Take a yogic dive into Walt Whitman! We’ll begin with Leaves of Grass, the poetry collection he spent 40 years writing, rewriting, and expanding. We return, as Whitman did, to key themes each session, expanding our understanding of Leaves of Grass and other important writings as we deepen our connection to ourselves. Each 75-minute session interweaves poetry with meditative reflection for a truly unique body/mind/spirit experience. Session writings and themes include: 

-Song of Myself: Introduction to Whitman and key themes in Leaves of Grass

-I Sing the Body Electric: Nature/Sexuality/Humanity in Leaves of Grass

-When Lilacs Last in My Dooryard Bloom’d and Wandering at Morn: The Civil War’s Impact on Leaves of Grass

-The Wound Dresser: Whitman’s Dharma

Modernist poetry and yoga may seem, at first glance, like very different disciplines. Look closer, and their kinship begins to emerge. Both unfold best with a gentle warm-up—physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual—and come alive through rhythm and flow. The spirit of exploration found in both a modernist poem and a yoga practice can open the way to a deeper understanding of the self and the world, and how intimately they intertwine. In this four-part series, we explore that meeting place of body, mind, and spirit through gentle yoga illuminated by poetry.:

-“The Fish,” Marianne Moore: Tantra & the practice of moving deeper into life 

-“Burnt Norton,” T.S. Eliot: Temporality & living in the fullness of time

-“if everything happens that can’t be done,” e.e.cummings: Non-dualism, sources of wisdom & liberation

-“Freedom Train,” Langston Hughes: Obstacles to liberation; fearlessness

Mercedes de Acostawas many things: a playwright, poet, novelist and cultural influencer of the early 20th century, but is perhaps best known for her liaisons with Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and other celebrities. Unlike other lesbians of her day, Acosta would not conform by retreating into a closet. Her sense of self, strength of will, and ability to meet professional and personal rejection with resilience are among the reasons she is regarded today as an LGBTQ+ icon whose depictions of lesbian desire, experiences and struggle inform and inspire. What gave her the confidence to live the way she did? This 90-minute Yin Yoga workshop introduces you to de Acosta’s work and legacy and invites you to take a deep dive into what it means to be truly authentic.

Grab your mat (maybe your fangs and cape, too?) and join us for a candlelit, Dracula-inspired yoga practice! We’ll have some fun linking imagery and themes from this goth classic to a gentle flow yoga sequence. Costumes encouraged!

Give yourself a Valentine's Day treat: poses and poetry designed to deepen self-acceptance and gratitude for the wholeness of your being. This 60-minute class features the works of Derek Wolcott, Rumi, Mary Oliver and Hafiz.

Give yourself the gift of an hour on your mat, moving mindfully while exploring themes from this popular Rumi poem, including self-awareness, acceptance and gratitude. The gentle flow sequence will be suitable for all levels.

Mercedes de Acosta rarely appears on short lists of great early 20th-century writers—her dramatic life and celebrated memoir often overshadow her early poems and plays. Yet her first collection, Moods (1919), offers a striking glimpse into the mind of a young artist immersed in the modernist movement. Reflecting modernism’s spirit of experimentation and subjective experience, these prose poems explore desire, expectation, intuition, and revelation. In this 90-minute yin yoga practice, longer-held, passive poses invite stillness and openness in body and mind as you listen to writing that poet Charles Hanson Towne described as having “a haunting quality, a breath of mystery, as though a ghost walked into a garden.”