A Training To Train Your Best Self to Show Up for Your Muse & Your Tribes
I want to tell you about a training. It’s a training to train your best self to do your greatest creative work in the world. And it’s a training that opens the way for you to do likewise for your clients, your students, your teams, your tribes.
You and I know the challenges of living this one wild life creatively day-in, day-out. Obligations drain your time. Distractions suck up your focus. Unforeseen complications frustrate you. And moods derail your once wide-eyed enthusiasm. And then there’s revenue. And having a unique offering for your tribe. And building that tribe.
Where’s the wonder?
The distance and residential training I’m offering this May through September won’t resolve all those matters. It won’t make living this one wild life easy. But I guarantee four things this training will give you:
- a system and tools that will help you focus, imagine, persevere, and sculpt time to show up for your best creative work when you need to (not just when you feel like it);
- an incomparable confidence and know-how to create and facilitate experiences for your clients and tribes;
- the know-how and support to become a thought leader in your field;
- ongoing support of & mentoring from a tribe of committed, experienced creatives, teachers, coaches, entrepreneurs, and facilitators
But there’s only room for a few of you remarkable people. And if you apply and register before March 15, you’ll get a nice Early-Bird Discount.
You can fill out the application now and send me an email message that it’s on its way.
Or read on for the Four Big Reasons this training might be calling you. If you want to skip the details, scroll to the bottom for registration details. Or send me an email message if you want to set up a time to talk.
Although the training has its roots in my book The Journey from the Center to the Page: Yoga Philosophies and Practices as Muse for Authentic Writing (Monkfish 2008, Penguin Putnam 2004), the training material extends far beyond this essential Yoga As Muse primer.
4 Reasons This Training Calls You
REASON #1: You Receive Exceptional Training for Yourself & Your Own Tribe.
You will come away with a wildly new appreciation for your own abilities and for how you can apply yoga’s tools and artfully designed sequences to creative ends. You will deepen your own creative problem-solving facility & practice. You’ll learn, almost step-by-step, how to facilitate your own and other people’s creative freedom. Plus, we delve into the neuroscience and neuro-psychology of yoga & creativity – a hot new hybrid field. You don’t have to be a science geek – just a curious soul willing to absorb the latest exciting research.
This training specifically:
- taps your greatest strengths to become a dynamic workshop & events facilitator for your specific tribe;
- deepens and refines your applicable knowledge of the science of yoga tools with the science of creativity & yoga;
- offers you a solid, workable template, materials, handouts, and sample outlines for YAM workshop design – to be improvised with your style and essence (included in a 150-page trainee’s manual);
- teaches you 3 core and highly adaptable YAM sequences designed for helping workshop participants focus, generate insight, and open their creative compassion;
- immerses you in the YAM practice so you can facilitate from
your authenticity; - gives you guided practice in facilitating a mini-workshop that you can teach at schools, writing centers & conferences, libraries, yoga studios, senior centers, and wherever else people hunger for an authentic means to deepen their creativity and flexible
problem-solving; - connects you with abundant support via your fellow YAM Tribe mates as we discover the power of creative collaboration
& Tribe Synergy! - makes you eligible for additional support in building your entrepreneurial platform and enterprise post-graduation.
We don’t mess around. But we still have fun during the intensity.
“Yoga as Muse Facilitator Training was the best training I’ve ever taken. It is comprehensive and included plenty of hands-on component (i.e., actual workshop development and facilitation) as well as a very practical entrepreneurial component. I feel supported and ready to give workshops, which is no small transformation for me. Jeffrey is a highly skilled and innovative teacher, and has created a unique offering that I’m excited to be part of.”
—Cat Holm, author of My Heart is a Mountain (Holy Cow Press, 2010), writer, and YAM Facilitator catherineholm.com
REASON #2 You Join an Amazing TRIBE Long After the Training Ends.
After many trainings, you return home with a manual, a head full of ideas, and utter anxiety as to where to go next. But not here.
In the YOGA AS MUSE TRIBE Facilitator Training, you’re not alone (except, of course, when you want to be!). We establish a cooperative, generous spirit from the outset. The group synergy lifts you through the tough times and keeps you inspired to take consistent creative action after the training – so you make the best of this opportunity.
After the training, you can opt to sign up for additional tele-conferences in topics related to Yoga as Muse and creative entrepreneurship, receive promotion of your YAM events, attend bi-monthly “Juice Up” meetings, and renew your annual license and membership. When one Facilitator was on book tour, she joined up with other YAM Facilitators to offer combo reading-YAM Sampler events.
“What an honor to have been a participant in Jeffrey’s inaugural YAM Facilitator Training in August of 2010. That experience forever changed my relationship with my writing, and added the irrepressible joy of deep connection with a YAM-minded community – the Keepers of YAM Tribe.
—Darlene Rivais, writer and YAM Facilitator
REASON #3 And the View’s Not Bad.
The Hudson Valley ripples with verdure in summertime. With temps in the 70s and 80s and views of the Catskill Mountains, the valley supports our eight-night residential immersion each year.
You’ll truly feel in sanctuary during the Immersion phase. And the new view of yourself? Well, that’s indescribable. Read the details below and download the application.
“Practicing Yoga As Muse gave me the skillful means to hone both craft and perseverance; it guided me through writing and completing my first novel. Becoming a YAM facilitator-completing the outstanding training with Jeffrey- was a life-awakening opportunity to grow. It gave me learning tools to facilitate creative empowerment, mine and others. Life changing? Yes. In my center, and on the page.”
—Tanya Robie, writer, coach, mentor, YAM Facilitator tanyarobie.com
REASON #4 It Pays Off.
After the training, the Tribe keeps you inspired and directed to take creative action. Our facilitators have led YAM events in Canada, Minnesota, New York, Guatemala, California’s Joshua Tree, Iowa, and elsewhere. YAM Facilitators are gearing up to lead events in 2012 at hospitals, creative businesses, writer’s festivals & conferences (including the esteemed Iowa Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference & UNM Taos Writer’s Conference), and elsewhere.
Give me the Details!
The training journey is broken down into 3 legs:
LEG 1
The Heart of YOGA AS MUSE & Growing a YAM Tribe:
An Interactive Long-Distance Course
(email, online YAM TRIBE Forum, & optional video conferencing)
May 14-June 24, 2012
(30 hours)
LEG 2
Become the Facilitator of Your Dreams:
Residential Immersion
July 16-24, 2012 in Rosendale, NY
(atop a mountain close to Woodstock and in the verdant
Mid-Hudson Valley!)
(65 hours)
LEG 3
Become a YAM Thought Leader:
Correspondence Extension Program
August 6-September 21, 2012
LEG 1 DETAILS
The Heart of YOGA AS MUSE & Growing a YAM Tribe:
An Interactive Long-Distance Course
(email, online YAM TRIBE Forum, & optional video conferencing)
May 14-June 24, 2012
(30 hours)
HOW IT WORKS
Each week, you receive in your inbox an engaging e-lecture delivered by pdf and video. You hone your own creative practice with Yoga As Muse each week plus assimilate new ways of thinking like a facilitator. You post homework and stay in touch with your peers via the Yoga As Muse Tribe Forum. You also can opt-in for video conference Q & A sessions with me and other licensed YAM Facilitators.
WEEK 1: YOGA AS MUSE 101 & THE SCIENCE OF CREATIVE INTENTION
- Learn the basic tenets of yoga’s skillful means as applied to
creative ends - The fundamental three-part Yoga As Muse Process and your practice
- The science of intention and how it works for creative ends
- YAM tools for centering and working with creative intention
WEEK 2: SHOWING UP & SHAPING TIME
- Harmful time patterns that squander creative people’s time
- How to partner creative time and clock time
- YAM tools to shape time rather than manage it
- The No-Matter-What Mantra
- YAM Tools for Transitions and for The Creative’s Pose
WEEK 3: THE YAM ADVANTAGE IN CREATIVE IDEATION
- Keep the Mystery without the Preciousness
- What “Flow” is – the science & art of it
- Heeding Triggers – how renowned creatives pay attention to ideas
- The Art of Getting Lost – how to create without expectation (at first!)
- Build A Project with Images & Questions
- Follow the Body’s Draft – a Yoga As Muse sequence for ideation
- YAM Tools for the Imagination & the Back Mind
- The Science of Yoga & Ideation
- An Introduction to Key Tenets of Yoga As Muse Ideation & Drafting
WEEK 4: STOKING THE CREATIVE’S FIRE – PERSEVERANCE
- What “Creative Will” (kumari) is and is not
- YAM Tools for Creative Productivity
- The “Gut Brain” – what it is and how to stoke it
- An Introduction to Anatomy, Psychology, and Neuroscience
of Creative Perseverance
WEEK 5: RIDING THE WAVE OF CREATIVE FOCUS
- Three Creative Distractions: Fleas (circumstantial), Gnats (social), and Mosquitos (mental)
- Making More Space in the Attic
- How Current Science Corroborates Ancient Wisdom About Focus
- Standing Poses, Balancing Poses, & Creative Focus
- YAM Breathing Tools for Creative Focus
- The Creative’s Concentration Sequence
WEEK 6: THE YOGA AS MUSE FACILITATOR’S TRIAD OF VIRTUES
- Embodying Confidence: Set Your Intentions With Faith in Your
Best Self - Embodying Versatility: Engage the Skillful Means Your
Intentions Need - Embodying Authenticity: Create According to Your True
Self’s Authority - Assimilating & Testing Out Your Own YAM Process
- Envisioning Your Own YAM Offerings & Events
LEG 2 DETAILS
Become the Facilitator of Your Dreams:
Residential Immersion
July 16-24, 2012 in Rosendale, NY
(atop a mountain close to Woodstock and in the verdant
Mid-Hudson Valley!)
(65 hours)
We will gather at a beautifully appointed 12,000-square foot eco-center nestled on a mountainside and looking onto the famous Catskill Mountains that have inspired artists, writers, & spiritual leaders for 200 years. The well-kept grounds invite us to stroll through the woods, relax beneath big trees, or recline on the decks.
Travel: If flying, best to fly into Stewart International and arrange for a shuttle, or fly into New York City and take the bus to Rosendale. We provide travel details.
Each morning, a Yoga As Muse Practicum lets you start off the morning in your own creative work. This way you experience how I facilitate various Yoga As Muse experiences – while also dating your muse each morning. Nice!
After breakfast, we meet for three hours of training. Following a two-hour break after lunch, we meet for two hours of training. After dinner, we meet for an evening discussion and meditation. In the interims, you can study, rejuvenate, and walk among the woods
and pond.
The Rosendale Café – repeatedly ranked as among the best vegeterian restaurants in the Mid-Hudson Valley – will cater our meals. Any special diets – within reason – can be accommodated.
On the last evening, you are invited to come to my farmhouse for a home-cooked dinner. There you can wander our homestead, reflect on your week, and participate in the closing bonfire ceremony.
Don’t fret about shared lodging. We’ll be a conscientious, happy tribe who follows simple parameters for co-inhabiting space. No one has ever complained about lack of privacy.
Tentative Schedule for the Residential Immersion:
EVENING 1:
- Defining Yoga As Muse for Your Tribes
- The Components of a Yoga As Muse Experience/Workshop
- Feeling the Facilitator Difference
- Employing Yoga As Muse for your Facilitator Work
- Your Outcomes & Your Mini-Workshop
DAY 2:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- Generating & Shaping Ideas for a Mini-Workshop
- Skillful Means at the Heart of a Yoga As Muse Experience
- The YAM Safe Container
- Participant Centering Methods
- Yoga Alignment in Yoga As Muse Events
- How to Conduct Yoga As Muse Samplers
- Learning to Facilitate the Creative’s Concentration Sequence
- Evening Conversation: “Thinking Differently”
DAY 3:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- Facilitating Your Tribe’s Creative Focus
- Facilitating Your Tribe’s Ideation/Generation of Images & Ideas
- Facilitating Mala Readings, Read-Alouds, & Other Participant Sharing Moments
- Hands-on Practice: Centering Methods, Concentration Sequence, Ideation Sequence
DAY 4:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- Elements of Authentic Creativity, Part I: Craft & Mastery
- Crafting Creative “Take-A-Breath” Invitations/Prompts
- Why Your Creative Tribes Need Help with Compassion
- Facilitating the Creative Compassion Sequence
- The Science of Compassion & Creativity
- Workshop Development: Flow, Outline, & Design
- Evening Conversation: Paradoxes of the Creative Personality
DAY 5:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- The Art of Crafting YAM Sequences for Creative Ends
- The Art of Cueing & Staying Out of Your Tribe’s Way
- Yoga As Muse Practicum: Share-Alouds & Read-Alouds of Your Work
- Yoga As Muse Practicum: Walking Meditation
- Workshop Development: Weaving the Parts for 90-minute and
3-hour experiences - Evening Conversation: The Junctions of Wonder & Fertile Confusion in the Creative Process & in a Creative Life
DAY 6:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- Self-Study/Individual Preparation for Mini-Workshops
- Privates with Jeffrey
- Yoga As Muse Practicum: Read-Aloud and Share-Aloud of Your Work
- Yoga As Muse Creative Entrepreneur: Starting A Platform
DAY 7:
- Yoga As Muse Practicum
- Mini-Workshop Experiences by Trainees
- Yoga As Muse Creative Entrepreneurship: Envisioning a YAM Year
DAY 8:
- Yoga flow class
- Mini-Workshop Experiences by Trainees
- Yoga As Muse Creative Entrepreneurship
- Assimilation, Dinner, & Bonfire Ceremony at Jeffrey’s Farmhouse
DAY 9:
- Yoga flow class
- Closing Walking Meditation & Closing Words
LEG 3 DETAILS
Become a YAM Thought Leader:
Correspondence Extension Program
August 6-September 21, 2012
- Assimilate your favorite parts of the training by learning to craft a YAM-related article or essay aimed at a specific publication’s readership that will reach your targeted tribe and niche right peeps – or design your own research-based project that will reach your tribe.
- Prepare to launch the next phase of your creative life by crafting a detailed YAM Workshop outline targeted to a specific venue and specific audience.
- Receive ongoing Tribe support via the YAM Tribe Forum and optional tele- conferences.
Upon graduation, you will receive a certificate as a licensed, certified Yoga As Muse Facilitator and member of the Yoga As Muse
Collective Membership.
Your annually renewable license and membership
- grant you rights to use the YOGA AS MUSE name & logo for the first eight months – renewable each year thereafter at $250 a year
- let you draw upon online support for promotion and
platform development - receive discounts on some of Jeffrey’s events and offerings
- participate in Tribe meetings, and
- in short feel connected to an amazing group of people who remain on the cutting edge of learning & creativity.
Optional Course in Creative Entrepreneurship
Upon certification and membership, you also qualify to participate in an eight-month interactive course designed to develop your creative entrepreneurship. This course, available at an additional modest cost, is open only to members of the YOGA AS MUSE Tribe
Collective Membership.
Register and Save a Spot for Your Best Self
$1995 for 105 hours of exceptional training, impeccable attention, and over 180 pages of substantial supplementary material and handbook – plus ongoing post-training support & mentoring for certified facilitators
$555 for 8 nights of shared lodging in the beautiful Skylake Shambhala Center in the Hudson Valley plus lots of training “goodies”!
$345 for 22 delicious meals catered to your sensitivities and tastes.
Total: $2895
3 Payments of $965 by March 1, April 1, and May 1
(Subtract $530 for Residency Commuters.)
Or a One-Time Payment of $2745 (save $150)
(*inquire about Residency Commuter Rates)
EARLY-BIRD DISCOUNT:
$2695 – paid in full by March 15, 2012 (save $300)
EARLY-EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT:
$2545 – paid in full by February 1, 2012 (save $450!)
A $400 deposit secures your space, pending application approval.
CANCELLATION and REFUND POLICY: All deposits and balances will be returned for any applicant who is not approved for the program. All deposits and balances will be refunded 100% for cancellations made by March 15. 50% of deposits and balances will be refunded for cancellations made by May 1. No deposits or balances can be refunded after May 1.
Easy Sign Up
Follow the easy steps below, or call us at 845-679-9441, and we can walk you through the simple online registration process (Sorry, we cannot take credit card information over the phone).
Download the Application Form on the website.
To pay by check and regular mail: Please fill out, print, sign, and mail the application along with a check for the $400 deposit or full payment made payable to Center to Page, LLC at 156 Upper Whitfield Rd, Accord,
NY 12404.
To pay online with check or credit card: Please fill out, print, sign, and mail the registration form, and use the secured online PayPal system. No Paypal account required.
NOTE: Please be sure to add a non-refundable processing fee of 3% to your PayPal payment (e.g., $12 for a $400 deposit).
Your Muse and I Are Waiting. And the World.
Nothing gets me revved up more than being with people like you ready to step into their best creative selves. And then give back some of that goodness to others.
In the YOGA AS MUSE TRIBE, we say, “Don’t wait for the muse to show up. Show up for it.” Your muse is waiting. So am I. So are your tribes.
See you in the woods,
Jeffrey
I just got back from five days in Taos with Jeffrey, both experiencing Yoga as Muse and meeting Jeffrey for the first time. I signed up for the Taos retreat as well as the Facilitator training without so much as exchanging more than a couple of lines in an email beforehand. I did so based on the voice in my heart. That voice was informed by a year of reading Jeffrey’s posts and his book, and only scratching the surface of what this method has to offer. The voice went from a curious whisper to a passionate wail after having met Jeffrey and experienced the magic of mixing yoga and creative intention.
Last year I was in search of a “thing.” Something sort of kind of like my yoga teacher training…something to deepen my practice and focus my engagement with life in a new way. Something to show up for, to challenge myself with, to expand my world with. I googled “Yoga & Writing” and found Jeffrey and Yoga as Muse. I asked, and received.
So if you are reading this post, you have asked. And if there is anything stirring within you as you read Jeffrey’s words, heed it. Listen to it, run with it, receive it. Fly into it. You will *not* be disappointed–you *will* be in good hands and inspired to find more you.
Please join me, be part of my tribe…I promise you won’t regret it!
Antoinette Armocida
aarmo@aol.com