The Yoga tradition is replete with the myth and folklore of the Goddesses. In her beautifully written and thoroughly researched book Awakening Shakti, Sally Kempton gives a rich guide in connecting with and utilizing the energy of the many faces and facets of the divine feminine presence that exists within and around us all. Using the brilliant wisdom in Sally’s book, this discussion group will meet monthly to discuss a particular chapter and its corresponding Goddess, exploring how her energy is already showing up in our lives, and ways of harnessing more of her power to inspire us in work and in play. 

This is a sadhana (spiritual study) group and we will not practice asana during these sessions.  We will utilize meditation, mantra, chanting, journaling and discussion to deepen our understanding of how we can awaken Shakti in our own lives. 

• November 22 – Chapter 3 – Durga
• December 13 – Chapter 4 – Lakshmi (postponed to January 17)
• January 17 – Chapter 4 – Lakshmi
• February 21 – Chapter 5 – Kali
• March 21 – Chapter 6 – Parvati
• April 25 – Chapter 7 – Saraswati

Advance registration required.  Each class is a stand alone experience.  You don’t need to have attended previous classes.

Other details:

• We will use the text Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton for these classes, available at Amazon and other discounted online merchants. Consider buying a used copy to save a few dollars and upcycle a book!
• Please read the chapter for the month before we meet so we can have a rich and informed conversation.
• If you are dropping in for the first time, please read Chapters 1 & 2 of Awakening Shakti for deeper context and understanding

Fee per class: $25 

Register for January 17 in person: https://shreeyoga.punchpass.com/classes/16331467

Register for January 17 on Zoom: https://shreeyoga.punchpass.com/classes/16331470

Read the book, bring a cup of tea and come sit with the Shree community.  All are welcome!  Free.

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

Stress and its side effects can contribute to dis-ease in the physical, cognitive and emotional bodies. Understanding how to manage stress and anxiety is a basic and valuable life skill for maintaining optimal health and experiencing a sense of peace and stability in the complex and demanding world we live in.   Research and cognitive science have proven that yoga and breathing techniques (pranayama) can reduce and manage symptoms of stress and anxiety.

• In this workshop you will learn strategies for consistent self-care and how to monitor and release your stress and anxiety:
• Use a body scan, and mind-body integration movements for stress relief.
• Learn about the 333 rule for anxiety.

Explore the scientific research on stress and anxiety to better understand yourself. This class will include active yoga postures, gentle stretches, restorative yoga, meditation and breathing to assist the mind and the body in reducing the feelings of stress and anxiety.  There will be a short lecture and discussion.  This workshop is appropriate for all levels and those with no yoga experien

Karon Shovers is an ERYT-500 Certified Anusara Yoga instructor and long time teacher at Shree Yoga. She has extensive experience instructing groups, individuals and organizations, including NY Presbytarian Hospital and ARC Rockland where she teaches health care providers and students self-care and stress management techniqu

$45 https://shreeyoga.punchpass.com/classes/16490187

Join us for a unique Indian dance performance with Kalandhi Dance at Ramapo College https://www.ramapo.edu/berriecenter/event/kalanidhi-dance/ preceded by an optional lunch at Namaste Indian Restaurant in Mahwah. https://namasteindianj.com/

Schedule:

• 12:00 pm optional lunch
• 2:00 – 3:30 pm dance performance

Costs:

Tickets to the dance: $35 (we have a block of 10 tickets (Orchestra Center Row B) for the first 10 people who register.  If those are sold out, please purchase your own ticket and make a reservation for lunch below.)

Lunch is additional and optional (please reserve for lunch so we can give the restaurant a headcount)

Addresses:

• Sharp Theater:  505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ
• Namaste Indian: 44 Franklin Turnpike, Mahwah, New Jersey

Kalanidhi Dance, an ensemble rooted in the classical Indian style of Kuchipudi, will present their exquisite piece, Bhoomi. Connection and balance play a central role in Bhoomi, which means “earth” in Sanskrit. Framed by the portrayal of the five natural elements – space, air, fire, water, and earth – the work depicts the evolution of humanity’s connection to these fundamental aspects of the earth’s existence. It asks why and how have we gotten to this point and what might we do to slow this course we have laid for ourselves?

The work unfolds in front of projected images of paintings by award-winning artist Shanthi Chandrasekhar and lush designs from Dylan Uremovich. India-based music composer Praveen Rao provides a sweeping and innovative original score.

Reservations:

Reserve for Lunch: https://shreeyoga.punchpass.com/classes/16570509
Purchase Ticket for Dance: Our block of tickets is sold out but you can purchase tickets directly from the theater and still join us for lunch (reserve a spot for lunch using the link above) https://www.ramapo.edu/berriecenter/event/kalanidhi-dance/

Read the book, bring a cup of tea and come sit with the Shree community.  All are welcome!  Free.

Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

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Read the book, bring a cup of tea and come sit with the Shree community.  All are welcome!  Free.

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients’ lives — a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can’t stop hooking up with the wrong guys — she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is rev­olutionary in its candor, offering a deeply per­sonal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly reveal­ing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

Read the book, bring a cup of tea and come sit with the Shree community.  All are welcome!  Free.

As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America. There, she’ll live with another family for the duration of the war, where they hope she’ll stay safe.

Scared and angry, feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and their sons William and Gerald, fold Bea seamlessly into their world. She becomes part of this lively family, learning their ways and their stories, adjusting to their affluent lifestyle. Bea grows close to both boys, one older and one younger, and fills in the gap between them. Before long, before she even realizes it, life with the Gregorys feels more natural to her than the quiet, spare life with her own parents back in England.

As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into her new life―summers on the coast in Maine, new friends clamoring to hear about life across the sea―the girl she had been begins to fade away, until, abruptly, she is called home to London when the war ends.

Desperate as she is not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic back to her new, old world. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting her go, and always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

As we follow Bea over time, navigating between her two worlds, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love.

A healthy range of motion in our joints is essential for keeping our bodies strong, flexible, stable and coordinated. This workshop will focus on ankles, knees, hips and spine, allowing you to move with greater ease to enjoy both yoga and your daily activities more fully. 

Suitable for:

• Beginners and those with injuries
• Experienced practitioners seeking deeper flexibility and strength
• Athletes looking for a recovery program

What to expect:

• Gentle stretching with and without resistance: Increase your range of motion without strain, lubricate joints and reduce stiffness.
• Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs): Build strength and stability at your joint’s end range.
• Yoga poses: Explore postures that enhance strength and flexibility.

Benefits:

• Improved range of motion: Move with greater ease and confidence.
• Reduced pain and stiffness: Feel more comfortable in your body.
• Enhanced performance: Increase flexibility for activities you enjoy.
• Stronger muscles and joints: Gain stability and build resilience.

Cost: one class from your pass or drop in $23  Advanced registration required.

Go to our class schedule and click on the date of the class to register: https://shreeyoga.com/class-schedule/