This Yoga Asana based workshop, will explore Extinction Rebellion, which is a phrase coined by Climate Change/Justice activists. Yoga & Extinction Rebellion offers participants the philosophical tenants of Yoga as a cognitive framework for facing impending social collapse.
We are currently in the sixth mass extinction phase, where we have been living in a disappearing world for some time now. It is estimated that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours.
Yoga & Extinction Rebellion is about moving from denial to post-denial, where you can begin to incorporate the tools of The Deep Adaptation Agenda, coined by Jem Bendell, in a process of inter-personal/planetary reconciliation. The three aspects of the agenda are:
1. Resilience
2. Relinquishment
3. Restoration
The Deep Adaptation Agenda posits a form of Radical Hope, "…a form of hope that’s consciously chosen after denial. It is a form of hope that is ‘empowered surrender’ to a situation."
Extinction is a natural process and both Extinction and Death are inevitable; inextricable from the cycle of life. Our denial of climate change and social catastrophe is embedded in our denial of physical death.
Yoga has something to teach about this "transition". The final Asana of every Yoga class is Savasana, corpse pose. What does it mean to assume a position of death as a place to relax?
Each day we will explore a verse from the Bhagavad Gita to help us understand decline, death and disappearance in a way that restores radical hope to the individual. In Dharmic traditions this hope is called Moksa, liberation. It is not meant to induce denial, but to foster engagement.
Get Up And Fight!
Welcome To Extinction Rebellion!
The Asana portion of this class will focus on standing poses, particularly Warrior Poses. We will also explore all the asanas that are named after non-human species, for example, Garuda/Eagle, Bakasana/Crane and Bhujangasana/Cobra as meditations in restorative justice.
All bodies and levels welcome!
