An Evening of Yogic Philosophy - with Stephen Silver / Yoga Nidra - with Basia / Sound Bath - with Cummings Twins / PAY AS YOU WISH
February 11, 2024 •
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Heathcote & Star, 344 Grove Green Road, Green Grove Room
Basia Zieniewicz
I am a fully qualified and insured yoga teacher, qualified psychedelic-assisted therapist, psychosynthesis coach, and Holotropic Breathwork trainee, currently completing my certification through the Grof Legacy Training. My work weaves together yoga, depth psychology, transpersonal psychology, somatic awareness, Yoga Nidra, breathwork, and the integration of expanded states of consciousness.
My first profession was as a special educational needs specialist pedagogue, working for over 11 years with disaffected and at-risk young people. This continues to shape the way I hold space, with a particular appreciation for highly sensitive people, burnout, existential questioning, spiritual emergence, and those tender moments when we no longer feel we fit neatly into the world.
I began practising yoga in 1999 and trained as a teacher with Sevanti at Unity Yoga in 2019, after almost 20 years of personal practice. Since then, I have completed over 600 hours of further training, including Traditional Vedic Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Katonah Yoga, children’s yoga, trauma-sensitive foundations, and Yin Yoga.
Alongside yoga, I am trained in Psychosynthesis coaching, Conscious Connected Breathwork, and Permaculture Design, and have studied Transpersonal Psychology and Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness under Dr David Luke. Out of both professional commitment and deep personal curiosity, I continue to develop my studies in breathwork, expanded states, spiritual emergence, and the intelligence of the body and nature.
My facilitation style is inclusive, accessible, non-hierarchical, and post-lineage. I’m interested in slowing down, listening deeply, and creating conditions where the body, psyche, breath, and inner wisdom can speak in their own time. I often weave together tenderness and resilience, softness and strength, playfulness and devotion, what I sometimes call subtle activism.
I also work across multidisciplinary collaborations in Europe, including experiential facilitation with the University of Nottingham’s psychedelic programme for medical students through PsycEdu, medicine and breathwork retreats for doctors with Able Integrative Lifestyle Medicine, and harm reduction work with Kosmicare at Boom Festival & ZNA Gathering.
At the heart of my work is a sincere wish to support people back into relationship with their own inner compass. I am still very much a student of this path, allowing the many trainings, teachings, lived experiences, and creative threads to slowly assimilate into something simple, useful, and alive.
I am a humbled co-creator of Yoga In The Stars, our avant-garde yoga club in East London, a space for continuous learning, community, practice, and growth.
I offer group yoga, Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, breathwork-informed practices, 1:1 coaching, psychedelic integration support, and guidance for spiritual emergence.
https://www.wholeexquisiteself.com/
Description
An evening of yogic philosophy with Stephen Silver (Principal for The School of Philosophy and Economic Science - London)
With Yoga Nidra with Basia Zieniewicz and sound bath with the Cummings Twins (Mystery School of Sound)
Bhagavad Gita - A Yogic Philosophy
We are thrilled to announce that Stephen Silver, Principal of The School of Philosophy and Economic Science will be joining us here at Yoga in the Stars for a special evening of yogic philosophy, in a practical exploration of The Bhagavad Gita and how we take these ideas and philosophies into our lives.
The session will bookend with a Yoga Nidra to open the mind towards new and expansive ideas, and close with a sound bath with gongs and other instruments to allow you to let ideas settle in their own way. We will dive into the exploration of the Gita itself and how ideas held within may show up in our lives.
The focus will be Chapter 2.
In chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gītā, Arjuna asks what are the qualities of a wise person, a person of steady knowledge. Krishna answers through the rest of the chapter. The description is interesting and, in parts challenging. More importantly, the description tells us what we have to practise to grow in wisdom, in steady knowledge. We all have the capacity to be wiser than we are already; we all have the capacity to be wise. Krishna’s answer shows us how.
There will be chai and chats afterwards!
This is a Yoga-Social / £0 / Pay As You Wish / Everyone welcome
Starts 630pm
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A bit about the The School of Philosophy and Economic Science and a message from Stephen Silver.
A bit about the The School of Philosophy and Economic Science and message from Stephen Silver.
One of the basic premises in the School of Philosophy is that what we are looking for is already within us. What we are seeking may be expressed in many ways, but ultimately the journey is inwards.
In the School we draw heavily of the ancient teachings from the West and from the East, in particular the teaching of Advaita, non-duality or unity. The Sanskrit word yoga can be translated as union or path. It is a path leading to union with the goal – or more accurately the source.
The School is not religious but it is spiritual. One of the scriptures that we refer to a lot is the Bhagavad Gītā, where the prince Arjuna is led by the teaching of the Lord Krishna from despair to calm resolution.
It will be illuminating, fun and, possibly, challenging.
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For the Waterperry Retreat Programme
The School of Philosophy is running a series of short residentials at its retreat centre at Waterperry, near Oxford. In March, the focus will be on the Bhagavad Gītā and Yoga. The word Yoga is used variously throughout the Gītā. We will study and practise together to gain some understanding of the different ways the word is being used. And I’m delighted that Tarin will be coming to lead some sessions of simple yet effective yoga as a way to help deepen our experience.
The retreat will run from the evening of Monday March 11th to mid-morning on Thursday 14th. The cost is £190.
Link for more information about the Waterperry retreat programme and how to register.
https://schoolofphilosophy.org/products/wrp2023
Waterperry House is a Georgian building in the middle of Waterperry Gardens, one of the top 25 gardens to visit in the country. The gardens were used as the setting for the BBC TV programme Make it at Market, where there are great arial shots of the gardens. Or watch this YouTube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFw9k0VPrA . A description of the house, including the Waterperry Frescoes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtmTdn72ZnU
Stephen Silver
_
With Yoga Nidra with Basia Zieniewicz and sound bath with the Cummings Twins (Mystery School of Sound)
Bhagavad Gita - A Yogic Philosophy
We are thrilled to announce that Stephen Silver, Principal of The School of Philosophy and Economic Science will be joining us here at Yoga in the Stars for a special evening of yogic philosophy, in a practical exploration of The Bhagavad Gita and how we take these ideas and philosophies into our lives.
The session will bookend with a Yoga Nidra to open the mind towards new and expansive ideas, and close with a sound bath with gongs and other instruments to allow you to let ideas settle in their own way. We will dive into the exploration of the Gita itself and how ideas held within may show up in our lives.
The focus will be Chapter 2.
In chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gītā, Arjuna asks what are the qualities of a wise person, a person of steady knowledge. Krishna answers through the rest of the chapter. The description is interesting and, in parts challenging. More importantly, the description tells us what we have to practise to grow in wisdom, in steady knowledge. We all have the capacity to be wiser than we are already; we all have the capacity to be wise. Krishna’s answer shows us how.
There will be chai and chats afterwards!
This is a Yoga-Social / £0 / Pay As You Wish / Everyone welcome
Starts 630pm
_
A bit about the The School of Philosophy and Economic Science and a message from Stephen Silver.
A bit about the The School of Philosophy and Economic Science and message from Stephen Silver.
One of the basic premises in the School of Philosophy is that what we are looking for is already within us. What we are seeking may be expressed in many ways, but ultimately the journey is inwards.
In the School we draw heavily of the ancient teachings from the West and from the East, in particular the teaching of Advaita, non-duality or unity. The Sanskrit word yoga can be translated as union or path. It is a path leading to union with the goal – or more accurately the source.
The School is not religious but it is spiritual. One of the scriptures that we refer to a lot is the Bhagavad Gītā, where the prince Arjuna is led by the teaching of the Lord Krishna from despair to calm resolution.
It will be illuminating, fun and, possibly, challenging.
__
For the Waterperry Retreat Programme
The School of Philosophy is running a series of short residentials at its retreat centre at Waterperry, near Oxford. In March, the focus will be on the Bhagavad Gītā and Yoga. The word Yoga is used variously throughout the Gītā. We will study and practise together to gain some understanding of the different ways the word is being used. And I’m delighted that Tarin will be coming to lead some sessions of simple yet effective yoga as a way to help deepen our experience.
The retreat will run from the evening of Monday March 11th to mid-morning on Thursday 14th. The cost is £190.
Link for more information about the Waterperry retreat programme and how to register.
https://schoolofphilosophy.org/products/wrp2023
Waterperry House is a Georgian building in the middle of Waterperry Gardens, one of the top 25 gardens to visit in the country. The gardens were used as the setting for the BBC TV programme Make it at Market, where there are great arial shots of the gardens. Or watch this YouTube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFw9k0VPrA . A description of the house, including the Waterperry Frescoes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtmTdn72ZnU
Stephen Silver
_