06/11/2026
MARK YOUR CALENDAR and plan to attend!
Full details coming soon!
August 7th, 8th, 9th, 2026 at MGY with Charles MacInerney
Rooted Within: A Weekend Journey of Self-Discovery and Authentic Living
This weekend intensive is an invitation to turn inward — not to fix or improve yourself, but to know, accept, care for, and ultimately express yourself more fully and authentically. Over four workshops, we follow a carefully designed arc that mirrors the natural unfolding of genuine inner transformation: from the clarity of self-knowledge, through the openness of self-acceptance and the warmth of self-compassion, to the freedom of authentic self-expression.
Each workshop stands on its own, but together they form something greater — a complete and integrated journey into the heart of what yoga has always been about: knowing who you truly are, and having the courage to live from that place.
All workshops combine asana, meditation, and reflective inquiry, and are suitable for practitioners of all levels. Come for one, or stay for all four. If you can only choose one, let the arc guide you. If you can stay the whole weekend, prepare to be changed.
Workshop 1 | Foundations of the Self: A Journey into Yoga and Self-Discovery
All lasting transformation begins with self-knowledge — yet most of us were never taught how to truly know ourselves. We move through our days shaped by habits, conditioned responses, and inherited beliefs, rarely pausing to ask: who is actually here, underneath all of that?
This opening workshop draws on two complementary maps of human experience to help us begin answering that question. The chakra system, one of yoga's most ancient and elegant frameworks, charts the flow of energy through the body and illuminates the relationship between our physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, one of modern psychology's most enduring insights, traces the arc of human motivation from survival to self-actualization. Explored side by side, these two frameworks reveal a remarkably coherent picture of what it means to be a human being — and where each of us currently stands on that journey.
Through asana designed to heighten body awareness and deepen the connection between mind and body, and through meditation practices that train the attention to turn inward, we cultivate the inner concentration that is the necessary foundation of self-knowledge. We begin to distinguish between who we think we are and who we actually are — and to recognize that self-knowledge is not merely an intellectual exercise but a living, embodied practice.
Because without knowing ourselves, self-control and authentic self-expression remain permanently out of reach. This workshop is where the journey begins.
Workshop 2 | As You Are: The Yoga of Self-Acceptance
What would it feel like to be completely at peace with yourself — not a future, improved version of yourself, but yourself as you are right now, in this body, with this mind, carrying these experiences?
Building on the self-knowledge cultivated in our first workshop, we now turn our attention to the practice of self-acceptance — perhaps the most challenging and most liberating practice yoga has to offer. In this workshop we cultivate the quality of the witness: that part of us that can observe breath, body, and mind without commentary, without correction, and without judgment.
Moving through asana with soft, non-reactive attention, we practice being fully present with the body as it is — not as we wish it were. In seated meditation we watch the breath rise and fall, and observe the mind's constant movement, without getting caught in its current. We notice the moments when judgment arises — and we practice, again and again, the gentle art of returning to simple presence.
This is not a passive practice. Witnessing ourselves clearly and kindly, without the distorting lens of self-criticism, requires real courage and real skill. But it is a skill that can be learned, deepened, and carried off the mat into every area of life.
Self-acceptance, we discover, is not the end of growth. It is where growth actually begins.
Workshop 3 | From Self-Judgment to Self-Love: A Yoga Workshop on Compassionate Living
Of all the relationships in our lives, the one we have with ourselves is the most constant and the most consequential — yet for many of us it is also the most troubled. We carry an inner critic so well practiced that its voice has become indistinguishable from our own, narrating our days with a running commentary of not enough: not thin enough, not calm enough, not far enough along the path. This workshop is an invitation to lay that burden down.
Drawing on the yogic niyama of Santosha — the practice of contentment — we explore what it means to meet ourselves not with the harsh eye of judgment but with the warm gaze of compassion. Patanjali understood that contentment is not complacency; it is the courageous choice to stop withholding kindness from ourselves and recognize that we are, right now, worthy of our own love and care.
Through asana practiced as an act of nourishment rather than self-improvement, pranayama that soothes and restores the nervous system, and guided meditations rooted in loving-kindness, we gently dismantle the habit of self-criticism and begin building something new in its place. We discover that self-compassion is not a detour from the yogic path — it is the path itself.
This is the third workshop in our weekend series, and it arrives at exactly the right moment: having spent time coming to know ourselves and learning to witness our experience without judgment, we are now ready to take the next step — not just seeing ourselves clearly, but embracing what we see with open arms.
Workshop 4 | Unleashed: A Yoga and Creativity Workshop on Authentic Self-Expression
This is where the weekend comes full circle. Having explored who we are, learned to accept what we find, and practiced caring for ourselves with compassion, we arrive at the natural culmination of that inner work: expression. Because a self that is known, accepted, and loved is a self that is finally free to be seen.
Drawing on Polyvagal Theory, we begin by understanding how the state of our nervous system either opens or closes the door to authentic creative expression. Developed by neuroscientist Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory reveals what yoga practitioners have long understood intuitively: the body must feel safe before the self can open. When we are stuck in survival mode — fight, flight, or freeze — creativity shuts down and our truest self goes quiet. Through asana and pranayama designed to activate the ventral vagal state — the physiological home of connection, play, and creative flow — we create the inner conditions in which authentic expression becomes not just possible but natural.
From that grounded, open, and regulated place, we turn to mind mapping — a dynamic, visual, non-linear tool for creative exploration that bypasses the inner critic and taps directly into intuition and imagination. Through this playful and surprisingly revealing practice, we discover what wants to be expressed when we finally feel safe enough, known enough, accepted enough, and loved enough to say it.
No artistic experience is required. What is required is exactly what you have been cultivating all weekend: the courage to know yourself, accept yourself, and care for yourself enough to finally, freely, let yourself be seen.
