And finally we have summer! Yay!

Thanks for waiting!

So! Let’s celebrate July with a monthly unlimited card for a thin $108, available all month long. And in August, get a 10-class card for only $90.  Right on.

Sunday July 4th, we are closed except for one amazing opportunity to practice at 10am with the awesome Heidi Jo! She will teach an all-levels, Independence Day class in celebration of peace and freedom for ALL!!

Monday, July 5th is the Hi-Five! All classes, all day, $5. And! As if that weren’t enough, we have a special guest teacher for Lisa Mae’s Level 3 noon class. Get down with the righteous Kate Duyn, a Laughing Lotus legend, as she takes the reins for a fun, festive, summertime party class.

Sing it out for Street Yoga! Kirtan this month falls on Sunday, July 11th, and we are honored to get to give it all up for this great hometown organization that is so needed in bringing yoga to homeless and at-risk youth. From 6-8pm, come and sing your hearts out with Mala, The Bhatishop’s house kirtan band, and enjoy some lounging and treats afterwards with your people. Serious Lovin’!

Our annual Guru Purnima celebration is Monday, July 26th at 4am. That's not a typo, people! Gathering at The Shop at 4am, we will chant and practice together (open style) in whatever way best reflects and honors each of your most revered teachers and divine influences. This is an incredibly sweet and amazing way to rise with the sun and greet the day in reverence and respect for these practices, this life. By donation, open to all, and VERY loosely organized, please show up anytime at or after 4am until 6am to practice together on this special morning.

Get set for some Public Displays of Yoga…Outdoor classes in Piccolo Park resume this July, so get your asana outside! BYO mat or towel, and join us for class.
Weds July 14th at 7pm with Tally
Mon July 19th at 7pm with Monicka
Tues July 27th at 4pm with Joanna
The park is at SE 27th Ave between Division and Clinton, right behind the Shop. Classes held indoors in case of rain… God Help Us.

Family, there are a few precious spots left in the AMAZING retreat to the Opal Creek Wilderness this July 30th to August 1st with Tasha and Monicka. This retreat is incredible, as it takes you to the depths of one of the last uncut forests in the Northwest to dive deep into your practice, as well as the crystalline Opal Pool! Register now to grab those last few spots at www.opalcreek.org, and know that ALL the proceeds go to support Opal Creek’s amazing mission to save this Wilderness. Save yourself too! Go to Opal Creek!

Speaking of retreats, there’s only 3 spots left in the World’s Cheapest Yoga Retreat to the Oregon Coast over Labor Day Weekend… A thin $108 gets you on board the fun train to the beach for 3 nights of camping,  5 yoga classes, beachcombing, and unimaginable fun for just pennies! Yes, that is the entire cost.  Email us at biglove@thebhaktishop.com to nab those last few spaces.

Thank you for always being so full of love, family, and so willing to show up. We are all blessed in this amazing community and are SO lucky to be able to share yoga, openness and beauty together. Don’t let the summer keep you from your practice—get out of the heat and into the Heart with us, all summer long!

Quick-time updates, poetic musings, and all things Bhaktishop? Find them on our Facebook page, right here!

It’s killin’ us how much we love you. For real.

Inspired, every day,
Lisa mae, Diana, and The Bhaktishop Bro and Sisters

With this new turn of seasons, a new (orange and purple) schedule beginning June 1st thru August 31st, for all for you!

Look for a shuffle of the Seva (read: cheap) classes, the addition of Matt to the early-bird Solar Flow slot on Mondays,  Maggie Lou rocking the Friday sunrise get-down, Joanna taking over the Thursday 4pm soul flow, and Tasha taking the reins from Marianne on Sunday evenings at 7pm.

Hi-Five! All classes on Saturday June 5th at a thin five bucks…

SUMMER SPECIALS:
Our never-ending quest to keep it (real) cheap, continues:

• June brings you every 1 Hour long class, all month long, for $8 Seva rate
• July rocks a $108 Monthly Unlimited pass
• August deal is a 10-class pass of $90

And as always, email us a photo of you flying your Bhaktishop tee somewhere rad that we can put on the web and get 10% off your next class card!

Big Lovin’ shouts of congratulations and pranams to the Bhaktishop Yoga School Grads! What an amazing journey we had with all of you… Come check out their free karma and by-donation classes all summer long and see what has blossomed in our little palace of love.

Join us for kirtan with Mala, The Bhaktishop’s kirtan band on Sunday, June 13th from 6-8pm. You know  how much fun this is, but lest you forget, we sing and shout our way to happiness and ALL are invited.

Warning: Public Displays of Yoga…
The Great 108 Sun Salutations! Get in on a huge, time-honored celebration of Summer Solstice with the mistress of massive yoga gatherings, Lisa Mae, coming your way Saturday, June 19th at 9am in Piccolo Park! Get outside for this major display of solar-powered sadhana as we bow in all directions to the glory of the sunshine. Bring a mat or a towel and meet us in the park (SE 27th bet Div/Clinton). Don’t want to do them all? We don’t care! Do whatever you want, just do something to celebrate. Epic-ness to ensue, for sure… (indoors if it rains on our parade.)

Pedalpalooza’s Love=Yoga Bike Ride!
Join Maggie Lou as she fearlessly guides you through 4 of Portland’s awesome SE parks with a little yoga flavor stop at each one. Wednesday, June 23rd at 5:15pm, meet up in Col. Sumner Park on SE 17th and Taylor with your mat or a towel (and of course your bike,  and a helmet, duh!) and follow the leader in a great, family-friendly, all-levels yoga party. End in Piccolo Park with some good snacks and lounging.  All for FREE, baby!

Pre-natal Partner yoga for couples with Heather Saturday, June 26th from 3-5pm. Get together and feel alright as you prep for the miracle of the little muffin you are about to have! Yoga is an amazing way to connect and share as you prepare for the BIG ONE! No experience required (same for parenting, I guess…) check the website for details.

Retreat Heaven:

• Opal Creek with Tasha and Monicka 7/30-8/2
• Cheapest Retreat Ever to the Oregon Coast with The Bhaktishop Family 9/3-9/6 (hurry-this one is almost sold out!)
• Breitenbush Indian Summer with Lisa Mae and Diana 10/3-10/5
• Breitenbush Winter Prana Warmer 1/7- 1/9 2011
• Costa Rica 5-Year Anniversary Fiesta 2/20-2/27 2011

More details for all on the website… Early Birds get the juiciest worms!

Specials, retreat goodness, event info and lots of photos and announcements are on our Facebook page. Get in on it! There once was a Bhaktishop Group, but we switched it over to a page so be sure you are on the right one for most up-to-date info!

Early summer rainbow kisses,
Lisa Mae, Diana, and The Bhaktishop Family

Celebrate your sweet yoga palace’s 2 year birthday with us and the amazing DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid! Saturday the 1st of May, from 7-10pm, come get down in a serious way with the barefoot bhangra dance party of the season. Kids are welcome and free (and always the life of the party!!) and the dancing is awesome. Get the spring going for yourself with your friends, because we are stoked to host this party each year! Cupcakes and unbelievable dance moves, what a combo…

All classes on Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, are $5… Viva La Yoga!

Special Mother’s Day Kirtan on Sunday, May 9th from 6-8pm with Mala, the house kirtan band. A loving benefit our sweet little pal August Funk, so he can travel to Austria for a special program to help him with the removal of the feeding tube he has had since birth. This is one special little guy, and these kirtans are just for this—a sweet way to raise hearts and hands for this loving community. Bring your mom (or a picture of her) for the always overflowing Mama Altar, and sing yourself into bliss.

This Memorial Day, Matt offers you the one and only class all day—10 am All Levels yoga fun, all for you. Come on over and enjoy the start of summer, because the rest of us will be picnicking or something! Drop-in or class cards welcome.

Heads up for the summer of love at The Bhaktishop! The Great 108 Sun Celebration with Lisa Mae is on Saturday June 18th at 9am in Piccolo Park, the Pedalpalooza Yoga Love Bike Ride with Maggie is on Weds. June 23rd, there are some outdoors yoga classes in the park this summer too, there’s a pre-natal partner workshop with Heather sometime soon, we sing for Street Yoga at our kirtan benefit in July, Tasha and Monicka are taking you to Opal Creek for a yoga retreat in the ancient forest at the end of July, and the whole fan-damily is taking you to the coast for the first (and cheapest ever!) yoga retreat at the beach. We can’t wait to celebrate Oregon’s bountiful summer with you all!

Register now for the Labor Day Summer Retreat, because at $108 total, it is filling up fast! Details to be found on the website. Early birds get the worm!

Warm up to 2 retreats in the tropics in 2011—Costa Rica in February and Mexico in December. Check the website for details and start saving now…

The prana is FLOWING and we LOVE you!!!

Full-on,
Lisa Mae, Diana and our hutch of Bhaktishop teachers

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it
whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.  –Mary Oliver

April, and so much LOVE!
We’ve been overflowing with love of Portland and LIFE this spring, with the pink- petaled snows and sunshine and the chance to embrace beauty in its boundlessness!

Join us for an intimate evening of chanting and satsang with Manorama, (our Sanskrit teacher and the creator of Sanskrit Studies in New York City) as she offers an evening workshop on the classical Gayatri Mantra, the sacred mantra celebrating the light within us all. Friday, April 2nd from 7:30-9pm, listen deeply as Manorama illuminates for us all the intimacies of light and sound through Sanskrit. All welcome

The hi-five is Monday, April 5th. All classes, all day, 5 bucks!

Family kirtan with Mala, our house kirtan band, is Sunday April 11th from 6-8pm. Sing, sway and shout your love for all beings in this night of celebrated sweetness that benefits our community directly.  By donation, kids are welcome and treats are always shared afterwards. Our live CD is on sale now, benefiting Hospice of Washington County.

Did we mention FREE YOGA all day on Tax Day? That’s right, April 15th, all day long, all teachers are donating their efforts to YOUR relaxation around tax day, so therefore classes are free. Leave your sour faces and worries minds at home and be FREE!

Cancelled Class Alerts: While we HATE to ever close the doors of the Shop, there are a few classes coming up that will be cancelled to make room for some fabulous visiting teachers. Take note!
Saturday, April 3rd at 1pm and Sunday April 4th at 1pm
Saturday, April 24th at 11am and 1pm and Sunday April 25th at 11am and 1pm

And, write this one on your forehead: The return of DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid to celebrate our 2-year birthday! Coming back to our pink-walled palace, these fab DJ’s will get you shakin’ in a badly needed dance party Saturday May 1st from 7-10pm.  $8, All ages, no shoes and no booze. Just an awesome excuse to seriously get down and shake off the winter cruddies, Bhaktishop style. Kids are welcome and encouraged. Not to be missed!

Check out the newly-hatched “plan ahead” part of the retreats page, so you can start to plan, save and tell your boss that you will be gone long in advance, so you can go with us to fab places like Breitenbush, the Oregon Coast, Costa Rica, and Mexico for New Year’s of 2011!

We are totally feeling the gratitude that is pouring out all over the place in this house we call a home here at The Bhaktishop, and weeping happy for it.

In a springtime tizzy,
Lisa Mae, Diana, and The sweet-flower-scented sprites of The Bhaktishop

“Squander it all!
Hold nothing back.
The heart’s a deep well.
And when it’s empty,
it will fill again.”
-Gregory Orr

This month we bring you lots of yoga in the form of singing, mantra and sound! Please enjoy time in voice and heart with several workshops with Lolo Woods and a wild kirtan with Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band. Read on…

Join us for a kirtan ruckus with Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band, all the way from festive New Orleans, to rock your chanting souls. Thursday, March 11th from 7-9pm (no 5:30 or 7pm classes on this day!) we will sing and chant with these amazing and funky soul-seekers as they tour the west coast. Tickets on sale now for $15 and kids as always are free. Bring on the Spring!

Our own divine Lolo Woods brings you 2 workshops in honor of sound and music this month! Saturday March 13th from 3-6pm, she will teach you how to let freedom ring through your own amazed instrument, especially if you “can’t sing!” This workshop is open to all that want to break through vocal blockages or learn to sing kirtan chants.

Then, Lolo brings you De-Mystifying the Harmonium on Sunday March 21 from 3-6pm! Ever wondered how to play the harmonium? Wanting to sing kirtan in your living room? This class is a basic intro to Indian Scale, as Lolo teaches you the care and feeding of your new vocal practice, accompanied by the strength of the Harmie. No Harmonium necessary (though bring one if you happen to have one), and no experience necessary! Please pre-register for this soon, as spaces are limited.

Saturday, March 20th at 11am, join Diana for the Spring Equinox celebration on the mat. Let the sap rise, let your spirit burst out into the coming Spring! All levels, a thin $10, better sign up early!

Spring Cleaning: A Kapha Balancing Workshop with Lisa Mae and Nancy Schneider on Saturday, March 20th from 5-7:30pm. Clear out the funky muck in this yoga and lifestyle workshop. We will discuss diet, dosha, and real life changes you can implement now open to the beauty of springtime with less, um, mucus. Register now.

TIMBER(line)!!!! Diana takes you to the top to get high on life in the first-annual snow retreat to Mt. Hood March 21-23. Get cozy at historic Timberline Lodge with your yoga-crazed friends, ski or ride in the daytime, do lots of practice together, and snuggle into the hot tub at night. For $235, this is serious cheap-yoga bliss.

Remember that all classes on the 5th of every month are a thin $5!

Support Hopsice of Washington County and buy our newly hatched Live CD, I Love You, by Mala, our house kirtan band, for only $8. And join us for kirtan on Sunday, March 14th from 6-8pm for our family kirtan. Treats, chanting, and joy for all.

Save the date for Friday, April 2nd for a wonderful evening of meditation and chanting with our beloved Sanskrit teacher, Manorama. This evening will be spent chanting and understanding more fully the timeless Gayatri mantra and its invocation of the light within us all. $15, and open to all, sure to be a bright and illuminating evening for all.

Remember that if you send us your photo in your favorite Bhaktishop T-shirt out and about, we will give you 10% off your next 10-class pass.

Pssst… we are planning the cheapest yoga retreat in the history of the universe at the beach over Labor Day Weekend, so stay tuned!

We had a great time this month meeting more than a hundred of your favorite friends as you brought them to yoga for free. We are family!

Celebrating all the blessings,
Lisa Mae, Diana, and The Bhaktishop Family

Thanks to your efforts, and the generous support of our teachers, Seek Yogic Style and Nike

Bravo, Bhaktas!

This past week you all threw down your money and your mats to raise SO much needed money (nevermind your own consciousness…) for those in need. Our week-long MercyCorps yoga fundraiser, with the generous help from our teachers, Nike's employee matching fund and Seek Yogic Style, raised almost $10,000 for our brothers and sisters in Haiti!! We are stunned by the outpouring, but not really, because we know you care so much. This community is incredible, and together, nothing is impossible.

To show you our love in return, we are doubling for you it all month long. During February, bring a friend for free for the first time to the Shop and show them you love them, too!

Hi-Five! All classes, all day on the 5th of February, are a thin 5 bucks. Enjoy!

Please come and join us for a Winter Blues Kirtan with Lolo Woods and Cameron Flint on Saturday, February 6th from 7:30-9:30pm. Sing the rust off of your golden hearts and get warm and cozy together in the chanting palace. Kids, treats, good company. Yes!

Finally, it is here—the Live CD release from Mala, our house kirtan band, I Love You. We will throw a kirtan party, at the regular time and place, to celebrate this fun (and slightly scary for us all) event on Sunday, February 14th from 6-8pm. All proceeds (and we mean ALL) of the sale of this CD (which is a thin 8 bucks) will go to the Hospice of Washington County in honor of our loving Ma, Bobbie Mims. Pick up the CD at the Shop this month, because now you can chant with us in the car, in the shower, everywhere!

Matt is throwing you a balancing shin-dig on Saturday, February 20th from 3-5pm. For those of you with a pinch of asana experience, this workshop will get you organized to stand on feet, hands and heads in a more, um, controlled way! Sing, jump and find stillness on the mat and in the mind…

Partner Pre-Natal Yoga practice with Heather, Saturday, February 27th from 3-5pm! What a sweet way to celebrate the changes you are going through together, as you spend some time with your partners in a loving and groovy yoga environment. Gentle practices will be shared, no experience required.

Diana still has 3 spaces open in her retreat to Timberline Lodge for a delighted kiss to the skies for the Spring Equinox, March 21-23. Come get high on life and yoga in a cozy wintry retreat full of yoga, snowsports, hot tubs, and bliss!

Mark your calendars for another wild night of chanting bliss with Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band, all the way from festive New Orleans! Diana and I had the joy of teaching in their fine city back in December, and now we get to welcome them back home, Portland-style. Thursday night, March 11th from 7-9pm, come on down and sing and shout with the kirtan-lovin’ gang at the Shop. Tickets on sale now for $15.

Note to all you Laughing Lotus Loving Yogis: Dana and Jasmine’s April workshops are filling up fast! If you want to come get down with the Original Teachers of Soul, get in here and grab a spot immediately…

Lastly, on a more motherly note, there have been reports of students coming into class hacking and coughing. Needless to say... this is unhygienic, antisocial and gross. If you are suffering a cold or the flu, two words: "HOME PRACTICE". We love you and want you to be well, and also don’t want to start an epidemic…

Thank you for all your golden gloriousness family, we are all seriously blessed on this journey.

Rising up,
Lisa Mae, Diana, and The Bhaktishop family that loves YOU!

2010 Bhaktishop Love and Wild Blue Moon New Year Greetings to you all!

Come chant with us on New Year's Eve from 10:30pm until 12:01am! Free, and there will be feasting and merriment for all...

2 classes on New Year’s Day, all others cancelled
Regular classes resume on Saturday the 2nd of January.

Once in a blue moon (that's happening right now!) you get a collection of conscious beings that want to do all they can to better the world we all share. We are thrilled to let you know that with all your generous donations and ticket purchases, we raised more than $1700 (and counting) for our Giving Tree Raffle this year! The proceeds from that raffle will go straight to Impact NW, to help your neighbors and fellow Portlanders lift themselves from poverty. We coulnd't have done it without you, and are SO grateful to be able to give back in such a cool way--from the community to the community. You Bhaktishoppers RULE!!

To help you stay in the spirit, January brings you a monthly unlimited pass for $108, all month long. We wish you a steady and rich 2010 and hope you all rock getting it started with plenty of yoga. You know you can also still get a 10% discount on your next 10-class card if you email me a picture of you outside somewhere in your Bhaktishop t-shirt…

Tuesday, January 5th is the Hi-Five, all classes, all day long, just a thin 5 bucks. Wahoo!

Pick up and new (Turquoise, purple and orange!!) schedule next time you are in the house. There are some small changes, most notably welcoming Jeannie Songer and Joanna Cowan officially to the schedule. Also you will notice a shuffle of the seva (read:cheap) classes as well, so that all our teachers get a chance to serve you at the $8 level. And of course on the back there is a flurry of new workshops and offerings for the spring to keep you inspired, studying, and practicing your yoga all year long.

There are still 3 spots open for Breitenbush if you really need a cheap little yoga getaway. We leave on January 8th, so email me here if you want to treat yourself to some wild soaking in the woods.

Family kirtan with Mala is Sunday, January 10th from 6-8pm. This month we celebrate our friends Ada and Peter Lunoak (and their sweet daughter Zia) hit hard by the economic downturn. Come and sing and share your love with this family, and the wider family of Portland. By donation, completely, to the needy peeps of this great town we live in. Treats afterwards, and of course your fine company.

We are excited, humbled, (and freakin' nervous, frankly) to announce that our first live kirtan CD, I Love You, will be released sometime in January. Look for it on the shelves of the Shop by early February, and plan to come to our official CD release party on Valentine's Day! All the proceeds from the (very cheap) sale of this lil' cooperative effort will go to Hospice of Washington County. Share the love and chant with us, now in your car, in your house, on your pod, anytime!!

Portland's first and only yoga classes in ASL continue this month with Jeannie Songer on Thursdays from 2-3:30pm. The dates are 1/, 1/14, 1/21/ and 1/28. If you know any deaf folks that would enjoy or benefit from these offerings, please share this news with them. All classes in ASL are by donation.

Good lord we have all learned SO much together this year, and supported and held each other up in these wild and often wicked times. For your continued presence and inspired, dedicated practices, we are humbled and grateful. Thank you  for making us part of your life. This place would be nothing without you. Hari om!!!

Lovin' you all SOOOO big,
Lisa Mae, DIana, and your lovin' family of Bhaktishop teachers