Recognize, Resist, Reveal: Discovering Yoga as a Tool for Emotional Resilience
Hosted by Brittney Cross and Maryam Khawaja
Sunday, February 8th, 2025
3 PM - 4:30 PM
Daya Ridgewood
Donation-Based
How can yoga be used as a tool to facilitate emotional resilience and build a path forward with community and voice?
In this 90-minute workshop, we’ll be partnering with 16 Strong Project, a mental health education and advocacy nonprofit, to explore mental health through the lens of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the healing potential of yoga not just as physical exercise, but as a way to cultivate self-awareness, presence, and emotional resilience.
Part 1: Circle & Conversation (30 minutes)
As a group, we will discuss a simple but powerful three-step framework:
Recognize: Learn about ACEs and how early adversity can shape our bodies, emotions, and relationships, offering language to help you understand your experiences.
Resist: Discover how yoga and breath can serve as an accessible tool to build emotional resilience, calm the nervous system, and interrupt cycles of stress.
Reveal: Reflect on how your story is an act of healing for yourself and others, and how to map systems of support.
This conversation will be an open discussion in a judgment-free space. There’s no expectation to share, but we encourage you to listen and reflect.
Part 2: Integration into Yoga (60 minutes)
We will move into a beginner-friendly yoga practice designed to help integrate our discussion as we move our bodies, using gentle movement, mindful breath, and restful postures.
Who is this for?
Anyone curious about the links between mental health, childhood experiences, and somatic (body-based) healing, including those with lived experience of adversity. No yoga experience is needed.
What to bring:
Comfortable clothing, an open mind, and anything that supports your comfort.
Note: This event will promote mental health education and advocacy, and is not a trauma-informed clinical or therapeutic service. All identities, backgrounds, and healing journeys are welcome.
About Brittney:
Brittney Cross is a public health professional and yoga practitioner who is passionate about raising public awareness and personal agency in overcoming mental health adversity through inclusive education and advocacy initiatives.
About Maryam:
Maryam Khwaja is a 250 hour yoga teacher with a focus in yogic philosophy and mindfulness. Pursuing her MA in mental health counseling, she is passionate about somatic practices as tools for healing the mind body connection.
Bio:
Maryam Khwaja is a 250 hour yoga teacher with a focus in yogic philosophy and mindfulness. Pursuing her MA in mental health counseling, she is passionate about somatic practices as tools for healing the mind body connection.
Bio:
Brittney Cross is a public health professional and yoga practitioner who is passionate about raising public awareness and personal agency in overcoming mental health adversity through inclusive education and advocacy initiatives.