Relationship

TEACHER: Avi Craimer and Michelle Leybman
THEME: Relationship
MEDITATION: Loving-Kindness
INTERACTIVE: Inner Parts Dialogue
Avi: This week I’m joined by psychologist and psychonaut Michelle Leybman. In the first half, we’ll be bringing loving-kindness to different strands of our personality. For the interactive, Michelle will be help us bring all those voices swirling around inside of us, into productive dialogue with each other.

Joy

TEACHER: Avi Craimer
THEME: Joy
MEDITATION: Mudita
INTERACTIVE:  Laughter
Avi: The other day Erin and I were talking about how it seems that anytime we focus on emotions in practice, we tend to dig into the heavy or darker stuff. Well, this week we’ll deliberately thwart that bias. In the mudita meditation we’ll focus on appreciating and encouraging moments of joy in our lives, and in the second half we’ll see what happens when we try to laugh and meditate at the same time.

Concentrating Energy, Channeling Force

TEACHER: Erin Oke and Priya Thomas
THEME: Concentrating Energy, Channeling Force
MEDITATION: Body is Power
INTERACTIVE: May the force be with you

Erin and Priya:  Inspired by dance, yoga and martial arts vocabularies of the south Asian sub-continent, we’ll explore stability, concentration, resistance and release in meditation and movement practices. How can we use the incredible power of the body wisely and channel it as a force for good in the world?

Between the notes is where music lives

TEACHER: James Maskalyk
THEME: Between the notes is where music lives
MEDITATION: Sing this body electric.
INTERACTIVE: Mixtapes Vol 6

James: If a tree falls, does it make a sound?  No.  It makes vibrations.  Sound is made as they meet our buzzing centre.  What about music?  Are its beats and notes only vibrations, or something deeper, an emergent universal language?  For our sit, we will endeavor to let all fall away from our electric middle, and in part two, see how different songs ring it.

Spontaneity and Improvisation

TEACHER: Erin Oke
THEME: Spontaneity and Improvisation
MEDITATION:  Getting Bouncy
INTERACTIVE:  Making it up as we go along

Erin: A key element to live performance (and life!) is the ability to respond in the moment, work with what we’re given and go with the flow. Tonight we’ll explore practices that nurture spontaneity and cultivate our “Zen Bounce”, then let loose our inner performers to play some theatre games.