Yoga and Creativity; workshop, concert, and exhibition with Massimo & Jonathan
Join us in this special event as two senior yoga/meditation teachers and accomplished artists guide you into a space of inspiration and stillness, to awaken your own inner source of creative wisdom.
Massimo and Jonathan have both been dedicated to a life-long path of yoga/ meditation and the expressive arts, from the time they were teens. They begin this workshop sharing their personal experience of how yoga and meditation has supported and influenced their artistic journey. In an extra special presentation, Jonathan will unveil his latest panel painting, “Buddha and Mother Nature,” and describe his visionary background and process. Massimo will share from his own personal experience with the sacred arts and music. Together, they will present the relationship between yoga and creativity, the therapeutic potential of such insight, and offer practical guidance on how to enter these creative or “flow” states using meditation and movement.
From this presentation and guided practice, we move into an intimate concert of inspired music and poetry to evoke these still spaces where insight emerges. Massimo will play the flute, handpan, and guitar with ambient effects, while Jonathan will share his spoken word and poetic wisdom from his own meditations. Together, they will guide us further into an atmosphere of deep introspection and creative awakening, where you may lie back in meditation or participate in your own expression of insights and inspirations.
Everyone is encouraged to bring paper or a journal, and draw, write, move, or rest in stillness, as the inspiration or impulse arises. This is an experiential workshop, so you can taste for yourself the connection to your own creative source, and either express or rest in that opening. If you choose to stay after the concert, there will be an optional space for sharing of one’s insights or further dialogue with the artists.
Program will be in English.
GENERAL PROGRAM:
15:00 – 16:00 Presentation on Meditation and Creativity
16:00 – 16:45 Guided yoga and meditation practice -Finding stillness and "flow" state
16:45 – 18:00 Meditation Concert, with music and poetry
18:00 – 18:30 (Optional) Sharing.
Price:
Regular price: 480 kr
Students/Unemployed price: 350 kr
Northern Light Yoga Members: 20% Discount
If you have a real wish to come, but no funds, contact Massimo or Jonathan.
JONATHAN WEBER (USA)
Jonathan began painting at the age of 8, was awarded the Marie Walsh Art Scholarship, and studied painting at the Pacific NW College of Art in Portland, OR. He worked as a professional illustrator and portrait artist for over a decade and became recognized for his Goddess/Deity paintings in the Visionary art movement of the NW, represented by the Goddess Gallery in Portland. His work was featured in the book “Feminine Mysticism in Art; Artists Envisioning the Divine,” and has been represented in numerous other publications, festivals, and exhibitions.
Jonathan began his meditation and yoga path in 1987, after meeting his first teacher Ram Dass. He has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 30 years and studying with both Buddhist and yogic masters in authentic lineages as well as a science-based, clinical approach of MBSR through the Institute of Mindfulness-based Approaches. He started teaching meditation in Oslo in 2006, after moving to Norway. Jonathan has been a pioneer in the integration of Buddist yoga with Hatha yoga, as one of the first teachers in Norway to introduce Mindful yoga in 2014. He is the founder/director of the Mindful Yoga Education through Oslo Yoga, a co-therapist in Maja Thune's Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training, and faculty of the Oslo Yoga 300hr Teacher Training.
jonathanweber.org
MASSIMO BARBERI (Italy)
Massimo has been a musician since 1996, and published 6 albums spanning the genres of pop, jazz, ethnic, and electronic, together with the bands “Cassandra” and “The White Whisper.” He also published 2 albums of ambient music for yoga and relaxation. He has collaborated with other musicians including Mark Francombe, Carlo La Manna, Paolo Vinaccia, Pia Muller Johansen, and Yantra. His sacred music concerts around Europe combine mixed-media performances with visual artists and dancers, often with the ambient theme of “Nidra” or Dream” concerts.
Massimo has practiced yoga since 1991 and worked as a professional yoga teacher for 19 years in Italy and Norway. He studied Yoga philosophy at the University of Religious Studies in Trento, and practiced with Indian swamis from the Hatha, Raja, and Tantra yoga traditions. He has trained as a yoga instructor at the AMAYE Institute in Sweden and Germany (500+ hours) and is a certified Ayurveda therapist and Yin Yoga instructor. He is registered as a “Yoga-Elder” by the International Independent Yoga Network, with more than 8,000 hours of teaching. He is the author of “Inside Yoga”(a yoga manual) and “Symbiosis,” (a fine art photography book about ecology and philosophy).
Massimoyoga.com
More about the Topic:
What is the relationship between yoga, meditation and creativity? How do these meditative practices help us to find our authentic voice, our guidance, and our inspiration?
Research shows that regular meditation can stimulate the creative and innovative parts of our brains, widen our perspective, promote self-transcendence, and allow us to think in new and positive ways. Yogis and meditation masters throughout the ages have known this through direct experience, in the revelation of poetry, prose, music, dance, and the visual arts. Now science and ancient traditions come together in studies on “flow” states, where deep and active concentration like shamatha or samadhi meditation result in heightened or optimal states of creative awareness and performance.
“Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind, so the knower can know itself.”
– The Yoga Sutras
From inner stillness creative or intuitive insight emerges, which can guide us into skillful action, positive transformation, artistic expression, innovative thinking, and emotional resolution. This is a special opportunity to be led by two senior practitioners in both the fields of yoga and the expressive arts, and better understand the connection between these fields. This workshop will be of particular interest to anyone interested in the potential of yoga and meditation to enhance and develop creative or innovative abilities or therapeutic insight in the resolution of emotional challenges.
Welcome!