JUST THIS:
Finding Peace in Pandemonium
A Complete Online Yoga Experience
Finding Peace in Pandemonium is an online yoga sanctuary created to provide refuge for rest, sustain your well-being, support your practices, give you a sense of community and connection, and help you to maintain calm and clarity in this time of chaos and confusion.
The Back Story: Finding Peace
On March 17, 2020 I started a 7:00 AM, online, weekday morning live meditation community. The panic over the pandemic was starting to build and I thought maybe it would be nice for folks who were feeling fearful and isolated, to be able to have a place to sit in community.
Hundreds of us met every morning, breathing, cultivating peace and compassion, sharing the shock of the pandemic, and trying to bring the best of our being to every moment. We cried, laughed, sat in circles, shared stories, and continued together, week after week, through June, when finally, we took a break to spend more early morning time meditating outside in Nature.
The feedback from those many months of morning meditations (which we started up again this past December), showed that we need community, we need smiles and support on the yoga path, and we need a break from fear and anxiety. We need refuge. A place of peace and quiet to rest and recover from the relentless onslaught of the challenges of 2020.
Our community meditations brought joy, hope, and new friends, and strengthened our ability to maintain a clear and calm center when everything seemed to be falling apart in the world outside.
The Intention: The Power of Community (the Sangha)
My intention in offering Finding Peace in Pandemonium is to provide a place for us to learn, to practice, to rest, come together and create a yoga community of spiritual revolutionaries, gathering to support and inspire one another in our quest for peace, joy, and happiness
All the classes – asana, pranayama, meditation, yoga nidra, discussion, and study – will be filmed live from my home in the Berkshires in southwestern Massachusetts and will be accessible, down to earth, focused, fun, unscripted, and both “hard” and “soft.”
You will be encouraged to be present, to breathe, to do what you can, and to find the boundary between effort and ease, whether in asana or meditation.
My Present Power asana sequence is therapeutically designed to heal, balance, energize, and relax and can be adapted for almost any limitation. All my classes are trauma sensitive, excellent for recovery from illness or injury, emphasize alignment (it matters), and focus on linking breath to movement.
If you can breathe, you can do this.
What Makes Finding Peace in Pandemonium a Unique Yoga Experience?
A place to sweat and a place of refuge – to work and to rest, to connect to the indivisible whole, to get help, hold hands, and to find balance between action and stillness. This then is our yoga – both hard and soft – strength and surrender, effort and ease, speaking out and holding silence.
In yoga, without the fire, nothing happens. Our inner fire fuels our passion to practice and to stay the course, but it also turns on the sweat and burns out resistance, clears debris, and purifies our body and mind. Regardless of age or ability, in addition to rest, we need the sweat of holistic self- care. Whether hiking uphill in the woods or flowing through asana, breathing deeply, and yes, sweating, we strengthen our resolve to evolve, to grow, to find joy.
Finding that moment when we push to the point of perspiration and feel the potential of what we are capable, is joy itself.
In addition to the weekly classes, there will be a monthly live, interactive support session through Zoom, which will provide an opportunity for you to engage with me and other like-minded practitioners from all over the world. I begin these sessions with a dharma talk, and then invite questions and comments. The topic of discussion will change from month to month and will often relate to current events and my passions as an environmental and animal activist. We will also reflect upon some of the qualities (in addition to the practices) that make yoga yoga, like mind body awareness, self-regulation, and spiritual awakening. Through break out groups and interaction we will explore our collective purpose, our samskaras and habits, our blocks and challenges, our responsibilities as yogis, and the connection between our yoga and our roles as spiritual revolutionaries and leaders in our community.
What Finding Peace in Pandemonium Can Do For You:
- Be present
- Cultivate mindfulness
- Develop gratitude
- Find joy
- Pay attention
- Ignite your fire
- Cultivate compassion
- Sleep better
- Lessen anxiety
- Improve focus
- Decrease stress levels
- Down regulate
- Be happy
- Live with ease
JUST THIS: Finding Peace in Pandemonium Classes:
Click on the class name for a detailed class description
SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, 8AM EST (ZOOM): Present Power (65-70 minutes)
Focus on breath and flow. Best for those with some knowledge of alignment and vinyasa flow type sequencing. Energizing. (weekly)
Thursday, 8AM EST (ZOOM): Present Power (65-70 minutes)
Focus on breath, alignment, and posture. Best for those who wish a more detailed, instructional practice. Grounding and stabilizing. (weekly)
Thursday, 8PM EST : Yoga Nidra (30 minutes)
Deep relaxation. De-stressing, peaceful preparation for meditation and/or good night’s sleep. (monthly)
Friday, 8AM EST – (livestream)– Pranayama Discussion & Practice (45 minutes)
Training in concentration and preparation for meditation. Cleansing and de-stressing. (2 X month)
Interactive Dharma Talk+Discussion (ZOOM)
Topics change from month to month depending on what is going on in the world and what we are experiencing. (monthly)
BONUS – Dharma Talk & Guided Meditation (30 minutes)
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday 7AM EST
(Beryl Bender Birch Facebook Page)