Calendar of Events

As the winter season settles us into our darker, cozy spaces, many of us find ourselves needing a shift and a ‘reset’ in our internal world to match the shifting in the external seasons.

NightStories is a wholistic workshop designed to help you discover your own unique path towards more restful nights.

*Workshop will be held on Zoom and video recordings will be made available to all guests.

#### Overview

NightStories is a 7-evening community program to help you realign your nights for overall self-care, wellness, emotional processing, and dreaming.

NightStories will be a weaving of evidence-based sleep science paired with art and movement processing practices to help support restful nights (with or without sleep). NightStories will also be exploring tools for incorporating, or continuing an ongoing dreamwork practice.

Each evening will also feature a short bedtime story to send you on your way to a deep and restful night.

NightStories will be held virtually over Zoom in the comfort of your own home.

The event will have:

• 7 consecutive nights of live workshop to re-establish or deepen an evening routine. (1 hour per night!)
• One full month of nightly NightStories material to continue tending your restful evenings beyond the group workshop experience.
• Understanding of practical, evidence-based sleep hygiene tips & strategies.
• Exposure to effective art & movement processing techniques for engaging in restful nights.
• Tools to initiate, re-establish, or deepen your dream practice.
• A social pod to support and co-regulate your ongoing journey towards rest.
• An optional 30 minute accountability check-in after the workshop to help personalize your restful evening practice.

#### Nightly Components

Each evening of NightStories there will be 6 main components:

• Sleep Science — We will explore seven major evidence-based components including the bones of what makes good restful sleep (sleep hygiene) as well as social and emotional components of sleep and the science of dreams.
• Movement Processes — Each night will have an element of exposure to different somatic explorations to promote relaxation, discovery, and ease.
• Art Process — During each session there will be offerings to steep further into your exploration of nighttime and sleep through both guided art as well as short, creative artistic invitations to complete mindfully before bed.
• Dream Practice — This course will build new, or expand upon already well established dream practices to help you connect more deeply to your dream life and incorporate it into your routine.
• NightStories — Each night we will end with a bedtime story of a myth or folklore that relates to sleep, dreams, and the mysterious happenings of the night.
• Community Container — In addition to weaving community into each of these previous components, there will also be an opportunity each session to share and witness what has been coming up for everyone during their journey towards restful nights.

For more information and full registration details please head to https://dagnydeutchman.com/nightstories/

We’ve heard your valuable feedback, and now you don’t have to hear us! Beginning May 4, 2021, the period between 8 and 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday morning of every month will be reserved for “Meditative Mornings,” a pause for quiet time in our gardens and on our trails. During this time, our working garden crew will abstain from using leaf blowers, mowers and other equipment so you can be sure to enjoy the sounds of birds and the wind in the trees.

Take advantage of half-price parking on the first Tuesday of every month and come out to the Arboretum to enjoy a Meditative Morning!

Chat with other book lovers about this month’s book selection.

Interested in reading ahead? Here’s what we have coming up in the next few months!
– November- “Once Upon A River” Diane Setterfield
– December- “Dutch House” Ann Patchett
– January- “Mexican Gothic” Silvia Moreno-Garcia
– February- “The Rose Code” Kate Quinn

To reserve your copy of the book, visit buncombe.nccardinal.org or swing by the library to pick one up from the book clubs holds shelf.

To join the book club email [email protected] or call us at 250-4758.

Levels 1+ this class is designed to build heat in the body and release excess kapha during the winter. We are working as a class towards headstands with a goal of early April. Expect strength building.

Instructor: Jamie

Class is held inside. Bring your mat.

This will be in the dark.  Route directions are provided and run is self guided. But, movement is always more fun if you bring a friend to go with you!

Mandatory head lamp and suggested reflective safety gear/vest.

Run/Walk/Jog/Rike  Move at your own pace.  The ONLY goal is to move.

This free introductory class includes a discussion of the evidence-based health benefits of practicing Tai Chi, a demonstration of Sun Style Tai Chi, and a discussion of the history of the art form. There will be an opportunity to practice a few basic postures.

This class may be helpful to anyone who has wondered if they might enjoy learning and practicing Tai Chi . If there is enough interest, we will offer a Tai Chi class series this winter/spring.

Patricia P. Gilliam, PhD, ANP-BC will be the instructor. Patricia is a Board-Certified Tai Chi For Health Instructor and Nurse Practitioner.

Registration is required. Contact [email protected] with any questions.

Let’s read Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom!

This will be in the dark.  Route directions are provided and run is self guided. But, movement is always more fun if you bring a friend to go with you!

Mandatory head lamp and suggested reflective safety gear/vest.

Run/Walk/Jog/Rike  Move at your own pace.  The ONLY goal is to move.

Please join us at The 2nd Act in Hendersonville, NC for our first monthly book club meeting that strives to read books that create a closer knit and more inclusive community! We will meet virtually and in person monthly to discuss a book, so read the book and then join in the discussion in person or online every third Thursday. All are welcome! At the end of each meeting we will vote on the next book! The virtual club meeting will be in Zoom format and will meet 2.5 hours after the in-person meeting (8:00pm EST). After the meeting there is live acoustic music so stay and enjoy the vibe with your new friends! Put us down on your calendar for every third Third Thursday!

The first book is going to be called Disability Visibility.

Synopsis from the back cover: One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.

From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love. Preview:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51456746-disability-visibility
Message me for the Zoom link to the online meetup. Thanks!

In this 6 week series, we will use the building blocks of mindfulness meditation practice–breath, body, feelings, and thoughts as we cultivate our capacity to be present and work with what we are noticing in each moment.  As we learn more about our own minds and hearts, there is an intimate and soulful connection to ourselves and each other. From this place of less stress, we can deepen our ability to create the lasting change we want in our lives. Each session will include time for guided mindfulness meditation, journaling, and group dialogue. The aim is to create a supportive learning pod, so life’s challenges can be an opportunity to grow in mindfulness and heartfulness, even while living in a turbulent world. This series is created for both beginner and experienced meditators alike. Themes of exploration include: changing habit patterns, nervous system regulation, self care, and “how to’s” from Buddhist Psychology.

Emily West Horn is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher via the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She is also authorized to teach meditation, dharma, and long retreats by Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, and InsightLA.

Emily has been called a “power player of the mindfulness movement” by Wired Magazine. Her work is featured in 10% Happier,  Boston Children’s Hospital’s Comfort Ability Project, Buddhist Geeks, and apps such as Brightmind and Buddhify.  She’s also been mentoring mindfulness teachers in a certification program led by Jack Kornfield, Ph.D and Tara Brach Ph.D for over 6 years.

For her, a mindful life is simply learning to dance with all of this human experience: from transcendence to dirty dishes, evolutionary edges to ancient roots, solitary practice to deepening relationships. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her husband, Vincent, and son, Zander.