teacher. She taught SRY for 2 years and has now been teaching exclusively Kundalini Yoga for about 6 years. She deeply understands the transformational aspects of Yoga and brings this awareness into her classes. Her background is diverse and covers a range of experiences, but her interests, besides yoga reside in filmmaking with an emphasis on educational projects, indigenous midwives, and herbal medicine. She is currently working on a documentary titled Give Light: Stories from Indigenous Midwives (givelight.info). In her Yoga classes, she often blends metaphysical themes with the physical experience to encourage perspective shifts. All her classes adhere to the teaching of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. She often organizes these teachings to focus on various themes over an extended period such as clearing the subconscious, physical health, Chakra/energy system, and the nervous system. An individual class is complete within itself.

Heart

Yoga Instructor

Bio Coming Soon…

Mark Venczel

Tai Chi and Qigong Instructor

Mark Venczel has been studying and practicing the healing arts of Tai Chi and Qigong for over 15 years, and believes that contemplative practice is an important part of maintaining wellness as well as recovery from disease or injury.

Mark leads Tai Chi on Sundays at 11:00 AM, as well as Morning Healing – a simple practice based on Qigong exercises, acupuncture theory, and self-healing meditations – on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:00.

Chloe Raub

Yoga Instructor

Chloe took her first yoga classes at a community college to get out of a high school p.e. requirement, but didn’t get into a regular practice until she spent her first summer in New Orleans doing hot yoga, inside and outside of the studio. After many transitions and a move to Washington, DC, she recommitted to her practice, eventually branching into other styles of yoga like Prana Flow and Dharma, plus a trip to India to study Akhanda yoga at Anand Prakash Ashram in Rishikesh. She moved back to New Orleans in September 2014 and completed her 200hr teacher training in May 2016 at Balance Yoga in Mid City, under the guidance of their incredible teachers with backgrounds in Ashtanga and Anusara yoga. She’s currently enrolled in the 300hr Evolutionary Global Prana Vinyasa® Teacher Studies Program with Shiva Rea. Chloe’s yoga asana practice and teaching style are heavily inspired by her love of Prana Flow and continued studies with New Orleans teachers, as well as her daily Ayurveda, pranayama (yogic breathing) and Vipassana meditation practices. In addition to yoga, Chloe also loves being an archivist (sort of like a librarian), gardening, baking bread, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the entire cat population.

Chloe’s Hatha Vinyasa Flow classes are inclusive and appropriate for those new to yoga and folks with a regular practice. Classes will focus on alignment, flowing with the breath, and working with your personal edge.

Kate Becker

Breathwork and Movement Instructor

Kate’s background is in Ecstatic Dance, Butoh, Kundalini Yoga and Therapeutic Breathwork. The class Radical Dance Aerobics is a safe and energized space for the group get their bodies moving, their heart rate up, and their brain chatter down. It’s a lead and follow style class with some free form movement woven in. The routines are simple and can be made as hard or easy as needed. The philosophy of the class is this: We burn away what no longer serves us, in order to reveal the innate light and vitality from within.