River Body: A Yoga + Somatic Movement Fusion w/ Gina Rodondi

When: Fridays from 10-11am; opening class on 7/28 (no class Friday 8/4)

Payment: pay-what-you-can for the 7/28 class; $15 drop-in thereafter

Description: This class is an exploration that joins the practices of yoga and somatic movement. Somatic movement encourages a deep inner listening to the body's experience as it moves through space and time, supporting the cultivation of self-trust, self-honesty and self-love. It creates an environment ripe with keen focus, curiosity, surprise and wonder. Together with these qualities, we will investigate the intersection of fluid movement and rest, gently releasing stagnant energy and making space for the kind of attention that is truly nourishing. We will tend to our inner and outer landscapes (varying combinations of yogic practices--postures/asanas, breath/pranayama, meditation) so that we emerge from our shared time with a spacious feeling body, a calmer nervous system, and a refreshed, expansive view of ourselves and the world around us.

Instructor Bio: Gina is an advocate of attuning to the rhythms of life through the practices of movement and deep rest. She has been guiding the yoga journeys of others since 2011-- centered in Portland studios for most of her career, as well as co-faciliating island yoga retreats and co-founding a successful yoga teacher training abroad. During her 500-hour level yoga certification, her main teacher Jean Mazzei introduced her to the work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of The School for Body-Mind Centering, which highlights the intrinsic connection of movement and consciousness-- that all of our body's movement patterns have a mind to them.

In early 2022, Gina became greatly influenced and impacted by the work of Portland teacher Suniti Dernovsek,

which also unites yoga with the somatic experience. From this renewed foundation, her personal yoga practice began to take a different shape, and she began to remember her past with college dance. She reflected on the times where she felt the most free, where she could move exactly how she wanted to-- with a desire to honor tradition and structure, and also grant herself permission for some (and sometimes a lot of) wiggle room with respect to what practice looked like. It is this kind of fluid freedom and gentle peeling back of structural layers that she is offering her students in this iteration of her teaching. Openly welcoming the fusion of these movement practices is a gift for the mind, body and spirit.