|
|
|
|
1
|
2
-
Tactile And Ex…
Tactile And Experiential Anatomy: A Haptic Body Trip and Somatic Dance Jam
December 2, 2023 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Tickets here
Learning anatomy is wonderful and connects us to ourselves, but doing it through videos or textbooks adds an unnecessary layer of translation. We are convinced that the best way to come to know our bodies is through the language of touch and tactile sensing. The unique minds of each of our diverse tissues are coherent interwoven communities that await our attention.
Join Elena Lake (a mathematician-turned-massage-therapist) and Bex Naj (a somatic movement educator, dancer, and yoga teacher) for a haptic body trip that explores the myriad of ways you can experience yourself and others through touch.
First, Elena will guide the group in feeling our fascia and bones - where are they, and how does their texture stand out against other body textures? Then, Bex will help us experience our cells as our first sense organs, exploring how they respond to touch in a number of ways. We will investigate the mechanical forces flowing through them, their chemical environments, and how they use stimuli to organize themselves into the tissues we know as bones and fascia. For the last ninety minutes, Bex, as her alias Qalia, will DJ a somatic dance party to integrate and express the deep embodied learning of the first half of the class.
Attendees can work with touch and movement in groups, dyads, or on themselves. No prior experience is necessary. Come dressed comfortably in layers for optional exploratory movement, sitting or lying on the floor, and freeform dance. Bring any blankets or pillows you’d like. Other suggestions include a journal and/or drawing supplies.
Logistics: There is free, ample parking at The Alembic. Doors lock shortly after the event begins at 3pm, so please arrive with enough time to get settled in.
See more details
•
|
3
-
Cacao • Breath…
Cacao • Breath + Sound
December 3, 2023 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Tickets here
Join us for a LIVE and in-person journey with One Light Tribe, ejé and the cacao spirit for a live session with movement, holotropic breathwork and sound healing. The journey is led by Isa and Ari, accompanied by ejé with a live DJ set during the breathwork.
Cacao contains the neurotransmitters serotonin, tryptophan and dopamine. These assist with feelings of well-being, can combat stress and anxiety, and contribute to motivation. Cacao also contains the neuromodulator phenylethylamine (PEA) which helps the body create feelings of excitement and euphoria. Cacao is one of the highest sources of antioxidants and magnesium, is extremely beneficial to heart health, and helps lower blood pressure.
When we combine cacao with powerful breathwork, chanting, and sound healing, we can achieve a sense of calm in the mind, deep connection through an open heart, and witness energy flowing through and around the body.
If you are experiencing serious health challenges or are on high levels of antidepressants, please message us in advance to discuss whether this type of journey is safe for you or how we can accommodate your needs.
We ask you to arrive by 1:00 pm sharp so we can begin by drinking cacao together. We will lead you in warm up movements and a session of powerful breathing with loud music, a short meditation, and then a surrender to sound. Hopefully you will leave feeling energized but also quite relaxed in the body.
Please wear comfortable clothing for sitting and moving. Also please bring a water bottle and blindfold to cover the eyes. Yoga mats and bolsters/blankets will be provided.
One Light Tribe is a healing community founded by Isabel Cali in the Bay Area in 2013, and led by Isabel and her husband Ari. The community was formed around plant medicine after Isa’s many deep journeys with plant medicine to the Amazon beginning in 2007, and continued studies with the plants and indigenous healers today. OLT’s mission is to assist all those that come to look deep within to find the root of dis-ease, to create a safe space for healing along with the plant medicine spirits. In turn to fully accept, take responsibility for and embrace the ‘self’, to live life in liberation, true purpose and oneness. To tune back to the nature that we are.
Cacao is a heart medicine and when combined with powerful breathwork and sound, it can assist one in releasing old patterns and emotions and drop into the heart space. During the cacao journey we are assisted by our dear ejé, who has been working with the medicines and sounds along with us for some years. He will be leading the live DJ set during the breathwork.
Isa and Ari currently own and run Sacha, a retreat center on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where they live part of the year when they are not in California. They hold healing retreats and cacao gatherings year-round.
See more details
•
|
4
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 4, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
-
Waking Up in t…
Waking Up in the Middle of Everything, with Zachary Smith
December 4, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/waking-up-in-the-middle-of-everything-2416439
The Zen School, as passed down to us from China via Japan, takes a unique view on the possibility of living an exemplary life in the here-and-now that is awake, alive, and completely human, as well as embodying the vows that underlie all Mahayana Buddhist schools. In this ongoing class we will study the practices and the accompanying conceptual frameworks that are, essentially, the mind and body of Zen.
More specifically, we will engage in actual Zen meditative practice, both sitting and walking, with particular attention to the details and the appropriate amount of guidance. In a series of talks, we will also review the classical literature of Zen, including the Song Dynasty koan collections and the writings of Japanese Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen. There will be plenty of opportunity for dialog, group discussion, and explanation.
Anshi Zachary Smith
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai (lay ordination) in 1995, was shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach and is a regular and frequent teacher at SFZC's City Center.
In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband, a father of four, a (mostly retired) engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
See more details
• •
|
5
-
Dancing with G…
Dancing with Gravity: Contemporary floorwork from the inside outMarcus
December 5, 2023 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dancing-with-gravity-contemporary-floorwork-from-the-inside-out-tickets-742775791387?aff=oddtdtcreator
In this 10-week movement class series we will learn how to use falling weight and kinetic chains to achieve seemingly effortless dynamic movement. In each class we will build slowly from anatomy study and warm-up exercises to movement phrases across the floor. My intention is for participants to really expand their movement vocabulary and not just get overwhelmed with new information. There will be group lab time to zoom in on the hard(unfamiliar) part, as well as time to improvise, integrate and have fun.
The subtitle refers to the approach of learning movement “from the inside out”. This means we will not just focus on executing certain body shapes but also prioritize tuning into the sensation of the movement from the inside. This could be something like feeling the tug of a falling leg that pulls us up to standing. We will explore bio-mechanics through both anatomy study and hands-on practices to learn and embody principles for healthy and efficient movement.
The three main intentions of this class:
1. Expand your movement vocabulary (especially new pathways in and out of the floor)
2. Learn and feel principles of biomechanics, anatomy and physics
3. Connect to your body and the group through the joy of dancing
Marcus van Duren is a dancer, teacher and community organizer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus has intensively studied movement and dance since his discovery of contact improvisation in 2012. He has been teaching classes and workshops locally in California since 2015, and seasonally travels internationally to teach at festivals and practice in community. Marcus has had the pleasure of studying with Kira Kirsch, Frey Faust, Nuria Bowart, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Martin Keogh, Ray Chung, Nita Little, James Graham, Sarah Shelton Mann and many others-- "in every dance, something is learned". Marcus is an active member of the international Axis Syllabus community. In addition to appreciating dance as a performing art, Marcus sees dance as a life practice. He is endlessly curious about how dance can reflect larger patterns in one's attention and serve as a laboratory to explore new ways of moving and being, both on and off the dance floor. Marcus holds an interdisciplinary BA from UC Berkeley focusing on Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Psychology and Business.
See more details
-
Dynamic Embodi…
Dynamic Embodiment with Ian Shaw-Zak
December 5, 2023 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/dynamic-embodiment-w-ian-shaw-zak-2690859
Discover a world of transformation in our Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Class with Ian Shaw-Zak. Dive deep into the realm of sensorimotor and perceptual patterns that shape your interactions with the world, and cultivate the root of who you are becoming. Through mindful movement and a curiosity-driven approach, you'll cultivate differentiation and connections between layers and aspects of yourself, unlocking your body's innate wisdom and resourcefulness
Each class is a journey through developmental layers that uses diverse maps and lenses. Though grounded in the present moment, the exploration will expand your sense of body, space, range, and the possibilities for more vibrance and ease. We will play with images and concepts drawn from embryology, motor learning, and archetypal symbolism—including the rich language of alchemy and Qigong—to explore, cultivate, and nourish our bodies. This class welcomes participants of all levels, whether seasoned explorers or people new to somatic practice. No prior experience is necessary—simply come as you are, and leave with a deeper connection to your inner self, renewed vitality, and a sense of emergent possibilities.
Ian Shaw-Zak (he/they) has spent over thirty-five years practicing Shaolin Qigong. They have engaged in a lifetime quest investigating how bodies function, learn, interact, and heal while seeking to understand what has come to be known as neurodiversity. With a decade of experience as a Somatic Movement Therapist, and more recent experience as a provider of mental health services, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge and empathy to guide your journey. Visit www.ianshawzak.com for more information.
See more details
-
Releasing into…
Releasing into Presence: Meditation, Mantra & Movement with Chandra Easton (Sol)
December 5, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Details & Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/releasing-into-presence-with-lopon-chandra-easton-1089849
Releasing into Presence:
Meditation, Mantra & Movement
with Lopön Chandra Easton
Open to All
In this class, we’ll experience the benefits meditation, mantra, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. Classes will be relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun, enhanced by community and collective practice. Weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, movement and singing chants, Chandra offers practices that facilitate releasing into presence with ease and comfort. All are welcome.
Meditation: Experience a richness of techniques for developing shamatha, calm abiding, and vipashyana, insight. These will include mindfulness of breathing, an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, and more advanced techniques called “settling the mind in its natural state” and “awareness of awareness.”
Mantra: Explore mantra recitation and chanting, both with and without musical accompaniment. Chandra will share a variety of mantras and melodies from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, including melodies from her 21 Taras Collective project.
Movement: Practice gentle and accessible yoga and/or meditative movement/dance to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and life.
Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher, writer, and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. She has taught Buddhism and Yoga around the world since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. In 2015, she was given the title of senior lead teacher, Dorje Lopön (Varjāchārya), by Lama Tsultrim Allione and Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche. She is on the Tara Mandala Board of Directors and the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Council, which addresses the under-representation of people from different cultural, racial, sexual orientation, and social backgrounds in the Dharma and at Tara Mandala. She is currently writing a book on the twenty-one Taras in Buddhist Tantra. She is collaborating with musicians Nina Rao and Genevieve Walker, on the 21 Taras Collective, which aims to bring the 21 Taras alive through mantra, music, and devotion. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
Visit www.chandraeaston.com to learn more.
See more details
• • •
|
6
-
Zoom: Somatic …
Zoom: Somatic Inquiry with Laura V Ward - Embodied Awareness
December 6, 2023 8:30 am - 9:15 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/somatic-inquiry-with-laura-v-ward-on-zoom-2174219
8:30-9:10am PDT
This 40 minute session will offer a dive into the fluid wisdom of your own body using breath, touch, sound, and sensation as tools to expand awareness and deepen your experience of being human.
You can take this class at any level of movement that feels comfortable to you. You can be in a chair, in bed, on the floor, and you are encouraged to move or not move in accordance with your own inner intelligence.
Laura Victoria Ward is maximalist artist, choreographer, somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, teacher, musician, and painter. She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre, a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational, company. She has been teaching, creating dance theater, and performing in New York State, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.
Participating equally in both experiential and performative practices; movement, awareness, and expression lay the foundation for Laura's work which includes creativity, play, inquiry, and the general wonder of existing in a human body. An expansive knowledge of diverse movement practices, hands-on bodywork, anatomy, and kinesiology underpins Laura’s playful investigation including Continuum Movement, classical ballet training, physical theater, and nondual awareness meditation (with Michael Taft). She has been meditating for over 30 years.
See more details
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 6, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
-
The Chalice: P…
The Chalice: Psychedelic Salon
December 6, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
This event is likely to reach capacity. Register on Eventbrite to ensure a seat.
The Chalice is a monthly psychedelic salon held at the Berkeley Alembic. Instead of the mainstream focus on clinical trials, legal frameworks, and psychotherapy, The Chalice will draw from the deeper humanistic wells of history, poetry, the gods, ethnobotany, humor, and mystery. The first half of each gathering will feature a talk or special guest interview; we are particularly devoted to centering elders and members of the underground. The second half of the evening is designed to develop the community, with possible breakout groups and peer-to-peer discussion, and more questions than answers.
For the December Chalice, Erik Davis will give a talk on the complex ways that current psychedelic discourse and practice are attempting to balance and integrate the claims of religion and science.
The co-hosts for Chalice are Erik Davis, author and Alembic co-founder; Maria Mangini, co-founder of the Women’s Visionary Council and old-school head; and Christian Greer, currently a lecturer on counterculture at Stanford University.
See more details
• • •
|
7
-
Deconstructing…
Deconstructing Yourself, with Michael Taft (Sol)
December 7, 2023 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Deconstructing Yourself is a weekly drop-in guided meditation (approximately one hour) plus Q & A with Berkeley Alembic founding teacher Michael Taft. Deconstructing Yourself is all about sharing the life-changing force that is meditation. We extend beyond any particular religion or technique in order to welcome any and all who are interested. Deconstructing Yourself strives to encourage, inform, and inspire your meditation practice towards ongoing awakening. Meditations are ilvestreamed and archived on YouTube.
Logistics:
1. The front door to The Alembic auto-locks, and since we don't want our volunteer to miss the sit, the door will be locked at 6:30. Please arrive early lest you end up streaming the YouTube sit from the parking lot.
2. There is ample free parking
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/deconstructing-yourself-with-michael-taft-1106939
Alembic founding teacher Michael W. Taft is a non-traditional meditation teacher, bestselling author, and podcaster. As a mindfulness coach, he specializes in secular, science-based mindfulness training in retreats, groups, corporate settings, and one-on-one sessions. Michael is the author of several books, including the bestselling The Mindful Geek, Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept, and Ego (which he co-authored), as well as the editor of such books as Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson and The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young.
He has often taught meditation at Google, worked on curriculum development for SIYLI, and is currently core faculty at Wisdom Labs, in San Francisco. Michael is also a featured teacher on the Simple Habit app, and an official advisor to the Therapeutic Neuroscience Lab. He was previously editor-in-chief of Being Human, and was the long-time editorial director of Sounds True.
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty five years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist Vipassana and Hindu Tantric practice. Michael is a senior facilitator in Shinzen Young’s Unified Mindfulness system, and is a teacher of meditation groups around the Bay Area. He currently lives in Oakland, California, and is founding editor of the iconoclastic mindfulness meditation blog and podcast Deconstructing Yourself.
See more details
•
|
8
-
ALCHEMY GONG B…
ALCHEMY GONG BATH with Loriel Starr
December 8, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alchemy-gong-bath-with-loriel-starr-tickets-745422718417
ALCHEMY GONG BATH
Alchemy = a process of transformation
Gongs are ancient instruments and their sounds are powerful, mysterious and captivating. A gong bath is a sound immersion that transports you into a mystical and trancelike state. This experience can be deeply healing and transformational. Gongs help to release, clear and rebalance the energy-body and nervous system in order to promote resilience and well-being. As the body relaxes, the psyche opens into inner dimensions of expanded awareness and self-attunement.
Your sound journey begins as you lie down and receive a simple guided meditation that supports the release of tension in the body and mind. Waves of sound will wash over you as you open yourself to the sonic textures, tonal qualities and harmonic richness of a unique ensemble of Seven Healing Gongs; each with their own vibratory qualities and presence.
The Alchemy Gong Bath showcases the gong’s unique voice in the realm of sound healing and sound meditation. If you like gongs you’ll love this event! And if you are new to the sound of the gong or just beginning to explore sound baths you’ll have an opportunity to dive more deeply into the powerful magic of the gong.
DOORS OPEN AT 7:00 PM AND CLOSE PROMPTLY AT 7:30 PM. Please make sure to arrive on time so that you can settle into your space.
PLEASE BRING A YOGA MAT AND BLANKET. Additional items that can add to your comfort are an eye covering, additional blanket, pillow and water bottle. In general, gong baths are experienced lying down in order to promote the deepest experience of rest; but if for any reason you need to sit up feel free to do so.
*** PLEASE NOTE - A gong sound bath has variable dynamics of intensity and volume in the form of sound waves. The tension and release of these dynamics are part of the process that supports the nervous system to strengthen and to develop resilience. However, if you are diagnosed with PTSD or find that you are prone to be more sensitive to the dynamics of volume you may find this event to be contraindicated. Feel free to contact Loriel with any questions regarding participation.
LORIEL STARR is one of Northern CA’s premier sound bath artists. She has both performed in and produced numerous sound bath events for over a decade. She is a Certified Sound Healing Practitioner, a Gong Yoga facilitator and a graduate of “The Sound, Voice, and Music in the Healing Arts Program'' of The California Institute of Integral Studies (2008). Loriel has studied with numerous luminaries in the field of sound healing and sound meditation. She had the honor of being part of the original “Sound Healing Symphony'' at Grace Cathedral for over 5 years.
Loriel is fascinated with using Sound as a way to explore meditative states, medicinal trance and deep rejuvenation. She continues to be inspired by the infinitely mysterious and magical qualities of Sound.
In addition to her work with Sound; Loriel is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), Certified Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator, a Level III Certified iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation Teacher and a Somatic Sex Educator through the Sea School of Embodiment.
Her website:https://lorielstarr.com/
Once a ticket is purchased, we cannot issue a refund.
See more details
•
|
9
-
Soulful Flow -…
Soulful Flow - Vinyasa Yoga with Anne Rene (Luna)
December 9, 2023 9:30 am - 10:45 am
Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
Soulful flow is a robust vinyasa yoga class that brings balance to the body, mind and spirit. Anne-René has always been drawn to the spiritual side of life and yoga. This influences her movement meditations that are physically challenging and inspiring to the heart. Her class intertwines asana, breath, awareness, attention to transition and experiencing a personal connection to the movement that opens the door for a meditative flow to wake you up. Hand mudras, chanting, inspired readings, and music are incorporated into the class.
Anne-René Petrarca is a dance artist, Alexander Technique teacher and the artistic director of Sculpted Motion. She began her yoga studies back in New York City in the 1990's. In 2008 she received her Vinyasa yoga teaching certification from the White Lotus Foundation. She is inspired and influenced by her many teachers and studios: Ty Landrum, Sara Baird, Erin Dudley, Keith Borden, Cindi Lee's Om Yoga Center, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the anatomical teachings of Irene Dowd and Leslie Kaminoff. Other influences are Krishnamurti, Ram Das, Kundalini yoga, Gaga, and Gyrotonic.
"I have always expressed myself through movement. I find inspiration in watching the sky, feeling the sun on my skin and the wonderment of the night sky. Trees are amazing, animals are graceful, poetry can bring me to my knees. I find comfort in the resiliency of the human spirit and kind words from my friends. There is a fullness and flow to life that I know exist and I find comfort in knowing that I am a work in progress flowing toward it."
See more details
-
Being One with…
Being One with Words: Zen through Literature
December 9, 2023 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Details and registration to follow: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/being-one-with-words-zen-through-literature-tickets-751777315187?aff=oddtdtcreator
In this one-day workshop we will use Zen approaches to unlock a more fully embodied reading practice while learning how to use reading to unlock a more fully embodied life. The Zen tradition has always emphasized that words are a misleading trap; at best, they provide a glancing blow off the edge of reality without ever hitting it head on. Yet many of us know from experience that reading, whether fiction or nonfiction, can open a magical door beyond words. How are we to reconcile these two points of view, inside and outside of Zen? Come down the rabbit hole with us and find out how inhabiting the tangles of the written word can actually free the mind.
Sensei has been studying Zen for 19 years in the White Plum lineage. She is a dharma successor under Daniel Doen Silberberg Roshi, the founder of Lost Coin Zen. Sensei received transmission in that lineage in 2020 and became a Zen teacher. In her various manifestations she is a mother, a law firm owner, a Zen-based life coach, a student of Latin and Mandarin, and an antiquarian book collector.
More at: www.lostcoinzen.com
See more details
• •
|
10
-
AWAKENING CREA…
AWAKENING CREATIVITY: Artmonk Practice with Suiko Betsy McCall
December 10, 2023 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Details & Registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/awakening-creativity-artmonk-practice-with-suiko-betsy-mccall-tickets-719800832667?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
Join Art Monastery Founder & Abbess Suiko Betsy McCall for an afternoon of deep nourishment for the body, soul, and creative spirit. Interweaving seated meditation with improvisatory drawing and physical movement, Suiko bridges spiritual and creative practices. This tapestry of practices blends Mindfulness meditation, Zen Buddhism, and shamanic journeying to open the door to increased freedom to play and create.
Suiko (who lived at Green Gulch Farm / Green Dragon Zen Temple on and off for 4 years and is certified as a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach), will guide you through a process called Artmonk Practice. We will begin in seated meditation, transition into abstract drawing, and finally into free movement. Renowned for her ability to create safe and transformative spaces, this workshop will meet you where you are — beginner or experienced practitioners alike.
You’ll walk away with
- tools for bridging creative & spiritual practice
- a series of practices you can explore on your own
- at least one drawing or piece of writing
Testemonials
“Suiko is recreating the dharmasphere and inviting the Divine Jester to be part of the inquiry. There have been too many centuries of denial, seclusion, and a denigration of the muse. By bringing the arts and dharma together she is validating two fundamental aspects of people.” —Joseph B.
“[Suiko’s] enthusiasm, thoughtful insight, glowing personality, willingness to flow, and gentle leadership are the what made this class amazing for me.” —Sherri M.
“Suiko’s program has helped me to put aside my inner critic that blocks me from creating. Our time together was a space for healing and restoration—nourishing ourselves to right a world that’s turning upside down.” —Alysia T.
“The workshop helped me clear and express my anger and anguish of my inner child.” —Kady L.
“Through the process that Suiko led, I experienced communion with the creative spirit to be open, explore, listen and share.” —Claire D.
“Suiko’s art meditation is suuuuper powerful. After the first time being led by her in Artmonk Practice, I felt the power of her gift as an artist and teacher. I cried and processed on a level not always available in my other methods of meditation. Plus art is such a deep source of intimate connection with ourselves, God, and each other.” —Jessica A.
“For me, there’s like this “just do it” mantra that both attracts me to the offer and keeps me coming back. It’s like returning home to something that was always there, but that I too often don’t choose to engage with.” —Shenandoah W.
“The class allowed me to trust my instincts and manifest my ideas into something tangible and not to question the validity of my impulses so much.” —Mary W.
“Suiko creates a context where adults can engage in a light hearted way to explore creativity.” — Alex S.
See more details
•
|
11
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 11, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
-
Underbelly: Th…
Underbelly: The Art of Slowing Down
December 11, 2023 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/underbelly-the-art-of-slowing-down-2335099
Underbelly is a non-verbal somatic practice (freeform movement meditation) where we reclaim our slow in a fast and overwhelming world. Our dominant culture survives on speed, which keeps problematic and oppressive structures in place at the devastating cost of our well-being and planetary health. Underbelly is a somatic response to the loss of slowness in an increasingly urgent world drowning in climate collapse, AI threat, technological addiction, diseased capitalism and polarization, as well as historical nervous system trauma from continuing racism, colonialism, and patriarchy. It’s time to dismantle the hurry and be in conversation with the present moment.
This practice helps us explore the art of slowing down with ourselves, each other, and our current environment. There is space to metabolize our emotions, strengthen empathy and intuition, and develop an intimate relationship with our bodies and nature. We practice being in the questions themselves- listening and yielding to the intelligence of life without pushing, controlling, or fixing. Our individuation and togetherness are felt in a group field—deepening our presence and attunement with one another, co-regulating our nervous systems, being witnessed, held, considered, and noticed exactly as we are. We meet ourselves AS IS, without reaching for more or escaping/transcending reality. We re-learn what it is to be relational instead of transactional. To commune instead of consume. To be of service instead of self-serving. To rest back into the vastness and wildness of the natural world, releasing the tight circuits of programming, conditioning, and linearity we've known for so long. Spend quality time with your body, breath, and being. Voyage beneath the surface of our fast culture, and dive into a slow sanctuary for unearthing what is alive, tender, and honest for you in every moment.
This experience is not a solution, method, workshop or teaching of tools. It is not a business, ceremony, ecstatic dance, or dance class. It is a somatic gathering space that supports nervous system co-regulation, ample rest, and radical self/community care.
About the Creator:
Amy Rogg (she/her) is an activator and nurturer of the human spirit. She is half Taiwanese/half Jewish, born in Denver Colorado and raised mostly in the Bay Area. She is the conduit, creator, and facilitator of Underbelly: The Art of Slowing Down. Amy has a B.A. in television/film production and studied acting/improv in Los Angeles. She has also taught yoga (E-RYT 500), meditation, and somatic/relational movement for the past decade.
Some of her inspirations: nature, GAGA, Hakomi, Continuum, The Artist's Way, Yat Malmgren, Contact Improvisation, Movement Liberation, Anna Halprin, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Resmaa Menakem, Sarah Blondin, Marc-André Leclerc, Jeong Kwan, Qi Gong, Yoga, Open Floor, Ecstatic Dance, Dancing Freedom, 5 Rhythms, Soul Motion, her mom, and romantic relationships. You can find her on instagram: @amyrogg
See more details
-
Waking Up in t…
Waking Up in the Middle of Everything, with Zachary Smith
December 11, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/waking-up-in-the-middle-of-everything-2416439
The Zen School, as passed down to us from China via Japan, takes a unique view on the possibility of living an exemplary life in the here-and-now that is awake, alive, and completely human, as well as embodying the vows that underlie all Mahayana Buddhist schools. In this ongoing class we will study the practices and the accompanying conceptual frameworks that are, essentially, the mind and body of Zen.
More specifically, we will engage in actual Zen meditative practice, both sitting and walking, with particular attention to the details and the appropriate amount of guidance. In a series of talks, we will also review the classical literature of Zen, including the Song Dynasty koan collections and the writings of Japanese Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen. There will be plenty of opportunity for dialog, group discussion, and explanation.
Anshi Zachary Smith
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai (lay ordination) in 1995, was shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach and is a regular and frequent teacher at SFZC's City Center.
In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband, a father of four, a (mostly retired) engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
See more details
• • •
|
12
-
Dancing with G…
Dancing with Gravity: Contemporary floorwork from the inside outMarcus
December 12, 2023 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dancing-with-gravity-contemporary-floorwork-from-the-inside-out-tickets-742775791387?aff=oddtdtcreator
In this 10-week movement class series we will learn how to use falling weight and kinetic chains to achieve seemingly effortless dynamic movement. In each class we will build slowly from anatomy study and warm-up exercises to movement phrases across the floor. My intention is for participants to really expand their movement vocabulary and not just get overwhelmed with new information. There will be group lab time to zoom in on the hard(unfamiliar) part, as well as time to improvise, integrate and have fun.
The subtitle refers to the approach of learning movement “from the inside out”. This means we will not just focus on executing certain body shapes but also prioritize tuning into the sensation of the movement from the inside. This could be something like feeling the tug of a falling leg that pulls us up to standing. We will explore bio-mechanics through both anatomy study and hands-on practices to learn and embody principles for healthy and efficient movement.
The three main intentions of this class:
1. Expand your movement vocabulary (especially new pathways in and out of the floor)
2. Learn and feel principles of biomechanics, anatomy and physics
3. Connect to your body and the group through the joy of dancing
Marcus van Duren is a dancer, teacher and community organizer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus has intensively studied movement and dance since his discovery of contact improvisation in 2012. He has been teaching classes and workshops locally in California since 2015, and seasonally travels internationally to teach at festivals and practice in community. Marcus has had the pleasure of studying with Kira Kirsch, Frey Faust, Nuria Bowart, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Martin Keogh, Ray Chung, Nita Little, James Graham, Sarah Shelton Mann and many others-- "in every dance, something is learned". Marcus is an active member of the international Axis Syllabus community. In addition to appreciating dance as a performing art, Marcus sees dance as a life practice. He is endlessly curious about how dance can reflect larger patterns in one's attention and serve as a laboratory to explore new ways of moving and being, both on and off the dance floor. Marcus holds an interdisciplinary BA from UC Berkeley focusing on Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Psychology and Business.
See more details
-
Dynamic Embodi…
Dynamic Embodiment with Ian Shaw-Zak
December 12, 2023 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/dynamic-embodiment-w-ian-shaw-zak-2690859
Discover a world of transformation in our Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Class with Ian Shaw-Zak. Dive deep into the realm of sensorimotor and perceptual patterns that shape your interactions with the world, and cultivate the root of who you are becoming. Through mindful movement and a curiosity-driven approach, you'll cultivate differentiation and connections between layers and aspects of yourself, unlocking your body's innate wisdom and resourcefulness
Each class is a journey through developmental layers that uses diverse maps and lenses. Though grounded in the present moment, the exploration will expand your sense of body, space, range, and the possibilities for more vibrance and ease. We will play with images and concepts drawn from embryology, motor learning, and archetypal symbolism—including the rich language of alchemy and Qigong—to explore, cultivate, and nourish our bodies. This class welcomes participants of all levels, whether seasoned explorers or people new to somatic practice. No prior experience is necessary—simply come as you are, and leave with a deeper connection to your inner self, renewed vitality, and a sense of emergent possibilities.
Ian Shaw-Zak (he/they) has spent over thirty-five years practicing Shaolin Qigong. They have engaged in a lifetime quest investigating how bodies function, learn, interact, and heal while seeking to understand what has come to be known as neurodiversity. With a decade of experience as a Somatic Movement Therapist, and more recent experience as a provider of mental health services, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge and empathy to guide your journey. Visit www.ianshawzak.com for more information.
See more details
-
Releasing into…
Releasing into Presence: Meditation, Mantra & Movement with Chandra Easton (Sol)
December 12, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Details & Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/releasing-into-presence-with-lopon-chandra-easton-1089849
Releasing into Presence:
Meditation, Mantra & Movement
with Lopön Chandra Easton
Open to All
In this class, we’ll experience the benefits meditation, mantra, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. Classes will be relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun, enhanced by community and collective practice. Weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, movement and singing chants, Chandra offers practices that facilitate releasing into presence with ease and comfort. All are welcome.
Meditation: Experience a richness of techniques for developing shamatha, calm abiding, and vipashyana, insight. These will include mindfulness of breathing, an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, and more advanced techniques called “settling the mind in its natural state” and “awareness of awareness.”
Mantra: Explore mantra recitation and chanting, both with and without musical accompaniment. Chandra will share a variety of mantras and melodies from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, including melodies from her 21 Taras Collective project.
Movement: Practice gentle and accessible yoga and/or meditative movement/dance to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and life.
Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher, writer, and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. She has taught Buddhism and Yoga around the world since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. In 2015, she was given the title of senior lead teacher, Dorje Lopön (Varjāchārya), by Lama Tsultrim Allione and Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche. She is on the Tara Mandala Board of Directors and the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Council, which addresses the under-representation of people from different cultural, racial, sexual orientation, and social backgrounds in the Dharma and at Tara Mandala. She is currently writing a book on the twenty-one Taras in Buddhist Tantra. She is collaborating with musicians Nina Rao and Genevieve Walker, on the 21 Taras Collective, which aims to bring the 21 Taras alive through mantra, music, and devotion. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
Visit www.chandraeaston.com to learn more.
See more details
• • •
|
13
-
Zoom: Somatic …
Zoom: Somatic Inquiry with Laura V Ward - Embodied Awareness
December 13, 2023 8:30 am - 9:15 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/somatic-inquiry-with-laura-v-ward-on-zoom-2174219
8:30-9:10am PDT
This 40 minute session will offer a dive into the fluid wisdom of your own body using breath, touch, sound, and sensation as tools to expand awareness and deepen your experience of being human.
You can take this class at any level of movement that feels comfortable to you. You can be in a chair, in bed, on the floor, and you are encouraged to move or not move in accordance with your own inner intelligence.
Laura Victoria Ward is maximalist artist, choreographer, somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, teacher, musician, and painter. She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre, a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational, company. She has been teaching, creating dance theater, and performing in New York State, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.
Participating equally in both experiential and performative practices; movement, awareness, and expression lay the foundation for Laura's work which includes creativity, play, inquiry, and the general wonder of existing in a human body. An expansive knowledge of diverse movement practices, hands-on bodywork, anatomy, and kinesiology underpins Laura’s playful investigation including Continuum Movement, classical ballet training, physical theater, and nondual awareness meditation (with Michael Taft). She has been meditating for over 30 years.
See more details
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 13, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
-
Alchemy of Fus…
Alchemy of Fusion
December 13, 2023 7:30 pm - 11:30 pm
For Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fusion-alchemy-tickets-759145533727
Welcome to Alchemy of Fusion, an enchanting bi-monthly dance affair that blends movement, music, and connection. Every gathering kicks off with an immersive hour-long fusion dance class led by expert instructors. Whether you're a seasoned dancer or a newcomer to the world of fusion, this class caters to all skill levels, offering a perfect blend of technique, creativity, and connection. The class serves as a gateway for dancers to explore and integrate various dance forms, creating a melting pot of movement styles that define Fusion Alchemy.
Following the class, the dance floor transforms into a haven for socializing and free expression. For three hours, dancers have the opportunity to engage in the art of fusion, where genres intertwine, and creativity knows no bounds. The Berkeley Alembic provides an inviting atmosphere with its spacious dance floor, comfortable spaces to lounge, and an eclectic mix of music that transcends genres.
Alchemy of Fusion is not just an event; it's a community where dancers come together to explore the magic that happens when diverse movement traditions converge. Whether you prefer the sultry embrace of tango, the rhythmic freedom of blues, or the playful energy of swing, Fusion Alchemy welcomes all dance enthusiasts to partake in this bi-monthly celebration of movement and connection.
Cost: $20 in advance/$25 at the door
Sayaka is a lover of movement and a believer in human potential. She has trained in Bachata, Fusion, Contact Improv, and Brazilian Zouk, and understands what movement can do to transform individuals as well as whole communities. In addition, she has many years of experience helping people be the best version of themselves as a nurse and a life coach.
She has been organizing dance events with focus on comfort and connections since 2022. She named her company after a Japanese buddhist word, Goen: serendipitous encounters that lead to meaningful relationships.
See more details
• • •
|
14
-
Deconstructing…
Deconstructing Yourself, with Michael Taft (Sol)
December 14, 2023 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Deconstructing Yourself is a weekly drop-in guided meditation (approximately one hour) plus Q & A with Berkeley Alembic founding teacher Michael Taft. Deconstructing Yourself is all about sharing the life-changing force that is meditation. We extend beyond any particular religion or technique in order to welcome any and all who are interested. Deconstructing Yourself strives to encourage, inform, and inspire your meditation practice towards ongoing awakening. Meditations are ilvestreamed and archived on YouTube.
Logistics:
1. The front door to The Alembic auto-locks, and since we don't want our volunteer to miss the sit, the door will be locked at 6:30. Please arrive early lest you end up streaming the YouTube sit from the parking lot.
2. There is ample free parking
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/deconstructing-yourself-with-michael-taft-1106939
Alembic founding teacher Michael W. Taft is a non-traditional meditation teacher, bestselling author, and podcaster. As a mindfulness coach, he specializes in secular, science-based mindfulness training in retreats, groups, corporate settings, and one-on-one sessions. Michael is the author of several books, including the bestselling The Mindful Geek, Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept, and Ego (which he co-authored), as well as the editor of such books as Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson and The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young.
He has often taught meditation at Google, worked on curriculum development for SIYLI, and is currently core faculty at Wisdom Labs, in San Francisco. Michael is also a featured teacher on the Simple Habit app, and an official advisor to the Therapeutic Neuroscience Lab. He was previously editor-in-chief of Being Human, and was the long-time editorial director of Sounds True.
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty five years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist Vipassana and Hindu Tantric practice. Michael is a senior facilitator in Shinzen Young’s Unified Mindfulness system, and is a teacher of meditation groups around the Bay Area. He currently lives in Oakland, California, and is founding editor of the iconoclastic mindfulness meditation blog and podcast Deconstructing Yourself.
See more details
•
|
15
-
Turning Toward…
Turning Towards the Heart with Miriam Peretz
December 15, 2023 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Tickets here
Together in sacred community, we will join our hearts in breath, song, whirling, dance, poetry and prayer. This offering is open to all who are called to move in prayer, and those who seek to learn more about embracing dance and the movement of whirling to connect with the universe and our deepest self. This workshop will include group prayer, breathwork, movement rituals, Sufi whirling practices, sacred circle dances, singing and chanting. The intention is to allow these experiences to help us expand our heart’s capacity and to enter the place of unity with all creation.
Come in comfortable clothing (with socks), a big wide open heart, and any prayer or intention to share!
This class will take place in-person at The Alembic, where there is a free parking lot with ample space. The doors will lock at 7:30, so please arrive on time.
If you are interested in volunteering for this class (or any Alembic event) please send an email to hello@berkeleyalembic.org
---
Miriam Peretz is an internationally celebrated dancer who has devoted her life to creating transformational experiences for her students and audiences worldwide. Miriam’s work is focused on the healing art of dance and empowering individuals through movement, ritual and community building. Over the course of her lifetime career, she has developed two signature dance format’s, Nava Dance and Integral Dance. Both formats embrace Miriam’s belief in the potential of movement and dance to facilitate physical, spiritual, and emotional healing. These formats weave together many years of training in traditional dance forms, as well as contemporary dance and somatic practices.
Miriam has travelled extensively teaching her formats at retreat centers, dance schools, and festivals throughout California, the Middle East and Europe. Miriam holds an MFA from Mills College of California and is a certified Pilates instructor. Regarded as a weekly ritual by her students, Miriam’s classes offer a fully integrated journey through the terrain of the body, heart, mind and spirit. Miriam sees dance as a uniquely powerful means of expressing deep emotion and spiritual yearning, and therefore the perfect embodiment of prayer.
See more details
•
|
16
-
Soulful Flow -…
Soulful Flow - Vinyasa Yoga with Anne Rene (Luna)
December 16, 2023 9:30 am - 10:45 am
Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
Soulful flow is a robust vinyasa yoga class that brings balance to the body, mind and spirit. Anne-René has always been drawn to the spiritual side of life and yoga. This influences her movement meditations that are physically challenging and inspiring to the heart. Her class intertwines asana, breath, awareness, attention to transition and experiencing a personal connection to the movement that opens the door for a meditative flow to wake you up. Hand mudras, chanting, inspired readings, and music are incorporated into the class.
Anne-René Petrarca is a dance artist, Alexander Technique teacher and the artistic director of Sculpted Motion. She began her yoga studies back in New York City in the 1990's. In 2008 she received her Vinyasa yoga teaching certification from the White Lotus Foundation. She is inspired and influenced by her many teachers and studios: Ty Landrum, Sara Baird, Erin Dudley, Keith Borden, Cindi Lee's Om Yoga Center, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the anatomical teachings of Irene Dowd and Leslie Kaminoff. Other influences are Krishnamurti, Ram Das, Kundalini yoga, Gaga, and Gyrotonic.
"I have always expressed myself through movement. I find inspiration in watching the sky, feeling the sun on my skin and the wonderment of the night sky. Trees are amazing, animals are graceful, poetry can bring me to my knees. I find comfort in the resiliency of the human spirit and kind words from my friends. There is a fullness and flow to life that I know exist and I find comfort in knowing that I am a work in progress flowing toward it."
See more details
-
Alligator Liza…
Alligator Lizards in the Air with Krisztina Lazar
December 16, 2023 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/art-integration-1473699
Creative expression is a way to integrate phenomenon and visions experienced in altered states of consciousness, whether they be meditative or entheogenic in nature. From the very first forms of mark-making to the caves of Lascaux to the works of Pablo Amaringo and Alex Grey, humanity has sought to understand our internal landscapes through visual expression.
Alligator Lizards in the Air: Healing and Integration through Creative Expression, is a once a month chance to bring these experiences to life through two dimensional mark making.
Art mediums from paint to colored pencils, crayons to markers, will be available for everyone to use along with paper and canvas. Krisztina Lazar will be your visionary guide in creativity and will help you realize your experience before your eyes. No art background needed for this class. All you need is an open mind and a willingness to explore.
Krisztina Lazar is a visionary artist primarily working in oil paint, watercolor and drawing. She is a Mische Technique lineage holder, a mixture of oil and egg tempera painting invented during the Dutch Renaissance and revolutionized by modern master, Ernst Fuchs. This technique creates an opalescent under painting that the colors are then glazed over, rendering each painting out of light rather than shadow, bringing the images to life with fractal clarity.
Utilizing this transformative style that she learned from visionary pioneer, Brigid Marlin, her current body of work explores painting a hybrid of Mische and Alla Prima to render hyperealistic sacred art. With these two techniques combined, Krisztina creates images of Pop Shamanism, portals and visions that speak to today’s cultural climate of the occult, magic, fantasy, psychedelics, meditation, pop, nostalgia, and the environment movement.
Originally from Cleveland, OH, she completed her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and her MFA graduate degree in 2011 at the San Francisco Art Institute New Genres department. Her paintings have been exhibited in group and solo shows throughout the United States and Europe, most notably at the H.R. Geiger museum in Gruyere, Switzerland. She teaches her unique styles of painting to many students in group and private settings. Her work has been featured in multiple articles, galleries and book publications. She currently lives and works in Northern California.
See more details
-
Embodying Tara…
Embodying Tara, with Chandra Easton
December 16, 2023 6:15 pm - 9:15 pm
Tickets here
Come to the exclusive book launch for Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom, the first book from Lopön Chandra Easton . Many have heard of the female Buddha Tara, but few know of her twenty-one aspects. Come hear stories and anecdotes from the book, experience a guided meditation on Tara, and get your book signed!
Chandra's proceeds from this event will go to Ani Choying Drolma’s Ani Foundation, a Nepalese organization that serves women, children, the underprivileged, and the dispossessed by providing education, health care, food, and shelter to those in need.
Books will be on sale at the event or you can pre-order your book today with a 30% discount using code ETARA30 at www.shambhala.com.
We’ll have time for tea and mingling with the community as well.
About Embodying Tara
Realize the power of Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, within yourself in this modern guide to her twenty-one forms.
Explore down-to-earth meditations and stories of real women who embody Tara's qualities.
Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, can manifest within all of us. In this illustrated introduction to Tara's twenty-one forms, respected female Buddhist teacher and practitioner Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton shows you how to invite Tara’s awakened energy to come alive in yourself through:
- insight into core Buddhist concepts and teachings;
- meditations;
- mantra recitations; and
- journal exercises.
The relatable stories from Buddhist history and the author’s personal reflections will give you the tools to live a more compassionate life, befriend your fears, and overcome everyday challenges.
Find out how important women and movements in modern history embody Tara's enlightened activities. The stories of Jane Goodall, Nawal El Saadawi, Oprah Winfrey, Vandana Shiva, Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and others will inspire you to bring these aspects of Tara into the world in creative and socially conscious ways for the benefit of all.
See more details
• • •
|
17
-
Soul Writing: …
Soul Writing: Connecting to Essence with Joy Reichart
December 17, 2023 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Tickets on Eventbrite
Do you have something to say but don’t think you can write?
Are you hoping to start or revive a writing practice?
Are you looking for a friendly community to support your creativity?
Soul Writing retreats provide:
- a warm space of welcome and non-judgment so that your voice can come out of hiding and find its place in the world
- release from the echoes of all the critics (inner and outer) who have contributed to trimming your true expression
- an escape hatch from your over-thinking brain by expressing (and surprising!) yourself from a place of deeper wisdom
- an ongoing practice you can use in any number of ways, whether it’s writing a bigger piece, working with others, or simply connecting with your true voice in new ways on a regular basis
- new companions in your journey of creativity and self-discovery
Format: We will write short pieces based on prompts, share our work, and have the opportunity to give one another sincere appreciation. It is amazing how deep the writing can go—and how quickly—in this kind of holding community. We are here to practice, not produce. That said, many fully finished pieces are born of this process.
You don’t have to be a ‘writer’ already! No matter what kind of writer you think you are (including not a writer at all), your voice has a place in this session. We look forward to hearing it.
If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please fill out this form.
About Joy
I’m Joy Reichart, a writer and coach who holds gentle space for genuine expression. My training in Integral Coaching, martial arts and personal energy work have grown a deep capacity in me to hold safe, sacred space for authentic unfoldment. I also lead energy workshops and offer personal coaching for folks wishing to align with their deepest longing, their most genuine expression. I live in Berkeley, CA with my husband and two hilarious chihuahuas. Learn more about me and my work at soulwriting.org.
See more details
•
|
18
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 18, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
-
Waking Up in t…
Waking Up in the Middle of Everything, with Zachary Smith
December 18, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/waking-up-in-the-middle-of-everything-2416439
The Zen School, as passed down to us from China via Japan, takes a unique view on the possibility of living an exemplary life in the here-and-now that is awake, alive, and completely human, as well as embodying the vows that underlie all Mahayana Buddhist schools. In this ongoing class we will study the practices and the accompanying conceptual frameworks that are, essentially, the mind and body of Zen.
More specifically, we will engage in actual Zen meditative practice, both sitting and walking, with particular attention to the details and the appropriate amount of guidance. In a series of talks, we will also review the classical literature of Zen, including the Song Dynasty koan collections and the writings of Japanese Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen. There will be plenty of opportunity for dialog, group discussion, and explanation.
Anshi Zachary Smith
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai (lay ordination) in 1995, was shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach and is a regular and frequent teacher at SFZC's City Center.
In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband, a father of four, a (mostly retired) engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
See more details
• •
|
19
-
Dancing with G…
Dancing with Gravity: Contemporary floorwork from the inside outMarcus
December 19, 2023 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dancing-with-gravity-contemporary-floorwork-from-the-inside-out-tickets-742775791387?aff=oddtdtcreator
In this 10-week movement class series we will learn how to use falling weight and kinetic chains to achieve seemingly effortless dynamic movement. In each class we will build slowly from anatomy study and warm-up exercises to movement phrases across the floor. My intention is for participants to really expand their movement vocabulary and not just get overwhelmed with new information. There will be group lab time to zoom in on the hard(unfamiliar) part, as well as time to improvise, integrate and have fun.
The subtitle refers to the approach of learning movement “from the inside out”. This means we will not just focus on executing certain body shapes but also prioritize tuning into the sensation of the movement from the inside. This could be something like feeling the tug of a falling leg that pulls us up to standing. We will explore bio-mechanics through both anatomy study and hands-on practices to learn and embody principles for healthy and efficient movement.
The three main intentions of this class:
1. Expand your movement vocabulary (especially new pathways in and out of the floor)
2. Learn and feel principles of biomechanics, anatomy and physics
3. Connect to your body and the group through the joy of dancing
Marcus van Duren is a dancer, teacher and community organizer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus has intensively studied movement and dance since his discovery of contact improvisation in 2012. He has been teaching classes and workshops locally in California since 2015, and seasonally travels internationally to teach at festivals and practice in community. Marcus has had the pleasure of studying with Kira Kirsch, Frey Faust, Nuria Bowart, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Martin Keogh, Ray Chung, Nita Little, James Graham, Sarah Shelton Mann and many others-- "in every dance, something is learned". Marcus is an active member of the international Axis Syllabus community. In addition to appreciating dance as a performing art, Marcus sees dance as a life practice. He is endlessly curious about how dance can reflect larger patterns in one's attention and serve as a laboratory to explore new ways of moving and being, both on and off the dance floor. Marcus holds an interdisciplinary BA from UC Berkeley focusing on Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Psychology and Business.
See more details
-
Dynamic Embodi…
Dynamic Embodiment with Ian Shaw-Zak
December 19, 2023 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/dynamic-embodiment-w-ian-shaw-zak-2690859
Discover a world of transformation in our Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Class with Ian Shaw-Zak. Dive deep into the realm of sensorimotor and perceptual patterns that shape your interactions with the world, and cultivate the root of who you are becoming. Through mindful movement and a curiosity-driven approach, you'll cultivate differentiation and connections between layers and aspects of yourself, unlocking your body's innate wisdom and resourcefulness
Each class is a journey through developmental layers that uses diverse maps and lenses. Though grounded in the present moment, the exploration will expand your sense of body, space, range, and the possibilities for more vibrance and ease. We will play with images and concepts drawn from embryology, motor learning, and archetypal symbolism—including the rich language of alchemy and Qigong—to explore, cultivate, and nourish our bodies. This class welcomes participants of all levels, whether seasoned explorers or people new to somatic practice. No prior experience is necessary—simply come as you are, and leave with a deeper connection to your inner self, renewed vitality, and a sense of emergent possibilities.
Ian Shaw-Zak (he/they) has spent over thirty-five years practicing Shaolin Qigong. They have engaged in a lifetime quest investigating how bodies function, learn, interact, and heal while seeking to understand what has come to be known as neurodiversity. With a decade of experience as a Somatic Movement Therapist, and more recent experience as a provider of mental health services, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge and empathy to guide your journey. Visit www.ianshawzak.com for more information.
See more details
-
Releasing into…
Releasing into Presence: Meditation, Mantra & Movement with Chandra Easton (Sol)
December 19, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Details & Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/releasing-into-presence-with-lopon-chandra-easton-1089849
Releasing into Presence:
Meditation, Mantra & Movement
with Lopön Chandra Easton
Open to All
In this class, we’ll experience the benefits meditation, mantra, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. Classes will be relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun, enhanced by community and collective practice. Weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, movement and singing chants, Chandra offers practices that facilitate releasing into presence with ease and comfort. All are welcome.
Meditation: Experience a richness of techniques for developing shamatha, calm abiding, and vipashyana, insight. These will include mindfulness of breathing, an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, and more advanced techniques called “settling the mind in its natural state” and “awareness of awareness.”
Mantra: Explore mantra recitation and chanting, both with and without musical accompaniment. Chandra will share a variety of mantras and melodies from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, including melodies from her 21 Taras Collective project.
Movement: Practice gentle and accessible yoga and/or meditative movement/dance to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and life.
Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher, writer, and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. She has taught Buddhism and Yoga around the world since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. In 2015, she was given the title of senior lead teacher, Dorje Lopön (Varjāchārya), by Lama Tsultrim Allione and Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche. She is on the Tara Mandala Board of Directors and the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Council, which addresses the under-representation of people from different cultural, racial, sexual orientation, and social backgrounds in the Dharma and at Tara Mandala. She is currently writing a book on the twenty-one Taras in Buddhist Tantra. She is collaborating with musicians Nina Rao and Genevieve Walker, on the 21 Taras Collective, which aims to bring the 21 Taras alive through mantra, music, and devotion. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
Visit www.chandraeaston.com to learn more.
See more details
• • •
|
20
-
Zoom: Somatic …
Zoom: Somatic Inquiry with Laura V Ward - Embodied Awareness
December 20, 2023 8:30 am - 9:15 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/somatic-inquiry-with-laura-v-ward-on-zoom-2174219
8:30-9:10am PDT
This 40 minute session will offer a dive into the fluid wisdom of your own body using breath, touch, sound, and sensation as tools to expand awareness and deepen your experience of being human.
You can take this class at any level of movement that feels comfortable to you. You can be in a chair, in bed, on the floor, and you are encouraged to move or not move in accordance with your own inner intelligence.
Laura Victoria Ward is maximalist artist, choreographer, somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, teacher, musician, and painter. She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre, a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational, company. She has been teaching, creating dance theater, and performing in New York State, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.
Participating equally in both experiential and performative practices; movement, awareness, and expression lay the foundation for Laura's work which includes creativity, play, inquiry, and the general wonder of existing in a human body. An expansive knowledge of diverse movement practices, hands-on bodywork, anatomy, and kinesiology underpins Laura’s playful investigation including Continuum Movement, classical ballet training, physical theater, and nondual awareness meditation (with Michael Taft). She has been meditating for over 30 years.
See more details
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 20, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
• •
|
21
-
Deconstructing…
Deconstructing Yourself, with Michael Taft (Sol)
December 21, 2023 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Deconstructing Yourself is a weekly drop-in guided meditation (approximately one hour) plus Q & A with Berkeley Alembic founding teacher Michael Taft. Deconstructing Yourself is all about sharing the life-changing force that is meditation. We extend beyond any particular religion or technique in order to welcome any and all who are interested. Deconstructing Yourself strives to encourage, inform, and inspire your meditation practice towards ongoing awakening. Meditations are ilvestreamed and archived on YouTube.
Logistics:
1. The front door to The Alembic auto-locks, and since we don't want our volunteer to miss the sit, the door will be locked at 6:30. Please arrive early lest you end up streaming the YouTube sit from the parking lot.
2. There is ample free parking
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/deconstructing-yourself-with-michael-taft-1106939
Alembic founding teacher Michael W. Taft is a non-traditional meditation teacher, bestselling author, and podcaster. As a mindfulness coach, he specializes in secular, science-based mindfulness training in retreats, groups, corporate settings, and one-on-one sessions. Michael is the author of several books, including the bestselling The Mindful Geek, Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept, and Ego (which he co-authored), as well as the editor of such books as Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson and The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young.
He has often taught meditation at Google, worked on curriculum development for SIYLI, and is currently core faculty at Wisdom Labs, in San Francisco. Michael is also a featured teacher on the Simple Habit app, and an official advisor to the Therapeutic Neuroscience Lab. He was previously editor-in-chief of Being Human, and was the long-time editorial director of Sounds True.
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty five years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist Vipassana and Hindu Tantric practice. Michael is a senior facilitator in Shinzen Young’s Unified Mindfulness system, and is a teacher of meditation groups around the Bay Area. He currently lives in Oakland, California, and is founding editor of the iconoclastic mindfulness meditation blog and podcast Deconstructing Yourself.
See more details
•
|
22
|
23
-
Soulful Flow -…
Soulful Flow - Vinyasa Yoga with Anne Rene (Luna)
December 23, 2023 9:30 am - 10:45 am
Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
Soulful flow is a robust vinyasa yoga class that brings balance to the body, mind and spirit. Anne-René has always been drawn to the spiritual side of life and yoga. This influences her movement meditations that are physically challenging and inspiring to the heart. Her class intertwines asana, breath, awareness, attention to transition and experiencing a personal connection to the movement that opens the door for a meditative flow to wake you up. Hand mudras, chanting, inspired readings, and music are incorporated into the class.
Anne-René Petrarca is a dance artist, Alexander Technique teacher and the artistic director of Sculpted Motion. She began her yoga studies back in New York City in the 1990's. In 2008 she received her Vinyasa yoga teaching certification from the White Lotus Foundation. She is inspired and influenced by her many teachers and studios: Ty Landrum, Sara Baird, Erin Dudley, Keith Borden, Cindi Lee's Om Yoga Center, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the anatomical teachings of Irene Dowd and Leslie Kaminoff. Other influences are Krishnamurti, Ram Das, Kundalini yoga, Gaga, and Gyrotonic.
"I have always expressed myself through movement. I find inspiration in watching the sky, feeling the sun on my skin and the wonderment of the night sky. Trees are amazing, animals are graceful, poetry can bring me to my knees. I find comfort in the resiliency of the human spirit and kind words from my friends. There is a fullness and flow to life that I know exist and I find comfort in knowing that I am a work in progress flowing toward it."
See more details
•
|
24
|
25
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 25, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
•
|
26
-
Releasing into…
Releasing into Presence: Meditation, Mantra & Movement with Chandra Easton (Sol)
December 26, 2023 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Details & Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/releasing-into-presence-with-lopon-chandra-easton-1089849
Releasing into Presence:
Meditation, Mantra & Movement
with Lopön Chandra Easton
Open to All
In this class, we’ll experience the benefits meditation, mantra, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. Classes will be relaxing, rejuvenating, and fun, enhanced by community and collective practice. Weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, movement and singing chants, Chandra offers practices that facilitate releasing into presence with ease and comfort. All are welcome.
Meditation: Experience a richness of techniques for developing shamatha, calm abiding, and vipashyana, insight. These will include mindfulness of breathing, an especially effective approach to soothing the body and calming the discursive mind, and more advanced techniques called “settling the mind in its natural state” and “awareness of awareness.”
Mantra: Explore mantra recitation and chanting, both with and without musical accompaniment. Chandra will share a variety of mantras and melodies from the Buddhist and Hindu tradition, including melodies from her 21 Taras Collective project.
Movement: Practice gentle and accessible yoga and/or meditative movement/dance to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and life.
Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher, writer, and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. She has taught Buddhism and Yoga around the world since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. In 2015, she was given the title of senior lead teacher, Dorje Lopön (Varjāchārya), by Lama Tsultrim Allione and Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche. She is on the Tara Mandala Board of Directors and the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Council, which addresses the under-representation of people from different cultural, racial, sexual orientation, and social backgrounds in the Dharma and at Tara Mandala. She is currently writing a book on the twenty-one Taras in Buddhist Tantra. She is collaborating with musicians Nina Rao and Genevieve Walker, on the 21 Taras Collective, which aims to bring the 21 Taras alive through mantra, music, and devotion. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
Visit www.chandraeaston.com to learn more.
See more details
•
|
27
-
Zoom: Somatic …
Zoom: Somatic Inquiry with Laura V Ward - Embodied Awareness
December 27, 2023 8:30 am - 9:15 am
Details and Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/somatic-inquiry-with-laura-v-ward-on-zoom-2174219
8:30-9:10am PDT
This 40 minute session will offer a dive into the fluid wisdom of your own body using breath, touch, sound, and sensation as tools to expand awareness and deepen your experience of being human.
You can take this class at any level of movement that feels comfortable to you. You can be in a chair, in bed, on the floor, and you are encouraged to move or not move in accordance with your own inner intelligence.
Laura Victoria Ward is maximalist artist, choreographer, somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, teacher, musician, and painter. She is the artistic director of Kingston Contemporary Dance Theatre, a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational, company. She has been teaching, creating dance theater, and performing in New York State, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 25 years.
Participating equally in both experiential and performative practices; movement, awareness, and expression lay the foundation for Laura's work which includes creativity, play, inquiry, and the general wonder of existing in a human body. An expansive knowledge of diverse movement practices, hands-on bodywork, anatomy, and kinesiology underpins Laura’s playful investigation including Continuum Movement, classical ballet training, physical theater, and nondual awareness meditation (with Michael Taft). She has been meditating for over 30 years.
See more details
-
Mid-Day Reset …
Mid-Day Reset Vinyasa with Emily Fesler-Young (Luna)
December 27, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
This lunchtime vinyasa flow features a dynamic yoga practice that calms the mind and cultivates presence by connecting movement with breath. This 45 + 15 minutes class will start and end on time and includes sun salutations, standing poses, and dynamic stretching focusing on hips, shoulders and the neck. The last 15 minutes of class will include pranayama (breath work) and Shavasana, optional for those needing to return to their afternoon obligations. This class is a great way to break up your day, release tension and stress, let go of your morning, and prepare for the rest of your day feeling energized and ready to tackle any afternoon challenges! Appropriate for the beginner with a few yoga classes under their belt to the intermediate yogi!
About the teacher:
Hi my name is Emily Fesler-Young!
Yoga found me in the fall of 2011, when I attended my first hot yoga class at the studio I would later go on to complete a 200 hr YTT certification, Yoga State in Lansing, Michigan. My teacher training was rooted in Hot Vinyasa and incorporated Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Tantric methodologies. In 2014, I began teaching in-studio classes. I continuously draw on Hatha and Yin styles in my teaching, as well as incorporating other elements of the 8-limbs of yoga to shape my class philosophy. As I have traveled and grown with teachers and students all over the world, my appreciation for practices centered on devotion, acceptance, and love has grown. Apart from teaching, I co-own a wellness-based business with my Husband and Brother-in-law centered on sharing mindful events and products to the SF Bay Area, and beyond. I am a seasoned traveler with a love for nature, people, and culture.
See more details
• •
|
28
-
Deconstructing…
Deconstructing Yourself, with Michael Taft (Sol)
December 28, 2023 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Deconstructing Yourself is a weekly drop-in guided meditation (approximately one hour) plus Q & A with Berkeley Alembic founding teacher Michael Taft. Deconstructing Yourself is all about sharing the life-changing force that is meditation. We extend beyond any particular religion or technique in order to welcome any and all who are interested. Deconstructing Yourself strives to encourage, inform, and inspire your meditation practice towards ongoing awakening. Meditations are ilvestreamed and archived on YouTube.
Logistics:
1. The front door to The Alembic auto-locks, and since we don't want our volunteer to miss the sit, the door will be locked at 6:30. Please arrive early lest you end up streaming the YouTube sit from the parking lot.
2. There is ample free parking
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/deconstructing-yourself-with-michael-taft-1106939
Alembic founding teacher Michael W. Taft is a non-traditional meditation teacher, bestselling author, and podcaster. As a mindfulness coach, he specializes in secular, science-based mindfulness training in retreats, groups, corporate settings, and one-on-one sessions. Michael is the author of several books, including the bestselling The Mindful Geek, Nondualism: A Brief History of a Timeless Concept, and Ego (which he co-authored), as well as the editor of such books as Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson and The Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young.
He has often taught meditation at Google, worked on curriculum development for SIYLI, and is currently core faculty at Wisdom Labs, in San Francisco. Michael is also a featured teacher on the Simple Habit app, and an official advisor to the Therapeutic Neuroscience Lab. He was previously editor-in-chief of Being Human, and was the long-time editorial director of Sounds True.
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty five years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist Vipassana and Hindu Tantric practice. Michael is a senior facilitator in Shinzen Young’s Unified Mindfulness system, and is a teacher of meditation groups around the Bay Area. He currently lives in Oakland, California, and is founding editor of the iconoclastic mindfulness meditation blog and podcast Deconstructing Yourself.
See more details
•
|
29
|
30
-
Soulful Flow -…
Soulful Flow - Vinyasa Yoga with Anne Rene (Luna)
December 30, 2023 9:30 am - 10:45 am
Details and registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/yoga-at-alembic-1106959
Soulful flow is a robust vinyasa yoga class that brings balance to the body, mind and spirit. Anne-René has always been drawn to the spiritual side of life and yoga. This influences her movement meditations that are physically challenging and inspiring to the heart. Her class intertwines asana, breath, awareness, attention to transition and experiencing a personal connection to the movement that opens the door for a meditative flow to wake you up. Hand mudras, chanting, inspired readings, and music are incorporated into the class.
Anne-René Petrarca is a dance artist, Alexander Technique teacher and the artistic director of Sculpted Motion. She began her yoga studies back in New York City in the 1990's. In 2008 she received her Vinyasa yoga teaching certification from the White Lotus Foundation. She is inspired and influenced by her many teachers and studios: Ty Landrum, Sara Baird, Erin Dudley, Keith Borden, Cindi Lee's Om Yoga Center, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the anatomical teachings of Irene Dowd and Leslie Kaminoff. Other influences are Krishnamurti, Ram Das, Kundalini yoga, Gaga, and Gyrotonic.
"I have always expressed myself through movement. I find inspiration in watching the sky, feeling the sun on my skin and the wonderment of the night sky. Trees are amazing, animals are graceful, poetry can bring me to my knees. I find comfort in the resiliency of the human spirit and kind words from my friends. There is a fullness and flow to life that I know exist and I find comfort in knowing that I am a work in progress flowing toward it."
See more details
•
|
31
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|