Please join USQY founder Danielle Abisaab for a Restorative Yoga class, alongside Zena El Khalil on live Tanpura
DATE: SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27
TIME: 6 pm to 8 pm
PRICE: $ 40
Register: union2yoga@hotmail.com ****SPOTS LIMITED
Fact: Beirut city can be a fierce place to survive even for a yogi. The proven way out of the madness is to go in, create space, unwind, dream and let go, so we can move forward to receive new inspiration. Known as the dessert of the yoga practice, and aside from inducing a trippy “soul-ular state, Restorative Yoga is a static flow groove designed to release all the beasts lodged in our joints and surrender to the now,
Props will hold you, poetic words will soothe you, and harmonious music will rock you gently into deep quietude. A true massage for the heart and soul.
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A word on the Tanpura:
Nearly every saint of ancient India used music and mantra, and most of the gods and goddesses are depicted with musical instruments, japa mālās, or both. The mystical, transcendent practices of every culture revolves around sound, and vibrational mastery is considered fundamental to embodied enlightenment. The tānpūrā (or tambura or tanpuri) is a long necked plucked string instrument found in various forms in Indian music. The name is derived from “tana” referring to a musical phrase and “pura” which means “full”.
During sound meditation, tānpūrās create an acoustic dynamic reference chord creating a sonic canvas as support for chanting or vocal mantra meditation. The four strings are plucked in a continuous loop and is played unchangingly. The combined sound of all strings is very rich in harmonics, which enhance the resonance of the tone sung. It does not play a melody, but rather supports the melody of the singer, providing a continuous harmonic drone, symbolically and mystically, connecting us to the secrets of the gravitation of the universe, the poise, balance and discipline of the movement of the planets.
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DANIELLE BIO
Danielle Abisaab is a 500 hours Registered Yoga Teacher. She completed her Yoga Teacher training with ISHTA NYC in 2003. She holds a certificate to teach Unnata Aerial Yoga since 2012 and has followed a restorative aerial yoga course with Anti-Gravity Yoga in 2012.
She is the founder of the funky Union Square Yoga in Beirut Lebanon, where she has been living since 2005. Her many years lived in NY working as an architect, have informed her personal life and yoga practice with depth and tremendous amounts of yoga knowledge. Constantly seeking ways to improve her teaching skills, she travels regularly back to NYC to study with some of the most influential teachers in the US and has accumulated over 300 hours in continuing education over the course of the past 10 years.
Switching back and forth between her hardhat and her yoga leggings has allowed her to harness a full understanding of the concept of space. The Yoga platform allows her to help people refurbish their inner space and the Architecture background allows her to design external spaces with positive energy and kindness in mind.
Currently living in a challenging part of the world, she draws teachings from her everyday life as a way to keep growing spiritually. She strongly believes we are all teachers, we are all students, we are all one and feels consistently grateful to her students for being a great source of inspiration, they make the expansion of her spirit possible; they are her gurus. Her classes, whether Vinyasa Pop and Rock, Vinyasa Honey flow or Aerial Yoga, are infused with spirituality, laughter, fun and music.
Aside from running her own studio in Beirut city and teaching a number of yoga classes, her most important endeavor has been teaching yoga to Syrian Refugee kids in Lebanon. She is the creator of an artistic exchange program, which brings yoga, music and arts to these kids, providing them with an opportunity to heal and integrate the magic of oneness through creative expression.
Danielle’s wildest dream and hope is for every human on this planet to discover the magic of yoga one day and remember that they are whole.
ZENA BIO
Zena el Khalil believes in the positive impact that art can have on the world. Zena el Khalil, born year of the Dragon, is a visual artist, writer and Nāda Yogi based in Beirut, Lebanon. Her work includes mixed media paintings, installations and performance that focus on creating a culture of peace through love, compassion, forgiveness and empathy. She exhibits internationally. While living in NYC, Zena co-founded xanadu*, an art collective dedicated to promoting emerging Arab and under – represented artists as a direct response to the 9-11 attacks. Currently, xanadu* is based in Beirut where Zena is focused on curating cultural events and publishing poetry. During the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, she was one of the first largely followed Middle Eastern bloggers; her writings published in the international press, including the BBC, CNN, and Der Spiegel. The entire Guardian G2 supplement in July was dedicated to her blogging. In 2008, she was invited to speak at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo and soon after, completed her memoir, Beirut, I Love You, now translated in several languages. In an attempt to spread peace, Zena is often seen running around Beirut in a big pink wedding dress. In 2012, Zena was made a TED Fellow and has since given a few TED talks. Zena is also a graduate of The Heart of Sound, the world’s first Nāda Yoga teacher training program certified by the Yoga Alliance dedicated solely to the yoga of vibration. You can follow her work on www.zenaelkhalil.com