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| photograph courtesy Nandita Raman |
Opening Your Heart: An Art + Yoga Workshop with Edward Vilga, curated by Payal Parekh
www.exhalespa.com
Exhale Central Park South
Friday, October 17
7:00pm - 9:00pm
$39; $35 for members
Even more than flexibility, falling backwards into a full wheel (a “dropback”) takes a tremendous amount of open-heartedness and faith. In this 2-hour workshop led by Exhale’s yoga teacher dynamo Edward Vilga, we’ll explore opening the spine and the heart chakra as we approach this dynamic practice safely and through an energizing flow. The finale of this workshop will offer a unique offering: not only will students enjoy the possibility of an assisted dropback from Edward, they will also have the opportunity to take a commemorative b&w photograph capturing that incredibly open-hearted assisted moment when traveling between earth and sky, the ultimate triumph over fear.
Edward Vilga has been photographing himself for the past 8 years dropping back into a full wheel on his birthday (one dropback for each year of his life!). These self-portraits are source material for his artworks: stunning photo-transferred images of his back-bending onto canvas overlaid with painted text, extracts from his award-winning essay Dropping Back. Edward’s paintings will be temporarily installed in the studio as a source of inspiration and to be enjoyed by the students attending the workshop. He has exhibited in galleries across the nation including in NYC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
This workshop is curated by Payal S. Parekh, a recent 200 hour Exhale yoga teacher training graduate. She heads a New York based art advisory, Payal Arts International and recently launched Kula Connect. In Sanskrit, Kula translates to "a soul family or grouping for the initiation of novices, the expansion of consciousness, and the expression of bliss.” Inspired by this philosophy and by her yoga practice, Payal created Kula Connect, a series of special events that incorporate yoga with a discussion of works made by a contemporary artist.
Click here to download a PDF of the event flyer.
