First Session 2021 of QUICKIE Christine-alini Kundalini Yoga!

Starting Tuesday, January 12th OR WHENEVER YOU WANT TO WATCH THE RECORDING!

Kundalini Saved My Life and Prepared Me to Return to Dance

That’s not an exaggeration. I was deep into a severe and life threatening and long term cycle of depression and anxiety. My willingness (and I have no idea where that came from!) to try yoga and then to try Kundalini did something magical to my brain.

The focus on breath work and the quick movements of Kundalini — rather than the stationary poses of more “mainstream” yoga — washed my brain in serious amounts of happy chemicals, and yes, that would go away mere hours after practice but it was enough that it stayed in my memory and made me go back again and again. The longer I practiced — over months and years — the longer the effects lasted after each session.

To read more about what an actual Christine-alini Kundalini yoga class looks like go here.

PLEASE READ ALL THE HOWS AND WHATS BELOW CAREFULLY!

WHAT YOU GET:
ACCESS TO TWO 20 MINUTE PRACTICES A WEEK, WHICH YOU CAN WATCH LIVE OR YOU CAN WATCH THE RECORDING WHEN YOU HAVE TIME. IT’S ALL UP TO YOU.

You can also REPEAT the material as much as you want. Each class will stay up in the group for the entire month and a bit beyond.

You also have access to ME. You can ask for help ANY TIME in the group.

HOW:
YOU HAVE TO BE ON FACEBOOK.

MUSIC will be provided in the group prior to the class via Spotify and YouTube lists.

You’ll be added to a “January Quickie Yoga” PRIVATE group on Facebook. ACCEPT THE INVITE WHEN YOU GET IT.

TIME ZONE: I’m in the Eastern U.S. Time Zone. For those of you for whom that might not mean much, I’m in the same time zone as New York City.

ALSO NOTE: Classes, though online, START ON TIME. You can jump in late, but I won't be waiting.

COST: $60 for Six weeks, twice a week and unlimited access to all recordings during the session
TIME: 10:30 AM (I get on about 10:25 for some chatting!)
Tuesdays: January 12, 19, 26 and February 2, 9, 16
Thursdays: January 14, 21, 28 and February 4, 11, 18

Moving Together Wherever We Are

When I first started to dance again 12 years ago (what!?), I was working totally on my own. Every day for hours (parsed out in chunks over the day), I met myself in an empty space with music and experimentation and play and struggle and learning.

I got used to this, and then I went for my first training at Kripalu and spent an entire week moving and playing and laughing and experiencing with a very large group of wonderful women. When I got home and had to face that empty space again with this deeper understanding of my aloneness, I crashed.

After every training, it was the same. Big crash, followed by learning to work alone again, followed by training, followed by big crash… I did this for years, as I went to Kripalu often.

I started to teach, though, and those days with students helped. I held onto that when I went into my own private practice day after day, hour after hour.

I started to experiment with teaching online probably about 8 years ago. It wasn’t the same. There were technical difficulties that were very limiting (this has changed).

And then pandemic.

I was ready in more ways than most to take my work online. Thank God I started to experiment so long ago so I wasn’t forced to learn all of that this year, in the moment, sinking in fear.

It felt… okay. Not great. Okay.

I put my choreography group on hold, thinking it was impossible to work on THAT online. And remember when we all just assumed things would get back to normal?

Eventually, I went back to working with that group because who knows how long things will be like this and art must still be made.

And things keep getting better as I learn to take my methods to virtual spaces that aren’t really virtual but just different and how I hate that word. There’s nothing virtual about the life changing experiences people still have. There’s nothing virtual about the more-important-than-ever sense of community.

Our physical bodies may not be in the same space, but we are still in the same SPACE.

We can see one another and respond to one another’s energy and we can still share circle and breath.

I used to think, long ago before dance while I was still “just” doing yoga and still immersed in depression, that classes and togetherness were just to teach us how to do it by ourselves, how to have a one person at home practice.

Oh, how much I have learned that the entire point of everything is our togetherness.

Grief Workshop Date Changes

Election week was even harder than I anticipated, and as I write this, we’re still waiting to see if anyone from the GOP starts to do the right thing and acknowledge the Biden/Harris win.

And because election week had me totally unable to focus on anything but the state of the free world, I’ve changed the start date of the Grief workshop.

We will now start a week later, Sunday, November 22nd.

Go here to register.

Transform the Grief of 2020 into Fuel for Action via the JoyBody: A Workshop to Start the Process

In this workshop, we’ll use a wide variety of tools to first face the many types and levels of grief we’ve been living with and then (begin to) transmute that energy into a fuel that can be used to power action. This work can happen because we are joybody… because our essential nature is meant for something other than all the anger and anxiety we’ve been living with this year.

And though that joybody nature can feel very exhausted, very covered up, almost to the point of being gone, it’s still there. It just needs to be tended to — in a variety of ways.

We’ll be using: therapeutic joybody movement art (very guided and not at all what you think of as dance), visual arts (whichever is your favorite — drawing, painting, taking photos), writing, and ritual.

We’ll be doing all of this, of course, in community, a vital ingredient to the work.

WHEN (for full map of our time together, keep reading):

Starting Sunday, November 22nd.

And ending the week of Sunday, December 13th, which concludes with the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or the great compassionate mother.

I’m offering this workshop with two tiers of pricing. You get full access to everything no matter which price you pay. First is $108 and second is $77. I’m hoping this helps.

Full Price of $108

Alternative Price of $77

Some Important Bits on Your End to PREPARE:

• You will need either a large scarf or about 2 yards of dark fabric.

• You’ll also want to gather writing and art materials (again, whichever medium you like so it might just be the camera on your phone!), candles, and anything that might be included on an altar (stones, pictures, flowers, symbols, whatever calls to you).

• You must be connected to me on Facebook as we’ll use a closed and private group on there for a primary “classroom.”

• You must be able to use Skype and you need to connect to me on there (you can find me and wave to me via my email — christineserfozo@gmail.com).

• You need access to shared music lists. I’ll do these via both Spotify AND YouTube.

• PLEASE PRACTICE YOUR TECHNOLOGY before the first Sunday evening get together: BE ABLE TO RUN BOTH SKYPE AND YOUR MUSIC AT THE SAME TIME. This is vital.

WHAT I HOPE FOR YOU:

This workshop is meant as a STARTING POINT for work that we all need to be doing into the new year. So you’ll have breakthroughs, surely, during our time together, but you’re meant to take the bits and pieces and techniques that really speak to you and continue using them for perhaps even the whole of 2021 if not a good month after we finish.

I want you to feel more hopeful than you’ve felt in a long time by the end of our time.

I want you to feel like you have energy for action.

I want you to have more clarity for next steps.

And again, I want you to have an arsenal of tools that you can continue to explore.

HOW OUR TIME WILL BE STRUCTURED:

Each Sunday evening (or on your own time) we’ll meet on Skype for 60 to 75 minutes starting at 5:30 PM (EASTERN TIME).

THESE SKYPE SESSIONS WILL BE RECORDED BUT…. BUT!!!!! THE RECORDING ONLY STAYS AVAILABLE FOR THAT WEEK. So you can be with us live or you can catch up and watch when you can but WITHIN THE FOLLOWING WEEK.

Then throughout the week, I’ll be posting content regarding visual arts, writing prompts, and ritual building exercises. (This content will remain up for one month following the conclusion of the workshop.)

Again, I’m offering this workshop with two tiers of pricing. You get full access to everything no matter which price you pay. First is $108 and second is $77. I’m hoping this helps.

Full Price of $108

Alternative Price of $77

JOYBODY Movement Arts Six Week Online Session: You Are Fascinating

If you’ve been around me for more than a couple of years, you know that I can never quite NAME the work I do. Until recently…when I woke up one morning a couple of weeks ago with this in my head…

JOYBODY.

And as someone smart in my orbit remarked, that name has been there all along.

Yes. It has. I can remember the very first training I took at Kripalu and this idea of accessing our original joy nature? It popped out of my mouth by the end of that week.

When I watch you, even though you might not be capable of feeling it yet, that’s what I see… your essential nature as a joybody.

A being of love and compassion and a strength you likely have forgotten.

But through our movement experiments and our shared rituals, we can remember.

We can re-member:

We are not a product or a result or someone's "after" photo. There is nothing wrong with us. We are not "over" or "under" weight. We are not "inflexible." We are not someone "with two left feet."

We are not a THING in any way, and we are not, therefore, to be somehow qualified, quantified, or categorized.

We are a PROCESS... and we are ever-evolving.

NEXT SESSION BEGINS MONDAY, October 12th and runs for 6 weeks.

WHERE: ONLINE, via Skype

TIME: Mondays, 5:30 to 6:45 PM (Eastern Time)

DATES: October 12, 19, 26 and November 2, 9, 16

HOW: For this session, you need to also be familiar with/able to use Spotify or YouTube ALONG WITH Skype. It’s free. I’ll be providing a music list BEFORE each class. While I’m teaching, ALL MICS MUST BE OFF, except for mine. You’ll be listening to the music at your end (providing more volume and clarity) AND you’ll still be able to hear me (I’ll be using an earbud for my own music.)

MISSED CLASS: If you miss a class, I will gladly provide the prompts for that music list in writing up to two times per session.

COST: $85

JoyBody Morning Quickie: 6 Week Online Kundalini Yoga for an Open Heart

According to yoga tradition and philosophy, we are in a time period when things are very skewed. (And they don’t just mean 2020.)

We’re in a time when the typical spiritual practices are either too difficult for people to comprehend or just not effective because of the depth of despair and disbelief and disconnect that humans are experiencing.

During this time, tantra yoga practices are what humans need. They’re concrete. They’re easy to grasp. They’re grounded in the physical world more than any of the others. They’re effective QUICKLY.

And so we have Kundalini yoga.

And I DO believe that this is the yoga we need right now.

We need a yoga that can quickly affect our mind and heart and spirit via body practices that are accessible to all bodies with barely any modification.

This yoga clarifies immediately. Even a short practice, takes away my brain fog.

This yoga clears the heart immediately. No matter what’s on the news, after a quick Kundalini practice I feel like I can handle life again.

This yoga activates the body powerfully. I feel like a different person after a mere ten minutes and I feel ready to tackle whatever needs to be tackled.

This is the yoga of the heart based warrior.

PLEASE READ ALL THE HOWS AND WHATS BELOW CAREFULLY!

WHAT YOU GET:
ACCESS TO TWO 20 MINUTE PRACTICES A WEEK, WHICH YOU CAN WATCH LIVE OR YOU CAN WATCH THE RECORDING WHEN YOU HAVE TIME. IT’S ALL UP TO YOU.

You can also REPEAT the material as much as you want. Each class will stay up in the group for the entire month and a bit beyond.

You also have access to ME. You can ask for help ANY TIME in the group.

HOW:
YOU HAVE TO BE ON FACEBOOK.

MUSIC will be provided in the group prior to the class via Spotify and YouTube lists.

You’ll be added to a “Morning Quickie Yoga” PRIVATE group.

TIME ZONE: I’m in the Eastern U.S. Time Zone. For those of you for whom that might not mean much, I’m in the same time zone as New York City.

ALSO NOTE: Classes, though online, START ON TIME. You can jump in late, but I won't be waiting.

COST: $70 for 6 weeks of 2 quickie classes
TIME: 10:30 AM
Tuesdays: October 13, 20, 27 and November 3, 10, 17
Thursdays: October 15, 22, 29 and November 5, 12, 19

Morning Quickie: Kundalini Yoga for Your Unique Bones

No two downdogs (or whatever) should ever look the same!

You skeleton is unique to you and your yoga should be too.

This twice a week, four week session, starting Tuesday, September 15th, will be a combination of all the yoga I’ve studied for almost 25 years, with a special emphasis, as usual on Kundalini. Each week, we’ll deep dive into a couple of traditional hatha postures and different ways to approach them depending on YOUR skeleton.

By Monday each week, I will post in the private Facebook group which postures we’ll be deconstructing so you have time to say “HEY! This is how I struggle with ((fill in the blank))!” I can then tailor our classes to specific needs.

PLEASE READ ALL THE HOWS AND WHATS BELOW CAREFULLY!

WHAT YOU GET:
Access to TWO 20 minute practices a week, which you can watch live or you can watch the recording when you have time. It’s all up to you.

You can also REPEAT the material as much as you want. Each class will stay up in the group for the entire month and a bit beyond.

You also have access to ME. You can ask for help ANY TIME in the group.

HOW:
You have to be on Facebook.

MUSIC will be provided in the group prior to the class via Spotify and YouTube lists.

You’ll be added to a “Morning Quickie Yoga” PRIVATE group.

TIME ZONE: I’m in the Eastern U.S. Time Zone. For those of you for whom that might not mean much, I’m in the same time zone as New York City.

ALSO NOTE: Classes, though online, START ON TIME. You can jump in late, but I won't be waiting.

COST: $60 for 4 weeks of 2 quickie classes
TIME: 10:30 AM
Tuesdays: September 15, 22, 29, and October 6
Thursdays: September 17, 24, and October 1, 8

Be a Movement Rebel Fundamentals: Summer Session 2 (ONLINE)

WHERE: ONLINE, via Skype

TIME: Mondays, 5:30 to 6:40 PM (Eastern Time)

DATES: July 20, 27 and August 3, 10, 17, 24

HOW: For this session, you need to also be familiar with/able to use Spotify. It’s free. But I’ll be providing a music list BEFORE each class. While I’m teaching, ALL MICS MUST BE OFF, except for mine. You’ll be listening to the music at your end (providing more volumn and clarity) AND you’ll still be able to hear me (I’ll be using an earbud for my own music.)

COST: $80

REGISTER HERE

I’ve gone through a gazillion transformations with this work that started 11 years ago, and for the first time ever, I feel like I have finally found some ways to talk about it that really give you a feeling for what we are doing.

I am a Kinetic Liberator.

What the heck does that mean?!?

Well, it means about a thousand things, but to start, it means that I am here to guide you into your own body’s ways of moving in this world that will bring you to a place in which you are able to truly enjoy living in your body.

I’m here to guide you into a fuller relationship with your body via her unique vocabulary — not the vocabulary of someone else’s body or anyone else’s ideas of forms and postures and steps.

Also I’m here to make space for bodies that were often told they didn’t belong in certain places — like dance classes or yoga studios (I’m not saying ALL have been exclusionary BUT I am saying that far too many of my students have this shared experience).

I’m here to make space for different bodies to move in ways that have been culturally deemed “only for (insert body type).”

I’m here, too, to cut the cord connecting permission and a male or other gaze. Meaning, your body moving is for YOU… not for anyone else to “enjoy” or partake of in any way.

Besides how I’m here to guide you via your body, I’m here to help in another way:

I’m here to show you that you can literally MOVE YOUR CRAP, cut through all the old stories, build a new way of being, and that you don’t need to talk it all to death.

So that’s me… what’s the work for you?

I want you to embrace yourself as a Movement Rebel.

As a movement rebel, you come to each and every class with no preconceived notions.

You come with no mat, no shoes, no special equipment.

The only equipment you need is CURIOSITY and FASCINATION.

As a movement rebel, you know all you need is you.

What do we actually do?

From week to week, this evolves. Constantly. But there are some things that create a sense of familiarity so that we can be brave in the face of all that change:

We always start class on the floor, seated (though this can be done in a chair), and we always start with the breath and with a series of circular movements throughout the body.

This gets us grounded and settled and warmed up.

Then we explore individual body parts for a segment of the class. We might spend a whole song moving with just the hands, for example.

And finally, we get into more poetic work toward the end, using prompts designed to disconnect thinking mind so you can really get to know your rebel self.

LIBERATION IS THE WHOLE POINT

Are you ready?