Author: Tracy Lease

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Unplug 〜 Flow into Deep Peace and Wellbeing 〜 before the Holidays

A Relaxed & Awake Half Day Retreat with Tracy Lease & Miyu Tamamura

Location: In Person, Nevada City Insight Center, 710 Zion St, Nevada City, CA 95959
Date: Sunday, November 23, 2025.
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 pm

Cost: Sliding Scale $85 – $115. Limited scholarships available; No one turned away for lack of funds.

As part of the Buddhist practice of dana, the virtue of giving and receiving, all offerings are gratefully received and shared equally amongst Tracy, Miyu and Mountain Stream.

Pre–Registration is required: contact [email protected]
*20 person limit

If you have questions about the retreat, contact Tracy [email protected] or Miyu [email protected].

(Please note Tracy and Miyu will be out of the country from 10/4 – 10/24. You will receive a reply after 10/24.)

Retreat Description:
“Unplugging helps you refocus on yourself instead of being pulled in a zillion different directions. Those directions may all be important, but you are just as important. Unplugging allows you to focus on being in the moment, here and now. It helps you step away from the emotional roller coaster that you ride reacting to a friend’s story, a news article, or outrage over worldwide events. Unplugging gives you the chance to remember who you are at your core.” — Arin Murphy-Hiscock

This half-day retreat is for everyone who wishes to have a deeply rejuvenating time for themselves, “unplugged” from busy lives and overstimulation from the external world.

Join us for three spacious hours grounding into the present moment, the breath, and your own presence while held in a nurturing community. Gift your body, mind and heart time away from the tasks of life in awareness and appreciation for being alive.

Through fluid, dynamic movement, qigong, gentle stretching, restorative yoga, and meditation in the therapeutic vibrations of the singing bowls, we will tune into inner landscapes and intuitive wisdom within ourselves. You will leave the retreat grounded, centered, and reconnected with yourself.

It is essential to find peace inside if we are to cultivate the peace we seek outside. To do this we take time to unplug, to enter our own wilderness and meet ourselves where we are. We look forward to a peace-filled and deeply inward time with you! Everyone and all levels are welcome!

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

— C.G. Jung

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Finding Balance by connecting to The Feet, Core and Back

 

Wednesday, November 19,  3-5 PM

Location:  On Zoom

Cost:  Sliding Scale:  Please choose the best option below for you.

Supporter: $25

Sustainer: $35

Benefactor: $45

Register Now

Description: 

Join me for another fun exploration of the human body— waking up connections that can help us feel grounded, integrated, supported and balanced– and help us to have quicker response time when we lose balance in daily life.

In this workshop we will focus on exercises initiating strong connection to our feet and linking them to the core of our bodies.  Healthy, open and responsive feet extending out of the core of our bodies support us in balance and in motion.

Once we have feet and core connected, we will add our back-body myofascial slings.  Strengthening awareness of these three areas, and connecting them consciously to one another, will build our capacity for balance– and for righting ourselves when we loose balance, in whatever activities we engage in.

This workshop is great for anyone who wants to develop more body consciousness so they move with confidence and ease.

I hope you can join me!

 

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Esalen Institute – Big Sur, CA | September 2026

Love Your Body Now~ A Therapeutic Yoga Approach to Full-Body Awareness As We Age

A Week-Long Yoga Workshop/Retreat
With Tracy Lease 

Dates: September 7 – 11, 2026

Press Here for Full Description of this Retreat  @ Esalen Institute

Press Here for  Information on Accommodations & Costs

Press Here for Scholarship Information

If interested in a scholarship, apply as soon as possible.

If you have further questions, feel free to reach out to Esalen for help by email @ [email protected] or  by phone: (831) 667-3000, Monday – Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Time.


You deserve to feel ease and joy in your body as you age.  Movement, time in nature, breath, quiet contemplation, and “Aha!” moments all contribute to expanding happiness and delight in life. Though this is true, you may face challenges. Changes to our bodies — aches and pains, joint replacements, osteoporosis, heart issues, and other conditions — may challenge us to find new ways to understand ourselves and maintain grace of movement and attitude.

During this workshop, you’ll discover therapeutic yoga techniques that increase awareness, empower exploration of your unique body now, and increase your ability to take good care of yourself. Learn to feel yoga poses from the inside out, aligning them well to tune into the energy flowing through your body, and find qigong movements and yoga postures that best serve you.

We have a week together to listen to our inner wisdom and the quiet intelligence of the body. We have the space to share our ideas, fears, limiting scripts, and dreams for our futures.

Together, we will find:

  • Fluid and effortless movement in qigong.
  • Core strength and healthy alignment in yoga.
  • “Effortless effort” techniques for healthy posture and movement.
  • Gratitude, appreciative joy, loving kindness, compassion and equanimity in meditation.
  • Ways to practice all eight limbs of yoga.
  • Deeply revitalizing rest during restorative yoga accompanied by singing bowls.
  • Clearer understanding of our bodies, our joints, and our lymph, endocrine, and nervous systems.
  • Ways to honor our unique bodies, minds, and hearts with these practices at home.

This workshop is suited for anyone with a basic understanding of yoga.  No prior experience of qigong needed. People working with injuries or body challenges are welcome if they can still participate in practice and have permission, if needed, from their medical provider. Modifications will be given for various ability levels. Participants need to be able to get up and down off the floor on their own. Workshop members are welcome to bring an assistant who is a second paying participant if they need more support for this program If you are not sure if this workshop is suited for you, please contact Tracy.

 

Loving ourselves, just as we are, is fundamental to living a happy life.  In community we can support each other to find ease and joy in our unique bodies at each stage of our lives.

I hope you can join us!

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Finding Balance by connecting to The Feet, Core and Back

Saturday, November 15,  2025
1-3 PM

Location:  South Yuba Club, 130 West Berryhill Drive, Grass Valley CA

Cost:  Sliding Scale:  We all have different income levels so I offer a sliding scale for all workshops. Please choose the payment level that feels best to you.

Supporter: $25

Sustainer: $35

Benefactor: $45

Description: 

Join me for another fun exploration of the human body— waking up connections that can help us feel grounded and balanced in daily life.

In this workshop we will focus on exercises connecting with, and caring for our feet and the core of our bodies.  Healthy, open and responsive feet extending out of the core of our bodies help us to create a strong sense of groundedness and a foundation from which to move with ease and grace.

We will wake up our feet, the core and our back myofascial slings, strengthen these areas, and connecting them consciously to one another, will build our capacity for balance in all activities we engage in.

I hope you can join me!

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Healthy Bones for Happy Lives (On Zoom)

Wednesday, August 6,  3-5 PM

Location:  Full Life Zoom Classroom

Cost:  Sliding Scale:  

Supporter: $25

Sustainer: $30

Benefactor: $45

 

Register:  [email protected]

Description:

In this two hour workshop we will look at current research on bone health and caring for your bones through movement, weight bearing, anatomy and postural awareness exercises, yoga poses, core work,  nutrition and fun interactive exercises in community. We will address bone care at different stages of life– looking at bone density, strength and joint health.  Resources for your own further learning will be provided.

Hope you can join me!

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Healthy Bones for Happy Lives

 

Saturday, August 2,  1-3 PM

Location:  South Yuba Club, 130 West Berryhill Drive, Grass Valley CA

Cost:  Sliding Scale:  ($5 discount for SYC Members)

Supporter: $25

Sustainer: $30

Benefactor: $45

Register:  [email protected]

Description:

In this two hour workshop we will look at current research on bone health and caring for your bones through movement, weight bearing, anatomy and postural awareness exercises, yoga poses, core work,  nutrition and fun interactive exercises in community. We will address bone care at different stages of life– looking at bone density, strength and joint health.  Resources for your own further learning will be provided.

Hope you can join me!

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Understanding the Upper Spine, Shoulders & Neck–Relieve or Avoid Pain– A Workshop

 

 

Wednesday, May 7th,  3-4:30 PM

Location:  On Zoom!

Cost:  Sliding Scale:  

$25-$45 (With Video Link to revisit for at least 6 months.)

Register:  [email protected]

Description:

In this two hour workshop we will continue to learn to relieve pain along the spine from the pelvis up into the neck.  We will evaluate postures, feeling for shifts in our pelvis, spine, shoulder girdle and neck.

We will learn some anatomy first and then do exercises to feel into  specific areas of the spine. These exercises are designed to empower you to find balance in your own unique body, whether you have had an injury, scoliosis, stenosis or other postural alignment challenges.

We will play with the relationship between hips, shoulders and neck finding our tight places and our weak, lengthened areas.  Then we will try on various exercises to help us build balance.  We will feel into what activation and release we can concentrate on in yoga poses, Qigong and Pilates exercises to bring harmony to the physical body.

We will learn to see how a postural shifts in the hips can impact the thoracic spine of the rib cage and the cervical spine of the neck. We will learn cues that can help students place pelvis thoughtfully- helping them to align the diamond of the pelvic floor, and  postural awareness rings for greater ease of movement.

We will also work more with aligning the hyoid bone in the neck to ease lower back pain and neck and shoulder tightness.  Since the spine is our central channel, the work goes both directions, up and down the spine.

This will build on our past workshops while also standing independently.  I have been learning new information to share and am excited for this workshop!

Hope you can join me!

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Choosing Love~ From the Spacious Heart of the Tao

with Tracy Lease & Miyu Tamamura
Sunday, March 2, 2024
1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Mountain Stream Meditation Center

 

Description:

The decision to be the presence of love is the most powerful influence you can have in any situation in your life and in this world. ~ Robert Holden

Express yourself completely, then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature: when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain; when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao, you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight, you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss, you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
~ Tao Te Ching by Lao-tzu, Translated by Stephen Mitchell

The focus of our retreat is to practice the art of Tao, the way of love.
As we practice, we realize that the Tao and love are the same in their natural quality, two words that indicate one truth. We approach and touch on the quality of love from the Tao, the spacious, non-ego place, rather than a will-ful, idealized love. Through practice, our hearts become spacious like the wide open sky, we reconnect with the natural flow and deep peace that has always been, and is currently, within us. In aligning with the Tao, we become love itself.

Our practices will be woven together with a nourishing blend of qigong, restorative yoga, breath work, heart-opening poems, meditation and the soothing and expansive sounds of crystal singing bowls. Join us for a nurturing afternoon where you will be held tenderly with care, supported by a like-hearted and minded community. All levels welcome!

All levels welcome!

*Pre-registration is required

*20 person limit

Suggested Dana or Donation:  $85 to $115 shared equally between Miyu, Tracy & Mountain Stream Meditation Center.

To Register, contact Miyu: [email protected].  You must register before giving Dana. We will send a welcome email to those registered a few days before the event.

Press here to give your donation for the retreat.    No one is turned away for lack of funds. There are some scholarships available to Mountain Stream attendees.

Contact Tracy with any questions at:
[email protected]
(907)687-2168

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Understanding & Practicing Qigong

Thursday, February 27, 3-4:30 PM PST

Location: Zoom

Cost: $25-$45 Sliding Scale.  No one turned away for lack of funds. Pay what you can.

Register:  [email protected]

Description: 

In this 1.5 hour workshop we will better understand the development, history and philosophy of Qigong.  We will practice qigong movements and better understand how they open and relax the body and guide us towards deep concentration and meditation. We will practice qigong standing meditations and learn to look for blockages to the qi, gently aligning ourselves for optimal flow of energy. And finally we will discuss six directional awareness, visualizations and paradoxes that can help us better develop awareness and ease.