Events
Join us for our Week-Long Mental Wellness event for a series of empowering sessions dedicated to nurturing your mental well-being.Check out our event schedule below and mark your calendars:
Prema Nalikke (Dance/Meditation): May 23, 9:30 a.m.
What's Holding Me Back: May 24, 6:00 p.m.
Prema Nalikke (Dance/Meditation): May 26, 10:00 a.m.
Chandre (Yoga): May 26, 6:30 p.m.
About the Sessions
Prema Nalikke - (tribal yogic dance meditation)
Instructed by Prima Bagera
Program Overview
We will bring sessions of an innovative tribal yogic dance meditation (Prema Nalikke which means “divine love dance” in South Indian dialects) where we hone into acknowledging decolonized yoga and practicing authentic dance movements which allows participants to move to their own rhythm and inner-calling. We will start by setting intentions, writing down what we want to release and what we hope to honor for the session. Through different series of both guided yogic and South Asian dance movements and allowing participants to embrace their own inner-soul moves, we will co-create an homage to our ancestors and ourselves. These dance movements are designed for bodies with all different abilities, and incorporate usages of chairs and other needed support. The incentive of Prema Nalikke is to build a practice of dance and movements which honors our inner-journeys and ancestral callings where we physically release our pain and embrace our strengths and joys through a series of collaborative moves.
Goals & Impact
❖ Executing tribal dance sessions in Boston neighborhoods for under-resourced (QT)BIPoC youth, adults, and elders & helping them feel empowered
❖ Raising awareness of healthy movement practices & nutrition components
Chandre - Kamala Decolonized Yoga
Instructed by Prima Bagera
Program Overview
We will bring sessions of secular decolonized yogic practices, Chandre-Kamala Yoga, which means “moon-lotus” in South Indian dialects to symbolize the ever-changing forms within us and our resilience as well as the practice of yoga which has been culturally appropriated in Euro-centric systems and South Asian brahmanic systems. We will start by raising awareness on the current appropriation of yogic practices. Then we will embark on different types of breathing techniques, yogic poses, and meditation with secular affirmations. These yoga practices are designed for bodies with all different abilities, and incorporate usages of chairs and other needed support. The incentive of Chandre~Kamala Decolonized Yoga is to both raise awareness of yogic history and bring healing practices to under-resourced BIPoC communities.
Goals & Impact
❖ Make decolonized yogic practices available for under-resourced (QT)BIPoC youth, adults, and elders & helping them feel empowered
❖ Raising awareness of healthy movement practices & nutrition components
About the Instructors
Prema Bangera, who is ethnically South Indian (from Tulu Nadu) of lower caste, born in Mumbai, and partially raised on the unceded land of the Wampanoag and Massachusett people (so-called Boston), is a multidisciplinary artist, an editor, an educator, a community organizer, and a cultural worker. She has 15+ years of experience working in the community with a trauma informed lens. She is a global Yoga Alliance & Indian Government certified advanced yoga instructor (RYS-500) and studied yogic philosophy, physical movement, and holistic ayurveda nutrition. Bangera is passionate about raising awareness on decolonized yoga practices. She also studied classical Indian dance (Bharatnatyam), and modern, hip-hop, and jazz dances. She is also the Mixed Genre Editor for Midway Journal. Her writing and artwork has appeared in various publications and showcased at the Boston City Hall and painted on the streets of the unceded Naumkeag lands (so-called Salem, MA) as part of the Raining Project at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. She had founded & was the executive director of a grassroots nonprofit organization called Teen Voices Emerging, geared towards empowering girls, non-binary youth, and female-identifying youth through using their voice & words. Bangera also established a healing Arts program called Narratives of Transformative Love which was facilitated for youth and adults in various venues, students in Boston Public Schools, educators at the Summer Teachers Institute in Boston University, and at organizations and schools in Kenya and India. She was selected by the Boston Women's Fund in partnership with the Boston Foundation for their 2022 Women of Color Leadership Circle. She is also part of the Red Sage Stories playback theatre troupe, a BIPoC theatre group using arts as a catalyst for social change. Bangera has been a teaching artist & writer at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the United South End Settlements, and Company One Theatre."
Celeste Viciere also known as Celeste The Therapist®️ is a renowned therapist, mental health advocate, best-selling author, and podcast host. She is frequently quoted by the media as a mental health expert, including NBC News, VICE, The Washington Post, , Healthline, Bustle, and has appeared on TV One and Fox Soul TV. Celeste has been in the mental health field for over 20 years and believes in the power of living a conscious life. She has dedicated her personal and professional endeavors to breaking the stigma surrounding mental and emotional health, especially in communities of color. "Celeste The Therapist " podcast streams on all podcasting platforms in over 150 countries. Celeste features guests who empower others in a variety of capacities. The goal of her podcast is to shift the way people think and to give people hope. Celeste The Therapist Podcast has been featured as one of the top therapy podcasts by Bustle. And she has been featured as one of the top 10 mental health influencers to follow by Very well Mind . The podcast has over 350,000 unique downloads. Celeste's has been in private practice since 2015 and currently conducts her practice online full time. She also speaks for organizations around the world both corporate and non profit about mental health and the importance of living intentionally.