As some of us celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I want to share my appreciation for your continued support and openness. I am thankful for the opportunity to continue teaching, leading retreats, and connecting with you.

I am especially grateful to be launching my next retreat with International Yoga to Peru in October 2023. I am very excited for the opportunity to return to Peru and share this profound journey that has helped me find greater meaning in my life. I also want to note that an extra $100 off of the early bird price will be applied to registrations received before December 16, 2022. (See more info below)

I do not take my ability to lead these retreats lightly. This is underscored by the fact that my dad has ALS, and his mobility has greatly diminished. As his primary caretaker, my mom can barely leave the house. This makes me especially appreciative for the mobility I currently have, as I have also experienced limitations to a lesser degree due to spinal disc issues.

Yoga practice and life are about being with reality as it is. We are often faced with extremes of beauty and darkness. Life is full of disappointments, difficulties, and challenges, and also full of light, joy and connection. Suffering is unavoidable; however, I find that meeting life's conflicting experiences with gratitude and metta meditation practices helps me to reside more "easefully" with them. I love how Sharon Salzberg says it:

“Being grateful: It just means I can reset my thoughts, just like in meditation, and choose instead to gently settle my attention on something positive. We don't erase the pain it's still there but we can broaden our perspective by opening to our pain and also opening to things other than the suffering we feel.”

I am grateful to continue teaching online with live classes and on demand, making practice accessible to a variety of abilities and injuries. You can find my current schedule online and below. I continue to teach classes at Tufts Medical School where I recently wrote an article for the Wellness Program Newsletter on 'Yoga, Focus, and Science' (See below).

In addition to teaching I have been leading tastings at a wine shop in Lynn. It has been enriching and fulfilling to share and connect with people over food and wine, a passion of mine that has overlapped with Yoga over the years. I will be finishing working in Lynn in the next few weeks, and will continue to explore new opportunities to supplement my teaching.

I look forward to continue sharing practice and connecting. I am grateful for all of you.

Much love and appreciation,

Vito

OPEN YOUR HEART IN THE SACRED VALLEY OF PERU:

Find meaning and the sacred in everything

Open your heart on a profound journey to the Sacred Valley of Peru to connect deeply to self, nature, and community. This retreat is filled with daily Yoga and metta meditation, and many guided excursions that leave us breathless and heart-full.

The retreat center sanctuary and gorgeous Yoga studio is surrounded by native plants, fruit trees and nourished by the deep nature and history of the region. Our inspiring local guide team lovingly shares unique cultural excursions to awe-inspiring sites and helps us explore the vast history of this very special part of the world.

The trip culminates with a visit to Machu Picchu, one of the Wonders of the World, followed by a visit to the enchanting city of Cusco. This trip is shared in community through practicing Yoga, enjoying meals, creating new memories and exploring the breathtaking beauty that Peru has to offer. Learn to find greater meaning in life, and reward yourself the gift of a renewed and inspired spirit.

Yoga, focus, and science

Here is a link to an article I wrote for Tufts Medical School Wellness Program where I have been teaching for the last 10 years thanks to Dr. Cristina Pastan.

"In Yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness practices, we learn to utilize a variety of tools to focus our mind’s attention and ground ourselves in the present moment, i.e., the breath, physical actions and sensations, mantras, and visualizations. As our minds wander or become distracted, we practice catching ourselves without judgement or reaction and begin again, recentering attention back to our focus point. Exercising this single-minded focused concentration trains the mind for more expansive and ‘absorbed’ states of meditation."

Teaching schedule

Sunday

6:45-8p Yin+Restorative+Metta

Monday

6-7:15p Yoga+Metta

7:30p Metta Meditation*

Thursday

8:30-9:45a Yoga+Metta

5-6p Yoga for Beginners (Tufts Medical Students)

Saturday

8:30-9:45a Yoga+Metta

Pay-what-you-can basis from $4+
*No charge for the Metta Meditation offering email me your interest
More classes are available on demand.

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