Ahni & Chris are back in the studio at Laughing Frog Yoga this week. Thanks to all of the guest teachers and friends who have kept this jewel of a studio busy with acro over the last couple of months while Ahni went away to do her project followed by our last couple of weeks of projects at Lighting in a Bottle & Wanderlust. We have learned a lot on our travels and deepened our practice in ways which we hope will benefit the entire community. I, for one, took a very intense little master basing tutorial from Matt Giordano at Wanderlust which has been on my mind daily since. What I already knew but didn’t realize and what I learned will make me both a better base and a better guide for others in these skills. Big gratitude right now up in here! This week Ahni & I are going to lead the class in an exploration of Daniel Scott’s machine called “Mobius Strip”. Daniel uses this as one of his prime calibration exercises. In August Daniel will be coming to Laughing Frog to teach on a Friday night. Over the next few weeks we intend to make sure everyone knows about his upcoming classes here in LA and exploring Daniel’s “Mobius Strip” will be our first attempt at this. In this class we will cover inside stars, stars, koala pike press, back bird, and rotisserie and how to put it all together and give it tempo. By the end of class you should have a very clear understanding of how to do these poses, how to spot them, and stack the transitions. Everyone should come away with exercises to make their practices better […]
Stupid aka Whirlpool
Ahni Radvanyi & Chris Filkins are Acro Love. Over the next few weeks we intend to share many of the machines which we have written. This particular one is called “Stupid”. The move came out of turning the bases first foot backwards upon mount. It seemed a stupid thing to do to turn your foot over like that – hence the name! This is a very challenging machine after the rotation phase as the flyer has to twist very tightly to keep the weight aligned and allow for the base to remain stacked. If the base loses stack just before the mount back to goofy star the flyer will fall every time. Assuming we are not re-inventing the wheel we hope you like this and can learn from it. Someone may have done this particular move before while we thought we made it up ourselves. If you know of this machine with another name created by someone else please let us know. We are always looking to learn more. Ahni & Chris have a 2 year practice together in Venice/Santa Monica California. We teach and hold to a very progressive training regimen for acrobatic type yoga. In the traditional Acro Yoga sense of the world we focus on solar as we both adore momentum and momentum and more momentum. We teach regularly at Laughing Frog Yoga in Los Angeles and can often be seen training on the green at Original Muscle Beach. In October of 2013 we will be hosting a week long retreat in Costa Rica to share our love of this discipline, vegan food, intentionality, and being in the present. If you would like to learn more search for “Destination Recalibration” on the […]
Midsummer’s Night Frolic II
Ahni & Chris are away this week performing at Wanderlust so Tari Mannello & Miyoko Rifkin have agreed to step in and share their signature blend of spice and flair. Friday’s adventure will take you on a roller-coaster ride of movement, playfulness and exploration. This is Part II of a two part series that will thrill your creative side, and get your adrenaline pumping. Transitions and poses to include bow on feet to bow on hands, Mrs Lincoln, handheld navasana, and pendulum. Don’t know what all that is? Doesn’t it make you burn to find out? Come to our Midsummer’s Night Frolic, aka Intermediate AcroYoga class for all ages and levels and we’ll break it down for you elegantly. You can dress up or dress down and if you have someone in mind who you know can base you or fly you, bring that person with you, and all their friends too. At the end of class, before the jam, you can optionally showcase what you’ve learned to everyone with a little music or support those who do. Then it’s Jam Time for the next hour! Hurry! Offer good while supplies last, void where prohibited, must be 16 or older to play. Less Talk, More Acro. Side effects may include euphoria, bliss and uncontrollable bouts of happiness. Ask your Dr, if Acro is right for you before being treated by Tari and Miyoko. All rights reserved. Come! Bring water, a mat, and dance partner if you got em. But if you don’t it’s no problem. You can find a partner in class. Class is $15 for 1.5 hours of instruction followed by 1.5 hours of open jam. Come play! We hope you can come! 7:30PM […]
Arch Bishop aka Nunchuck
Ahni Radvanyi & Chris Filkins are Acro Love. Over the next few weeks we intend to share many of the machines which we have written. This particular one is called “Arch Bishop” due to the mood we were in the day we wrote it and the particular type of arch the flyer must hold during the back side transition. Chris originally envisioned this from within a reverse star pose. It wasn’t until pretty recently that we started mounting it from bird. This is a very challenging machine as the way that the weight is distributed behind the legs for the base is extremely difficult until you get used to it. The base should be prepared to put the big toe into the butt dimple of the flyer and essentially balance the flyer on the big toe for a split second. Also when coming out the other side the flyer is balanced completely on the base’s heel in a completely non-standard way. It is extremely fun because just as you feel like you will lose the flyer she suddenly rises up onto your heel in a most satisfying and surprising fashion. Assuming we are not re-inventing the wheel we hope you like this and can learn from it. Someone may have done this particular move before while we thought we made it up ourselves. If you know of this machine with another name created by someone else please let us know. We are always looking to learn more. Ahni & Chris have a 2 year practice together in Venice/Santa Monica California. We teach and hold to a very progressive training regimen for acrobatic type yoga. In the traditional Acro Yoga sense of the world we focus […]
Games of Thrones Breakdown for January 6, 2013
Thanks again to everyone who came this last weekend! Ahni and I had a blast! Everyone did a great job! We have this idea that a class should be serving up fun, accomplishment, challenge, and inspiration. It was an honor to watch seemingly everyone in the class go through just those experiences. There was lots of laughter and I know from all the smiles that fun was had. Everyone accomplished something. The level of skill and confidence in everyone in the room with the basic throne both forward and reverse was impressive. I hope each of you can continue to develop your ease and comfort with thrones. They are an amazing pose from which to explore many extremely fun and challenging transitions. Everyone was challenged. Some of the class were challenged by the vosh. There was tremendous challenge across the board by those who had little or no experience with vosh. And for those whom already had a comfortable vosh many were challenged and increased their skill by taking on the voshing machine. I hope that everyone was inspired by the squaatz machine. I know I am! As each of you saw I am still challenged by doing that machine on my non-dominent side. Thanks to all for attending and I hope that you can, in your personal practice, incorporate more of the vosh and the throne. You will be richly rewarded. There will be a Games of Thrones II class in the not too distant future. We didn’t get to several thing and have more to share. Everyone keep working their throne as there is more challenging stuff to come. Ahni and I will be teaching again at Laughing Frog on the 19th. We […]
Game of Thrones
Hey everyone I know it is late notice but we have cleared the space again for the next class we will be offering at Laughing Frog Yoga. The class will take place on Friday January 4th at 7:30PM in Santa Monica adjacent. The address is 11870 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90025. The studio is on the second floor of the building and does not have a clear sign. Look for the yoga studio space and we will be there. Class will take place from 7:30 to 9PM and will focus on throne positions and transitions and will have something new to learn for beginners / intermediate / and even advanced yogis. We will be touching on and practicing throne and reverse throne, vosh, and single leg perch positions. In addition we will cover intermediate transitions like voshing machine, whirly gig, and our Russian chairs perch variation. And for advanced students we will cover more throne transitions involving both vertical plane spinning and horizontal plane spinning. After the class from 9PM until at least 10:30PM we will be hosting an open jam. Our motivation in teaching is finding a space where students whom share our practice can study specific body positions and transitions and learn how these positions and transitions can serve as a progressive starting point for further exploration. In our practice we often find the best place to start is at the beginning. With this as our intent we hope that both the beginner and the advance yogi can find ways to dig deeper into their practice as we do the same. After the class we see the jam as a key part of the teaching and learning experience. In the jam […]