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Weekly Embodiment Practice with Kim & Avery

Wednesdays, 7:00-8:15pm

In Person at The Village Ballroom or Online via Zoom

Register Below Online

“There is a brilliance in these bodies.”  - Prentis Hemphill

As we ride the exhale of summer, the inevitable change in season begins to feel palpable. And, as we continue to navigate the harsh realities of this pandemic, the coming winter months may feel daunting.

If the last 18 months are weighing heavy on your heart, and if the thought of another COVID winter has you in knots, we invite you to join us in a weekly practice of embodied togetherness. 

Community connection is essential for healing, resilience, and movement building. As old systems and societal structures crumble, we sit in this nebulous unknown together. How can we emerge from this whole? How do we hold space for our collective grief? How can we step into new ways of being that support our collective liberation? How do we adopt a framework of healing justice and behave as good ancestors?

We can’t access the answers to these questions from a disembodied state. We must practice inhabiting our bodies, and feel our way through together.  

“The only way out is through.” - Robert Frost 

From our hearts, we invite you to join Woodlawn Yoga teachers Avery and Kim on Wednesday nights in the Village Ballroom (or online via Zoom) for a 75-minute Embodiment Practice focused on calming the mind, body, and spirit. Leaning on the practices of Yin, Restorative, and Hatha Yoga, combined with somatic awareness and body-based resilience techniques, this class is intended to support nervous system regulation and connection as we work toward our collective healing and liberation.

Both Yin and Restorative Yoga focus on longer held positions of 3-7 minutes where the body’s deepest layers can release, unwind, and heal through intentional rest, breathwork, and cultivating a sense of calm. 

Each class will feature a mixture of both styles with modifications to help students take what they need from the postures offered. Variations will be provided to support all bodies in accessing the benefits of each posture. 

• Cost: Village Ballroom in-person classes will be “pay what you can” with a suggested donation of $10 to the teacher of the week.
• Online Access: Classes will be streamed via Zoom to those who register in advance and recordings will be available on YouTube for those unable to join live. 
• Props: Students will be asked to bring their own mat and any preferred props such as blankets, blocks, bolsters, eye masks, etc.  For safety reasons, Avery and Kim will not be able to provide props for students.  If this is a barrier to participation, please contact us directly and we can work to secure a mat and props for you through community connections. :)  We want you to be able to join us if you desire. 
• Safety: Students attending in-person must provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.. Masks will be required at all times in the Ballroom. We request that you keep social distance between mats, and stay home if showing symptoms of illness.  These practices are for the safety of all students and teachers practicing.  More details can be provided upon request.

FULL VACCINATION AGAINST COVID-19  REQUIRED

Masks are required until Oregon's Statewide Indoor Mask mandate has been lifted.

Proof of vaccination must include your full name & date of birth. Acceptable proof of “full vaccination” are below:

⁃ A CDC-issued vaccination card including the name of the person vaccinated, the type of vaccination provided and the date that the last dose was administered.

⁃ A printed photo of a CDC-issued vaccination card.

⁃ A digital photo of a CDC-issued vaccination card stored on a phone or electronic device.

⁃ A Digital vaccination record from your medical provider or pharmacy website or app.

Avery is a community organizer and long-time student of body-based practices. Avery first experienced the deep wisdom of the yoga tradition through Ashtanga Yoga, and has continued to find the home of her body again and again through the practices of Hatha and Restorative Yoga, meditation, breath, and ceremony.

As a white-bodied, cis-gendered woman, Avery steps into the role of “teacher” with deep respect and reverence for the countless people and lineages that have carried the tradition of yoga across thousands of years of history. Avery considers herself to be a guest in this practice, and holds profound gratitude for the ways it has impacted her life. Through the practice of yoga, she has been inspired to find and connect to her own ancestral practices and earth-based Celtic traditions - a journey that continues to illuminate our undeniable interconnectedness. 

Avery believes the embodiment practices found in Yoga and other sacred traditions to be essential to her activism and dedication to healing justice. She advocates for trauma-informed, restorative, and antiracist practices that support and uplift our collective healing and liberation.

Thought leaders that inspire and shape Avery’s offerings include Adrienne Maree Brown, Prentis Hemphill, Sonya Renee Taylor, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Reverend angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, and Robin Wall Kimmerer. 

Avery currently serves as the Interim Director for Living Yoga, a nonprofit that provides trauma-informed yoga and body-based mental health services for those impacted by incarceration, substance use disorder, and health disparities. In her free time, Avery enjoys reading science fiction and historical fiction, singing, learning piano and the art of acting, communing with loved ones, and appreciating our glorious and precious planet. 

Kim is a southerner who lives in the Pacific Northwest carrying out the legacy of her grandfather, a great country music/bluegrass legend from the Grand Ole Opry.  Her grandfather is Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers and she’s recently discovered just how deeply the bloodline of writing and embodying living into one's true nature goes.   Living out the legacy of a man committed to embodying his dreams through music, songwriting, and performing has become the inspiration for Kim’s work on and off the mat.  Charlie believed each of us have a unique story to tell and was passionate about ensuring each person he encountered felt seen, valued, and supported.  Through movement and mindful meditations, Kim works to help students embody sacred moments of pause to find what they need from each class.  

Kim is a mental health practitioner in a local high school by daytime and a spiritually inspired yoga and mindfulness guide in the moonlight.  She’s worked with children, families, and adults her entire adult life to help us all find our ways back home to our true selves.  Through life, love, and the pursuit of logic, Kim weaves in nuggets of her favorite songs, quotes, and stories to create an experience where you’ll learn alternative meanings to “hips don’t lie,” Satan is Real, and how powerful the advice of “take a deep breath” truly can be. Kim believes in the power of yoga, writing, journaling, meditating, dancing, and getting stuck energy out any way that we healthily can.  After practicing for nearly a decade, Kim began teaching yoga in 2020.  

“Yoga is how I tune into my mind, body, and spirit at a deeper level.  My grandfather always had a special essence about him through his music, presence, and nuggets of wisdom he’d drop at Shoney’s after a show at the Grand Ole Opry. Over the last few years, I’ve learned to embody and live into this essence through returning to writing and journaling as an integral part of my self-care routine.  Yoga and journaling have become a spiritual practice where I’ve reconnected to myself and the lessons and stories deeply encoded into me.  I’ve learned to decode the stories placed on me, untangle the knots in my shoulders, and write out my version of the “how did I get here” and “why is this happening” through unweaving the patterns in my body that can only be untangled through long holds, deep stretching, and stillness of the mind.  

Yin Yoga has brought me through breathtaking moments in 2020 -more than I could have ever imagined facing over a lifetime.  Journaling has allowed me to jot down lessons, stories, and emotions in a profound way to showcase my own growth to myself, wrestle with hard truths, and document the mind-bending experiences we’ve collectively faced in 2020.  Join me on the mat to help unwind, reground, and find your way back home to a sense of calm.”