The third session (hybrid) will focus on real-time making, in community, with opportunities for show-and-tell. Each session will include a simple mindfulness practice and a 30-minute movement practice.

A full supply list will be sent to all participants in advance of the first session. Nearly all of these supplies can be found at home (cardboard, tape, scissors, etc.), with very few requiring purchase. We encourage utilizing everyday odds and ends as much as possible. 

In addition to working on your weaving between sessions, students will be encouraged to consider how certain concepts or principles discussed within the workshop show up in daily life.

This workshop is the second in a series called Practice(s): Yoga & Creativity. These workshops will offer opportunities to explore the connections between yoga practice and creative practice through a variety of mediums.

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Johanna Aenderl Ryan is a Brooklyn-based printmaker and sculptor. She started her weaving practice in 2020 during the stay-at-home order. Being restricted at home allowed for experimentation, with over 90% of the materials used in her weavings being recycled or repurposed. She has collaborated on projects with artists in other disciplines, and she is excited to continue her interdisciplinary practice with The Shala (where she has been a student for 10 years).   

Prior to her visual arts practice, Johanna worked for over a decade in the nonprofit human services field. In 2020, she received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Her work has been included in group shows throughout the northeast; including Ethan Cohen KuBE, Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition, Equity Gallery, ChaShaMa Space to Present, and Cape Cod Museum of Art. She has a studio in Brooklyn and is originally from Minnesota.

This workshop is the first in a series called Practice(s): Yoga & Creativity. These workshops will offer opportunities to explore the connections between yoga practice and creative practice through a variety of mediums.

Influenced by the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, each month Maria will provide simple recipes, teas, remedies, and advice on daily routines for maintaining balance within each season. Recipes will be posted on the website and we’ll prepare them together in real time.

November 1 Menu (makes 2-4 servings)

Tomato Dal with Greens (kale, collards, chard or spinach)

Basmati Rice

Sweet Potato Flatbread

Participants will need to rinse and soak their dal at least one hour before class. Also, for the flatbread, we will need one large sweet potato steamed in its skin. This should be done about a half hour before class so that the sweet potato is still warm.

Ingredients

Tomato Dal ( makes 3 servings)

• 1/2 cup red lentils (or split mung)
• Fresh ginger 
• Garlic
• Turmeric powder 
• Dried or fresh chilies
• Ghee or coconut oil
• Mustard seed
• Cumin seed
• Curry leaf
• Hing
• Tomatoes
• Green of your choice
• Lemon

Basmati Rice

Sweet Potato Flatbread

• 1 large steamed-in-its-jacket sweet potato
• Flour (I like to mix half whole wheat and half white flour; you can experiment with spelt, einkorn, etc.)

Lesley Desaulniers has been studying yoga and meditation since 1996. In her early twenties, Lesley was a resident at Ananda Ashram in upstate New York, where she intensively studied Sanskrit, meditation, philosophy, yoga, and chanting. She was later certified by Sharon Gannon and David Life and went on to teach at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in downtown Manhattan. Lesley is deeply inspired by the brilliant teachers Kristin Leigh and Barbara Verrochi.

Ambika will be leading chanting to accompany the yoga class, as well as leading the class in call and response chanting after the Vinyasa portion of the practice.

Ambika has been a singer and musician for most of her life, playing in various bands in NYC until she discovered chanting with Krishna Das in 1995. Kirtan had a profound effect on her, and lead her to India where she met her teacher and Spiritual Mother, Shri Siddhi Ma. As Ambika deepened her connection to the practice of chanting, it became her home and refuge.