Yoga Hikes

 

 

Take your yoga practice one step further – take it outdoors!

Find your inner peace during this invigorating one-day retreat. Our instructors will guide you on a moderate hike to a scenic river, mountain, lake, or the Puget Sound for an extended yoga practice.

You’ll be able to connect further with your body, mind and spirit as you experience yoga in nature while being guided into a deeper sense of relaxation and mindfulness.

Healthy snacks will be provided.

Please bring your yoga mat.

Hike is moderate, no more than 5 miles round trip over gentle terrain.  Please come prepared for variable weather, we will continue with our day despite rain, heat or cooler temperatures.   A small backpack works great to hold your water, trail snacks, lunch, yoga mat and extra clothing.  Hiking shoes or boots are recommended.  More information will be made available upon request and registration.

Participants ages 14-17 are allowed with parental consent.

Typical Itinerary:

• 8am: Meet in Seattle at a local Park and Ride, carpool to trailhead
• 10am: Begin moderate hike ~2.5 miles
• 12noon: Yoga Practice and Meditation
• 1:30pm: Eat Lunch (please provide your own food!)
• 2pm: Leave the wilderness majesty for the vehicles
• 3:30pm: Arrive at the cars (KAF Adventures will provide some light snacks for the drive home!)
• 5:30pm: Arrive at Park and Ride, return to your home refreshed and alive!

Past logistics sheet for Lake here

 

About Our Yoga Instructors

Emily Kasman

Discovering the potential that each individual possesses inspires Emily. After taking her first yoga class in 2006, Emily began to actualize her own potential. With a former life in the corporate world for seven years, she understands what living for someone else’s demands looks and feels like. In 2009, she found freedom and light from quitting a full-time Microsoft career, leaving a long term relationship, and not relying on the financial stability that came with both. Unsure of where the Universe was going to lead her, but somehow knowing that she was finally on her own road to happiness and fulfillment!

Practicing yoga outside has been part of Emily’s own adventures for years. Being able to guide students to be out of their comfort zone and grow deeply while practicing is becoming the meat and potatoes of her instruction, in and out of the studios. As a Program Manager for the Yoga Programs at KAF Adventures, Emily helps create, organize, and join in experiences ranging from half day urban yoga hikes to multi-day yoga backpacking adventures. When not doing yoga, you will find her on her bike or at the market perusing through organic produce for her other job as a health counselor.

Brian Charlton

Brian recently moved back to the North West after a decade of experience in New York City where his yoga practice was given true life. Brian was first introduced to yoga in 2001 and after straying from his practice for a few years, he fell back in love thanks to Sonic Yoga in New York City, where he eventually received his teacher training. Brian teaches a style of yoga that is centered on focus, following the breath and control of movement. Communication is key on and off the mat. Precise verbal cues allow Brian’s students to practice by ear, and not always by sight, giving his students the opportunity to find alignment from within and on their own, without the mental distraction of comparison. The emphasis throughout his classes is simple: yoga is not about what those around you are doing, or even what the teacher is teaching. It’s about finding a practice, a variation of a posture or a state of mind that fits YOU. Yoga in Brian’s classes is a private practice that just happens to be shared as a community.

Casey Stewart

Casey began practicing yoga in early 2006. She found it not only extremely challenging, but also very rewarding. Casey began studying under contemporary yoga master Baron Baptiste in 2008, earning her 200-hr teaching certificate. She continues to attend training with various teachers, to stay inspired while keeping her own teachings fresh, vibrant and diverse. With love of the outdoors, Casey enjoys intertwining yoga and nature, when and wherever possible!

Hilary Paris

Hilary is a certified yoga instructor and MovNat Trainer, so her background is diverse when it comes to movement. Her roots are in dance, but her inspiration comes mostly from nature. Hilary has always felt a deep connection to the outdoors since she was young. As a kid, she was regularly involved in some outdoor adventure from treehouse-building, to down hill skiing, to long hikes with her family in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tahoe. Hilary loves to bring a sense of play and lightness into her outdoor yoga classes, and she encourages her students to expand their perception of yoga through a journey from just the mind and body to the triage of mind-body-nature. She has trekked and yoga’d all over the globe, from the Cascades to the Himalayas. Hilary is overjoyed to take people out of the city and into the peaceful bliss of the natural world.

Jacquie Hansen

Jacquie’s journey in life has given her a full spectrum of experiences that has brought her to the mat. From working in fishing canneries and volunteering as a Peace Corps Volunteer on an island in Micronesia, to pursuing a masters in public health; she has always enjoyed a challenge. Also through her athletic ventures of rowing both in college and masters level as well as her long career of rock climbing she has an appreciation and understanding of the highs of reaching a new goal and lows of injuries and tight muscles that only performance athletics can give. These experiences motivated her to pursue a more subtle understanding how to move in the world thus bringing her to becoming a Reiki Master and more recently a yoga instructor. Jacquie strives to meld these two modalities in every class so that each student can leave with a little better understanding of themselves.  She received her 200 hour level yoga training at Yogalife in Seattle in 2011 and currently teaches vinyasa flow, restorative hatha yoga, and chair yoga.  For more information on classes and individual sessions go to www.every-bodiesyoga.massageplanet.com or call 206-313-6682.

Katy Tavog

Katy has been practicing yoga since 2005 and began teaching in 2009, after attending Baron Baptiste Level 1 Teacher Training. Katy continued her training by attending Level 2 with Baron Baptiste, and Yin Yoga Teacher Training with Bernie Clark. Yoga has helped Katy to embrace change and to accept the things she cannot change.

With a background in competitive gymnastic coaching and judging and outdoor fitness training, Katy found teaching yoga a natural progression. She feels everything she has done so far in her life has led her to this point, to teaching yoga. Incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so much natural beauty, Katy loves to practice outdoors and feel the power of nature guide her practice.

Jenny Michaels

Jenny’s yoga journey began after both her kids started school and she took her first neighborhood yoga class from Maria Bliss in the little red schoolhouse on the south end of Mercer Island.  The passion for power vinyasa yoga was immediate, leading to a dedicated personal practice and a desire to reach out to others and teach to share the joys and multiple benefits that yoga brings.  Jenny is inspired by the beauty of the asana, mind-body connection and internal awareness that yoga brings both on and off the mat.  She has completed Teacher Training with Maria Bliss, Level I Teacher Training with Baron Baptiste and training in Hot Hatha yoga with Ali Valdez.  She hopes to inspire students to find joy, playfulness, internal awareness and focus while gently pushing their comfort level in a nurturing yet challenging practice.   She teaches power vinyasa, hot hatha and teen yoga.  Jenny is also a health counselor and helps support parents and families to improve nutrition and exercise.   She enjoys pretty much any activity that allows her to be outside and brings her closer to nature, especially hiking and skiing.

 

Marva Benjamin

Marva began her yoga experience/journey in 1999, in Seattle.  and have been teaching since 2003 at several studios throughout the Seattle metropolitan area. Her certification consists of over a year of training…and continuous education and influences through various workshops and teachers such as: Shiva Rea, Katarina Wen, Baptiste, Bryan Kest, John Friend, and Beryl Bender Birch. She also studied Ashtanga yoga in Mysore,India, with Master teacher, Sri Sheshadri, and hosted yoga retreats in her second home on the beautiful island of Barbados. She loves to guide students through invigorating, challenging and encouraging yoga classes. Her passion is to teach energetic classes from the heart, with nurturing instructions, that flows into a powerful and graceful practice.

We’d love to have you join us for a day of fresh air, yoga and fun.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Join Us!

 

If Yoga in Nature is something that you’re very interested in, take a look at our Overnight Yoga & Backpacking Trips and our Fall Canyon Lands Yoga and Backpacking Trip!