ERICH SCHIFFMANN at the LA JOLLA YOGA CENTER

THE ESSENTIALS OF FREEDOM STYLE YOGA

FRIDAY NIGHT TALK ~ “THE BIG PICTURE”

This is the introductory talk to Erich’s “The Essentials of Freedom Style Yoga” Workshop held in La Jolla, California. Here Erich specifically addresses the main reason for any and all yoga practices—what he calls “the big picture”—that of understanding what yoga means and of actually having the experience of yoga, conscious union with the Infinite. Erich talks about Freedom Style Yoga, explains why meditation is the main practice, and outlines 3 ways to meditate. He then addresses basic principles for safe asana practice, and talks the group through a guided meditation.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

The Ojai Yoga Crib Friday Night Talk 2009  NEW! 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

“We Are Here to Help Each Other”

Every fall in the magical Ojai Valley 250 yogis come together for a long weekend of yoga, kirtan, Indian dancing, philosophy and communion. Held in an old church, I have been the Friday Night entertainment for the past 3 years. These talks are special for me. The theme of this talk was unity consciousness: waking up to the fact of unity, and then figuring out how to live in the world with this awareness. The transition will not always be easy, but as the current yogis on the planet we are here to help each other. Lots of interesting discussion, good questions from the audience.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

The Ojai Yoga Crib Friday Night Talk 2010  NEW!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

“Consciousness is Like the Sky”

Every fall in the magical Ojai Valley 250 yogis come together for a long weekend of yoga, kirtan, Indian dancing, philosophy and communion. Held in an old church, I have been the Friday Night entertainment for the past 3 years. These talks are special for me. In this talk I broach a subject that is at the furthest edge of what I am learning about: You are not a mind in a body; you are Mind embodied. You are not in a world; the world is in you. Consciousness comes first. Everything you are aware of has borders and boundaries, but the awareness that is being aware of it all has no boundary. Consciousness is like the sky. It is the space or context in which everything is happening, and that’s what you are. You are the conscious boundary-less Awareness in which everything is happening, including your physical presence. Consciousness is being conscious right there where you are. Awareness is being aware right there where you are.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Moving Into Stillness Workshop Yellow Springs 2010 ~ 6 DVD’s NEW!

This is the entire workshop that was held in Yellow Springs, Ohio in September 2010. I go to Yellow Springs every year. I love it there. Matt Cline filmed and edited the footage. I’m very happy to have a record of this workshop. This will be available both as a digital video download, as well as a 6 DVD box-set.

Erich Schiffmann’s “Moving Into Stillness” Workshop takes you into yoga as an invitation to connect intimately with the divine that dwells within each of us. From the September, 2010 workshop held in Yellow Springs, Ohio, this 6 DVD package includes four in-depth, unabridged discourses in yogic philosophy, techniques for exploring and inviting stillness and peace and anecdotes of Erich’s own experiences with yoga and meditation. Also included are the guided meditation session with Erich leading you through various paths to explore your inner self and its connection to the larger world. Four unabridged, detailed practices of Erich’s are also included in this package and explore a philosophic aspect that yoga is not simply a collection of techniques but more a path toward a way of life as well as practical methods for achieving asanas like Lotus pose. Additionally, dialogs with the attendees, freeform yoga sessions, savasanas and other content is included. This DVD package and digital downloads are an excellent and compressive way to see Erich’s unique and spiritual perspectives on yogic exploration of ourselves and our lives.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Yoga Class ~ Live 1  NEW!

This is a live class from 2001. It was the first time I had ever had a class filmed. Filmed by Itay Dollinger, and held at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, this is the way it was. The class begins with a meditation, then progresses from Opening #4, handstand, forearmstand, half salutes, triangle, parsvakonasana, twisting parsvakonasana, cobra vinyasa, lunge variations, wheel pose, frog, relaxation pose, meditation.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Beginning Yoga

The beginning is the best place to start, or return to, when practicing yoga. Master yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, guides you in this practice designed for beginners and anyone who desires a gentle, well-rounded class.

Includes: seated breathing, seated forward fold, seated side bend, seated vertical twist, seated chest expander, mountain pose, up on toes, with arms down, arms up, arms back, standing side bend, standing forward fold with arm stretch, squat, cat pose, dog pose, kneeling pause, half sun salutes, triangle pose, standing spread leg forward fold with variations, reclining lotus preparation, abdominals, reclining leg stretch I, II, reclining lunge, lightening bolt, seated lotus preparation, shoulder stretches with strap, locust, half dog, quarter dog, bridge I, abdominal, bridge II, III, abdominal, reclining twist, shavasana.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Lotus Pose

Included in this DVD are some of my favorite patterns and preparations for Lotus Pose that I both practice and teach. I like these patterns because they include leg stretches, hip openers, chest expanders, shoulder stretches, various twisting positions, and forward folds, and by the time you’re done, you are ready for Lotus. Some of the patterns are easier, some are more difficult. Simply do what you can safely do, without being overly ambitious on your own behalf. The trick in working safely toward Lotus Pose is to do lots and lots of preparatory exercises. Practice safely. Persist gently. Be patient. Breathe. And listen inwardly to your own experience so you can learn to be guided from within.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Backbends

Safe performance of backbends involves intelligent preparation, as well as thorough counter-posing; working toward an apex, then winding down. The development of sufficient overall strength is required, as is flexibility of certain key areas. Join master yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, for an incredible yoga session with backbends as the theme. Produced and edited by Erich, this DVD will help you enjoy and safely deepen your backbends. Intelligent sequencing and creative pose variations in combination with thorough counter-posing make this a superb practice. You’ll finish feeling relaxed and bendy.

Includes: opening #4, half salutes, triangle pose, high lunge, dog pose, bent knee side stretch, twisting bent knee, low lunge, cobra vinyasa, pigeon cycle, double pigeon, locust, cobra, bow, cobra from cat, cobra from dog, hero pose, reclining hero, camel pose, half dog, bridge pose I, II, III, wheel pose, knee to chest, abdominals, reclining leg stretches, twisting reclining leg stretches, reclining sage twist, and relaxation pose.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Yoga Inversions

Yoga master, Erich Schiffmann, leads you through his afternoon practice of inversions and their many variations in this session designed for the intermediate and advanced yoga student. The practice includes preparatory poses, headstand and headstand variations, an abdominal series, shoulderstand and shoulderstand variations, seated and reclining forward folds, seated twists, and deep relaxation.

Produced and edited by Erich, this intensive practice allows you to revel in the stillness, strength and wonderful euphoria that comes from turning your world upside down.

Includes: 
7 min warm-up sequence, 
8 min headstand & headstand variations, 
11 min of various abdominals as preparation for the plow and shoulderstand, 
13 min shoulderstand & shoulderstand variations, 
9 min pattern consisting of seated forward folds, reclining leg stretches, reclining full-body twist, 
10 min pattern consisting of wide leg forward fold, cobblers pose, & a series of seated twists, 
5 min relaxation

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Freedom Style Yoga with Erich Schiffmann and Friends

This is not an instructional yoga video in the usual sense of the term. It is instructional, however, in the very best sense. What follows is a group of friends doing yoga together, as they really do it. There is no teacher guiding the session. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday friends come over and do yoga with me. I’m usually in the room from 5–8 PM. People arrive and leave as fits their schedule. There is no structured format, no rules. It’s freeform yoga practice. We often have music playing, but often we don’t, and we spontaneously alternate between silent doing and casual talking. It’s fun. I enjoy practicing like this. I think you will enjoy what you are about to see. I would recommend that you sit back, watch, and enjoy, then get down on the floor and join us. The practice or discipline in Freedom Style Yoga involves not deciding in advance what you are supposed to do. Instead, listen inwardly for guidance and give yourself permission to do as you are prompted. This is the real thing. Yogis doing yoga.

“I love this video — it’s two and a half hours in Erich Schiffmann’s home studio. Two discs of freeform yoga with Erich and his friends. I find it fascinating to watch these yogis work their way into poses in the same room together. Nobody does the same pose at the same time. The focus is on individual practice, although there are a lot of assists and advice re: particularly difficult poses. The music is whatever happened to be on the sound system: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen…

The 2-disc set begins and ends with Erich practicing by himself.”

This is absolutely-not follow along yoga. Put it on and let it feel like you are at my house.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

The Wave & the Ocean ~ Yoga Philosophy Made Easy

Join Erich for this profoundly simple illustrated talk, filmed at his June 2006 Yoga Teacher Training in Venice, CA. The Wave and the Ocean, yoga philosophy made simple is the essence of Erich’s teachings, delivered with spontaneous clarity and his unique sense of humor.

This is the 2nd half of the story. The Traffic Helicopter* is the 1st half, an analogy that illustrates the meaning of yoga: reaching beyond our finite, ground-level view of life to yog with, to yoke or join with, the instantly accessible aerial perspective of the Infinite. But the story doesn’t stop there. The Wave and the Ocean is the often-overlooked deeper half. It clearly conveys the idea that the aerial view isn’t something outside ourselves. It doesn’t require a “joining with.” Rather, it’s just under the surface of who we think we are. The only effort required is the willingness to simply relax into the depths of who we already naturally are.

“Every wave is the specific and unique self-expression of the entire ocean. Yoga is about the wave, you and me, relaxing into ourselves and feeling the energy that constitutes our presence.”

*The Traffic Helicopter Analogy is on the Feathered Pipe Ranch DVD.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

The Ojai Yoga Crib Friday Night Talk 2011 NEW!

This is the Friday Night Talk at the annual Ojai Yoga Crib 2011. The two themes for the talk were 1) The Doctrine of Recognition, recognizing everyone you think of or see as a Brother or a Sister because we were all sourced by the same Source, and 2) the growing suspicion that Death Is A Fake, based on the insight that Life is ongoing and forever. Highly recommended! Listen to this over and over.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD.

Erich Schiffmann Moving Into Stillness Workshop Yellow Springs 2010 ~ 6 DVD Box-Set  NEW!

This is the latest product. It is the entire workshop that was held in Yellow Springs, Ohio in September 2010. I go to Yellow Springs every year. I love it there. Matt Cline filmed and edited the footage. I’m very happy to have a record of this workshop. This is available both as a digital video download, as well as a 6 DVD box-set.

Erich Schiffmann’s “Moving Into Stillness” Workshop takes you into yoga as an invitation to connect intimately with the divine that dwells within each of us. From the September, 2010 workshop held in Yellow Springs, Ohio, this 6 DVD package includes four in-depth, unabridged discourses in yogic philosophy, techniques for exploring and inviting stillness and peace and anecdotes of Erich’s own experiences with yoga and meditation. Also included are the guided meditation session with Erich leading you through various paths to explore your inner self and its connection to the larger world. Four unabridged, detailed practices of Erich’s are also included in this package and explore a philosophic aspect that yoga is not simply a collection of techniques but more a path toward a way of life as well as practical methods for achieving asanas like Lotus pose. Additionally, dialogs with the attendees, freeform yoga sessions, savasanas and other content is included. This DVD package and digital downloads are an excellent and compressive way to see Erich’s unique and spiritual perspectives on yogic exploration of ourselves and our lives.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Beginning Yoga DVD

The beginning is the best place to start, or return to, when practicing yoga. Master yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, guides you in this practice designed for beginners and anyone who desires a gentle, well-rounded class.

Includes: seated breathing, seated forward fold, seated side bend, seated vertical twist, seated chest expander, mountain pose, up on toes, with arms down, arms up, arms back, standing side bend, standing forward fold with arm stretch, squat, cat pose, dog pose, kneeling pause, half sun salutes, triangle pose, standing spread leg forward fold with variations, reclining lotus preparation, abdominals, reclining leg stretch I, II, reclining lunge, lightening bolt, seated lotus preparation, shoulder stretches with strap, locust, half dog, quarter dog, bridge I, abdominal, bridge II, III, abdominal, reclining twist, shavasana.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Lotus Pose DVD

Included in this DVD are some of my favorite patterns and preparations for Lotus Pose that I both practice and teach. I like these patterns because they include leg stretches, hip openers, chest expanders, shoulder stretches, various twisting positions, and forward folds, and by the time you’re done, you are ready for Lotus. Some of the patterns are easier, some are more difficult. Simply do what you can safely do, without being overly ambitious on your own behalf. The trick in working safely toward Lotus Pose is to do lots and lots of preparatory exercises. Practice safely. Persist gently. Be patient. Breathe. And listen inwardly to your own experience so you can learn to be guided from within.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Backbends

Safe performance of backbends involves intelligent preparation, as well as thorough counter-posing; working toward an apex, then winding down. The development of sufficient overall strength is required, as is flexibility of certain key areas. Join master yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, for an incredible yoga session with backbends as the theme. Produced and edited by Erich, this DVD will help you enjoy and safely deepen your backbends. Intelligent sequencing and creative pose variations in combination with thorough counter-posing make this a superb practice. You’ll finish feeling relaxed and bendy.

Includes: opening #4, half salutes, triangle pose, high lunge, dog pose, bent knee side stretch, twisting bent knee, low lunge, cobra vinyasa, pigeon cycle, double pigeon, locust, cobra, bow, cobra from cat, cobra from dog, hero pose, reclining hero, camel pose, half dog, bridge pose I, II, III, wheel pose, knee to chest, abdominals, reclining leg stretches, twisting reclining leg stretches, reclining sage twist, and relaxation pose.

Erich Schiffmann Backyard Series~Yoga Inversions

Yoga master, Erich Schiffmann, leads you through his afternoon practice of inversions and their many variations in this session designed for the intermediate and advanced yoga student. The practice includes preparatory poses, headstand and headstand variations, an abdominal series, shoulderstand and shoulderstand variations, seated and reclining forward folds, seated twists, and deep relaxation.

Produced and edited by Erich, this intensive practice allows you to revel in the stillness, strength and wonderful euphoria that comes from turning your world upside down.

Includes: 
7 min warm-up sequence, 
8 min headstand & headstand variations, 
11 min of various abdominals as preparation for the plow and shoulderstand, 
13 min shoulderstand & shoulderstand variations, 
9 min pattern consisting of seated forward folds, reclining leg stretches, reclining full-body twist, 
10 min pattern consisting of wide leg forward fold, cobblers pose, & a series of seated twists, 
5 min relaxation

Erich Schiffmann at the Feathered Pipe Ranch DVD

Nestled in the mountains near Helena, Montana lies a sanctuary of peace, a nurturing place where love, renewal, transformation, and nothing short of pure magic flows freely. Each summer, yogis from all over the planet converge here at the Feathered Pipe Ranch for a weeklong yoga and meditation retreat with yoga master Erich Schiffmann.

For six days the group is immersed in the practice, the teachings, the philosophy, as well as the awe-inspiring beauty, in order to experience the meaning of yoga: conscious union with the Infinite. The more the meaning of yoga is experienced, the more it is elevated on the planet and extended outward to everyone and everything, everywhere. And now it is gratefully and joyously being extended to you.

Freedom Style Yoga with Erich Schiffmann and Friends

This is not an instructional yoga video in the usual sense of the term. It is instructional, however, in the very best sense. What follows is a group of friends doing yoga together, as they really do it. There is no teacher guiding the session. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday friends come over and do yoga with me. I’m usually in the room from 5–8 PM. People arrive and leave as fits their schedule. There is no structured format, no rules. It’s freeform yoga practice. We often have music playing, but often we don’t, and we spontaneously alternate between silent doing and casual talking. It’s fun. I enjoy practicing like this. I think you will enjoy what you are about to see. I would recommend that you sit back, watch, and enjoy, then get down on the floor and join us. The practice or discipline in Freedom Style Yoga involves not deciding in advance what you are supposed to do. Instead, listen inwardly for guidance and give yourself permission to do as you are prompted. This is the real thing. Yogis doing yoga.

“I love this video — it’s two and a half hours in Erich Schiffmann’s home studio. Two discs of freeform yoga with Erich and his friends. I find it fascinating to watch these yogis work their way into poses in the same room together. Nobody does the same pose at the same time. The focus is on individual practice, although there are a lot of assists and advice re: particularly difficult poses. The music is whatever happened to be on the sound system: Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen…

The 2-disc set begins and ends with Erich practicing by himself.

This is absolutely-not follow along yoga. Put it on and let it feel like you are at my house.

The Wave & the Ocean ~ Yoga Philosophy Made Easy

Join Erich for this profoundly simple illustrated talk, filmed at his June 2006 Yoga Teacher Training in Venice, CA. The Wave and the Ocean, yoga philosophy made simple is the essence of Erich’s teachings, delivered with spontaneous clarity and his unique sense of humor.

This is the 2nd half of the story. The Traffic Helicopter* is the 1st half, an analogy that illustrates the meaning of yoga: reaching beyond our finite, ground-level view of life to yog with, to yoke or join with, the instantly accessible aerial perspective of the Infinite. But the story doesn’t stop there. The Wave and the Ocean is the often-overlooked deeper half. It clearly conveys the idea that the aerial view isn’t something outside ourselves. It doesn’t require a “joining with.” Rather, it’s just under the surface of who we think we are. The only effort required is the willingness to simply relax into the depths of who we already naturally are.

“Every wave is the specific and unique self-expression of the entire ocean. Yoga is about the wave, you and me, relaxing into ourselves and feeling the energy that constitutes our presence.”

*The Traffic Helicopter Analogy is on the Feathered Pipe Ranch DVD.

Spokane Freedom Style Yoga Workshop 2010

This is the entire Freedom Style Yoga Workshop held in Spokane, WA in September 2010. It has all the talks, all the asana instruction, all the discussion. That was a fun weekend. Once you have downloaded the file you can listen to it from your computer, iPod, or iPad, or burn your own CD’s.

iMeditate with Erich CD

This is for people who do not have an iPod or iPod touch. This CD has the same tracks that are on the iMeditate with Erich app. These are live, guided meditations taken from my classes, workshops and trainings. Internationally renowned yoga and meditation master Erich Schiffmann.

The App ~ iMeditate with Erich

My older brother, Karl, made this for me. We originally just wanted an adjustable countdown timer using my bowl-bell as the sound to initiate and close the meditations. You can easily adjust the silence-duration anywhere from 1-60 minutes. The bell will ring, it will then be silent for your desired time duration, and then the bell chimes again at the end. This is how I use it, primarily. We then added 20 different guided meditations and excerpts of talks from my classes and workshops for those who would benefit from being led into the meditation. It’s a great little tool. Help my brother out. Enjoy!