Friday Rest Fest

Join us Friday afternoons for these contemplative activities specially curated to help you reconnect with your body and feel refreshed for the weekend. Drop in to any class. All are open to the public.

• Sound Bath: 1:00-2:00 pm, Studio 3B, with Selena Cozart, Waverly Davis, and Karianne Michelle
   
• T'ai Chi & Qi Gong: 2:30-4:30 pm, Studio 3D, with Hiromi Johnson
   
• Yoga: 3:00-4:00 pm, Studio 3B, with Allie Redshaw

Sound Baths

A meditative sonic experience that eases stress and cultivates rest. Participants sit or lie comfortably while absorbing gentle vibrations from instruments like chimes, drums, and singing bowls.

Qi Gong

A practice of movement and control rooted in safeguarding and improving health with low-impact, calming forms that restore the body and mind. 

T’ai Chi

An internal martial-art with self-defense applications that strengthens organs, reduces stress, and improves balance, amongst other benefits.

Instructors

Selena Cozart

Selena Cozart has a PhD in Education as well as extensive expertise in facilitating dialogue and community engagement in the service of equity and justice. She offers a “Sound Healing for Leaders” program that supports the qualities of clarity, emotional intelligence, resilience, and the ability to lead with intention and empathy by offering employees the opportunity to experience personalized sound healing sessions designed to enhance leadership effectiveness, reduce stress, and increase overall well-being.

Waverly Davis

Waverly Davis is a trauma-informed facilitator, space holder, and multidimensional mother. Her work weaves together sacred space, sound, and somatics and has supported thousands of people around the world in living with more presence. She’s a graduate of Linda Thai’s Certificate in Somatic Embodiment and Regulation Strategies. She has studied facilitation and space holding with indigenous Mexican medicine woman Azalea Montaño-Kemp and is a graduate of Charlotte James’ Liberation Training program (now called New Old Ways), focused on decolonization and collective liberation.

Hiromi Johnson

Hiromi Johnson was born in Tokyo, Japan and began her practice of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung in 1980 to rehabilitate her knees after surgery. She studied under two Masters of the Cheng-Ming School in Tokyo in 1988 and continued practice after she moved to Charlottesville in 1998. In 2002, she started studying under Grandmaster Wang Fu-Lai, the lineage holder of Cheng-Ming School in Taiwan. She was certified as an International Cheng-Ming Instructor for T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung in 2008 and Hsing-I. Hiromi believes that one of her missions is to help increase awareness of the health benefits of T’ai Chi and Ch’i Kung. In 2004, she founded a non-profit educational organization, the Charlottesville T’ai Chi Center, to reach out to the community.

Karianne Michelle

Karianne Michelle is a well-being expert and the founder of Lofti, where she helps leaders and teams strengthen resilience and whole-person health. She has more than twenty years of experience advising C-suite executives at global brands including State Farm, GE, Abbott, P&G, and Hewlett-Packard. A classically trained vocalist and sound bath recording artist, she integrates sound, breath, movement, and meditation into her well-being work. Karianne is a certified yoga instructor and Reiki Master Teacher Trainer, and is trained in qigong, tai chi, and iRest Yoga Nidra. She has been featured in Oprah Daily and serves as an Expert with the American Institute of Preventive Medicine and Contemplative Instructor for the University of Virginia's Contemplative Sciences Center, where she also co-created Synaisthesis, an immersive sound and light installation in the Conservatory created in collaboration with composer Matthew Burtner, PhD. Karianne is the Ragan Communications Leadership Council Wellness Expert, and her programs have supported communities at Google, Amazon, Boston Consulting Group, and Lululemon.

Allie Redshaw

Allie Redshaw is a Yoga Alliance certified registered yoga teacher with a passion for inclusion & disability advocacy. In addition to facilitating yoga, she is a professional chef (of Sumac Supper Club) and a competitive paraclimber with Team USA. She began practicing yoga as a modality of healing and recovery from a traumatic kitchen injury that resulted in the amputation of her right hand. She was pregnant during this tremendous loss, and the passive movement and adaptations of a consistent yogic practice helped her find a home in her body again. She believes that breathing together and creating shapes with our bodies cultivates the most authentic connection with others and empowers us to support the humanness  of one another. She currently facilitates movement at Hot Yoga Charlottesville as well as the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA and is a Lululemon Ambassador. She most recently started a non-profit called Adapting Together where two limb different athletes and her are creating community for women with disabilities and bringing them into communal spaces to practice yoga.