At Sadhana, we’re dedicated to all aspects of yoga
asana
Bringing asana (postures), chanting, meditation, and breath awareness together offers a clear path for enhancing health, well-being, and spiritual growth. Sadhana Yoga Hudson shares the rich history, philosophy, and teachings of the yoga tradition to students and teachers alike.
News from Sadhana
september 2020: on reopening
I confess, it was with mixed feelings that I lovingly prepared the studio for an inspection this week by the Department of Health. First, good for them, that they “had to do all this extra work to make these inspections happen.” This should be a no contest task, but the inspector was kind, and wants to see businesses open again, so ok, on we go, moving forward.
Will students come back? Will they be safe?
We have just a few things to complete to get our Certificate of Compliance. I kind of grit my teeth with the word compliance, but heaving a sigh, I resign to do what’s necessary – we are inching steadily toward compliance.
It does feel good to shine some love on the studio, it really does. Such a patient space, so rich with 170 years of Hudson history, waiting to witness more people, and a dog or two, moving in its embrace, in one way or another.
We were part of the Hudson Eye festival happening in Hudson, and had a great meditation session, and it was the first time there was a tiny group of people in the space. It went really well, everyone stayed safe, and it felt great.
Here is what coming to the studio will look like:
- Masks will be required
- Bring your own mats and props
- Sign up required online beforehand, no walk-ins please
- Wait on the stairs until the lobby is clear, only one person in the lobby at a time
- Answer health and travel questions related to Covid-19
- Get a no-contact temperature screening
- Go to a designated space in the studio
There will be hand sanitizing stations, masks for anyone who doesn’t have one, and all the surfaces will be disinfected after each class.
We’ll start by offering Tai Chi classes with Robert, beginning on Saturday, September 12, 4:30 – 6pm. Then starting on September 21, Mondays from 9 – 10:15am, and Tuesdays, from 10 – 11:15am, Sasha will be teaching an in-person Yin Yoga class that will be simultaneously streamed for Zoom. That means there is an option to come in person, or to take the class online.
Zoom classes will stay the same price, and in-person classes will go back to pre-zoom rates.
Stay tuned as classes get added, and take good care, ok?
sadhana yoga service and social justice project
movement medicine
what I’ve been thinking about lately involves systems of oppression; money systems, prison systems, racist systems, how to dismantle them and what’s needed to do that. organizing, teaching, making art, protesting, voting, donating, studying, resting, discussing, unlearning, relearning. that’s a few ideas. can movement be included? and don’t think I am squeezing that word, movement, to just mean one thing, either. it’s everything, from pulsating cells to felled statues to bodies shaking things off, shaking things up. being embodied, can knowing what’s happening inside of me be medicine?
this project, what’s happening with Sadhana Service Project (SSP), is more than a sole event, standing alone. it’s one of many in a fight to create; life, art, abolition, justice. it’s part of a movement, very loud now, a movement that continues to creep forward, to insinuate inside of systems and caterpillar its way out. SSP is doing that, in our small way.
how do we welcome the un-welcome. how do i? how do we follow through? what’s needed for that? sustaining a movement means valuing everybody that contributes and mediating between differences of approach, of tone, of skill, of chemistry, of opinions, so everybody is heard, not thrown out, but possibly transformed.
one thing that’s needed is a process, an agreement, or agreements. what are our dreams? where are we pointing the arrow of time? can we imagine what we want, how we want our world to be? we have so many obstacles to this kind of seeing, including oppression, trauma, white supremacy, patriarchy, sexism, ableism, heteronormality … but can we try?
so, take the SSP – what if we start here, with this small project, in this one small town? can we make a difference? i believe we can.
i also want to honor our limitations; i’m limited in my energy and you are too. can we name our fatigue, and practice quiet, napping, moving without urgency, and therefore cause less harm? i look to trees, to rain, to the half golden moon last night. i move, it’s medicine for me. right now i sit beside a warm sleeping puppy and am comforted. I trust that things will unfold, yes, they will.
with love,
sondra
Sadhana Service Project (SSP) Update, September 2020
Elle Renaldo continued to Zoom in all summer to Meadow Run, the addiction recovery center in Rhinebeck. Last week, she did her first in-person class, outside, and it went really well! More classes will be added, and we hope to run another teacher training there soon.
Brooke Murray is teaching on Zoom once a week for Columbia County Pathways to Recovery. This free yoga class is also being offered to the public, on Tuesdays at 7pm. Sign up using this link.
Leah Gooch is teaching a yoga class in the Hudson Correctional Facility, which has transitioned from juveniles to adults again. Soon she will also be teaching in the facilities that are for juveniles and hopes to grow the program to include more teachers.
This week, Allison Gould will begin teaching in-person yoga for men at Fox Run in Rhinebeck.
Sondra Loring will start a yoga class on September 21st, for children with an incarcerated parent, in partnership with Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood. The class will be in-person, once a week, through the fall.
There’s a lot of work to be done, please consider making a donation to keep the Sadhana Service Project going!
Meditations
Meditation is gaining recognition every day as a way to work with pain – researchers have examined meditation’s effects on people, such as attention regulation, body awareness, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction.
Scientists have asked two questions: “Does meditation help?” and “How does meditation help?” One study showed an approximately 40 percent reduction in pain intensity ratings during meditation when compared with non-meditation. And that it worked for beginners.
Meditation teaches people how to react to pain. People are less inclined to have the ‘ouch’ reaction, and are able to control their emotional reaction to pain.
We are offering these meditations to you to use when you need guidance to reduce stress and pain. There are many forms of stress that can be soothed, including such things as a busy schedule, exhaustion, or agitation.
These meditations were written by Stephen Levine, and read by Sondra Loring. Our dear musician friend, Steve Gorn, plays the music. For more from Steve, visit his website: SteveGorn.com
In loving memory of Metta Callahan
