Yoga teacher, t’ai chi chih teacher, and polarity therapist Hannah Hedrick led Self Care/Peer Support workshops in Chicago in mid-March and early May at Wildlight Yoga, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., and Sweet Peas Yoga Studio, 3717 N Ravenswood Ave. She’s returning July 5 and 6 for more workshops (see details below),

Readers of Yoga Chicago magazine may remember Hannah, who was featured in several articles when she taught at various yoga studios and health clubs from the late 70’s until 2000, when she moved to Hawaii. Hannah also taught yoga at the American Medical Association, from which she retired as Director of the Division of Medical Education Products.

Hannah is perhaps best known for her focus on service and for her efforts to empower people with life-threatening conditions through self-help groups, including the Family Cancer Support Network, Test Positive Aware Network, the National Emphysema/COPD Association, Warriors against Diabetes, and Polio Survivors and Their Families.

Hannah`s current approach is to bring together people committed to “propagating” programs in which participants provide mutual support in adopting healthier self-care behaviors to improve the quality of their lives.

In 2017, Kennedy Serr adapted Hannah’s 20-page document on “Moving from Knowing to Doing” for polio survivors and their families. Stacey Haumea and Warriors against Diabetes captured this program, most of which can be done standing, sitting, or lying down, in a video two decades ago.

All of Hannah’s current classes focus on ACTIVE GROUNDING, a refinement of her emphasis on the phrase, “From the pressing down comes the lifting up.” She finds this mindful approach helpful in her own aging process for sitting, standing, or doing her trademark posture, moving from headstand to forearm balance.

The connections with universal yoga principles, concepts, and practices are apparent in her logo in the “Survive” and “Thrive” components and in the “GATE” and “SELF.” The “Action Plan” template on moving from knowing to doing provided at workshops encourages a co-signer “Peer Supporter” to help ensure mutual progress.

Thanks to the Chicago Self Care/Peer Support coordinator, Argenis Vegas, the group has a home for its quarterly workshops at 4809 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago. In addition, please let us know if you would like to schedule a session at another Chicago venue.

Schedule for Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6, 4809 N. Ravenswood Chicago

TRACK 1: Sunday, July 5, 2:00–3:20, Monday, July 6. 10:00–11:20
ACTIVE GROUNDING applied to breathing and stretching, including requested yoga postures. Yoga practitioners and therapists may wish to attend only Track 1, Sunday at 2:00 and/or Monday at 10:00.

TRACK 2: Sunday, 3:30–4:50, Monday 11:30–12:50
Folks seeking to enhance their TCC (t’ai chi chih) practice may wish to attend only Track 2, Sunday at 3:30 and/or Monday at 11:30.
ACTIVE GROUNDING applied to TCC:
Rocking motion
Around the platter
Bass drum
Giving and receiving
Working the pulley
Pulling in the energy

TRACK 3: Sunday, 5:00–6:20; Monday, 1:00–2:20
GROUNDING reflected in Peer Bodywork active partner
3 exchanges seated on the ground or in a chair
3 exchanges with one partner lying on their back and one seated at the side

To contact Hannah, email her at hedrickhneca@aol.com.

Read one of our stories about Hannah in our May/June 2000 issue here: https://yogachicago.com/2014/03/serving-the-community-hannah-hedrick-phd/

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Living Namaste

Engels organizes the practice of living namaste around three reminders, as the word for mindfulness in Sanskrit, smrti, and in Pali, sati, means “to remember.” He suggests that the significance of mindfulness and yoga practice is not necessarily about learning new information, but about remembering to return to a state of awareness, presence, and connection. The three reminders offered here are “I am divine,” “you are divine,” and “live the word, together.” This process entails recognizing the divinity in oneself and others, cultivating gratitude, and treating one another with compassion.

The practical approach Engels offers in Living Namaste encourages self-awareness and empathy, which fosters deeper connections and supports mutual growth. Each of the three reminders is accompanied by exercises, mindfulness meditations, and svadhyaya (“self-study”) practices designed to help you apply these teachings to your daily life. By responding thoughtfully and with care to each other, rather than reactively, readers can form stronger, more supportive relationships, support each other’s growth and well-being, and contribute to healthier communities.

About the Author: Jeremy David Engels, PhD, is a Liberal Arts Endowed Professor of Communication and Ethics at Penn State University. He is also a cofounder and teacher at Yoga Lab, which offers science-based yoga and meditation classes that emphasize mindfulness and functional movement. Jeremy has written extensively on community-building, peace, and justice. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania. His website is www.jeremydavidengels.com.

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Vegas challenges the habit of wanting life to be other than it is, suggesting that much of our suffering comes from resistance to what is already happening. When difficulty arises, he encourages readers to pause, observe, and listen before acting—recognizing that sometimes the most honest response is simply to remain present. As he says in the book, “Live and act as if everything is always working on your behalf.” This trust, he suggests, is not blind optimism, but a steady confidence that emerges when we stop arguing with life.

Throughout the book, Vegas emphasizes being aware of thoughts, emotions, and feelings without becoming entangled in them. He encourages readers to allow inner experiences to arise without judgment, resistance, or identification. Over time, he writes, this attentive presence reveals the futility of mental struggle and allows the mind to settle naturally into stillness and clarity.

What gives Trust What Is its depth is that its insights are not presented as theory, but arise from lived experience. Born in Venezuela, Vegas grew up close to his mother within a challenging family environment. At an early age, he also recognized he was gay—an awareness that carried significant emotional and personal consequences, particularly within the context of having an alcoholic father and a culture where homosexuality was widely regarded as sinful and morally condemned.

Vegas emigrated alone to the United States at the age of twenty-one. In this country he earned a degree from Northeastern Illinois University and worked for several organizations, including the City Colleges of Chicago and various social service agencies.

A pivotal turning point in Vegas’s life came in 1987, when he was diagnosed with HIV—at a time when such a diagnosis often carried a grim prognosis. Facing profound uncertainty and loss, he was compelled to look deeply into contemplative and spiritual practices that are explored in this book, not as abstractions, but as a means of survival. These practices helped him navigate fear, grief, and impermanence, and ultimately supported him in not only surviving, but building a meaningful, productive, and engaged life. This lived context gives Trust What Is its quiet authority: the insights offered here were shaped in the presence of real risk, not comfort.

He has served on the Chicago Area HIV Service Planning Council and volunteered with numerous community-based organizations, including The Salvation Army, Chicago House, the AIDS Alternative Health Project, the Test Positive Aware Network, the National Catholic AIDS Network, and the AIDS Pastoral Care Network. He has represented and spoken on behalf of these organizations on many occasions, sharing both professional expertise and personal experience.

Spiritually oriented from a young age, Vegas trained at the Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago and has participated in multiple meditation retreats. He draws inspiration from sources such as Rumi and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, while embracing all paths that lead to greater understanding, compassion, and empathy. His approach is inclusive rather than doctrinal, reflective rather than prescriptive.

At its heart, Trust What Is is an invitation to meet life as it unfolds—uncertain, impermanent, and deeply human—while cultivating trust, presence, and inner freedom. The book does not promise an easy life, but it offers something more enduring: a way of being that may enable readers to face whatever arises with clarity, courage, and an open heart.

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Dr. Julie Merriman, PhD

For decades, high-achieving women have been taught to interpret the changes of midlife through a narrow biological lens. When desire fades, when energy collapses, when emotional resilience thins, the explanation offered is almost always hormonal. Estrogen drops. Testosterone shifts. Progesterone changes. The story becomes one of decline, and women are handed that story so consistently that most of them eventually stop questioning it.

Yet in clinical work with women over forty and fifty, a different pattern emerges. The symptoms women describe, including numbness, emotional detachment, loss of pleasure, difficulty feeling desire, chronic fatigue, a sense of being dulled from the inside out, often cannot be explained by hormones alone. What is far more consistent is nervous system exhaustion layered over decades of over-functioning, a kind of physiological debt that accumulates so gradually women rarely notice it until the account is empty.

Chakra psychology offers a powerful framework for understanding why this happens. Rather than viewing the body as a collection of isolated systems, chakra psychology examines how emotional experience, identity, safety, power, connection, and purpose are stored and expressed through the body’s energetic and neurological centers. When these centers are chronically overridden by stress, responsibility, and self-abandonment, the body eventually adapts by shutting down sensation. The loss of vitality many women feel in midlife is rarely a failure of biology. It is a failure of sustained embodiment.

The first place this disruption typically appears is in the Root Chakra, the center associated with safety and stability. Women in caregiving professions, including nurses, counselors, educators, physicians, and social workers, spend years operating in high alert, their nervous systems constantly scanning for problems to solve, people to care for, and crises to manage. Over time, the body stops interpreting the world as safe. When the Root Chakra remains locked in survival mode, the nervous system prioritizes endurance over pleasure, and the body becomes efficient, reliable, and productive while the capacity to feel deeply begins to diminish.

Above it sits the Sacral Chakra, the center of sensuality, creativity, and pleasure. This is the chakra most commonly associated with sexuality, but its function extends far beyond physical intimacy. It governs curiosity, emotional fluidity, playfulness, and responsiveness to beauty. Years of responsibility often compress this center, and when life becomes defined by obligation rather than exploration, the sacral system gradually goes offline. Women often describe this as numbness, not sadness or depression, but a muted response to experiences that once felt fully alive. This is why so many midlife women say something startling in therapy: “I love my partner. I just don’t feel anything in my body anymore.” What they are describing is not a relational problem. It is a nervous system that has forgotten how to receive sensation.

The Solar Plexus Chakra plays a critical role in this pattern as well. Located just above the navel, this center governs identity, personal authority, and energetic boundaries. When women spend decades being the reliable one, the responsible one, the helper and stabilizer of families and workplaces, the solar plexus becomes organized around performance rather than expression. The body learns that value comes from output, and desire, pleasure, and rest begin to feel secondary, even indulgent. Eventually the system reaches its limit.

At that point, many women enter what trauma researchers call functional freeze, a nervous system state in which the body continues to function outwardly while internally conserving energy. They go to work, care for their families, maintain relationships, and meet every obligation, yet feel flat or detached in ways that are difficult to articulate. From the outside, nothing appears wrong. Inside, vitality has quietly dimmed.

This is precisely why conventional advice about midlife so often falls flat. Suggestions to improve communication, schedule date nights, or focus on mindset assume that motivation is the missing ingredient. In reality, the missing ingredient is sensation. Chakra psychology approaches this problem differently, not by asking women to perform their way back to vitality, but by focusing on restoring communication between the nervous system and the body.

The first step is stabilizing the Root Chakra through practices that restore safety: slowing down, regulating breath, reconnecting with physical grounding. Without safety, the body cannot reopen to sensation. The second step is gently reactivating the Sacral Chakra through sensory experiences that reintroduce pleasure without pressure, through movement, touch, warmth, creativity, and novelty. The goal is not performance but curiosity, teaching the nervous system that feeling is safe again. The Solar Plexus then begins to recalibrate as women reclaim agency over their time, energy, and identity. Boundaries strengthen. Self-trust returns. The body gradually remembers that it exists for more than endurance.

When these systems begin working together again, something remarkable happens. Women often report that vitality returns not as a dramatic breakthrough, but as a quiet homecoming. Colors appear brighter. Laughter comes more easily. Desire becomes responsive again, not forced but emerging naturally from a body that finally feels alive. Viewed through this lens, midlife is not a collapse of vitality. It is an invitation to rebuild it on a different foundation entirely, one grounded not in performance, but in presence.

Radiance begins the moment women stop performing their lives and start inhabiting them again, and for many, that rediscovery begins with the simple realization that nothing about their bodies was ever broken.

………………………..

Dr. Julie Merriman, PhD, is a professor and counselor who aids high-achieving women over 50 in reigniting their spark. As the founder of The Soul Joy™ brand, she serves as a premier authority on nervous system regulation to heal burnout and rekindle intimacy. As author of the forthcoming publication, Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? (April, 2026), Dr. Merriman is committed to helping women feel sexy and powerful in and after midlife. Learn more at https://www.juliemerrimanphd.com/

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On a cold Friday night, Tyler Ramsey and Carl Broemel played a concert at SPACE, a small concert hall in Evanston. They played mainly instrumentals on acoustic guitars using fingerpicking style and sang a handful of songs. It’s the beauty of the guitars, with their added voices that created the magic, plus the wise and witty banter between songs. The duo is touring in celebration of their new 2026 release, Celestun. The standing room-only crowd was 100% in for the show. With a reverence for the musicians, there was no talking and hardly a rustle, as no one wanted to miss a note!

Two of the highlights of the night for me were the cover of Neil Young’s “Sail Away” and Carl Broemel’s song “Carried Away” from his solo album, All Birds Say. That song holds a special place in my heart. “Last Tarot” and “Sylvie’s Guitar” left me feeling as if I was listening to bards play madrigals hundreds of years ago. Pure beauty. The effect of this attentive audience was creating a shared experience. We entered after the rush of a busy week and left transformed, uplifted and, speaking for myself, calmer and quieter. With a smile on my face.

Celestun is a balm to find your center in these darker days of the year. Mostly instrumental, there are nine songs that clock in just over 30 minutes. Tyler Ramsey, formerly of Band of Horses, and Carl Broemel, the guitarist for My Morning Jacket, make quite a talented pair. Their playing is sublime, two souls who have explored and found their way together, explaining their journeys with two acoustic guitars. You can tell they listen deeply to one another and respond to each other’s playing with grace and patience. The title track opener, “Celestun,” is gentle and rolling, with the two taking turns on their melodic leads. “Elizabeth Brown” has more of a bluegrass feel; it’s upbeat and feels old-timey. In concert at SPACE, Tyler shared that this was the first instrumental he had ever written as a kid. “Nevermind” has a repetitive refrain that is so darn pretty. The whole record is gorgeous. This would be a nice pick for Yoga class setlists, or self-practice.

Right now I’m listening to the latest release by Chicago’s own Harmony Pavett. “Chandra Mantra” is a downtempo, seven-minute plus track in which it is easy to lose yourself. With tribal drumming, synthy-touches, and a relentless hypnotic groove, it soothes your body and mind with its sacred mantra. It’s modern and ancient all at once. The Chandra Mantra is a sacred mantra dedicated to Chandra – the Moon God. It’s said to enhance mental peace and emotional balance and inspire deeper intuition. “Om Shraam Shreem Shraum Sah Chandraya Namah.” Try it out and see if this chant fosters inner peace – it has for me! Harmony’s production partner and collaborator, Hans Christian, is a Grammy-nominated producer and musician who creates exceptionally beautiful music. He is often considered a “musician’s musician – the best of the best.” What a great pairing!

Harmony resides in the Chicago area, and is a co-founder of the Harmonic Egg Center in Naperville. I haven’t had the pleasure to chant with her yet but she hosts events in Naperville, West Chicago, and beyond. I’m looking forward to sitting and chanting with Harmony. These kirtan and music-based sacred events – sound healings, etc. – are also shared experiences. We come as we are, and we leave transformed.

The Chicago Kirtan Scene is back! Check out the Chicago Kirtan group page on Facebook – it will keep you up to date! Thank you to Tulsiram Das for administrating and Sally Duros for founding this page nearly twenty years ago.

Amy Treciokas of Yoga Now Chicago / Amy and the Ananda Bliss Tribe is still hosting programs and chanting, bringing in local people as well as people from all over the globe to chant, teach and spread wisdom.

Tulsiram Das hosts monthly satsangs at his Highland Park abode with locals showing up, and everyone gets to sing! I’ve been in attendance and have heard and chanted with friends old and new including Raja Paul, Rafael Buitrón, TJ Davis, Subala, and the effervescent Shanti from Ananda Lila! Last time I attended, local artist Vivian Sakellariou started an impromptu chant inspired by Swami Sivananda’s teachings that everyone enjoyed.

Moksha Yoga has always held the “bhav,” or devotional inclinations. Now pairing with the Bhaktilife Network, Moksha holds regular programs. I will forever be grateful for the monthly run that Daren Friesen offered my group, Devi 2000, at Moksha back in the day!

The Bhaktilife Network includes Tulsiram, Subala and Yoganand. They just led an auspicious kirtan at the Hindu Temple of Lemont for Swami Vivikananda’s birthday (VIEW 2026), and an auspicious time was had by all. Thank you to Prasad Palacharie and Kali Om for bringing this festival to the greater Chicago area.

Wendy Warnimont, aka Shanti, and the Ananda Lila Kirtan continue to play regularly in the area, everywhere from Ahimsa in Evanston to the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center in Woodstock. She knows how to raise the vibration!

Chicago’s beloved troubadour Jordan Loder has been on the road since fall! This spring, Jordan will be bringing his chants to the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Spreading mantra, sharing peace. Go Jordan! www.jordanlodeer.com

Joliet has a monthly kirtan scene on the last Friday of every month at Temple of Harmony in Joliet. For more info, message brahmachari.branson@kriya.org.

Advance notice alert! Girish will bring a soul-stirring night of Music Mantras and Joy to Unity in Naperville on Sunday, May 17. Tickets are available at unityinnaperville.org.

Radhika Das, a kirtan artist who has won the hearts of people worldwide, will be in Chicago at Park West on May 12.

All you have to do is show up, and we get to co-create a unique experience. This brings us together, and the time could not be more ripe. Let’s Chant!

……………..

Devorah Winston Buzil learned Sanskrit chanting from her mother. Devi is the founder of Devi 2000 Collective, Chicago’s premier kirtan group. Their five albums, Planet Love Vol. 1 & 2, Devotional, Prepare Your Soul to Dance, and Kum Kum—are rooted in Bhakti yoga, the path of love. Devi’s songs have been featured on TV shows, The L Word and Saturday Night Live. Devi has studied music in the motherlands of Brazil, India, and the US. At present, she is the music editor at Yoga Chicago. She is blessed to have taught yoga to adults, kids, homeless teens, and the ladies in her neighborhood’s women’s shelter. A longtime devotee of Amma, the “hugging saint,” she laughs with her two children every day. They have proven to be her greatest teachers. Devi is a firm believer in love. She may be reached at debi@devi2000.com and at www.facebook.com/devi2000/.

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Co-chairs of the conference were local yoga teachers Prasad Palacharla and Kali Om, who both gave brief opening remarks. Talks by several local swamis and educators followed.

Swami Ishatmananda

Swami Ishatmananda, President of the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago, gave a talk titled “A Light to the World.” His message was about connection to others and happiness. “We have to be connected with everyone,” he said. “That’s nature’s law. We cannot survive alone.” Our ultimate goal, he said, is happiness. When we make others happy, we are happy. And then we can manifest the divinity within us.

Prasad Palacharla

Co-chair Prasad Palacharla, a long-time yoga teacher at The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, spoke about “Illuminating the Mind: A Raja Yoga Practice.” In Raja yoga, said Prasad, “we learn to focus our minds. When the mind is focused, we see the world as it is.” Pranayama, the vital living force, or cosmic energy, is the bridge between the physical and mental, he explained. When we practice alternate nostril breathing, he continued, we calm our minds, the mind turns inward, and we achieve unbroken concentration. Then we become one with body, mind, and spirit. And that’s the goal: knowledge of our divinity. Following his talk, Prasad led the group in Hatha yoga and an alternate nostril breathing practice.

Yoga with Prasad

Swami Sahajananda

Swami Sahajananda, from Kriya Vedanta Gurukulam, a monastery in Joliet, Illinois, spoke about “The Point, Path, Practice, and Pitfalls.” Although goals are different for everyone at different times of their lives, the ultimate goal, said Swami Sahajananda, is completeness. All living things are continually seeking completeness, whether it’s money, family, food, or God. Ultimately, the path, whatever we pursue, is God. Everything is God: food, the breath, everything—and our spiritual practices lead us to that realization. He finished his talk with a quote attributed to Yogi Bhajan: “Experience God in all, or you cannot experience God at all.”

After a chai break, a lively kirtan was led by Subala Dasa, the group leader of the Bhakti Life Network. He began with a short talk about the tradition of kirtan. Five thousand years ago, near Lucknow, India, 80,000 people came together. They had seen impact of the Kali Yuga (known as the age of darkness and moral decline—the depraved fourth and final age of a Hindu world cycle) on humans. They found that chanting the name of God (kirtan) was a way to stay in contact with divinity. The tradition continues today. “By saying the name, we are in contact with the supreme power,” said Subala. “We unplug and connect to the transcendental sound vibration.”

Kirtan band from Bhakti Life Network

Kali Om

Co-chair Kali Om, popular yoga teacher, teacher trainer, and former professor of yoga at DePaul University, gave a talk on “Swimming Upstream: Staying the Course in Chaotic Times.” She asked, “How do we stick to our moral compass, our ethics, our practice?” She referred to the five yamas (things to abstain from) in the Yoga Sutras: harming others, falsehood, theft, incontinence, and greed and spoke of ways to overcome them. By reading the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu scripture that is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, we can learn how to act in the world, Kali noted. We learn to follow our inherent tendencies, offer our actions to something greater than our own ego, and act without attachment to results.

Gopal Gupta

Gopal Gupta, PhD, the Joe Dunman Distinguished Associate Professor of Ethics at Aurora University, talked about “Churning the Ocean of Yoga,” referring to the Samudra Manthan, a Hindu myth in which gods and demons temporarily unite to churn the cosmic Ocean of Milk to obtain the nectar of immortality. Although it took a thousand years to reach the nectar, the gods and demons received many divine treasures, or gifts, along the way. Gopal related the story to yoga, noting that we attain many gifts as we practice, such as physical and sensory strength, psychological strength, and mystical powers. Eventually, we reach the nectar, which is connection of the self with the supreme Self. “Then we connect with all living beings,” said Gopal, “like drops in the ocean.”

Prasad Palacharla and Kali Om gave closing remarks. A vegetarian luncheon was available afterward where students, teachers, swamis, and yoga practitioners from the Chicago area were able to connect, feel complete, and experience the divinity within all.

……………………

For more information about The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, visit http://htgc.org.

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Keep it up, Om Community!………………….

For more information about Om on the Range, visit www.omontherange.net.

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Those are lyrics from a song written by Bob Merrill for a long-held, popular Broadway musical titled “Carnival.” It came out in 1961, more than 60 years ago. The sentiments of someone loving you may ring beautifully true for some of us right now, but for many more it holds a distant hollow ring.

Some of us are carrying a broken heart from a lost love or from the betrayal of someone close. Others pine for a love never received, never fully experienced. Still others are broken hearted because of the death of someone dear. For these reasons and more, the hope for future prospects in love may appear dim. And in this month, saturated with red hearts and cheerful Valentine’s Day messages from every corner of marketing, a loving absence could feel sharper than ever.  If you’re not in the February lovey-dovey groove, you could be feeling like an utter outcast.

It’s not easy to find love. But there’s hope. There really is. I’ll share a secret that can turn your life around. It’s actually a secret whispered from thousands of years ago:

The ancient Greeks called it philia, deep friendship.

Plato called it the journey of Eros, or beauty.

Aristotle named it self-respect.

Buddhists spoke of universal compassion.

Indian Sages taught self-awareness.

All these ancients saw the importance of self-love as the foundation for any other type of love. Without this core ingredient, loving others is superfluous. It’s a silly game with no depth. It’s forgotten tomorrow like a bad Netflix movie, if you can even sit through it to begin with.

So, start where you are. Deepen your self-love. Not in phony egotistical ways, but in ways that are less judgmental. Judge yourself less–the good and the bad. Sprinkle some kindness onto your wounds. And perhaps in the process, as you start to feel a gentle twinkle in your eyes, consider giving a soft smile to someone who may be needing a smile even more than you.

Get that ball of love rolling and make it go round and round. It all starts with you.

You.  Yes, you.  Beautiful, self-loving you.

…………………

Joan Budilovsky, PhD can be reached at editorial@kcchronicle.com or Yoyoga.com

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Holding on to backs of chairs, we pressed our feet firmly into the floor and elongated our spines.

Yoga teachers, caregivers, and former students of Hannah Hedrick met at Wildlight Yoga Studio in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood on January 13 to cultivate healthy practices, focus on self-care, and support each other in the process—in other words to connect, communicate, collaborate, and propagate new ideas. Hannah’s goal for the workshop was to provide tools for caregivers and others to reduce stress in their lives. Based on the premise that many caregivers sacrifice their own health and well-being in the service of others, she emphasized that “health care begins with self-care.” While serving others enhances the immune system, caregivers must also balance those efforts with self-care practices: proper breathing, keeping well hydrated, eating well, resting, exercising, having intimacy with another person or a universal life force, and spirituality (belief in a higher consciousness).

Hannah adjusted us in half-moon pose.

Before retiring to Hawaii, Hannah, who has a PhD in comparative literature, worked full-time for 22 years in positions related to allied health professions and medical education at the American Medical Association. She retired in 2000 as director of the Division of Medical Education Products and Publications. (From 1967 to 1978, she held teaching, editing, and administrative positions at Indiana State University and Central Michigan University.) While working at the AMA, Hannah also taught yoga and tai chi chih classes at the AMA, the East Bank Club, Zen Fitness, Test Positive Aware Network, and other Chicago locations.

Hannah has worked with many communities over many decades, including people with illnesses such as COPD, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS, as well as polio survivors, teaching them yoga, tai chi chih, polarity therapy, and the traditional massage of Thailand. In the 1980s and ’90s she developed spiritual connections with people dying of AIDS, offering support to them and their friends and families. In Hawaii, Hannah worked with community programs to pass legislation benefitting people living in substandard subdivisions. More recently, she began teaching classes focusing on propagating healthy living and self-care.

We gave ourselves big hugs to move our spine and twisted side to side, swinging our arms, “slapping ourselves silly.”

At the January workshop, Hannah led participants in movements that emphasized correct posture—grounding our feet firmly on the floor and distributing our weight as symmetrically as possible. While sitting on chairs, we pressed our feet against the floor with our shoulders back and our sitting bones pressing into the seat. We aligned our hips, upper chest, and tops of our heads with chins lifted. From there, we elongated our bodies further to create space between our bottom ribs and our hips and lengthened the back of our necks. Throughout the practices, we were encouraged to pay attention to our breath, thoughts, and feelings. Toward the end, we paired off to do spine and neck massage.

Between exercises, we introduced ourselves to the group and shared stories about recent changes in our lives. Topics of the poignant personal stories included one participant’s move back to a neighborhood on the South Side after living for many decades on the North Side; another’s loss of several longtime friends; a recent retirement; job loss shortly after celebrating a 25-year work anniversary; the toll of work diminishment resulting from the COVID pandemic; being a targeted parent (a circumstance in which one parent manipulates a child to develop an irrational dislike or fear of the other parent); and the process of sobriety.

Hannah demonstrates a neck massage, pressing her soft forearms into the neck of a participant.

We discussed how the changes attendees recounted had opened up new opportunities for them. The targeted parent had written an article on that subject that is now being expanded into a book. Another participant, Argenis Vegas, has published a book titled Trust What Is (see side bar), which is about how suffering can be one of the greatest catalysts for transformation. We should recognize that unfortunate circumstances can work on our behalf, he said. “When you run into difficulty, it is that difficulty that will lead you to the next step. Every circumstance is working toward your next step.”

Hannah, who has been in service to others since her college days when she participated in civil rights sit-ins, encouraged us to create safe communities, maintain healthy lifestyles, form our own self-help groups, and promote resources and events to help others choose healthier behaviors. “Get people with life-threatening conditions involved in your self-care/peer support programs,” she said. “They are part of the solution.”

She emphasized learning “to help people in ways they need help, not in the way you think they need help.” In addition, she said: “In the giving is the receiving; in the receiving is the giving. The more you give, the more you receive.”

The workshop was inspiring on many levels, from moving our bodies in ways that expanded our spines and opened our hearts to sharing our very personal stories. All of the participants felt uplifted by the experience and left with positive feelings and a deep sense of compassion for others.

Hannah will return to Chicago to lead another workshop on Friday evening, May 1, and Saturday, May 2. Details are not yet finalized. For more information, call 773.989.6767.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Trust What Is

By Argenis Vegas

In Trust What Is, Argenis Vegas invites readers into a way of meeting life that does not rely on control, resistance, or constant striving. Rather than urging change at all costs, he explores what happens when we stop fighting reality and learn to respond from stillness, attention, and trust. The book does not advocate passivity, but a different kind of engagement—one rooted in presence rather than fear.

Vegas challenges the habit of wanting life to be other than it is, suggesting that much of our suffering comes from resistance to what is already happening. When difficulty arises, he encourages readers to pause, observe, and listen before acting—recognizing that sometimes the most honest response is simply to remain present. As he says in the book, “Live and act as if everything is always working on your behalf.” This trust, he suggests, is not blind optimism, but a steady confidence that emerges when we stop arguing with life.

Throughout the book, Vegas emphasizes being aware of thoughts, emotions, and feelings without becoming entangled in them. He encourages readers to allow inner experiences to arise without judgment, resistance, or identification. Over time, he writes, this attentive presence reveals the futility of mental struggle and allows the mind to settle naturally into stillness and clarity.

What gives Trust What Is its depth is that its insights are not presented as theory, but arise from lived experience. Born in Venezuela, Vegas grew up close to his mother within a challenging family environment. At an early age, he also recognized he was gay—an awareness that carried significant emotional and personal consequences, particularly within the context of having an alcoholic father and a culture where homosexuality was widely regarded as sinful and morally condemned.

Vegas emigrated alone to the United States at the age of twenty-one. In this country he earned a degree from Northeastern Illinois University and worked for several organizations, including the City Colleges of Chicago and various social service agencies.

A pivotal turning point in Vegas’s life came in 1987, when he was diagnosed with HIV—at a time when such a diagnosis often carried a grim prognosis. Facing profound uncertainty and loss, he was compelled to look deeply into contemplative and spiritual practices that are explored in this book, not as abstractions, but as a means of survival. These practices helped him navigate fear, grief, and impermanence, and ultimately supported him in not only surviving, but building a meaningful, productive, and engaged life. This lived context gives Trust What Is its quiet authority: the insights offered here were shaped in the presence of real risk, not comfort.

He has served on the Chicago Area HIV Service Planning Council and volunteered with numerous community-based organizations, including The Salvation Army, Chicago House, the AIDS Alternative Health Project, the Test Positive Aware Network, the National Catholic AIDS Network, and the AIDS Pastoral Care Network. He has represented and spoken on behalf of these organizations on many occasions, sharing both professional expertise and personal experience.

Spiritually oriented from a young age, Vegas trained at the Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago and has participated in multiple meditation retreats. He draws inspiration from sources such as Rumi and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, while embracing all paths that lead to greater understanding, compassion, and empathy. His approach is inclusive rather than doctrinal, reflective rather than prescriptive.

At its heart, Trust What Is is an invitation to meet life as it unfolds—uncertain, impermanent, and deeply human—while cultivating trust, presence, and inner freedom. The book does not promise an easy life, but it offers something more enduring: a way of being that may enable readers to face whatever arises with clarity, courage, and an open heart.

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Vaidya Swati Jadhav

Modern life offers connection, innovation, and opportunity, yet it often comes with relentless speed and overstimulation. In urban environments such as Chicago, long work hours, digital overload, seasonal extremes, and constant sensory input can gradually erode physical vitality and mental clarity. Ayurveda and meditation ancient systems rooted in holistic wisdom offer practical tools for restoring balance and cultivating resilience in the midst of modern demands.

Rather than asking us to retreat from daily responsibilities, these practices teach us how to live well within them. When integrated thoughtfully, Ayurveda and meditation support a sustainable relationship between body, mind, and environment.

Ayurveda: Understanding Individual Balance

Ayurveda, often called the “science of life,” views health as a state of harmony between an individual’s constitution and the natural world. Central to this system is the concept of the three doshas: vata, pitta, and kapha which govern all physiological and psychological processes.

Vata embodies movement and communication, pitta governs metabolism and transformation, and kapha provides structure and stability. Each person carries a unique proportion of these energies, shaping physical traits, emotional tendencies, and responses to stress.

When the doshas are balanced, we experience steady energy, clear digestion, emotional ease, and mental focus. When imbalance develops often due to irregular routines, chronic stress, improper diet, or environmental strain, symptoms such as anxiety, inflammation, fatigue, or digestive discomfort may arise.

Ayurveda emphasizes personalization rather than uniform solutions. Meditation, when aligned with an individual’s doshic tendencies, becomes a powerful method for restoring balance at both mental and physical levels

Meditation as a Therapeutic Practice

Meditation is commonly associated with relaxation, but its benefits extend far beyond mental calm. From an Ayurvedic perspective, the mind and body are deeply interconnected; disturbances in one inevitably affect the other.

Stress is one of the primary contributors to doshic imbalance in modern life. Meditation helps regulate the nervous system, shifting the body out of chronic “fight or flight” and into a state of rest and repair. Over time, it supports digestion, hormonal balance, immunity, and emotional regulation.

Different constitutions respond best to different styles of meditation:

• Vata-dominant individuals, often creative and sensitive, may experience restlessness or anxiety. Grounding practices that emphasize stillness, slow breathing, and consistency help calm excess movement in the nervous system.
• Pitta-dominant individuals, known for focus and intensity, may struggle with irritability or burnout. Cooling and heart-centered practices soften internal pressure and encourage emotional balance.
• Kapha-dominant individuals, steady and nurturing by nature, may experience sluggishness or resistance to change. Energizing or movement-based meditation helps stimulate circulation and alertness.

Understanding these differences allows meditation to function as a form of individualized self-care rather than a generalized technique.

Meditation within the Daily Routine

Ayurveda places strong emphasis on dinacharya, the daily routine that aligns the body with natural rhythms. Meditation is a cornerstone of this routine, particularly when practiced in the early morning hours before external demands take over.

Morning meditation helps regulate prana, the vital life force responsible for respiration, circulation, and mental activity. Even ten minutes of quiet sitting can improve digestion, sharpen focus, and create emotional steadiness for the day ahead.

Rather than adding another obligation, meditation creates space allowing the nervous system to reset and the mind to settle. Simple breath awareness or silent observation can be profoundly effective when practiced consistently.

Selecting the Right Practice

Ayurveda teaches that sustainability is key. The most beneficial meditation practice is one that feels supportive and accessible over time.

For vata imbalance, seated meditation with slow, rhythmic breathing and extended exhalations promotes grounding and stability. Gentle mantra repetition or body awareness helps anchor attention.

For pitta imbalance, practices that cultivate compassion such as loving-kindness meditation help release emotional intensity and encourage patience. Cooling visualizations can further support balance.

For kapha imbalance, walking meditation, mindful movement, or alertness-enhancing breath practices help counter stagnation and heaviness without strain.

Across all constitutions, simple mantra-based practices synchronized with the breath can quiet mental noise and foster inner clarity.

Benefits beyond the Cushion

With regular practice, Ayurveda and meditation influence daily life in tangible ways. Many individuals report improved digestion, deeper sleep, greater emotional resilience, and increased mental clarity.

In a city like Chicago, where people navigate demanding schedules, crowded environments, and changing seasons, these practices provide an inner anchor. Rather than reacting to stress, practitioners develop the capacity to respond with awareness and adaptability.

Over time, meditation enhances sensitivity to the body’s needs, often guiding healthier choices around food, movement, rest, and boundaries—key principles of Ayurvedic living.

Integrating Ayurveda into Urban Life

Living Ayurveda does not require withdrawal from modern society. Its principles are designed for real-life application. Simple daily rituals such as self-massage with warm oil, gentle yoga postures, meditation, and nourishing meals support balance and vitality. Warm, cooked foods and calming herbal drinks further ground the nervous system.

A Sustainable Path Forward

Ayurveda and meditation remind us that health is not something to achieve, but something to maintain through awareness and intention. In a culture that prioritizes speed and productivity, these practices invite a return to balance, presence, and inner resilience.

For Yoga Chicago readers seeking sustainable well-being in a complex world, Ayurveda and meditation offer a timeless partnership, one that supports clarity, vitality, and harmony in everyday life.

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Vaidya Swati Jadhav is a classically trained Ayurveda doctor and the founder of Hemaveda, a holistic wellness practice dedicated to authentic Ayurvedic healing and education in Crystal Lake, Illinois. With years of clinical experience, she specializes in personalized Ayurvedic consultations, stress management, digestive health, women’s wellness, and mind-body balance through Ayurveda, meditation, and lifestyle guidance. Through Hemaveda, Swati helps individuals integrate ancient wisdom into modern living, cultivating sustainable health, clarity, and inner harmony. Contact her at 779-800-6816 or https://hemaveda.com.

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Participants at World Meditation Day, December 21, 2025, in Aurora, Illinois

The second annual United Nations World Meditation Day, December 21, 2025, brought together millions of participants from all walks of life, including students, doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, and many institutions from more than 108 countries. The event was led on YouTube by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living Foundation, a meditation- and breath-based international nonprofit organization. The event was attended by covered live by TV channels globally. This year the celebration was held in four locations in the Chicago area: one in Schaumburg, two in Naperville, and one in Aurora.

The event centered on a 30-minute guided meditation and featured teachings on the nature of meditation, the importance of mental well-being, and a major global partnership with Gallup to measure well-being on an international scale.

Gurudev’s Approach to Meditation
Gurudev began by reframing how meditation is understood. He explained that meditation isn’t something you actively do, it’s something you allow to happen. In his words, meditation is a state of being fully present and deeply relaxed at the same time. The purpose isn’t to force concentration or rely on imagination, but to release conditioning and let go.

He explained that anyone can meditate and highlighted seven types of people who benefit, essentially covering everyone:

1. Those experiencing misery or distress
   2. Individuals seeking success
   3. People who want to improve skills and focus
   4. Those who are already successful
   5. The wise and intellectually curious
   6. People who feel lonely or isolated
   7. The inquisitive and open-minded

Throughout his talk, he stressed that meditation is not tied to religion. He described it as mental hygiene and an essential tool for our era

The Guided Meditation Experience
The 30-minute session flowed through three main dimensions: Body, Breath, and Mind.

Steps in the Practice
1. Preparation. Participants coordinated breath with eye movement, breathing in while opening the eyes and breathing out while closing them.

2. Awareness of the body. Attention moved through the body from the feet to the head, noticing weight and releasing tension through each area.

3. Understanding breath. Gurudev explained the energizing nature of inhalation and the relaxing effect of exhalation.

4. Observing the mind. Rather than resisting thoughts or sounds, people were guided to witness them without judgment and let them pass.

5. Chanting Om. The group chanted together. Om is described as the sound of love and peace, intended to create a harmonious vibration.

6. Letting go. Participants focused on the space above the head and released effort, allowing the mind to expand and the body to relax.

7. Closing with a smile. The session ended with a “smile meditation,” cultivating the feeling of a smile reaching through every cell.

Context: Global Mental Health
The event also highlighted the increasing urgency of mental well-being. Several statistics were shared: 1) One in four people globally experience mental health challenges, 2) Nearly half of people in the United States report loneliness, 3) A life is lost to suicide every 40 seconds.

Gurudev emphasized that meditation is a necessary tool for both personal and societal peace. Research shows more than 100 benefits, including enhancing immunity and reducing harmful gene expression tied to illness.

Announcements and Recognition
Two major developments were announced:

1. Partnership with Gallup. John Clifton, CEO of Gallup, introduced a historic collaboration with the Art of Living Foundation. Gallup will begin tracking meditation as it relates to well-being in 140 countries, creating the first global dataset focused on solutions to mental health issues rather than documenting only the problems.

2. Government Support. Fifty proclamations were issued by U.S. states and cities. Members of Congress acknowledged World Meditation Day and Gurudev’s 45 years of service. Illinois Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Mike Quigley highlighted Gurudev’s U.S. and Global contributions and his Art of Living SKY Breath Meditation technique, which has now reached more than 800 million people. SKY is an acronym for Sudarshan Kriya, a unique practice of rhythmic breathing that balances negative emotions and reduces the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, as well as reducing depression and anxiety.  More than 100 peer reviewed scientific studies have been conducted on SKY (www.aolresearch.org)

Call to Action
Gurudev encouraged participants to become ambassadors for meditation. His message was to begin conversations about mental well-being within families, neighborhoods, and communities. He also urged people to make use of programs such as SKY Schools (SKYSchools.org), university initiatives (SKYCampushappiness.org), and support systems for veterans (ProjectWelcomeHomeTroops.org to help spread the practice. SKY Schools teaches educators and students from elementary school through high school how to manage stress, their minds, and negative emotions as well as improve focus and concentration. Research has shown that SKY significantly reduces impulsivity in adolescents.

Participants at World Meditation Day, December 21, 2025, in Naperville, Illinois

Local Chicago Area Celebrations
Locally, we celebrated World Meditation Day in style, with a fantastic turnout of more than 140 people across three locations in the Southwest suburbs and 81 registrations at our Schaumburg venue. The event was graced by esteemed guests, including Aurora Mayor John Laesch, Councilwoman Supna Jain from Naperville, and Deputy General of India Kirti Das.

We were thrilled to receive proclamations from Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamurthi (thanks to Shalini Parekh’s efforts) and Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley, and two proclamations from the Twin Cities of Aurora and Naperville, recognizing December 21 as World Meditation Day every year.

A huge thank you to our teachers, volunteers, and Sangeeta Pande, who generously offered her studio as a location and provided invaluable support. We are also very grateful to Harish Kolsani, who generously provided the venue and audiovisual support for our Schaumburg event, which was organized by Art of Living teacher, Preeti Gupta at the beautiful and spacious National India Hub where future free meditation gatherings will be presented by the Art of Living Foundation team in January and beyond.

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Pam Brockman is a senior faculty member of the Art of Living Foundation (www.artofliving.org) and International Association for Human Values (www.iahv.org) She works with adults, youth (including the new Intuition Process for children ages five through 17), veterans and prison inmates. Her email address is pam.brockman@artofliving.org. Ravi Pasupala is an Art of Living teacher based in Raleigh, NC, and Nabanita is an Art of Living teacher based in Naperville, IL. Shalini Parekh is an Art of Living teacher based in South Barrington, and Preeti Gupta Vora is an Art of Living teacher based in Hawthorn Woods.

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Om on the Range led a yoga fundraiser to benefit Little Brothers Friend of the Elderly

The fundraiser was held in concert with LBFE’s Young Professionals Advisory Board (YPAB), a group of civically minded individuals ages 24 to 40 who organize the fundraising and social and volunteer activities. Om on the Range sends big kudos to the kind YPAB volunteers who did the primary organizing.

More volunteers are needed to visit older adults, drive and accompany them to events, help serve meals, and prepare for outings and celebrations. For more information, visit https://www.LBFEchicago.org.

For more information about Om on the Range’s activities, visit https://www.omontherange.net.

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The post Looking Back, Looking Ahead appeared first on Yoga Chicago.

Having just returned from three weeks of hiking in the UK, now back in his Rogers Park apartment near Lake Michigan, Michael goes for a swim where he gets the idea to hike from his apartment to the Indiana Dunes. The next day he drives along the DuSable Lake Shore Drive and beyond to find a possible walking route, through Chicago and into Indiana’s industrial sites, and books a room for the next night at Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Indiana, where he’ll spend one night mid-way through his 63-mile hike.

He begins the next morning, walking along the familiar beaches of the north side. He takes a lunch break on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago and continues along the lake past the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, McCormick Place, along the south shore beaches, Promontory Point in Hyde Park, and the South Shore Cultural Center.

After some 19 miles, Michael is back on sidewalks for another four miles through the neighborhoods of South Shore, South Chicago, and East Side until he reaches the Illinois/Indiana state line. He enters Hammond, Indiana, walking under a defunct railroad and among the pillars supporting the Indiana Toll Road. He continues to Whiting, past the British Petroleum Refinery, thousands of tons of toxic sludge (called brownfields), and polluted neighborhoods called “sacrifice zones.” After more than 14 hours of walking 28 miles, well past dark, in a questionable neighborhood in East Chicago, he miraculously sees a cab who speeds away, but then turns around and consents to drive him to the casino.

The next day Michael returns to East Chicago, continues on to Gary, and past the Gary/Chicago International Airport. The Indiana lakeshore is dominated for seven miles by a massive steel mill complex and multiple rail lines, off limits to pedestrians, so Michael sticks to the sidewalks. Finally, as he walks through Gary’s Aetna neighborhood, he comes to the beginning of the Dunes and the beach community of Miller at Gary’s far northeastern neighborhood. He realizes he’s arrived at what’s left of Indiana’s forty-some miles of coastal dunes. At last, after some thirty miles, he feels he can finally breathe and free his eyes from the oppressive smokestacks and steel structures and chimneys and “the destructive swath they’ve left behind along Lake Michigan from Chicago to Gary.”

Although he’s been in the park for a while, Michael continues walking on a trail until he comes to a familiar brown sign announcing the American landmark: “Indiana Dunes National Park.” He walks down the paved road, past the entrance, pays the $1 walk-in fee and continues to the dunes and the lake beyond.

In his book, Michael comments on what he sees as he goes, and writes about the architecture and the history of the areas, cultural as well as personal: Columbia College in the south loop where he taught writing classes, the University of Chicago in Hyde Park where he was a post-graduate student of religious studies.

He writes about the origination of the Dunes, the glaciers receding, causing wetlands with swamps and dunes intermixed, the introduction of the railroad, industrial development, and the swamps and dunes becoming areas for sand mining, oil refining, tanning, meatpacking, ice-harvesting, manufacturing, and eventually steel production. Michael is also very knowledgeable about birds and trees and comments on them as he recognizes them. He quotes various philosophers throughout and shares his own insights into life and nature.

This book is of interest to anyone interested in walking, Chicago history, ecology, the environment, or the Indiana Dunes. Michael is also a yoga teacher, currently teaching in Rogers Park.

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Michael McColly is the author of The After-Death Room (Soft Skull Press), for which he won a Lambda Award in 2007 for best spiritual memoir.  His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Review, Marsh Hawk Press, Chicago Review, The Sun, and other literary journals.

Michael has won a Lisagor Journalism Award, Illinois Arts Council award for Prose, Pen America grants, and fellowships from Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, Ragdale, and MacDowell Colony.

He has been a lecturer in Creative Nonfiction in Northwestern University’s Master’s Program in Creative Writing and at Columbia College. He also has taught in Indiana’s State Prisons.

The November–December 2005 issue of Yoga Chicago features an excerpt from The After-Death Room, Michael’s memoir about the lives and work of activists who are HIV positive and live in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Senegal and within the United States. In the excerpt, Michael, who lives with HIV, meets with activists in India where he teaches yoga to the HIVAIDS community. The excerpt, “Sahodaran” can be found at https://yogachicago.com/2014/03/sahodaran-friendship-spiritual-activism-and-friendship-in-an-aids-community-in-india/

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