Filmmakers Micah Garen and Marie Helen Carleton will share their short film Light on the Sea: One Woman’s Story from the Front Lines of the Refugee Crisis.

Maria Cutrona will lead us in meditation and slow, deep asana.

Funds raised will go directly to organizations supporting refugees. Your support will be felt be women, men, and children who have fled their homes seeking safety from violence.

A weekly class 1:30 -3:30 on Mondays in October to explore dream work for artists or anyone interested in deep exploration of the unconscious. Whether you’re an actor working on a character, a writer germinating a new idea, or just someone looking for some creative continuity, dream work provides an opportunity to engage with your own material and see where it intersects with your work/life/past/unconscious. We will work with breath, the body, movement, and guided explorations into the imagination. No previous familiarity with dream work is required; this is simply about getting to know new parts of your brain. You can come in with a dream written down, a character you want to work with, an idea for a movie or play or book, or you can just show up and see where the work takes you. You will not to be asked to perform. This class is based on creative dream work done by Kim Gillingham and Marion Woodman and years of shamanic and Jungian practice.
You can sign up ahead of time or just walk in. Show up every week or drop in at any point in the season. Starting off with introductory rate $20. Always email with any questions msemcass@aol.com.

When two or more things relate harmoniously, such as when I relate well to you, you to me, or two moons circle a planet, there is resonance. It is a pattern of harmony. Within our body, resonance occurs when our heart rate, the changes of our heart rate (called heart rate variability), our blood pressure, and brainwaves all come together in a coherent signaling pattern. When this happens, our emotional and physiological resiliency increase; inflammation reduces; cardiovascular health improves; stress reduces; sleep improves; and the nervous system becomes increasingly well balanced. It is quite simple to enter into resonance; yoga, meditation, pranayama and other practices encourage it. However, there is also a specific way of breathing, that if done for about 10 minutes a day, will train your nervous system to quickly return to an equilibrium. In this talk, you’ll learn about resonance breathing, and we’ll have a practice session that will give you a direct experience of heart-brainwave coherence.

Eddie Stern is a yoga instructor raised in New York City. He studied Ashtanga Yoga, chanting, philosophy and ritual under Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, of Mysore, from 1991-2009, and is the co-founder of Ashtanga Yoga New York, the Brooklyn Ganesha Temple, and the Brooklyn Yoga Club; he co-publishes Namarupa, Categories of Indian Thought, a Hindu art and philosophy magazine; and runs the Urban Yogis project that brings yoga and meditation to young adults and youth in disadvantaged and at-risk-to-violence communities in NYC, with his collaborator, Deepak Chopra. He also directs, along with Barbara Verrochi and Melanie Jane Parker, Breathe, Move, Rest, a health and wellness non-profit. Eddie has published several books on Pattabhi Jois and Astanga Yoga, including a translation of Pattabhi Jois’s 1960 treatise, Yoga Mala. His next book on Yoga philosophy and practice (The Little Beginner’s Book on Yoga) is due out in 2018. He continues to study with Pattabhi Jois’s grandson and successor, R. Sharath Jois.

the shala book club is back in literary action with two selections from norwegian authors karl ove knausgaard and jon fosse. pick up and read autumn by karl ove and trilogy by fosse, and join us in fort greene on november 18, 6:15-7:15pm, for a rousing discussion. bring a favorite snack and/or beverage if you fancy.

As we transition from warmer summer temperatures to cooler temperatures of fall, we can help the mind and body by aligning to nature’s rhythms. Slowing down, establishing consistent daily routines, and discovering our internal landscape helps bring more stillness and balance into our lives as we prepare for shorter days, and in a few months time, winter. In Ayurveda, vata is the dominant dosha in fall. The least stable of the three doshas, vata is energy and movement.

In this class, we’ll move with purpose and awareness, practice mindfulness breathing, and discuss daily routines that help us live in balance and harmony with fall.

Carla Waldron is an authorized Level II Ashtanga Yoga teacher. She teaches yoga and mindfulness to adults and children and is also an Ayurvedic Yoga Consultant.

Looking for a refreshing change to your beauty routine? In this series of seasonal workshops, we will learn about healing herbs and their medicinal powers, plant alchemy, and foods that nourish from the inside out. We will honor the coming season and gain practical tools for how to transition and adapt our rituals to the changing environment, and to create inner and outer balance and glow.

maria margolies

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Take your practice on vacation! A 3.5 hour plane ride but a world away, Jamaica offers a beautiful location for relaxation and contemplation.

Ashtanga and vinyasa Yoga, pranayama, meditation, chanting, and philosophy (no prior experience with Ashtanga required)

Optional activities include swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, cooking classes, community work, adventures, reading, and more!

Accommodations, delicious home-cooked food, yoga classes, and a group excursion included in cost (ranging from $1825 to $2635)
Airfare not included

Email info@theshala.com to learn more or call 212.979.9988

James C. Hopkins was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Virginia. He earned his college degree in French Language & Literature from Duke University but went on to work for more than 20 years as an investment broker in NYC and in Washington DC. In 2004 he retired as Vice President of Investments at UBS Financial Services and moved to Nepal to study Buddhist philosophy & Tibetan language in a monastery in Kathmandu. For the last 10 years, James served as the Director of Development for Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery.

James C. Hopkins is also the director of Quilts for Kids Nepal, a microfinance project that operates in a community of street beggars, snake-charmers and shoeshine experts near his house in Kathmandu. The mission of Q4K is to provide work for economically-challenged women and to finance education for underprivileged children. Currently the project provides work for about 25 quilt-making women, and sponsors education for more than 50 children, mostly at girls, who are at risk for a life of begging on the streets of Kathmandu.

Matteo Pistono is a writer and meditation teacher, and author of Meditation: Coming To Know Your Mind, Fearless in and In The Shadow of the Buddha. Matteo began studying Buddhism and yoga in Nepal in the early 1990s, and later lived and worked in Tibet for a decade, which he has written about in several books. Matteo earned a Masters in Indian Philosophy from the University of London. He has engaged regularly in extensive meditation retreats over the last twenty years, and he maintains a daily yoga asana and pranayama practice.