an introduction to embodied practices to calm your nervous system and relieve stress and anxiety.
Led by Amy Mills, Shiatsu Practitioner
In this class, Amy will teach integrated mind + body practices through a series of techniques you can do on your own at any moment of the day (even for just a few minutes) when you feel the need to get out of your head and back into your grounded sense of peace. This is achieved through simple movements, mindfulness techniques, breathwork, and self-treatment of our hands, feet, and heads. The class will also incorporate sound healing with singing bowls and tuning forks.
Different practices will be taught at each class, and are borrowed from several bodies of knowledge and therapeutic work including QiGong, simple breathwork, shiatsu, meditation, somatic therapy, and the Alexander Technique. You will leave the class with an informational handout to refer to on your own to practice later.
Each class will begin with “yin” (quiet) practices to help us feel our own Qi, or vital energy, and will move to more “yang” (active) movements to release tension. We will end the class with “yin” practices to cultivate a calm state of peace. We will be standing, doing simple movements while standing, and sometimes sitting in chairs or on meditation cushions (your preference). The class is taught with a spirit of fun and fellowship in trying new things together. It requires absolutely no previous experience and does not presume any level of athletic fitness to begin: it is designed for all of us.