Reflect and Restore: Practices and Conversations for Growth

It seems as though 2020 can be summed up in one word: unprecedented. We’ve all been impacted by the year’s events—from the global pandemic to race-related injustices, disparities, and violence. The social, psychological, and economic disruptions have led to feelings of anxiety, frustration, helplessness, and anger. They have also, however, created opportunities for exponential growth.

Here at Yoga International, we feel the end of the year is an important time to pause, review, and process the year behind us and begin to look ahead with a strong, loving resolve to take better care of ourselves and one another. This is why we hope you’ll join renowned teachers Indu Arora, Dr. Gail Parker, and Dr. Richard Miller for Reflect and Restore: Practices and Conversations for Growth, a free live immersion on December 30 at 11 a.m. EST. This full-day event is an opportunity for you to dive into rich conversations around healing from trauma, what it means to restore, and how to create steadfast intentions.

The Yoga of Self-Care and Ahimsa with Indu Arora

In this session, Indu will share tips and tools for integrating ahimsa into the yoga of self-care. Ahimsa is often translated as non-violence or non-harming. Understanding the role of ahimsa and its relationship to how you take care of yourself can provide a stepping stone for how you interact and care for others and the world around you.

Without practicing kindness toward ourselves, we may be more likely to experience burnout or be overly self-critical. Being kind to yourself and having a balanced self-care routine can benefit all aspects of your life: It gives you the capacity to give back, have an enhanced sense of purpose, and live according to yogic principles.

You’ll learn techniques that will help you befriend your mind and body during turbulent times, as well as mantras for self-care and universal healing.

Rest, Reflect, and Renew with Dr. Gail Parker

The end of the year can be a powerful time to process our responses to all that has transpired over the past several months, helping us to better recover from stress and cultivate more resilience overall.

In this session, you’ll learn how to utilize restorative yoga to process stress in a way that can lead to post-traumatic growth and psychological well-being.

Dr. Parker combines her studies and experiences in psychology, yoga, and meditation to teach how growth can be available to us right now, even if you are feeling anxious, frustrated, helpless, and angry.

Nourishing Heartfelt Intentions for the Days Ahead with Dr. Richard Miller

Join Dr. Miller for a deep dive into how to set, affirm, and carry forward resilient intentions as you begin the new year. When you intentionally set off on a journey it’s important to establish and nourish solid intentions that will enable you to carry on and complete every adventure that you set out upon.

Intentions, or sankalpas, are heartfelt, intuitively sensed vows (san) that we affirm and that unfold within us over time (kalpa). They are powerful internal agreements that harness our energy to achieve specific outcomes. Wholehearted intentions, when properly affirmed, nourish self-trust, focused attention, motivation, determination, patience, persistence, and perseverance—all qualities that enable you to develop, sustain, deepen, and succeed in every aspect of your daily life.

Use this time of self-inquiry to identify your sankalpa and move into the new year with a strong internal compass to keep you on course.

The full schedule is:

• 11 a.m.–1 p.m. EST
• Session 1: The Yoga of Self-Care and Ahimsa with Indu Arora
• 2–4 p.m. EST
• Session 2: Rest, Reflect, and Renew with Dr. Gail Parker
• 5–7 p.m. EST
• Session 3: Nourishing Heartfelt Intentions for the Days Ahead with Dr. Richard Miller
• 7:30–8 p.m. EST
• Session 4: Closing to the Day with Indu Arora, Dr. Gail Parker, and Dr. Richard Miller