Lotus Center

Contact improvisation is a form of dancing that has been developing internationally since 1972. It involves the exploration of one’s body in relationship to others by using the fundamentals of sharing weight, touch, sensation, and movement awareness.

Through touch, we perceive each other, give support, lead and get led, take the weight of another, or transfer our weight to them, we fall and we mitigate the fall, we give the energy to take off and fly. Sometimes Contact Improvisation is like children or puppies playing! It’s fun. It’s a healing dance form practiced all over the world. It’s made up as we go along. All bodies are welcome!

Come for an hour and a half of free form dance where you can groove however your body wants, by yourself or with others. Bare your soles (and soul), surrender to the music and let your movement be guided by your body’s wisdom. There are no wrong moves. Doors open at 10:30 AM; dance starts at 11:00.

I began to do Tai Chi while living on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in the 90s. There was a generous but cranky Tai Chi master who offered free classes in his garden in the morning three days a week. He mixed basic Tai Chi with Qi Gong and Taoist wisdom. To this day I model my classes after his. I attended his classes for ten years.

Upon returning to the States in 2001, I, tragically, left Tai Chi behind, and it was only when the aging process forced itself on my attention that I returned to Tai Chi. Simultaneously, a local senior living facility lost their Tai Chi instructor and invited me to take his place. I discovered Dr. Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health organization and became certified to teach Tai Chi according to his format: “watch me, follow me, show me.” I taught at the Good Samaritan Society Loveland Village for five years.

I have now been doing Tai Chi again for ten+ years, starting my day with Qi Gong and the salutation to the sun and then the Yang 24 and the Sun 73 styles of Tai Chi. I am now 66 and am evidence as to the benefits of Tai Chi for seniors as well as participants of any age.

Susan offers a bilingual yoga class where Spanish is the language of choice and English is used as needed. Susan started practicing yoga as a child in the 70s and continued dabbling while she pursued studies in karate and judo. Eventually she found her way to Mexico and studied a uniquely Mexican format she learned from Mayra Torres Toscano.

The style focuses on a thorough full body warm up and then asana practice. There are elements of Vinyasa and Hatha styles with a strong focus on breath. Susan practiced Iyengar for a time and uses that experience to incorporate props and adjustments where needed. She hopes you’ll join her on a yoga journey through language and cultures.

Heather was an ashtanga yoga practitioner for over a decade before being asked to teach a class at her home studio. After teaching ashtanga for a year, she went on to study other styles of yoga to deepen her practice.

Heather completed her yoga teacher training in 2014 with Tanya Boigenzahn, founder of the Devanadi School of Yoga and Wellness. Rather than focusing on a single style of yoga, Heather’s classes incorporate asana and other mind/body modalities from classical, tantra, and modern yoga traditions.