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Yoga for Optimal Performance Retreat: A 3-day yoga immersion program focused on utilizing yoga to reach optimal mental and physical performance, led by Dean Pohlman, the founder of Man Flow Yoga. The retreat takes place in Boise, Idaho, from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15 at the Divine Spirit Healing Center.

The Yoga for Optimal Performance Retreat is a 3-day yoga immersion program that focuses on helping you realize the maximum benefit of a regular yoga practice. This retreat, appropriate for beginners, intermediates, and experts, covers how you can utilize yoga to maximum effect for your physical and mental fitness. It involves physical instruction of the foundational exercises and postures involved, as well as education on the measurable benefits that you can expect. Finally, the retreat also focuses on daily habits such as dieting and mental exercises that enable you to maximize your results from yoga, as well as your other physical fitness endeavors.

If you would like to attend only the Saturday portion of the retreat, you will still get a TON of material. Here is the full schedule (tentative). Active portions are italicized.

Boise Retreat Schedule

Friday – 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

6:00 PM – Welcome and Overview

6:30 PM – Yoga as a Foundation for Your Fitness: The Base of Your Physical Fitness

7:00 PM – Evening Workout: Introduction to Yoga Movements (Active)

7:30 PM – Your Body Is A Whole

8:00 PM – Restorative Yoga, Yoga for Better Sleep (Active)

9:00 PM – Finish

Saturday – 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM

9:00 AM – Welcome and Overview of Saturday

9:15 AM – Morning Workout: Morning Yoga Wake-up Session (Active)

10:00 AM – Yoga for Increased Mental Focus (Active)

10:30 AM – Meditation: Mental Performance, Stress Relief, & More

11:00 AM – Neutral Pelvic Alignment, Core Engagement, & Proper Spinal Alignment  (Active)

11:30 AM – Science of Yoga: Weight Loss, Yoga for Sexual Vitality, Heated yoga vs. non-heated yoga, & Other Misc. Topics

12:00 PM – Yoga with Tools: Using a Block, Strap, Walls, and More (Active)

12:30 PM – LUNCH

1:15 PM – The Science of Yoga: The Physical Performance Benefits of Yoga

1:45 – The Lunge (Active)

2:00 PM – Overview: The Man Flow Diet: Influences, Philosophy, and Guidelines

2:30 PM – Wrist & Hand (Active)

2:45 PM – Healthy Shoulders: Scapular Stability, Shoulder Mobility, and Total Upper Body Engagement (Active)

3:15 PM – Caffeine Use

3:30 PM – Backbends (Active)

3:45 PM – “Fruits” and “Vegetables”

4:00 PM – Strengthening Your Knees (Active) – Hips & Ankles (glutes, hip flexors, ankles)

4:30 PM – The Perfect Squat: What goes into it and how to do it (Active)

5:00 PM – Fitting Yoga into Your Workout Routine

5:30 PM – Evening Workout: Foundational Movement Review (Active)

6:30 PM – Improving Your Sleep Quality (Non-yoga)

7:00 PM – Finish

Sunday – 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

9:00 AM – Welcome and Overview

9:15 AM – Morning Routine Workshop

10:00 AM – Morning Yoga Session (Active)

10:30 AM – The Science of of Yoga: The Non-Physical Performance Benefits of Yoga

11:00 AM – Foundational Yoga Movements Review (Active)

12:00 PM – Meditation Practice

12:30 PM – The Little Things: SMART Goals, Steady Progress, and Consistent High-Level Effort

1:00 PM – Finish

Here’s a preview of what we are covering:

Intro: How should we approach yoga for optimal performance?

  1. This introductory session covers my personal fitness philosophy and provides a framework for how you can incorporate the lessons into a personalized fitness routine that works for you.
    1. Your Body Is A Whole – The interconnectedness of your body, and why it’s important to look for the source of your weakness or tightness, rather than where the pain shows up.
    2. The Little Things – Ensuring that you are doing the small things on a regular basis in order to get the results that you seek over time.

Yoga: The Physical

  1. The Physical Performance Benefits of Yoga – Learn about the physical benefits of yoga and what you can expect for your body when you make yoga a regular part of your fitness routine, such as:
    1. Flexibility
    2. Core strength
    3. Balance
    4. Muscular control
    5. Increased bodily awareness
    6. Isometric Strength (Endurance)
  1. Foundational Yoga Movements for Physical Performance – Learn the foundational movements of yoga and be able to apply them to other forms of exercise and daily movement. This section includes a series of hands-on lessons where you’ll learn and then execute these foundational movements. Topics covered include:
    1. Posture
    2. Neutral Pelvic Alignment
    3. Effective Core Engagement
    4. Proper Spinal Alignment
    5. Scapular Stability
    6. Balance
    7. Total Upper Body Engagement
    8. Glute Engagement
    9. The “Perfect” Squat
    10. The Lunge
    11. Squaring the Hips
    12. Backbends
    13. Wrist and Hand to Floor Engagement

And more…

 

Yoga: The Non-Physical

  1. The Science of Yoga – Learn the science behind the non-physical benefits you can expect from incorporating yoga into your exercise regimen, including increased focus, lowered stress, heightened creativity, improved breathing, and more.
  2. Better Sleep – how to use yoga in the evenings to speed up your recovery, get higher quality sleep, and start the morning feeling refreshed and ready to go.
  3. Increased Mental Focus – how to do yoga in a way that focuses on improving your mental focus by connecting your mind with your movement and breath.
  4. Yoga for Mindfulness – What is mindfulness? Why would we want mindfulness? How does yoga help with this? Learn all of this and more from this portion.

 

Yoga: FAQs Answered

  1. Yoga for Weight Loss – Can yoga really help you lose weight?
  2. Hot yoga vs. non-heated yoga – Why would I want to do yoga in a heated room? Is there a benefit to it? Should I do yoga in a non-heated room? What’s the difference?
  3. When Should I do Yoga? – Is it better to do yoga in the morning, in the afternoon, or at night? Can I eat before yoga? These and many questions more are answered.
  4. Yoga Workout Frequency and Length – How long does a yoga session need to be in order to be effective? How often should I be doing yoga in order to notice the benefits?
  5. Integrating Yoga into Your Existing Routine – What’s the best way for me to use yoga with my current workout routine? Should I do yoga before my workouts? Afterwards? On its own as a stand alone workout?

 

The Non-Yoga Section

  1. Dieting
    1. Fats: No Longer The Enemy
    2. Caffeine Use
    3. Fruits, Vegetables (not fruits AND vegetables)
  1. Improving The Quality of Your Sleep – Sleep is the most important aspect of your fitness. This section covers the easy things that you can do in order to ensure that you are getting the highest quality of sleep that you can.
    1. Do’s and Don’ts Before Sleep
    2. How to alter your physical environment for optimal sleep
  1. The Importance of Morning Routines – We’ll talk about why developing a morning routine is so important, give some examples of what a morning routine looks like, and how to develop one that works for you.

 

Meditation

  1. Meditation for Mental Performance
  2. Meditation for Mindfulness
  3. Visualization Drills

As you can see from the program described above, this program is packed with useful information that you can immediately apply to your life to improve your health and increase your physical fitness performance.

 

Logistics:

The retreat does not include lodging or meals. This is so you have more freedom to stay where you would like, eat what you want to, and do whatever else you would like to during the evenings when we are not together. If you are coming in from out of town, we recommend that you use a service like Air B&B or Homeaway for lodging. Buddy up with your friends to minimize your lodging costs so you can enjoy the weekend!

Location:
Divine Spirit Healing Center
12655 North Horseshoe Bend Road
Boise ID 83714

Cost of the retreat:

The total cost of the retreat, including all of the lessons and lectures on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday morning, as well as the Saturday night social, and the samples included from sponsors and vendors participating in the retreat, is $250. A $125 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of sign-up in order to reserve your space. Space IS limited, so make sure to sign up as soon as possible. If you have any questions, you can email Dean at [email protected].

Special: Members of the Man Flow Yoga Community through the Man Flow Yoga Members Area receive $25 savings on the total cost of the retreat.

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Retreat Organizers Contact Information:

Cathy Benz  – Owner of Divine Spirit Healing Center – [email protected]

Dean Pohlman – Founder of Man Flow Yoga – [email protected]

LeRoy Cheyney – Holistic Mental Health Specialist – [email protected]

 

FAQs:

Can women attend?

Yes. Even though this event is run by “Man Flow Yoga”, Man Flow Yoga is open to all genders. The name Man Flow Yoga is simply the name of the company, intended to let men know that yoga is for them as well.

What if we can’t attend all 3 days?

There is a Saturday-only option that allows you to attend the Saturday portion of the retreat for $150.00. Simply pay for the deposit and then pay the remaining $25 the week leading up to the event.

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