Blisschick Writing & Teaching

FALL 2010 TEACHING in Erie

2010-09-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

Starting Sunday, September 12, I will be teaching the following classes on a weekly basis at Dharma Yoga, 722 West 8th, Erie. The drop in fee is $10 but other pricing options can be found here (scroll down to "mindful pricing").

Sundays, 6 PM to 7:15 PM, Kundalini Yoga & Movement

Tuesdays, 5:20 PM to 6:30, YogaDance

Thursdays, 5:20 PM to 6:30, Kundalini Yoga & Movement

Saturdays, 1 PM to 2:15, YogaDance

If you have any questions, just sent me an email at pinkyogi at gmail dot com.

Healing Movement Teaching Schedule as of Monday, July 26th

2010-07-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

The following classes are all taught at Dharma Yoga located at 722 West 8th Street in Erie, PA.

For information about pricing, go here (scroll down to "Mindful Pricing).

Go here for a good description of yogadance and go here for one of Kundalini Energy Yoga.

Here is where you can find my official teacher bio.

Monday, 6 PM to 7:15 PM, Kundalini Energy Yoga

Tuesday, 5:10 PM to 6:20 PM, YogaDance

Saturday, 1 PM to 2:15 PM, YogaDance

More classes to come soon!

Healing Movement Teaching Schedule as of Monday, May 10th

2010-05-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

I teach at Dharma Yoga Studio, 722 West 8th Street, Erie. If you have any questions about classes, please email me at pinkyogi@gmail.com. Classes are $10.

Monday, 6 PM to 7:15 PM, Kundalini Energy Yoga
(See Description Below)

Thursday, 10 AM to 11 AM, YogaDance
(See Description Below)

Saturday, 1PM to 2:15 PM, YogaDance

More classes are coming very soon!

Kundalini Energy Yoga:
The KEY to Unsticking Your Stuck
& Renewing Your Radiance

Kundalini Energy Yoga combines kundalini yoga, hatha yoga, and dance based movement with invigorating breath work and simple chant to awaken stuck energy and make it accessible so that you can experience the joy and exuberance for which you were born. Focusing on creating flexibility in the spine and strength in the core, Kundalini Energy Yoga fully heats the body, thereby decreasing likelihood of injury, both in the studio and in daily life. Kundalini Energy Yoga will not only tone your body but will also liberate you from old, outdated, and unproductive mind sets, setting free your natural passion, creativity, and happiness.

What is YogaDance?

YogaDance combines the art and science of Yoga with the ecstasy and freedom of Dance, creating a noncompetitive and joyful environment and experience. Focusing on breath and body awareness, YogaDance gifts us with the strength to (re)inhabit our body’s beauty. The entire class is set to inspiring and playful music sets. Paying particular attention to warming up the core of the body, we start with a gentle Kundalini Yoga-inspired series and work our way into a combination of led and free-dance.

Christine Claire Reed...

is a Kripalu Certified YogaDance Instructor. She has been studying dance since she was coordinated enough to walk and twirl; she has studied yoga for 15 years, focusing on Kundalini Yoga for the past 8. Christine has personally overcome depression, anxiety, and disordered eating through the beauty, freedom, and joy of dance and movement. Come and experience the power of her mind-body healing practices.

YogaDance Teaching Schedule as of April 5th, 2010

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If you live in Erie, you can come out and dance with this Chick! I would love to meet you!

YogaDance brings yogic breathing and body awareness to the ecstasy and FUN of dance. We start the class with gentle Kundalini yoga to loosen the spine and warm up the core muscles. We then progress through our energy centers, finding our power and grace and authentic movement.

There is a lot of sweating and giggling!

Our aim is to dance our way to our essential nature.

One student recently described my class this way:

I have always loved to move to music, even if it just means tapping my feet or swaying. Yogadance, however, has opened up a new level of musical appreciation for me that comes from my core being. Being an "older dancer" means that my body does not always do what I think it should do, and it means having to figure out ways to make it move without hurting myself, but this is an exciting challenge that has made my body more flexible and nimble, even after only four sessions of Yogadance. The stiffness, aches and pains, and resistance that an older body experiences, however, do not limit the expressiveness with which I can now respond to the music.

(You can read more about her experience here.)

Other students say they can't stop dancing after attending a class, and one of them has found it has profoundly opened her up when she is performing as a singer.

If you would like to experience YogaDance, here is where I am currently teaching. Enrollment is always open:

Dharma Yoga, 722 West 8th Street,
(near 8th & Liberty, across the street a bit from U Frame It):

Every Saturday, 1 PM to 2:15 PM

and

Every Thursday, 10AM to 11AM

Cost is $10 per class

More classes will be announced soon!

Local, Erie, PA YogaDance Classes with Me, the Chick

2010-02-23T11:50:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in today's earlier post, I get to live my signature widget -- Be Brave. Choose Bliss. -- at the beginning of March, when I finally put myself out there as an Official YogaDance Instructor. Butterflies! Stomach Lurch!

If you are a local(ish) Erie reader, there are a couple of opportunities to try YogaDance with me.

Let me also clarify that I am a Kripalu Certified YogaDance Instructor. We had 140 hours of education over two separate weeks, and I put in a minimum of 20 hours a week doing homework assignments over 2 Months in between those two weeks, for a total of at least 160 MORE hours. I have 15 years of studying yoga under my belt, 8 of those specifically studying Kundalini yoga, and I have danced and studied dance all of my life.

Through yoga and dance, I have overcome chronic depression, anxiety, and body image and eating disorders. This is my life's work, if you haven't figured that out.

Onto the fun!

I will be teaching an ongoing weekly class at Ashley DiMarco's Dance Academy on Thursdays, starting March 4th. There is a morning and an evening class available. You can join at any time of the month or even wait until April! It is ongoing, as I said.

This is a dance class without that competitive environment. Just pure joy and no recital!

If you click on the poster, it will open in a new window and you can read it.

If you just want to initially try one class (with some introduction material), you can also join me on Saturday, March 20th at Julia Hamilton's Dharma Yoga. You need to reserve a spot for this event! The previous Saturday's class is already FULL!

If any of you reading this are coming, please introduce yourself before or after class. I am excited to meet all of you!

A More Formal Bit of Info Regarding this Chick

2010-01-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

Though right this moment (January 2010), the thing I am most proud of is my recent certification as a YogaDance instructor, I also have a lot of experience in writing and teaching and am still passionate about those pursuits.

My goal is to combine all of this in a new and creative way (that is a bit of a tease right there).

In order to make this new site as "round" as possible, I wanted to have a spot to outline my more "formal credentials."

This is that spot.

So here it is, the Official Resume (-type thing) of the Chick who writes Blisschick:

Education

M.A. in Literature, Gannon University, Erie, PA. May 1996 with distinction. Thesis: “D.M. Thomas’ The White Hotel: Beyond Negative Dialectics in Post-Holocaust Literature.”

B.A. in Literature & Writing, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. May 1991.

Experience

Writer, Present. Sole author, creator, and photographer of Blisschick.net. Guest blogger on other sites. Samples from a variety of sources. Completing final draft of novel, Finding Aphrodite. Working on a body memoir and various children's book projects.

Workshop Creator & Leader, September 2009. Creative Dig Workshop. Through writing, clay work, and painting, I and two others led a group of women through exercises meant to uncover the personal myths and stories that were holding them back from their ideal lives.

Per Diem Reference Librarian, Program Coordinator, and Management Assistant, (Each role at different times.) 2005 to End of 2008. Blasco Memorial Library. Created themes and programming for month-long community read (see www.onebookerie.org), including securing of funds through Pennsylvania Humanities Council grant, coordinating experts and academics from the Erie community, and writing press releases, marketing materials, and final reports.

Guest Book Group Facilitator and Creative Writing Teacher, 2005 to 2007. Blasco Memorial Library. Create, advertise, and facilitate adult book groups and beginner writing classes for adults.

Workshop Leader, 2004 to 2006. Lead a weekly advanced fiction workshop comprised of local writers all working on novels.

Guest Creative Writing Teacher, 2003 to 2005. Erie Art Museum. Created and facilitated a variety of creative writing classes from beginner to advanced.

Adjunct English (and Computer) Professor, Erie Business Center, 1995 to 2000. Taught beginning composition, business writing, technical writing, oral communications, and various computer software classes to a nontraditional student population.

Adjunct English Professor, Mercyhurst College, Erie, 1999. Taught research writing.

Basic Computer Lecturer, New Choices, New Options, Erie, 1998 to 2000. Taught basic computer literacy to women who had been out of the workforce. Program targets women from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds.

Communications Lecturer, Northwest Pennsylvania Technical Institute, 1999 to 2000. Taught workplace communications and group problem solving strategies to a student population comprised of firefighters, EMT’s, and factory workers.

Development Associate, Pax Christi USA, Erie, 1997 to 1999. Main responsibility was the researching and writing of grants. Also responsible for maintaining bishop memberships; organizing and supervising of direct mail campaigns; writing of quarterly department reports.