Hosh Yoga of Greenpoint and Williamsburg

Save the Date! June 9 is Cards and Kiddos HYYP Benefit

Tara — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:26:24 +0000

Cards and Kiddos HYYP Benefit: Celebrate and Support Hosh’s Youth Yoga Program (HYYP) as we showcase and announce the winners of our Greeting Card Fundraiser Project – Saturday June 9, 6-9pm. More details to come as the date draws near!

If you are interested in donating to or sponsoring the event, we are looking for caterers, printers and shops that can sell our cards. Or if you have something you’d like to offer for our event, please feel free to contact us with suggestions. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit and donations are tax deductible.

Please email Becca Broughton at becca@hoshyoga.org.

Last Call for Artists’ Submissions – Deadline Monday, May 14

Tara — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:14:08 +0000

One week left to submit your artwork for the Hosh Yoga Youth Program (HYYP) Card Project! Our panel of judges will select four artists’ works to be printed on greeting cards which will be sold at Hosh and other participating businesses. All profits from the sale of these cards will go towards Hosh’s Youth Yoga Program. Through HYYP, interested children (4th-8th grades) in Brooklyn’s under-served public schools benefit from yoga at no charge, taught to them by our Hosh teachers.

Four artists’ work will be chosen to become the card’s exterior designs and a compilation set of the artists’ work will be put together for sale.

There will be a digital exhibition and public benefit of all suitable works submitted for the HYYP Card project. The winners will be announced at our upcoming benefit on Saturday, June 9 from 6-9pm (details on the event to come soon!).

Please click this link for Submission Guidelines/ Information

Submission deadline is Monday May 14, 2012.

Re-connecting to the Roots

Tara — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:54:28 +0000

Hamid Elsevar Hamidzadeh

I have not traveled back home for 12 years, that’s a full Dragon circle (2000 was a year of Dragon, plus it sounds cool). I’m originally from Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku living with mom, dad and brother until 18. After five years of trying to win a culture exchange scholarship, I finally departed to the land over the Atlantic with open plans that ended up changing in details many times over. After living in the Midwest and South, a bit of the West and lots of the East, one thing led to another and I’ve ended up becoming a citizen of this great and aspiring country. Sworn-in in the coolest and the homiest of towns I could find – Breukelen aka Brooklyn.

Whatever weighed in life kept changing, shaping my personality with every swing. From middle school until now, my path of studies let me through the door of sciences into the study of international relations and languages, through the highway of computers into the field of yoga. Every single step mattered and still does and always will. I used to complain to my friend Terry that I have so many skills but I still have nothing taking shape! Coming from a place of more experience, he calmed me down by simply saying: “Don’t worry, when it’s meant to be, it will all click together”. He couldn’t have been more on point. And now that I’ve brought my journey to a point where enough momentum has built up after staying at it for a while, I can consciously loosen up a grip. Or at least that’s what I am working on. And that’s where reconnecting to my roots comes into play and not a second too soon.

I need to slow down; we all need to slow down and switch to uni-tasking mode for a bit. Great remedy for that is spending some time with the familia. Families aren’t always a pretty affair, but they are important. And in slowing down, I saw something promising by examining the relationship with my family. To let myself be happy I had to become aware of all aspects of my life, not closing my eyes when the unpleasant shadow of things ignored showed up. I haven’t been paying enough attention to my family; I went though what all of us go through in different ways growing up – growing old but staying a kid at heart. At 31, that’s when it kicked in for me. As I look around, I see the energy attraction to people with the same rhythm as me, whether we are walking on the same path or not.

It took me about four years of consistent yoga practice to make some profound changes and I mean Profound. None of this would have been possible without my friends’, and especially my family’s, support, who have been very patient. Especially being able to share how comical our issues can be from a different point of view. Last time my mom visited, which was couple of months ago, was probably the most fun I had with her since I was a little kid. As soon as that happened, all of a sudden one morning I just got up from the bed, brushed my teeth and sat down to meditate. The same week I picked up my study of Spanish again and rearranged my living space, nesting in a way. Things I had been unsuccessfully attempting to do for a while just started happening all at once.

This was an interesting and obvious discovery, almost blindingly so. After I pulled the thorn out of the relationship with my family, especially mom who had her hands full when I was a sickly kid, the flow of life just ripped through yet another level. The bridge of an open heart links us to the roots that are needed to reliably connect to the universal knowledge and intelligence. I see this disconnect between head and roots happen so much in New York; a bubble we create in form of an apple. It doesn’t surprise me especially because the high migration rate, whether it’d be between countries or neighborhoods. And though we always find great people wherever we go, it’s important to remember where we come from.

Ultimately, the feeling of being at home comes from within the heart. When we finally let ourselves be our own best friend, the energy that is released out into our aura is immense. That’s the beacon of life shining from the very center of the heart that calls back all the lost ships in the vast tireless sea of our thoughts. It’s nice to be back home, just in time for another journey.

I’m getting ready to take a trip back home with my family to again reconnect with my roots. I’ll be back in a month and half, going to Azerbaijan and back through Europe, and I am so excited. ~Hamid Elsevar Hamidzadeh

Open Call to Artists

Tara — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:52:23 +0000

All local artists are invited to submit artwork for the Hosh Yoga Youth Program (HYYP) Card Project. Our panel of judges will select four artists’ works to be printed on greeting cards which will be sold at Hosh and other participating businesses. All profits from the sale of these cards will go towards Hosh’s Youth Yoga Program. Through HYYP, interested children (4th-8th grades) in Brooklyn’s under-served public schools benefit from yoga at no charge, taught to them by our Hosh teachers.

Four artists’ work will be chosen to become the card’s exterior designs and a compilation set of the artists’ work will be put together for sale.

Please click this link for Submission Guidelines/ Information

Submission deadline is Monday May 14, 2012.

It’s all about the breath…

Tara — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:19:26 +0000

I don’t remember exactly when I became aware that I was breathing during a yoga class but the revelation was huge! This simple and natural act that could direct my mind was at my disposal at all times. I could breathe quickly or slowly, heavily or softly, choppily or smoothly, warmly or coldly, I could control my inhalations and exhalations so I could find solace through balance of the breath and thus the mind.

From my practice to teaching, I constantly return to the knowledge that in asana practice we concentrate on the breath to stay focused; we use the breath to move through physical postures, centering on it to find ease in challenging poses.

In meditation, we can use the breath as our anchor, a permanent in our impermanent worlds. We can return to it again and again when our mind wanders, finding the natural rhythm to be in touch with the individual and universal pulse. We use the breath to concentrate, to find absorption, to maybe reach that point of realization.

It’s a constant reminder that we are here, present and aware. To be used on and off the mat and cushion.

With each breath, we have the opportunity to start again, so,….keep on breathing…. ~Christina Rufin