On March 9th, The Place at Center hosted the CNY branch of American Penwomen for a 4 hour yoga retreat.
In the first photo, there is a bouquet of roses. Each participant was given a rose upon arrival and asked to put it in the bouquet in the middle of the tealight mandala as an intention. Upon completion of the retreat, each woman took a rose home as a remembrance of their intention.
In this photo, we are practicing with singing bowls–brass and crystal. Everyone really enjoyed this.
Here is another view.
We practiced energization exercises, breath control, meditation, asana (postures,) deep relaxation, visualization. We passed around polished carnelian (deep orange) stones to feel and hold. We played with singing bowls, gong and tinkshas. Yoga was new to some of the participants so we used many tools to engage the senses, to help bring the mind, body and spirit into relaxation
It was nice to receive thank you notes following the retreat telling us how poetry and art flowed from the Penwomen’s experience at The Place at Center.