The longest and arguably most important relationship you’ll ever have is with yourself. Come celebrate YOU through heart-opening restorative poses led by PEYTON BIEDERMAN and learn about foods that love you back with nutritional guidance from health and wellness coach RAQUEL REIS.

Wishing you and your family peace, joy, and love in the New Year.

Love Barbara and Kristin

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.