retreats & trainings
2023
WildYoga 300-hr Teacher Training
February-September, 2023 | In-Person + Online Training with Balanced Rock
WildYoga’s unique combination of yoga teacher training & spiritual ecology will invigorate your yoga practice and connect you with tools for living in alignment with nature, for restoring balance to your health, and for sharing this with your community.
In 2023, Balanced Rock is offering a 300-hour personal healing journey and robust educational program that leads to certification with Yoga Alliance.
Registration is now closed for 2023.
The 5 Elements of Yoga & Chinese Medicine
December 11th-15th, 2023 | In-Person Workshop @ The Esalen Institute
The Five Elements of Yoga and Chinese Medicine are archetypal energies, dynamically interweaving micro- and macrocosmic ways to form our bodies, lives, and world. Expand your perspective on the energetic underpinnings of our existence by engaging in these two divergent — yet similar — philosophical views.
Join me, and my exceptional colleague Jiling Lin, to explore your own relationship with these elements through nourishing daily yoga and movement practices, connection with nature, journaling, creative practices, improvisational vocalization and storytelling, and physical play.
Take home tangible skills and foundational knowledge of how the Five Elements can support you in living your best life. Receive and experience deep nourishment in a loving container. Feel held, welcomed and enjoy a sense of full belonging. Connect with the beauty of your inner and outer wilderness, resourcing abundant wild, creative, infinite potential to fully thrive.
And…just for fun…check out our Esalen mini-interview here 😉
2022
WildYoga 200-hr Teacher Training
February-September, 2022 | Online Training with Balanced Rock
WildYoga’s unique combination of yoga teacher training & spiritual ecology will invigorate your yoga practice and connect you with tools for living in alignment with nature, for restoring balance to your health, and for sharing this with your community.
The WildYoga Teacher Training is both a personal healing journey and a robust educational program that leads to certification with Yoga Alliance.
The 5 Elements of Yoga & Chinese Medicine
October 10th-14th, 2022 | In-Person Workshop @ The Esalen Institute
The Five Elements of Yoga and Chinese Medicine are archetypal energies, dynamically interweaving micro- and macrocosmic ways to form our bodies, lives, and world. Expand your perspective on the energetic underpinnings of our existence by engaging in these two divergent — yet similar — philosophical views.
Join me, and my exceptional colleague Jiling Lin, to explore your own relationship with these elements through nourishing daily yoga and movement practices, connection with nature, journaling, creative practices, improvisational vocalization and storytelling, and physical play.
Take home tangible skills and foundational knowledge of how the Five Elements can support you in living your best life. Receive and experience deep nourishment in a loving container. Feel held, welcomed and enjoy a sense of full belonging. Connect with the beauty of your inner and outer wilderness, resourcing abundant wild, creative, infinite potential to fully thrive.
And…just for fun…check out our Esalen mini-interview here 😉
Tropical Herbalism, Plant Spirit Healing & Earth Magic
Oct 31st-Nov 5th, 2022 | Mexico Retreat with the School of the Sacred Wild
An Intimate, Restorative Family- Friendly Retreat!
Tropical Herbalism ~ Plant Spirit Medicine ~ Ritual & Ceremony ~
Yoga ~ Nourishment ~ Folk Healing ~ Earth Care ~ Play!
Spend a week in Chacala, Mexico where an enchanting eco-retreat and organic farm meets the sea in Mexico. We will gather for healing, earth-based teachings, transformative group work, and family friendly activities in the afternoon with childcare available during our morning adult only session.
We will connect deeply to the tropical healing herbs, our plant spirit medicine practice & tradition of folk medicine.
Within a safe, inclusive, and nourishing container, you will receive embodied healing during daily practices – ritual, ceremony, plant spirit meditation, yoga – that awaken and bring us closer to the revitalizing essence of the sacred wild.
2021
The 5 Elements of Yoga & Chinese Medicine
October 4th-8th, 2021 | In-Person Workshop @ The Esalen Institute
The Five Elements of Yoga and Chinese Medicine are archetypal energies, dynamically interweaving micro- and macrocosmic ways to form our bodies, lives, and world. Expand your perspective on the energetic underpinnings of our existence by engaging in these two divergent — yet similar — philosophical views.
Join me, and my exceptional colleague Jiling Lin, to explore your own relationship with these elements through nourishing daily yoga and movement practices, connection with nature, journaling, creative practices, improvisational vocalization and storytelling, and physical play.
Take home tangible skills and foundational knowledge of how the Five Elements can support you in living your best life. Receive and experience deep nourishment in a loving container. Feel held, welcomed and enjoy a sense of full belonging. Connect with the beauty of your inner and outer wilderness, resourcing abundant wild, creative, infinite potential to fully thrive.
WildYoga + Nature 100-hr Immersion
November 1st-19th, 2021 | In-Person Retreat @ Yosemite Moonstone
The WildYoga Immersion is a small, intimate program designed to fit your needs and is flexible to all levels of yoga experience. As we come together in community, the program combines restorative time in nature as well as the opportunity to reconnect with and invigorate your yoga practice.
Take it as a relaxing retreat, a chance to commit deeply to your practice, or as a step towards Yoga Teacher Certification.
This will be the first time we gather to practice at the new, exclusive Yosemite Moonstone Retreat. The cozy and luxurious yoga studio will be our dedicated indoor gathering space. With heated reclaimed teak floors and sweeping views of the Merced River, the studio is the perfect environment for immersing in the time-tested wisdom traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda. We will also have walking access to hiking and beaches on the Merced River, and will enjoy outdoor sessions (weather-permitting) in and near Yosemite National Park.
WildYoga 200-hr Teacher Training
February-September, 2021 | Online Training with Balanced Rock
WildYoga’s unique combination of yoga teacher training & spiritual ecology will invigorate your yoga practice and connect you with tools for living in alignment with nature, for restoring balance to your health, and for sharing this with your community.
The WildYoga Teacher Training is both a personal healing journey and a robust educational program that leads to certification with Yoga Alliance.
Registration for 2021 is closed, please check back for next year!
2020
Setting Intentions for a New Decade
January 1st, 2020 | 4:00-6:00pm
As we enter a new decade, this two-hour session offers a space to process, physicalize, dream and open to the expansive possibilities that await us.
Come explore the power of sankalpa: setting intentions in a friendly environment.
We will equip ourselves with tools to reflect on and articulate what we need to create success. Includes lecture, yoga and journaling.
$30 Members of Yogasemite | $35 Non-Members
WildYoga Teacher Training: Space Element
April 3rd-5th, 2020 | Online Training
Our Space Element WildYoga Teacher Training weekend will be full of celebration and deep connection. The Space Element teaches us through sound and silence of our connection to all beings. It will support us in exploring the depths of our true nature as spirit embodied and teaching yoga from that potent place!
Curriculum:
Asana: We will practice meditation and visualization in a variety of poses.
Pranayama: We will practice meditation through the breath.
Philosophy: We will complete our discussion of the Bhagavad Gita. We will learn about and explore Bhakti Yoga through Kirtan.
Anatomy: We will review the head, neck, and the nervous system.
Student teaching: Students will continue teaching each other through a variety of exercises, and those who feel ready will teach an hour-long yoga class.
The Relevancy of Yoga Today
July 11th-12th, 2020 | Online Training
We are living in a time of rapid change, and as lifelong students and teachers of yoga, we must ask the important question; how is this ancient practice and philosophy relevant today? How does yoga serve us in this emergent moment? How can we offer yoga to our students and communities in a way that supports rapidly evolving needs? And even perhaps, how can yoga be a tool for social justice, and where might it fall painfully short of this and even be harmful. Join Balanced Rock for a heartful discussion around these topics. Our time together will include practice (meditation and gentle, restorative style asana), presentations, and an engaged deep dive together into this generative conversation. Let’s see what we can co-create together in the space of uncertainty!
This is an online training via Zoom Video Conferencing. There will be 8 hours of livestream training during the session time blocks, with allotted time for personal reflection self-practice. Registered Yoga Instructors are eligible for 8 hours of continuing education credit (YACEP) for through Yoga Alliance, and this training can be used towards the completion of a Balanced Rock Teacher Training certification. Upon registering, you will receive an email with all the details on accessing the course, online training etiquette guide, and any course materials attached. **No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
2019
Balanced Rock’s Yoga Jambalaya
November 9th, 2019
Join the ever-growing Balanced Rock yoga community at our 15th Annual Yoga Jambalaya. Experience a carefully crafted blend of yoga classes from Yosemite–inspired instructors while rejuvenating in the Yosemite Bug’s full spa including hot tub and sauna. This one-day workshop is a great opportunity to give a boost to your yoga practice, connect with friends old and new, or pamper yourself for a day.
4:45pm-6pm Yoga Lullaby with Paula Wild
Cradle your body, heart and mind in the liminal space we co-create. This final yoga practice will involve slow gentle movements, cultivation of presence with the breath, restorative postures and stillness. A lullaby, or cradle song, is a soothing piece of music that is usually played for children. The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition. In addition, lullabies are often used for the development of communication skills, indication of emotional intent, modulation of infants’ arousal, and regulation of behavior. Set to soothing music, this inward-gazing session will support integration and nervous system regulation. Care for the most tender parts of yourself with this deeply nourishing practice.
WildYoga Teacher Training: Water Element
December 6th-9th, 2019
This will be our second WildYoga Teacher Training weekend based out of Yogasemite (previously studio m yoga), where we will flow together integrating breath and movement in an exploration of Vinyasa. The Water Element teaches us the importance of flexibility, following the path of least resistance, and being patient with ourselves as the time-tested practice of yoga carves new pathways in our minds and bodies. It is the perfect place to gently evolve the new skill of teaching yoga and learn to go with the flow!
Curriculum:
Asana: We will break down, analyze and practice Sun Salutations and key concepts for a Vinyasa yoga class.
Pranayama: We will explore and discuss the elegant dance of coupling breath with movement. We will practice and teach ujjayi pranayama.
Philosophy: We will read and discuss selected Yoga Sutras and study the Yamas and Niyamas.
Anatomy: We will review the pelvic girdle, and its importance in yoga practice. We will also discuss fluid systems of the body.
Student teaching: Students will continue teaching each other through one-on-one and small group exercises, and those who feel ready will teach a short flow sequence to the whole class.
2018
Metta Magic Yoga Workshop
April 15th, 2018 | 4:00-6:00pm
Metta, also known as Loving-Kindness, can change your life!
Join Paula for a two-hour workshop, and learn to harness this powerful approach and set of practices for living joyfully.
This session will support us with tools we can use to relate more skillfully with ourselves and others. Includes lecture, yoga, meditation practice, and journaling.
$30 Members of Studio M | $35 Non-Members
WildYoga 7-Day Yosemite Backpack
June 22-28th, 2018
Join Paula Wild and Jana Kilgore on the journey of a lifetime! We will spend 7-days immersed in Yosemite’s unparalleled backcountry wilderness practicing yoga and living in community. Our mindful adventure will take us to some of the world’s most beautiful outdoor “yoga studios” and the very heart of Yosemite; Mt. Hoffman. We will prepare nourishing, organic, vegetarian meals and share them together as the sun plays over the Range of Light. For a true immersion into the wild aspects of yoga commit to this journey of deepening connection with nature and spirit.
300-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
October 2017-June 2018
This 300-hour program expands on Balanced Rock’s 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training by deepening our relationship to the five elements and their expression in our yoga practice and instruction. The full 300-hour program includes seven weekends, and two longer components.
A key aspect that differentiates WildYoga is the deep integration of the natural world with our yoga practice. The uniqueness of these teachings is not only doing yoga in a beautiful outdoor location, it is doing our practice with the wild world, integrating the flow of the Merced River, or the stability of El Capitan’s granite into our experience. Indeed the wild world will be much more than a backdrop to our journey, it will be a living part of our practice! We will also integrate connection with the natural world during our indoor sessions so you can practice and teach in any environment.
In addition to the fundamentals of teaching methodology, ethics, alignment, and extensive study of age-old wisdom, the WildYoga Teacher Training brings a focus to yoga as a form of environmental stewardship and explores its roots in the forest and mountain ecosystems where it originated. We will combine a focus on asana practice, meditation, pranayama, ayurveda, yoga philosophy, teaching methodology, and anatomy with the opportunity for deep connection to the natural world. Offered in the stunning, sacred landscapes in and around Yosemite National Park, this training will invite us to deepen our understanding of yoga and ecology.