New beginnings!

The Fall is imminent and one of these classes might be calling you to new levels of awareness and potential. We invite you to join us to celebrate the start of something good.

1 ~ All Levels Yoga Class 

This class emphasizes endurance through static poses and some flowing sequences. Explore standing poses, twists, backbends, balancing poses, and inversions with the support of a master yoga teacher. Arya will help you safely modify poses as needed to improve your strength, flexibility, and balance. While all levels are welcome, prior experience with an Intro to Yoga series is recommended.

Wednesdays 5.45 pm

Arya Pretlow, E-RYT 500, RPYT, has practiced yoga since 1993 and taught since 2001. She is a graduate of the College of Purna Yoga and has over 2000 hours of teacher training. Arya delights in helping people explore their range of motion, strength, and endurance in a safe and supportive atmosphere. As an E-RYT 500, Arya’s classes qualify as Continuing Education Credits for yoga teachers registered through Yoga Alliance. You can learn more about her teaching and other wellness services at www.aryapretlow.com or follow her on her blog, www.seattleyogini.com

2 ~ Vision Class

with Bridget Thompson. Exploring through movement, writing, drawing and discussion the idea that we see what we believe. How are we trapped by our perception and where is freedom? 4 weeks only Tuesdays 17th September to 8th October 12.00 - 2.00. $10/class, $40/series
email AnatomyofGrace@gmail.com

3 ~ Core Matters Pilates Conditioning 

Reacquaint yourself with the source of your body's flexibility and strength.

with Nancy Mattheiss, owner of Core Matters Pilates Conditioning, an experienced teacher adept at offering modifications to exercises that allow everyone to progress safely at their appropriate level.

Thursdays 9.30 am - new series starts September 26th designed for Beginning and Intermediate level participants. see classes for more info

4 ~ Soaring Crane Qigong

with Jeanie Taylor
Level I Practice Series
Wednesdays 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Oct 2 - Nov 20, 2013
Cost: Sign up for a minimum of any 6 wks ($90)
or all 8 wks ($110). Advance registration and
payment by Sept 20 is required
NOTE: this series is for current practitioners of Soaring Crane
Qigong. To sign up for Level I training contact Jeanie: Jeanie Taylor 5routines@gmail.com

For our full calendar of weekly classes including Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement, Tribal Bellydance and InterPlay click on our Class and Event calendar at left. Contact us on info@m-illumino.com

Balance in Action

Saturday July 7th and 21st 1.00 - 4.00 pm

Feldenkrais - more fun, more freedom!

with LeeAnn Starovasnik, Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner

Saturday July 7th - Traveling
Taking a road trip? Flying into the wild blue yonder? Simply commuting in Seattle? Support your comfort and ease and improve your well being while you travel.


Saturday July 21st - Running
Whether running in circles, after a ball or a little one, or just for a bus come and learn how to improve this natural skill and recapture the joy of moving that we all had as children. It can be fun to run again! (using the Harmonious Running TM program)

$45/$60

to register: LeeAnn@NextStepConsultingInc.com or 206 372 8822

Remembering your Self through Embodiment

with Russell Delman

Friday March 30th, 2012 7.00 - 8.30 pm

donation only

You are invited to join us Friday, March 30th, for an evening with Russell Delman, founder of the internationally acclaimed Embodied Life(TM) Program. This year's talk is entitled:

"Simple and True:
Remembering your Self through Embodiment"

Explore a whole new way of imagining the 'body' with a Master teacher of teachers. Discover how embodiment is a doorway to authentic living. Conversation and experiential practices lead to new understanding. Call LeeAnn Starovasnik 206-372-8822 if you would like to join the weekend Seminar as well.

FREE New Year Feldenkrais(R) classes Monday 2nd January

FREE New Year Morning and Evening Feldenkrais classes

Monday 2 January 2012

with LeeAnn Starovasnik, GCFP.

It's the first Monday of the New Year!

How will you move in the direction of this year's intentions, goals or resolutions?

Move into the New Year

with Awareness, Ease, Balance, Power and Grace

Beginning early, LeeAnn will teach 30 minute FREE

Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement(R) classes.

Move into your new year in a new way.

Come on the half hour and stay as long as you like.

7:30 - 8:00am

8:00 - 8:30am

8:30 - 9:00am

9:00 - 9:30am

For those of you who are busy in the morning, come to one of the FREE EVENING Classes

5:30 - 6:00pm

6:00 - 6:30pm

6:30 - 7:00pm

7:00 - 7:30pm

LeeAnn is also offering private sessions ($100 value) on a love offering basis during the day from 11:30 - 5pm on a first come, first serve basis

call to schedule a 30 or 60 minute session - 206-372-8822.

ALL FRIENDS ARE WELCOME!

Water Sense at m'illumino

Water Sense: Anatomy of Grace in the Pool at m'illumino
with Bridget Thompson

Touch the elemental waters!

Supported in the water by the practitioner you are guided through fluent movement combinations to restore your joints for balance, alignment and coordination--for grace and presence.

Group Class
Thursday 6:30-7:30pm--space is limited, registration required
6 weeks for $120, June 16 to July 21

Private Session available by appointment, $90

"You are like Rilke's swan in his awkward waddling across the ground. The swan doesn't cure his awkwardness by beating himself on the back, by moving faster, or by trying to organize himself better. He does it by moving toward the elemental
water where he belongs. It is the simple contact with the water that gives him
grace and presence. You only have to touch the elemental waters in your own
life, and it will transform everything." -- David Whyte "Crossing the Unknown Sea"

New Class Times!

We hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful sun we've been having here and there! It seems Spring is starting to emerge.

We have a couple of class time changes:
Tuesday's Tribal Bellydance with Shay Moore is now 7:00-8:00pm
Thursday's Awareness Through Movment(R) with LeeAnn Starovasnik is now 5:30-6:30pm

Keep your eye out for new classes in May!

An Intensive and Benefit for Japan

As most of you know Bridget will be away for a whole month beginning early April – her classes and individual sessions will start up again on Monday May 9^th and she will be teaching through the summer this year, adding some evening classes and periodic workshops!

The first of these workshops is coming up on Saturday 26^th March. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross and/or Doctors Without Borders to benefit Japan.

An Intensive and Benefit for Japan

Saturday 26^th March 2011

9.30 am – 12.30 pm

at m’illumino

Feldenkrais: Anatomy of Grace – effortlessness and awareness

Feldenkrais: CenterWork and Yoga – conditioning, organizing the core

Renaissance dance – artistry, expression and form in community

Embodiment of language – words matter

register by Wednesday 23^rd March $55

at the door $65

No experience necessary

There will be handouts….

Please come! You, our world, our Earth will benefit.

To register, email info@m-illumino.com or call (206) 525-0363.

No Awareness Through Movement(R) Class This Evening

This evening's Awareness Through Movement class taught by LeeAnn Starovasnik is canceled. Class will resume next week on March 28th. This won't affect Thursday's Awareness Through Movement class which is indeed happening. Happy Spring!

Spirituality and the Body: An Embodied Vision of Unfolding Humanity

As a part of Russell Delman's The Embodied Life--Movement, Meditation and Guided Inquiry workshop this weekend, he is giving at talk at m'illumino.

The Friday evening talk is Spirituality and the Body: An Embodied Vision of Unfolding Humanity ". In this talk, Russell will address:

• New ways of imagining the body (the body is much more than the stuff inside your skin)
• How embodiment is connected to BEING
• The connection between effortless presence, here and now, and bodily awareness
• Understanding how the experience of unconditional Love is connected to living an Embodied Life.

For those not attending the weekend workshop there is a suggested $10 donation for the Friday evening talk.

Introductory Evening - Friday, March 18, 7-8:30 pm
Location - M'illumino
6921 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

For more information, contact LeeAnn Starovasnik LeeAnn@NextStepConsultingInc.com or 206-372-8822.

Last Chance for Bridget's Classes and Sessions Before Italy!

As many of you know, Bridget is leading an amazing program in Italy next month--to read more about it, please visit the Anatomy of Grace Blog. In the meantime, she is teaching through the end of March:

Feldenkrais(R) and Yoga, Monday 9:30-10:45am
Feldenkrais: Anatomy of Grace, Tuesday 9:-15-10:30am
Bold Ballet, Tuesday 10:45am-12pm
CenterWork, Wednesday 10-11:15am

Bridget is taking appointments for individual sessions too. Call or email for more information or to book a convenient time!

To read more about Bridget and her classes, click here.

Bridget will be gone for the month of April and will resume teaching in May. Please call or email if you have questions!

Balance In Action™ -- Part One of the Free Friday Series

Announcing our Free Fridays Series!

Once a month, we ask our one of our teachers to present the work they do to the community. The first in our series is this Friday, February 25th, 7-9pm in the studio at m'illumino.

LeeAnn Starovasnik will be teaching Balance In Action(TM), an introduction to somatic education and the Feldenkrais(R) method. Through this experiential workshop, you will learn to embody more balance, ease, and freedom in movement--join us!

Please call or email to save your place!

To read more about LeeAnn and her classes, click here.

m'illumino Open House -- Saturday February 12th

10am-2pm

Join us for free sample classes, short sessions and refreshments! Stop by, meet our teachers and practitioners, try a class, have some tea!

classes in the studio:

10:10-10:30am Body Mind Centering with Doug McKenzie

10:40-11:00am Nia with Susan Blair

11:10-11:30am Tribal Bellydance with Shay Moore

11:40-12:00pm CenterWork with Bridget Thompson and Vaula Torkkola

12:10-12:30pm Awareness Through Movement™ with LeeAnn Starovasnik

12:40-1:00pm Bold Ballet with Bridget Thompson

1:10-1:30pm InterPlay, with Sharie Bowman

1:40-2:00pm Anatomy of Grace with Bridget Thompson

sessions Rooms 1 and 3:

10:00am-12:00pm Feldenkrais® Functional Integration with LeeAnn Starovasnik

12:00-2:00pm Hellerwork Structural Integration with Jason Rumohr

10:00am-12:00pm Reiki and Source Connection Therapy with Diane Ho

Self Reflections

by Bridget Thompson

I'm fascinated by the asymmetry of our faces. When I look at people in photographs or ads, I sometimes cover one half of their face, and then the other - it's extraordinary how the left side has a certain personality, attitude, feeling about it that is quite different to the right side.

I had an interesting experience at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle recently. I visited a booth where your asymmetry is revealed. First you sit in front of the mirror and line up your reflection so that a dotted line goes through your nose, hopefully down the center of your face. Well, my nose isn't straight. It curves right, and actually my head is turned slightly left, and I should also mention that my right ear is closer to my right shoulder than my left ear is to my left shoulder...However, once the dotted line ran down the approximate midline of my face, I pressed a big yellow button. My image stared back at me in a familiar way. There were 4 smaller buttons to press:

Relaxing your eyes and seeing more

by Bridget Thompson

This morning I woke up with the remnants of a dream flitting through my mind. My waking was slow and gentle. I felt good – rested and content.

But I wanted to remember the elusive details of my dream which were flitting and fluttering away. I was aware of frowning a little and tightening my mouth. My eyes felt dry and tired, and then, the familiar tension in my shoulder started up again. I could feel myself becoming more and more anxious and on the verge of irritability. What was the matter with me? I tossed over onto my side and curled up to keep warm for the last few seconds before dragging myself out of bed. What was the dream though? It certainly hadn’t done me any good – at least trying to remember it hadn’t done me any good! I found myself clutching my hands together and clenching my teeth.

Later on when I was at my studio, I still felt out of sorts. My client has pain on her right side as if a rib is poking into her; she feels contracted on her left side and her left leg feels longer than her right. She lay on her back on the table and we began to work. I was drawn to her head and face and began to gently touch her skull and neck. As I turned her head one way and then the other I talked about the 14 bones in her skull. I began with the hyoid bone, horseshoe shaped and non-articulating, resting on the thyroid cartilage, fairly deep in her throat but accessible. I talked about her tongue resting on the hyoid. Her jaw relaxed and then I noticed that mine did too. The discomfort in my shoulder was lessening, my breathing becoming freer.

I put my hand on her forehead and began to roll her head gently. I felt her smooth skin, and bone underneath it. An image of the sphenoid bone flashed into my mind and then I could see it under my hand: the beautiful and mysterious mask-like bone that sits above the cheekbones, behind the eyes and underneath the temporal bones. Beautiful because it’s shaped like a butterfly and mysterious because of the two slits in the front where nerves and channels and sinews pass through to the brain. My attention was open; I was observing myself as much as I was observing my client. My eyes softened and I was aware of seeing forward, what I was looking at, and also all around the periphery of my eye sockets. I could also sense myself filling out the space behind me. I could feel myself in three dimensions. As I suggested to my client to imagine her eyes like deep lakes, expanding up into her eyebrows, down into her cheekbones, out to her temples and in towards her nose, I did the same. We imagined the lakes of our eyes deepening backwards to the sea bed of our skull, and then forwards, as if taking in the sky.

We completed our session. My client sat on the edge of the table. Her eyes were clear and wide and her face soft and glowing. When she stood she felt stable and evenly balanced on both her feet. There was no compression on her left side and the pain on her right had gone. She commented that she felt more alive and was looking forward to her walk around Green Lake. ‘I feel light and free,’ she said, ‘I feel I could float out of here like a bubble…or a butterfly leaving streams of light behind me.’

After she left I walked out into the courtyard. It was a murky morning, fairly cold and wet, but I noticed sprinkles of light on the plants and sparkles playing on the water in the fountain. The colors were bright and deep at the same time and the range of shades and hues seemed infinite. I couldn’t stop seeing and looking for more. I sat down on the little stone wall in the front of the plant bed. Again the image of my sphenoid bone flashed through my mind. It turned into a gorgeous butterfly hovering behind my eyes.

And then I remembered my dream. It had been a brief shimmer of a moth gliding through the midnight dark, flashes of color on its wings in the faint moonlight, and a long sinuous tail floating behind it.