About Summer
|
Summer Joy Hills-Bonczyk is a 200 hour certified Kripalu yoga teacher, a practicing visual artist, meditator, dancer, JourneyDance teacher and a former college athlete. She finds joy and meaning in creative expression of all kinds. Through inventive and compassionate teaching with a mixture of philosophy, anatomy, athleticism and poetry, Summer’s classes leave students feeling stronger and healthier with a greater sense of ease and vitality. Summer says that when she found yoga, it felt like coming home. Through teaching, personal practice and weaving yoga and meditation into her visual art practice, she cultivates a deep sense of connectedness to the universal intelligence and the wisdom of the body, breath, and true self.
|
|
Summer teaches at 5809 YOGA, her family's cozy, in-home yoga studio in south Minneapolis, The Marsh in Minnetonka, MN, Richfield United Methodist Church, workshops throughout the Twin Cities, and she co-leads international retreats with her mom, Sharon. In 2012 Summer completed her Journey Dance™ teacher training with Toni Bergins. Click here to find a group class with Summer near you.
About Yoga
Yoga is a 5000-year old practice that originated in India. Yoga encompasses meditation, philosophy, lifestyle, breathing techniques, energy work and postures. Although yoga evolved within a predominately Hindu context in India, yoga is not a religion, and is practiced by people of many faiths.
The popularity of yoga in the west includes mostly the physical aspects. However, recent interest in meditation, devotional yoga, yoga nidra and other non-movement practices has become increasingly easier to find in the US. Many have experienced the abundant physical, mental and spiritual benefits of practicing yoga on and off the mat. Yoga can calm the body and mind, create a feeling of peace and contentment, cultivate the body's ability to heal itself, and help one find a greater sense of meaning in dealing with the challenges and joys of life. The word yoga means "union" or "yolking". It refers to the feeling of bliss and contentment that is created as a result of greater awareness of self, compassion, and connectedness.
The acceptance of yoga as a treatment for stress in western medicine is becoming increasingly widespread. In the past five years extensive research has been done investigating the numerous health benefits of practicing yoga.
The popularity of yoga in the west includes mostly the physical aspects. However, recent interest in meditation, devotional yoga, yoga nidra and other non-movement practices has become increasingly easier to find in the US. Many have experienced the abundant physical, mental and spiritual benefits of practicing yoga on and off the mat. Yoga can calm the body and mind, create a feeling of peace and contentment, cultivate the body's ability to heal itself, and help one find a greater sense of meaning in dealing with the challenges and joys of life. The word yoga means "union" or "yolking". It refers to the feeling of bliss and contentment that is created as a result of greater awareness of self, compassion, and connectedness.
The acceptance of yoga as a treatment for stress in western medicine is becoming increasingly widespread. In the past five years extensive research has been done investigating the numerous health benefits of practicing yoga.
|
About Kripalu Yoga
|
Kripalu yoga is named for Swami Kripalu who taught yoga as a way of living that encompasses all expressions of life and encourages embracing truth from moment to moment. Swami Kripalu (affectionately called Bapuji) encouraged his student to practice on and off the mat and enter into a compassionate and authentic relationship with the self. For the dedicated yogi, Kripalu yoga awakens a curiosity about life, and is an invitation to start a journey of inquiry into the expression of prana, or life force. When the practice is deepened, the witness consciousness in heightened and so is the ability to live with ease, grace and compassion
|
Most types of yoga practiced in the west have been shown to be highly effective in working with the physical body. This is much of the reason for yoga's immense popularity. What Kripalu does, is use the physical body and yoga's benefits to it as a vehicle for affecting mental clarity, inner wisdom, spiritual abundance and emotional stability.
|
Swami Kripalu's student Amrit Desai came from India in the 1960's and founded an ashram on the east coast. In 1983, Desai and a dedicated group of his students founded the the Kripalu Yoga Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Today the Kripalu Yoga Center is the largest yoga retreat center in the country and is host to renowned speakers, teachers and presenters from all over the world.
|
|
The word Kripalu means compassion. In her classes, Summer encourages her students to listen to their own bodies as she guides them through a series of asanas (postures), pranayama (breathwork) and meditation. Kripalu yoga uses smooth transitions and proper alignment principles informed by an in-depth understanding of anatomy to learn body awareness. Kripalu yoga can be practiced at any level, from gentle and restorative to dynamic classes that will take you to your physical edge. Summer completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at the Kripalu yoga center in 2011.
Never taken a Kripalu yoga class? Click below to read Summer's Welcome letter:
|
|
