YOGA OF WRITING: 
the ritual of putting pen to paper 
​SATURDAYS, 2-6PM   | $55 EARLY REG | $65 WEEK OF   
​Nina Schnall, Artistic Dir.

Yoga is not only physical postures, but a practice to help us transform our lives.  In our Yoga of Writing series, we explore writing as a practice of liberation and transformation.   Receive guidance to access your authentic voice, tell your story, and discover ways  to bring your writing and yourself more fully alive.   

08.01 helen klonaris
RADICAL IMAGINING:
WRITING TO TRANSFORM WHITE SUPREMACY

REGISTRATION

Whiteness as an ideology of supremacy has a long and violent history.  It is often reinforced 
through white people's inability and refusal to see it. How might we, as community called to witness, resource ourselves to see the truths about whiteness? 

​
​

​In this three-hour creative writing workshop we will examine the shape and
structures of white supremacy, beginning within the landscapes of our everyday lives. We
will examine where white supremacist consciousness lives in our bodies, and in the world. We will uncover stories it tells to perpetuate itself, and explore the power of radical imagining to interrupt those stories. We will move through discomfort and vulnerability to tell new stories, from our bodies, envisioning new possibilities and paradigms for living and acting in these times.

Helen Klonaris is a contributor to the publication  The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind.  She is a Caribbean essayist and fiction writer whose books include Writing the Walls Down: A Convergence of LGBTQ Voices, and If I Had the Wings, her debut collection of short stories, which was a finalist for the 2018 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.  Helen teaches comparative mythology and religion at the Academy of Art University and  is an energy medicine practitioner with over a decade of training in the healing arts. She has a private practice in Kensington, California. MORE

​
​

nina schnall
HOW TO
​LOVE OUR BODIES
Coming this fall.  Date TBA.

"To lose confidence ​in one's body is
to lose confidence in oneself."    
​​~ Simone De Beauvoir

Do you want to feel happy in your body? Does this mean that you have to change something about the way you look?  We live in a world that often values women more for how they appear than who they are. As women, we may internalize beauty standards and find ourselves feeling less than the ideal. Negative self-image can dramatically impact our self esteem. In this workshop, we will use mindful movement and writing prompts to examine the negative messages we internalize, and cultivate instead a healthy, even joyful, relationship with our bodies.

Nina Schnall M.A., M.F.A., has a Masters in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Masters in Fine Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies. A recovering native New Yorker, Nina resides in Oakland where she writes and is learning how to connect body and mind. She facilitates embodied writing workshops and helps people find their voice and their stories. She is the current artistic director for the Yoga of Writing series at Mountain Yoga.

  05.16 | christopher delorenzo  sold out
COVID  GRIEF (livestream workshop)

A global pandemic has upended our lives. Whether we’ve been sick ourselves, lost someone we love or just our sense of normalcy, we may feel the world has irreparably changed. Emotions can range from fear to anger, outrage or despondency, but if we can name what we feel, we can move mindfully and meaningfully into the uncertainty. Through timed writing exercises and voluntarily  sharing of our written words, this workshop offers us the chance to write through our thoughts and feelings catalyzed by Covid-19, to mourn what has been lost, and to reimagine our future.

Christopher DeLorenzo teaches writing at USF and has led writing workshops and retreats since 1999, ​He is the author of the book Kitchen Inheritance, and has published poetry and essays in numerous literary journals.  

“Only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth, 
'and that is not speaking.” ~Naomi Wolf

03. 14 | mary tuchscherer        
BREAKING THE SILENCE  sold out 

 Is there a voice inside you longing to be heard? Do you want to express your truth in a personal, social or political message?  Learning to write your truth is a courageous act whether you are a seasoned writer or just beginning. For this workshop, all that’s required is an open heart, a compassionate spirit and a desire to express yourself.  Leave feeling liberated from barriers that keep you silent and isolated. 

Mary Tuchscherer  is a writing and self-expression coach who helps people
liberate their words and speak their truth. She is the editor and producer of
two published anthologies of women’s stories, and an Amherst Writers Artists
​facilitator and trainer and creator of VoiceFlame, which seeks to educate  and
empower girls in Malawi thru writing.   MORE...