During this 2-day virtual retreat we explored and deepened into the theme of gentleness. Through poetry, self-compassion, movement and opportunities for community connection, we practiced ways of being that could nourish us on all levels, particularly when faced with uncertainty in our lives and in the world.
Presenters & Sessions
Host & Guide
Nico Cary weaves elements of the retreat together by inviting us into ways of listening and sharing that cultivate presence and kinship, even during times of uncertainty.
In this 5-minute excerpt, Nico Cary shares his process of remembering our aliveness even when the future looks bleak. His story is inspired by an interaction with environmental activist and author, Joanna Macy.
Nico Cary
Nico Cary (he/him) comes from a large Black and Chinese family – like, grandmother 12th of 12, grandfather 9th of 9 large. He is a dharma and medicine path practitioner, mindfulness teacher, writer and performance artist. He received his BA from UC Berkeley’s Interdisciplinary Studies Field School, specializing in cognitive linguistics. He is currently a Garrison Institute Fellow, and developing a multimedia installation on processing climate grief for the Smithsonian. While engaged in a deeply fulfilling artistic career, Nico also proudly serves as a mindfulness facilitator for InsightLA. He is interested in the many different vocabularies of healing and the holding capacity of mindfulness, particularly as it relates to embodied activism and creative ecosystems.
Poetry
Join James Crews and Danusha Laméris on a journey into the moments of stillness and realization poetry can bring. They've selected poems that will help you meet yourself and others with a little more awareness, a little more kindness. The session includes a sharing of poems, a discussion and time to just listen and breathe.
In this excerpt, Danusha and James read poetry, and share in a thoughtful discussion. Poems read include: 'Self-Compassion' by James Crews and 'Small Kindnesses' by Danusha Laméris.
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Danusha Laméris
Danusha Laméris’ first book, The Moons of August (2014), was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Book Award. Some of her work has been published in: The Best American Poetry, The New York Times, Orion, The American Poetry Review, The Gettysburg Review, Ploughshares, and Prairie Schooner. Her second book, Bonfire Opera, (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Poetry Series), was a finalist for the 2021 Paterson Poetry Award and recipient of the Northern California Book Award in Poetry. She was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California, and is currently on the faculty of Pacific University’s low residency MFA program. www.danushalameris.com
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James Crews
James Crews is the editor of the best-selling anthology, How to Love the World, which has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, as well as in The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. He is the author of four prize-winning collections of poetry: The Book of What Stays, Telling My Father, Bluebird, and Every Waking Moment, and his poems have been reprinted in the New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, The New Republic, and The Christian Century. Crews teaches poetry at the University at Albany and lives with his husband in Shaftsbury, Vermont. www.jamescrews.net
Self Compassion
Through meditation and gentle reflective practice, Lea Seigen-Shinraku shares guidance to re-center in self-acceptance, and to explore creativity and self-expression from a place of deep attunement to the self.
In this excerpt Lea facilitates a self-compassion practice that invites an opening into the questions: What do I need? What is essential?
Lea Seigen Shinraku
Lea is the founder of The San Francisco Center for Self-Compassion and creator of the Everyday Self-Compassion program. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has led self-compassion groups, workshops, classes and trainings for over 10 years. She sees self-compassion as revolutionary, and nothing means more to her than helping people truly accept themselves.
Lea’s teaching is inspired by creativity, poetry and Zen. She has meditated regularly for 20 years and practiced residentially at San Francisco Zen Center. In 2009, she received lay ordination in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. www.sfcenterforselfcompassion.com
Movement & Music
Nichol Chase guides us in gentle and intuitive movement practices that integrate elements of dance, yoga, and simple stretching. She offers live, soothing music that invites the deepening of our inner sanctuaries. Together we explore how our bodies can become safe containers for creativity and connection that lead to individual and collective transformation.
In this excerpt, Nichol facilitates a movement integration session. She discusses and demonstrates how we can make sense of things through somatics.
In this excerpt, Nichol offers a gorgeous musical meditation through song, accompanied by harmonium.
Nichol Chase
Nichol Chase is a teacher, musician, and yogi for whom singing and movement is integral to life. Nichol’s yoga practice is informed by a vast and eclectic set of influences that blend invigorating flow with precise and insightful instruction and extensive study with a variety of innovative teachers. She is a faculty member and teacher trainer for The MazéMethod and is currently on the faculty for a teacher training partnership between Yoga International and the Mazé Method.
Nichol’s artistic experience includes more than a decade of Royal Academy ballet training and specialization as an operatic Coloratura Soprano, earning the Bachelor of Music degree with a major in Vocal Performance from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. She studies Northern Indian Classical Music, Mantra, and Kirtan with Sheela Bringi, and leads Kirtan and Sound Journey experiences.
www.nicholjoychase.com
You
All who could benefit from a gentle and nourishing space are welcome. No experience with yoga, poetry writing or self-compassion practice is necessary. Come as you are.