Throughout this studio, we did a series of exercises daily and experimented with our edge. I loved doing yoga because it helped center and be more present within myself.  I could become aware of myself and feel more energized throughout my entire body after a session of yoga. It helped me wake up and made me feel very positive. The meditation was very hard for me in the beginning because 20 minutes felt like a long time the first time we meditated. I had a hard time staying still and focusing on the moment; my mind was very busy and my thoughts would wander. Meditating is still a challenge for me, but what I learned was that you do not necessarily need a clear mind to meditate. You can be aware of your thoughts while meditating, and not necessarily have to shut out all of your thoughts. Every day, we did shaking/dancing to More Love by Victor Wooten, where the purpose was to just focus on the movement of your body, and not think about anything else. While I did this, all I thought about was the shaking and how it made me feel. It made me feel much better and relaxed afterwards because you just focused on dancing, and it was a perfect outlet and great way to start the morning. Later on in the day, we'd do free writing where you hand write stream of consciousness. It was very helpful to get things off your mind and release any anger. I really enjoyed this activity because it helped me relax more for later on in the day. Each morning we were to think of something we were grateful for and start off the day well. I found it nice but hard to remember each day because I was always thinking about what I had to do later on in the day, and getting ready to leave for school. Another exercise we did was qigong, and that helped me feel more peaceful; we imagined all the sensations in our body.

Microexpressions 

 Check-ins 

 Anger work 

  Embracing our Edge/Personal experiments

 Silent canoeing retreat

Personal (pattern)

 Eye contact during conversation 

 Morning and evening habits

 Self love work

Listening (Sensations.Images.Feelings.Thoughts.)

Eye gazing

This was a unique studio that helped us learn and use many skills and tools to use in our everyday lives. We went through a variety of topics covering things such as self love, anger work, different forms of meditation, embracing challenges we’ve faced, and becoming more aware of physical and emotional traits of ourselves and other people. Throughout this studio, we did a lot of experimenting with small exercises that we could try daily and take notice of the affects it had on us later on in that day. This was a safe, inclusive, and supportive space that allowed all of us to open up to one another, and form a connection where we could understand, listen, and be present with each other.

We know how to split the atom, and to see galaxies billions of light-years away. Technology drives information through us faster than ever before. But what do we know about understanding ourselves and our human experience? How can we find and cultivate the deepest sense of joy in our lives? What do we do that keeps us from feeling deeply connected to others? Why do we have the range of human emotions we have, and how can we learn from all of them when they appear?

This studio will explore the range of experience available in our lives — by experimenting with our bodies, minds, and hearts. We will learn about emotional and developmental theory, always coupling it to experience — yoga and energy practices to get us more connected to how our bodies feel, meditations to understand the nature of our minds, and group work to break down our walls, find what makes us unique, and help us find our deepest sense of joy within ourselves.

This will be a challenging studio. It requires a commitment to lean into your edges of your comfort zone. In order to understand ourselves better often requires seeing where and how our systems resist our experience. It will also ask us to open to each other, to allow ourselves to be fully authentic and vulnerable with each other; to put down our masks, and to see what happens when we open to what is underneath.

Our goal will be to explore these realms within ourselves, and to find the practices that feel most effective for our finding deep joy and connection throughout NuVu. Students will collaborate to figure out ways to infuse their favorite findings and practices in the NuVu community, whether through a handbook, video documentation, or by leading their own training for NuVu staff/students.