The holidays and end-of-year celebrations can certainly be meaningful and satisfying. They can also inspire overwhelm, loneliness, nostalgia and a strong desire to scream ‘bah humbug’ and hibernate until mid-January. Consider this a call to be proactive, taking good care of yourself so you are better resourced to ‘be there’ for your family, friends, communities, and colleagues, as well as for yourself.

Carve out some sacred space for yourself once a week over the course of 4-weeks to properly digest the events of your life, integrate the wisdom and release the rest, so that you may remain energized and clear during what is sung about as “the most wonderful time of the year.” Learn tools and hone skills that you can employ ‘on the spot’ when you begin to feel overwhelmed and upregulated by life. Consider committing to all four sessions in order to deeply embody the practices and carve out new patterns of responding to life’s demands.

These classes will incorporate breathing exercises, yin and gentle flow yoga poses, meditation and visualization techniques, philosophy and poetry, as well as some space for participants to voluntarily share what’s going on in their lives. Rather than bottling it all up, pretending everything is fine, distracting yourself with relentless to-do’s, and risking the possibility of losing your calm at the worst possible moment, these classes become sacred opportunities to vent the stress, distress and toxicity of life while providing the space to remember all you love about being alive..  Participation may just restore feelings of joy, wonder and the possibility of magic, evoking the holiday spirit within you.

Open to all levels of yoga practitioners. It’s helpful to have a yoga mat, 2 yoga blocks, one or two Mexican or throw blankets and anything else you might need. A clear wall space that you could prop your legs upon would be great to have nearby.