Environmental Justice & Yoga: An Overview of Our August Programs

August 2022 Programs: Environmental Justice & Yoga

Threads of Connection: Restoring Yourself and the Planet through Practice

An Asana Class with Diana M. Hulet

Friday, August 12th, 2022

4-5 pm PST (Los Angeles)
7-8 pm EST (New York)

Closed captions & replay available for registrants.

Our time on the mat is a place where the invisible landscapes within the body unfold, shimmer, and reveal themselves. From the outside, one might never know what is felt and sensed within each shape and breath. Connections become apparent as nervous systems downregulate and they extend beyond our identification with being an individual self. Environment justice is social justice. The emerging dialogue about climate, biodiversity, pollution and suffering can be overwhelming, and solutions rarely come from reactive minds.

In this hour long accessible yoga class, Diana will guide you through postures inspired by the natural world and allow time for contemplation and deep rest. Yoga serves as the invitation to inhabit the body again, and encounter a sense of belonging here on the planet. From this place, a real conversation can happen.

Discernment, or viveka, arrives with consistent practice, and presents the opportunity to study how each of us is implicated in environmental injustices. What has been hidden comes to clarity and when issues become seen, taking action is possible. For some, action will look like metta meditation and for others, getting active within local environmental justice movements.

However we choose to engage our yoga, it is also imperative that we remember joy and let our gaze fall upon the mystery and wondrous aspects of being alive here and now. Diana will close practice with a guided meditation, and then open up a dialogue for discussing topics further or for any questions.

Recommended props: blanket or cushion/chair for meditation practice, notebook, any other props for accessibility and comfort

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Human Nature: Embodying Environmental Justice

A Workshop with Kendra Graves

Wednesday, August 17th, 2022

9-10:30 am Pacific (Los Angeles)
12-1:30 pm Eastern (New York)

Closed captions & replay available for registrants.

The pandemic pushed people living in urban centers into the outdoors — a safer space to gather, recreate and relax from the increased stress of enduring a global health crisis. These last few years has also seen an amplification of our awareness about the crisis of climate change.

Now more than ever, people are seeking to reconnect with nature, even as our environments have become places we both fear and grieve.

Thankfully, yoga gives us an opportunity to go beyond reconnecting with nature by teaching us to sense and feel our interconnection with the earth.

In this workshop, we’ll contemplate how yogic practices and principles can help us unite our spiritual, political and natural worlds. We’ll practice movement, stillness and inquiry to observe how we interact with earth's elements in our inner, social, built and natural environments. We’ll share ways we can embody and enact systemic and cultural change to realize justice and liberation.

Recommended props: something to write with, something to write on, and something from nature.

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Community Forum: Environmental Justice & Yoga

A Panel Discussion and Mixer Featuring Raeeka Yassaie, Ash Williams and Mary Paffard, hosted by Reggie Hubbard

Wednesday, August 31st, 2022

12-2 pm PST (Los Angeles)
3-5 pm EST (New York)

Closed captions & replay available for registrants.

This month, join experienced teachers and environmental advocates Raeeka Yassaie, Ash Williams and Mary Paffard, along with host Reggie Hubbard, for a Community Forum discussing yoga and environmental justice. Presenters will share their experience and expertise on the topic, discussing the interrelationships of climate justice, land back movements, and anti-racism work, grassroots organizing, and environmental justice as a spiritual practice. They will also offer a vital reframe of the earth as part of our collective body and offer ideas for supporting front-line activists through the practice and teaching of yoga.

The panel discussion will last 90 minutes, including some time for audience questions. Participants are invited to stick around after the panel concludes for a 30-minute social mixer and networking session, with the option to share their own experiences and meet other community members whose work centers pelvic health & yoga.

Learn More & Register >>

Please Help Accessible Yoga Access Grant Funding!

Most grant applications require organizations to submit demographic information about the communities they serve. You can help Accessible Yoga access grant funding and keep our programs running and expanding by responding to this short, anonymous demographic survey! Thank you in advance for your responses.

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