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Coming Home to Ourselves, the Land and Our Gifts
October 22, 2023 @ 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
“When awareness is separate and distinct from mental activity,
when waking, dream and deep sleep pass like clouds,
yet awareness of Self remains,
this is the experience of total relaxation…
That is why, in tantra,
yoga nidra is said to be the doorway to Samadhi.”
– Swami Satyananda
How do we build our inner resources to cope with the daily onslaught of social injustice, nature destruction and climate crises? How do we find our best responses and get unstuck from overwhelm, panic or despair?
We will move through a day of ritual and practices through The Spiral of Joanna Macy’s ‘Work That Reconnects/Active Hope’ together with guided Yoga Nidra practices in rewilded land. We will create a container together to touch our fear, grief and anger for what is happening to our world, acknowledge our overwhelm, expand our perspectives, and emerge with a new sense of how we want to show up in this unique time in history.
“The day felt rich and nourishing but also clear and focused. It helped me to understand more about the challenges of the world we live in and how to be with this so that I can hold that I can move forwards in a more balanced and aligned way. Many aspects of the workshop were deeply moving as we developed connections and awareness as a group. Thank you Cindy and Priyal for sharing this important and crucial work.” – Previous workshop participant, BW
Rest is subversive, countercultural. We are led to believe that we never have enough, we never do enough and we never are enough. We are all exhausted by our non-stop culture. What if rest was our initiation into a gentler and kinder way of being with ourselves, with others, and with all beings.
Yoga Nidra is a restful horizontal effortless practice upon the threshold of sleep, it is a vital tool and practice for humans right now. As Bayo Akomolafe says, “The times are urgent, let us slow down”
Are you ready to reclaim deep connection with yourself, with others and with the land around you? Join us for a transformative day in rewilded land. We will hold space to listen to the land, listen to ourselves, and listen and be heard in community.
Who is this for?
• You’re fatigued, tired, maybe burnt out
• You long to be back in alignment with your ecological self, and communing with the web of relationality that surrounds us
• You feel as if sometimes you are a processing unit for all the pain in the world.
• World events leave you feeling overwhelmed, sometimes despairing, other times panicked, maybe numb
• You welcome the key learnings of this time:
- Rest – learning practices in the detail of how to rest and sleep well
- Embodiment – learning to trust your body as much as your brain.
- Emotions – learning what your emotions are, why you have them, and how to process them to free you up and keep you unstuck.
- Community – learning how to do this in right relationship, not alone. To hold space and containment for each other.
We welcome people from all backgrounds and cultures, and, we particularly welcome people of colour.
This will be a nurturing day and we warmly invite you to participate. There will be no pressure or judgement on you to participate in all practices, only do what you feel willing to do.
Whether you’re seeking clarity, inspiration, or simply a space to reflect, this event promises to provide a deeply enriching experience.
This work is needed now more than ever. If you’re interested in learning how to facilitate the Work That Reconnects/Active Hope, attending this day is a great start.
Keeping the connection – To keep alive the connections, sense of community, relationship and learned practices that we create on the day, we are also offering two follow on Zoom calls on –Sunday 5th November 2023 11.00am – 1.00pm GMT and Sunday 28th November 2023 11.00am – 1.00pm GMT
Food & Drink – Please bring your own lunch and a little extra to share. Bring a plate or bowl, cutlery and cup for drinks. We will provide light refreshments, vegetarian, a mixture of simple Levantine Food, bread and dips as a supplement to lunch and tea breaks. This will not be gluten free. Some vegan alternatives will be provided.
Price – The suggested standard fee is £120. If you can pay more that would be much appreciated to support our pro bono work for the Work That Reconnects Network, Climate Psychology Alliance, Heal Rewilding and various support groups.
However, we want these workshops to be available to all so please pay whatever you can afford. The minimum suggested fee is £99. Due to space, numbers are limited to 10 people.
We warmly invite you to share this special time together.
With Love
Priyal & Cindy
About Yoga Nidra
“When awareness is separate and distinct from mental activity,
when waking, dream and deep sleep pass like clouds,
yet awareness of Self remains,
this is the experience of total relaxation…
That is why, in tantra,
yoga nidra is said to be the doorway to Samadhi.”
– Swami Satyananda
A recent study showed that while meditation and Yoga Nidra were both effective in reducing anxiety and stress, Yoga Nidra was more effective in reducing anxiety. The study also suggested that Yoga Nidra can be a useful tool in reducing both cognitive and physiological symptoms of anxiety.
Read the beautiful piece by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli ‘Decolonising Sleep or the reparative power of rest as a radical act to restore rhythmic cycles’
See the Yoga Nidra Network https://www.yoganidranetwork.org
About the Work That Reconnects – See the website https://workthatreconnects.org
Testimonials
Watch the short video from Todd, a former airline pilot who joined one of our days https://youtube.com/shorts/ouQ84-N2iqs?feature=share
‘I highly recommend this workshop to everyone seeking to find their path of heart in our troubled world. Priyal offers a rich and nuanced perspective to the Work That Reconnects, rooted in life experience as a Person of the Global Majority and his encompassing explorations in a wide variety of philosophical, psychological, spiritual, and activist traditions and disciplines. He brings both passion and clarity to his skilful facilitation.’ – Molly Brown, co-author with Joanna Macy of Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects.
‘It has been my pleasure to be working with Priyal as one of the faculty members of the Social Justice Work That Reconnects. He has such a brilliant mind. Priyal instantly showed his deep understanding of what needs to happen in the minds and hearts of people to decolonize ourselves. He’s dynamic and you’ll learn much from him. He is a disrupter of business as usual. The partnership between Cindy and Priyal brings a rich combination of professional and personal tools needed in these times of the Great Turning‘ – Mutima Imani, Elder & Weaver of the Work That Reconnects and Co-Founder of the Spiral Journey
About Knepp – Knepp is the first lowland re-wilding project of significant scale in England at over 3,500 acres.
It is a major hotspot of biodiversity and seeds connected areas of conservation within a larger living landscape. Knepp details – https://kneppsafaris.co.uk
Location – We are in a beautiful Mongolian yurt in The Yoga Garden in the wildflower meadow near the campsite pond. Yoga mats, blankets and bolsters are provided.
Here is a map of how to find us The Yoga Garden Yurt – https://res.cloudinary.com/knepp-safaris/image/upload/static/Campsite_Map.pdf
Accommodation – To stay the night before or after the workshop, and if you’d like to have longer to experience the Knepp rewilded area, you can book accommodation directly. Please see the link below for further details of a variety of options available including the campsite for pitching tents – https://www.kneppsafaris.co.uk/stay.Alternatively arrange accommodation via AirBnB.
If staying longer, you can walk around on your own or book a safaris at Knepp with a professional guide but these get booked up very quickly. Knepp Safaris.
About Priyal
Born into a Jain family in the UK, Priyal immersed himself in the study of diverse Vedic and Eastern philosophies from an early age. His explorations have encompassed Buddhism, Hinduism, Tantra, and Taoism. As his journey unfolded, Priyal underwent training as a Holistic Bodyworker and embraced the roles of a teacher in Hatha (Sivananda), Tantric, and Kundalini Yoga. He trained as a Yoga Nidra teacher with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli. He delved into the realm of Taoist Qi Gong as a Health Practitioner, under the mentorship of Mantak Chia and his Universal Healing Tao System. He is a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects.
Given the urgency of the Climate Crisis, Priyal’s present focus revolves around discovering constructive approaches to decolonise the Climate Justice movement. He is dedicated to amplifying the voices of the Global South and Global Majority, while nurturing allyship and co-liberation.
About Cindy
Cindy values her relationships as a partner, sister, aunt, step-mother, godmother, friend, conjurer of rituals, and depth psychotherapist where she supports Highly Sensitive People to live their best lives. She is passionate about the natural world, our ecological selves and fostering capacities to connect with ourselves, each other and nature. Cindy has immersed herself in decolonisation work bringing a focus to the role of white people in co-liberation work.
Cindy was mentored by Malidoma Patrice Some for many years in ancient animist and ancestor practice until his death in 2021. She had been a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects for 14 years since training with Joanna Macy. She trained as an End-of-Life Doula. Cindy also supports people dealing with the climate and nature crisis via the Climate Psychology Alliance and is a trustee of Heal Rewilding.