EVENTS
Yoga Therapy for Sleep Support - Global Yoga Therapy Conference Session
Dr. Francesca Nicosia, PhD, C-IAYT, CIYT, E-RYT, is a medical anthropologist, yoga therapist, and integrative health services researcher with the San Francisco VA Health Care System and faculty at the Institute for Health & Aging at UCSF who will be offering Yoga Therapy for Sleep Support in the GYTD Community Sessions.
As Dr Nicosia acknowledges, for many, normal sleep patterns have been disrupted during the coronavirus pandemic, with impacts on our overall physical and mental health and resilience.
Developing an approach to an asana and pranayama practice to support optimal sleep can have numerous health-related benefits including improved mood, physical and cognitive function, and decreased daytime fatigue and irritability.
Join her session for an experiential introduction to foundational principles of sequencing a yoga therapy session to promote restful sleep.
As a person living with persistent post-concussion syndrome, she knows firsthand how disruptions to sleep cycles can be supported through a yoga therapy approach. Her session will incorporate principles based in neuroscience, Ayurveda and yoga philosophy, and Iyengar yoga techniques for a restorative asana and pranayama practice to create an atmosphere specifically designed for sleep support.
Learn more about community sessions and register here.
Reading Group: My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem
MY GRANDMOTHER’S HANDS READING GROUP
A CONTINUATION OF ADELINE’S “YOGA AND RACISM” DISCUSSION SERIES
MEETS ONLINE EVERY OTHER TUESDAY 7:30-8:30PM PST
STARTS TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
In My Grandmother’s Hands, author, social worker, and somatic healer Resmaa Menakem invites us to recognize how the trauma and oppression of racism is experienced in our bodies and minds, both for people of color and for white people. The book provides both discussion of trauma and race, and also body centered practice exercises designed to help us examine our relationship with racism and to enter into a healing journey. This group is a place to engage collectively in these practices. We will follow Menakem’s book at the rate of approximately one chapter a week, and come together to practice and to reflect on the material.
As an embodied practice of liberation, yoga provides us with tools for increasing awareness of our bodies and our capacities for perception. And yet, we can not separate our practice of yoga from the larger context of racism, colonialism, and white body supremacy in the United States. This group is an invitation to practice embodied mindfulness as a way of developing collective, anti-racist resilience and moving towards radical change and racial justice. This is difficult work. It is even more difficult when done alone or in isolation. By holding this group, we seek to deepen our relationships with each other, increase our accountability to each other, and thus increase our impact in our yoga communities and beyond.
This reading group is geared toward white yoga practitioners who are committed to deepening anti-racist practices so that we can work to undo the ways that racism and white body supremacy live in and through us. We recognize that, as Menakem emphasizes, we have to do this work ourselves so as not to put the burden of undoing racism on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). By “white” we are referring to people with European ancestry, ethnicity, or religious backgrounds, who are “white passing” or benefit from racial/light-skin privilege, or who otherwise benefit from white privilege.
If you are a POC or of a mixed-race background and wish to participate, please reach out to the group facilitators through info@adelineyoga.com so that we discuss ways for you to be comfortable and safe in this virtual space.
REGISTER HERE: https://www.adelineyoga.com/event/grandmothers-hands/
Note: Adeline Yoga does offer BIPOC-only space through our Monthly Restorative Yoga for People of Color class.
TUITION:
Pay what you can via the sliding scale per session or $100 for 13 sessions. 100% of all proceeds go to Adeline Yoga Studio’s Yoga Blessings Fund Scholarships.
Donations appreciated but not mandatory, No one turned away for lack of funds.
Prior to the session you will receive a unique zoom log-in and specific instructions.
Prior to our first gathering on 9/22, please read the introduction and Chapter 1 (through page 26)
ORDER A COPY OF THE BOOK:
Resmaa Menakem’s website: https://www.resmaa.com/books/
Black-owned bookstores, including Marcus Books in Oakland, CA: https://lithub.com/you-can-order-today-from-these-black-owned-independent-bookstores/
Co-facilitated by Jaqueline Shea Murphy and Francesca Nicosia
STUDY GROUP ON RACISM AND YOGA
STUDY GROUP ON RACISM AND YOGA
LED BY JACQUELINE SHEA MURPHY AND FRANCESCA NICOSIA
TUESDAYS 7:30 TO 8:30 PM – JUNE 23 AND JUNE 30 AND THEN EVERY OTHER TUESDAY
Developing an asana practice requires periods of discomfort — staying in stretches, holding difficult balances and kicking up with courage despite fears of collapse. In this study group, we will tap into the resilience we have been cultivating through asana and use it to sit with difficult discussions around yoga and racism.
Over the past month, the United States’ foundational base in white-supremacy, anti-Black racism, genocide and colonialism, has become glaringly obvious. Modern yoga as it is practiced today, however painful it is to acknowledge, also benefits from its complicity with this foundation. We, in solidarity with many yoga practitioners, want to direct yoga practice as a tool not of racism but of anti-racism. Yet, transforming foundational structures cannot occur without transforming our ways of thinking. In this group we will work together, in community, toward that transformation.
This study group is geared toward white yoga practitioners who have done some work around whiteness – folks who are familiar with the concepts of white privilege and white fragility – and are ready to deepen their engagement with these issues. We invite participants who are willing to work together slowly, carefully and thoughtfully, with space for reflection and critique. In line with yoga asana practice (not press the foot or turn the leg, but both), we will approach topics with an “and/and” mindset, where sitting with complexity is expected and encouraged.
Each session will begin with review of a pre-assigned podcast, video or short essay. Discussion topics will likely include:
“race-blindness” and racism inside the studio and out
whiteness and spiritual bypassing
individualism and universalism
presumptions around seeing, taking, owning and selling such as appropriation and commodification
white self-actualization and neo-liberalism
orientalism and exotification
hegemonies of British colonialism and Hindu nationalism.
This series is geared towards white folks, yet open to all. Pre-registration, willingness to engage the week’s materials and to sit with hard issues is required.
The initial two sessions are for the group to form. Plan to attend them both. New participants may will be allowed after that by emailing info@adelineyoga.com
Dates:
Tuesdays, 7:30 to 8:30 pm held via Zoom
June 23 & June 30
Then every other Tuesday:
July 14
July 28
August 11
August 25
Tuition:
$5+ donation to Adeline’s Yoga Blessings fund encouraged OR you can use your current membership or pass.
You can register online and pay $5 that way. We also are collecting donations for the Yoga Blessings fund here. Suggested donation for the whole series = $60 or $5 for a single session.
Donations appreciated but not mandatory, No one turned away for lack of funds.
Learning to Chant!
Experience and learn the devotional practice of Vedic chanting!
Two Wednesdays: Jan 29th and February 5th from 7:30 to 8: 30 pm
In this series of gatherings, we will explore listening and chanting in Sanskrit as an integrating experience for body, mind, and breath.
Each gathering will begin with practicing and polishing Sanskrit sounds and pronunciation, followed by call-and-response chanting of open-handed mantras and texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and close with savasana.
No experience is need. If you have no experience with chanting or Sanskrit that is ok. If you have some experience that is also ok. All are welcome.
Learning to Chant!
Experience and learn the devotional practice of Vedic chanting!
Two Wednesdays: Jan 29th and February 5th from 7:30 to 8: 30 pm
In this series of gatherings, we will explore listening and chanting in Sanskrit as an integrating experience for body, mind, and breath.
Each gathering will begin with practicing and polishing Sanskrit sounds and pronunciation, followed by call-and-response chanting of open-handed mantras and texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and close with savasana.
No experience is need. If you have no experience with chanting or Sanskrit that is ok. If you have some experience that is also ok. All are welcome.
Kirtan with Francesca & Swetha
Join us for an evening of uplifting, soulful, and sacred music. Francesca, Swetha, and members of the Adeline Yoga “house band” will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting. Singing as a group connects us as a community and is an opportunity to open the heart, still the mind, and experience joy in our connection to the Divine.
We will also celebrate and bid farewell to our dear friend and drummer Doug Chermak before his upcoming cross-country move.
All are welcome, no musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10 – $20 CASH AT THE DOOR
Francesca Nicosia, harmonium, vocals
Swetha Rao-Devigere, vocals
Yari Mander, percussion
Doug Chermak, percussion
Restorative Yoga + Chanting: Deep Medicine for Our Times
Making time in our busy lives to slow down to relax, rejuvenate, and connect with our innermost self is so important. Restorative yoga and chanting Sanskrit mantras help to relax the body and mind, soothe the nervous system and open the heart, bringing a sense of wholeness and connection.
In this workshop, Francesca will lead a restorative asana practice designed to rest the organic body and quiet the mind as well as relax the diaphragm and develop breath awareness to prepare for chanting together as a group.
This workshop is open to ALL LEVELS of students.
Tuition:
Register Early for the workshop and save $15!
$45 – Register by Feb 1
Regular Rate: $60 after Feb 1
BKS Iyengar Centenary Birthday Celebration
Join us for cake and a musical celebration to honor the life, yoga, and legacy of B.K.S. Iyengar. Francesca Nicosia, CIYT, and members of the Adeline Yoga "house band" will provide a musical tribute and lead us in kirtan, a call-and-response practice of devotional chanting.
Francesca Nicosia, harmonium, vocals
Swetha Rao-Devigere, vocals
Kenny Shea-Dinkin, guitar
Yari Mander, percussion
Steve Brock, tabla
Celebrating 100 years of BKS Iyengar
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF BKS IYENGAR
with the Adeline community
6pm Potluck
7pm Kirtan with Francesca & Swetha Rao-Devigere
715pm Asana Demo, Anneke Faas (accompanied by Francesca & Swetha)
730pm Kirtan with Francesca & Swetha
745pm Movie clip, Iyengar
8pm Closing
Free and open to all, family and children welcome.
"Maitri is not merely friendliness, but also a feeling of oneness with the object of friendliness. Patanjali recommends maitri for sukha (happiness or virtue)."
-BKS Iyengar
Cultivating Gratitude
In this special Thanksgiving Day class, we will explore how to cultivate and embody gratitude as a daily practice on the path of yoga. Francesca’s approach will help you start your Thanksgiving Day with auspicious blessings.
Community class $10-20 donation.
Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends
Join us for an evening of uplifting, soulful, and sacred music. Francesca and the Adeline Yoga “house band” will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting and devotional practice of Bhakti yoga.
Singing as a group connects us as a community and is an opportunity to open the heart, still the mind and experience joy in our connection to the Divine.
No musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.
Suggested Donation: $10 – $20 cash at the door
Francesca Nicosia — vocals, harmonium
Swetha Rao-Devigere — vocals
Doug Chermak — tabla, percussion, bass guitar
Kenny Shea Dinkin — guitar, bass guitar
Yari Mander — drums, percussion
Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends
Join us for an evening of uplifting, soulful, and sacred music. Francesca and the Adeline Yoga “house band” will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting and devotional practice of Bhakti yoga.
Singing as a group connects us as a community and is an opportunity to open the heart, still the mind and experience joy in our connection to the Divine.
No musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.
Suggested Donation: $10 – $20 cash at the door
Francesca Nicosia, vocals and harmonium
Swetha Rao-Devigere, vocals
Doug Chermak, percussion
Kenny Shea Dinkin, guitar
Happy Birthday BKS Iyengar! Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends
Join Francesca and Friends for a community kirtan to celebration and honor the life and legacy of BKS Iyengar.
This community kirtan will bring us together for a holiday gathering with chanting and chai in celebration of the 100th anniversary of BKS Iyengar’s birthday!
We will gather at 7pm for a short opening and story telling with Anneke Faas followed by soulful kirtan and sacred chanting led by Francesca Nicosia.
This is a family event – feel free to bring your children. You are welcome to bring a small offering (fruit or sweets) for the altar.
Francesca Nicosia: harmonium, lead vocals
Doug Chermak: drums, percussion
Kenny Shea-Dinkin: guitar, response vocals
Swetha Rao: vocals
Leah Flaks: response vocals
Suggested donation $10-20 cash at the door.
Proceeds will support the cost of putting on the event as well as a donation to the studio’s Yoga Blessing Fund that offers full and partial scholarships to make classes and workshops accessible to students who are experiencing financial hardship.
Thanksgiving Day: Cultivate Gratitude
Santosha (संतोष) : contentment, satisfaction
Join me on Thanksgiving Day at Adeline Yoga Studio for an uplifting and nourishing practice. We will focus on using asana to cultivate santosha and gratitude as we enter the holiday season. All levels are welcome.
This is a fundraiser for the Adeline Yoga Blessings Fund, a scholarship fund to provide yoga to those who cannot afford it. Pay with your class pass or a meaningful donation. $10+ minimum.
Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends
Join us at Adeline Yoga Studio for an evening of uplifting and soulful chanting, community and chai!
Francesca will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting and devotional practice of bhakti yoga. Singing as a group connects us as a community and is opportunity to open the heart, still the mind and take refuge in our innermost experience of the Divine.
Francesca Nicosia: lead vocals, harmonium
Doug Chermak: drums & percussion
Leah Flaks: response vocals
No musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.
Suggested Donation: $10 – $15 cash at the door
Independence Day Yoga: Freedom Within
Special 4th of July All Levels class at Adeline Yoga Studio -- come find some freedom within!
IYISF Annual Yogathon
Iyegnar Yoga Institute of San Francisco (map)
I'm excited to be performing at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco's Annual Yogathon. The Yogathon is a fundraiser to benefit the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California and includes an asana class followed by a performance.
Community Kirtan with Francesca & Friends
Join us at Adeline Yoga Studio for an evening of uplifting and soulful chanting, community and chai!
Francesca will lead us in kirtan, a joyful practice of call-and-response chanting and devotional practice of bhakti yoga. Singing as a group connects us as a community and is opportunity to open the heart, still the mind and take refuge in our innermost experience of the Divine.
Francesca Nicosia: lead vocals, harmonium
Doug Chermak: drums & percussion
Leah Flaks: response vocals
No musical experience necessary, just an open heart and mind.
Suggested Donation: $10 – $15 cash at the door
Adeline Yoga Community Celebration
Join Francesca for a community kirtan in celebration to honor the life and legacy of BKS Iyengar and Adeline Yoga.
This community event will celebrate both the birthday of BKS Iyengar and the 10th Anniversary of Adeline Yoga Studio. And bring us together for a holiday party!
We will gather at 5:30 pm for a potluck dinner. At 7 pm we will have a short program with a short puja, storytelling and kirtan.
Free to all!
If you would like to make a monetary donation, proceeds will support the cost of putting on the event plus we will make a donation to the Bellur Foundation for projects that BKS Iyengar initiated in his home village in India.