August Movement Art: Thursday Evening (Or Use the Video)

REMINDER: Go here to learn HOW to do these Zoom classes. Classes are live but are recorded so you do not have to be present during the live. You also can be present and not have your camera on if you’re uncomfortable for any reason.

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NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. CAN BE MODIFIED FOR ANY BODY.

August THURSDAYS
Time: 5:30 to 6:30 PM (Eastern United States time)
Dates: August 12, 19, 26, September 2
Cost: $65

The PATTERN of class (if you’re new to this):

Class always starts on the floor (or in a chair), exploring circular and spiral movements, especially in the spine. This is the most that the class is led in any traditional sense of that word.

For most people, the class is done either with closed eyes or downcast eyes so that they can focus on themselves and not be distracted. This is not a dance class with mirrors where people are staring at you and you’re being judged and corrected. (If I haven’t already made that clear.)

From that beginning, we make our way through explorations of joints, muscles, and segments of the body. No matter how long you take these classes, we’re always looking to learn something new about ourselves and these bodies. We try to approach our movement art practice each week as if we've never done it before.

Finally we start playing with the poetry of the body… FEELING our way into moving, followed by either some partner or group work to reground in community. (Yes, even virtually this can be done.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here, on Facebook, or via email.

August Quickie Kundalini Yoga: A Return to the Spiritual Foundation

Yep. Just like clockwork…

During the summer, I tend to focus more on the physical and then in late summer/start of school year time, I start feeling the shift back toward the deeper spiritual work of Kundalini yoga.

So here we go…

For this four week session (as usual, twice a week for 20 minutes; recorded if you can’t make the “lives”), you’ll still get all the usual types of great, simple, effective primal-like movements along with all the wonderful breath techniques, but we’ll be increasing the focus on the breath stuff even more, and adding in a bunch more of the meditative aspects (which as you know in kundalini does not mean there’s not movement…).

We’ll also be using a moment at the beginning of each class to sit with a tiny reading from a tantric text like the Radiance Sutras.

This all feels really necessary to me so I hope it sounds good to you too!

LOCATION: Online, either live or videos on your own time
DATES: Tuesdays and Thursdays, August 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26, 31, and September 2
TIME: 10:30 AM to 10:50 AM (Easter United States time)
*NOTE: I get online at about 10:20 in case anyone needs to talk.
COST: $55 (includes access to me in a private Facebook group and access to the classes for the entire 4 weeks. Links do not expire during that time.)

If you’ve never done yoga with me before, read here.

If you’ve never had a zoom class with me before, read here.

PLEASE NOTE: You must be willing to be in a private Facebook group to access these classes.

July Quickie Yoga: Gently Finding & Strengthening Your Core and Inner Fire

LOCATION: Online, either live or videos on your own time
DATES: Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29, and August 3, 5
TIME: 10:30 AM to 10:50 AM (Easter United States time)
*NOTE: I get online at about 10:20 in case anyone needs to talk.
COST: $55 (includes access to me in a private Facebook group and access to the classes for the entire 4 weeks. Links do not expire during that time.)

If you’ve never done yoga with me before, read here.

Me and my co-teacher…

If you’ve never had a zoom class with me before, read here.

PLEASE NOTE: You must be willing to be in a private Facebook group to access these classes.

For this four week session (as usual, twice a week for 20 minutes; recorded if you can’t make the “lives”), we’ll be doing some of our favorite Kundalini yoga, but each day, we’ll also be exploring how to access and strengthen your core.

That may sound funny but I am constantly meeting women who aren’t sure they’ve ever actually, truly used their core.

And by core, I don’t mean your front tummy area, but the entirety of all the muscles around and through the torso. Think of it more as a “corset.”

We WILL NOT be doing “crunches” or anything of that crappy sort. HA!

This class is meant for anyone of any level. I’ll be providing plenty of modifications.

In Kundalini, this area also corresponds to your willpower and your capacity to create your life, so we’ll be working on that too!

6 Week Quickie Kundalini Yoga for Your Nervous System: Live or Recorded, Twice a Week, 20 minutes a class

NOTE: this session, live yoga will be on Wednesday and Friday, but again, you can also opt to watch the recordings after.

If your nervous system doesn’t feel pretty damn fried after the last year (four years), then I’m not sure what planet you’ve been living on, but whoa… for those of us who are feeling fried, Kundalini is here to help with that.

Kundalini is extra for brain health. With repeated movements, we’re actually working to reset and redesign brain. We’re also working on all the major glands.

Add in breath work and internal focus and you leave even a short class feeling calm but energized and focused (says this girl with the most scattered — SQUIRREL !! — brain who also has been battling depressive episodes for her whole life).

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

If you’ve never taken a ZOOM class with me, PLEASE GO HERE AND READ CAREFULLY. Pay special attention to how we handle music.

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.

Again, all practices will stay available to you for a week past the end of the session.

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: $75 for SIX weeks, twice a week and unlimited access to all recordings during the session (and for one week beyond the session)
TIME: 10:30 AM (I get on about 10:20 for some chatting!)
Wednesdays: April 21, 28, and May 5, 12, 19, 26
Fridays: April 23, 30 and May 7, 14, 21, 28

Spring Movement Arts Classes: You Deserve to Feel Good and to Be Fascinated

PLEASE NOTE: if you’ve not yet taken a Zoom class with me, please read all of this page over here carefully and pay extra attention to the music aspects.

What will these classes look like?

If you’ve never taken a class like this with me, start by reading over here.

SIX WEEK SESSION, STARTING the week of April 18th

For this six week session, you’ll have two evenings (or recordings) to choose from or you can do both at a discount!

On Tuesdays, we’ll get hyper focused on the anatomy of movement that makes you feel good. Think about this like a moving massage class, where we dive into muscle and fascia and work in a detailed way with each of our joints.

On Thursdays, we’ll work to let our bodies talk. We’ll use methods to explore the narrative that our lives have left imprinted within our cells. “The body never lies,” as Martha Graham said.

MORE DESCRIPTION OF EACH BELOW.

TUESDAYS: REJUVENATIVE BODY PARTS
April 20, 27 and May 4, 11, 18, 25
5:25 to 6:30 PM Easter U.S. Time (OR WHENEVER YOU WANT TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
COST: $85 (OR at a discount for both; see below)

THURSDAY: BODY NARRATIVE IMMERSION
April 22, 29 and May 6, 13, 20, 27
5:25 to 6:30 PM Eastern U.S. Time (OR WHENEVER YOU WANT TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
COST: $85 (OR at a discount for both; see below)

BOTH TUESDAY AND THURSDAY
COST: $155

FURTHER DESCRIPTIONS

TUESDAYS: REJUVENATIVE BODY PARTS

Movement should feel good. And after you move, you should feel even better. The goal of this class is to help you feel amazing in this body so that you can feel even more amazing in your life.

We’ll use the breath and fine tuned attention to get deeply into our muscles and fascia in a way that systems based on postures cannot. We’ll use water as our primary motivating metaphor and the circle/spiral as our basic template. We’ll work through the parts of the body from the ground up, from every angle, and THROUGH every plane.

THURSDAYS: BODY NARRATIVE IMMERSION

Your life’s stories do not simply get stored in the memory of your mind. Everything that has ever happened to you is left in some way in some space in your body. We talk about this often in relation to the after effects of trauma, but the joyful and happy moments are there also. We’ll work with all of it or whatever of it wants to come up.

Body will be the boss. And like a language immersion, we’ll spend time listening and then allowing our understanding of our own unique vocabulary to grow over the six weeks.

Though we won’t be spending a ton of time with words, I would recommend having pen and paper nearby in case you need to capture an insight or two.

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.