The Art of Unfolding: a Nia Dance & Restorative Yoga Retreat
with Stephanie Parker and Dominique Cowling

October 22 (Sunday)
at 1:00 pm

Class length
240 minutes

Location
pinole

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What in your life is ready to unfold? Join Dominique and Stephanie for a 4-hour embodied movement experience, exploring how to honor what is newly emergent in our bodies and spirits. Take the next step on your unique journey with invigorating Nia dance, grounding Restorative yoga, and affirming connection with BIPOC* (Black Indigenous and People of Color) community. Together, we will co-create a space of play and permission, trusting in the sacred process of our collective transformation. The retreat will include roughly 75 minutes of Nia dance, 75 minutes of restorative yoga & rest, and breaks for rest & reflection throughout. These movement practices are low to no-impact, include ample modification options, and are appropriate for all bodies. What is Nia? Nia Healing Dance is a low-impact barefoot practice inspired by Tai Chi, Modern & African dance, among other forms of movement. We’ll flow between gentle fluid motion, dynamic follow-along choreography, and floor play, which will invite us to release stagnant energy. Set to the vibration of rhythms from the Afro-Indigenous diaspora, Nia will leave you feeling refreshed, relaxed, and mentally clear. And because we focus so deeply on listening to each body's unique wisdom, Nia healing dance is adaptable to all needs and abilities. What is Restorative Yoga? Restorative Yoga was originated by BKS Iyengar and popularized in the west by Judith Lasater, PhD, P.T.. While this practice was intended to support recovery from illness and injury, it provides support for emotional and physical healing. Your body is given the opportunity to move into the parasympathetic state of rest and digest through the use of props such as blankets, bolsters, blocks, straps, sandbags and eye pillows. Each posture is held for an extended period of time to allow the body to physiologically relax which on average takes 15 minutes. There is no stretching or strength building, so it counteracts the effects of stress, hypervigilance or trauma with a space for quiet introspection, somatic opening and releasing tension. 

*This half day retreat is offered for self identified Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Mixed Race, People of Color. We offer this space as a way to build solidarity across cultures who have been impacted by European colonization. Please feel free to read this article as a way for deeper understanding: https://arrow-journal.org/why-people-of-color-need-spaces-without-white-people/. 

Stephanie Parker (she/her) 

is a Black intuitive somatic healer, licensed Nia movement instructor, and anti-oppression facilitator based in Oakland, California. She creates safe, affirming, sacred, decolonial spaces, guiding in a nonhierarchical way that allows collective wisdom to emerge from the group. Stephanie is initiated in Afro-Cuban spiritual practice, and weaves sacred ritual into all of her offerings. She was called to the path of ancestral healing by her own body’s divine act of refusal in the form of severe upper body nerve pain, a condition that led her to step away from her movement organizing and career in tech. Stephanie’s search for relief led her to Bethamie Wyatt’s Nia Dance class, where she experienced the physical release of trapped emotions, loving intergenerational community, and the embodied sensation of feeling both freedom and safety at the same time. It was this spirit-led encounter that served as a catalyst for her decision to walk in her purpose as a healer. You can learn more about Stephanie and her offerings at https://linktr.ee/stephanieparkerhealing and follow her on Instagram at @catchlight27. 


Dominique Cowling Dominique (she, her)

 is a Bay Area native dedicated to transforming trauma and violence into opportunities of freedom. For the past decade, she has been honored to learn & share liberatory tools for reconnection. Her former work as the Healing Justice Program Director at Community United Against Violence supported low income to no income queer and Trans survivors of intimate partner violence, hate violence and police violence through direct service and organizing. In addition to teaching Restorative Yoga, she has provided peer counseling, support groups, seasonal healing programs, mentorship and community trainings. Her relationship to spirit and the natural world guides her work. She is the founder of Black Seeds Project, where she provides private and group sessions in nature. Through these offerings, she weaves her studies in psychology, ecotherapy,mindfulness and trauma informed yoga to explore deeper intimacy. Each session is tailored to specific needs around emotional and spiritual health. The seasonal programs invite attunement to the cycles and changes of our shared environment. Her heart swells thinking about the courage it takes to accept the invitation of building an authentic relationship with self, community and mama earth. Visit https://linktr.ee/blackseedsproject1 and www.brownsugayogini.com/offering to see more offerings. 


Early Bird Pricing: $80-$100 until 10/8
Regular Pricing: $90-$108
LOCATION: 639 Quinan St. Pinole, Ca


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