Writing Workshops

Yoga & Creative Writing: Getting to the Roots of Creativity with Dawn Raffel (Sold Out)

$125

3 Sessions via Zoom

Out of stock

Once a week Saturdays, 10:00 am EDT - 11:45 am EDT October 10 to October 24, 2020

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This workshop has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Thierry Kehou at [email protected].

This three-session, mixed-genre class will incorporate gentle movement, breath-work, and yoga philosophy to tap into deeper levels of consciousness and creativity. Each session will also include discussion and/or interactive written exercises.

  • Class #1 Beginnings: We will begin with a gentle vinyasa (flow) class, with the theme of beginnings. After a five minute break, we’ll have an interactive discussion about what makes for a great beginning, with specific examples. The group will also be given an assignment to share in our third meeting.
  • Class #2 Getting to the truth: Regardless of whether we’re writing fiction, memoir, or narrative nonfiction, we ultimately want to get to the deepest truth. But what is that truth? Is the truth deeper than the story your mind is telling you? This session includes breath-work, two in-class writing exercises, and a yoga nidra (guided meditation). Participants will be given a breath-work sequence and a yoga nidra recording that can be used at any time.
  • Class # 3 Sustainable writing: We will begin with a very gentle vinyasa (flow) class, with the theme of balance and structure. After a five minute break, we’ll have a discussion structure and sustainable writing, and we will share our assignment from the first session.

Capacity: 12 students

This workshop will take place online via Zoom. Participants will receive instructions for access prior to the first session.

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Led by

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    Dawn Raffel

    Dawn Raffel

    Dawn Raffel is the author of five books, most recently The Strange Case of Dr. Couney, which NPR selected as one of the great reads of 2018.  Previous books include two critically acclaimed short story collections, a novel, and a memoir. Her work has appeared in  O, The Oprah Magazine,  BOMB, NOON, The Anchor Books of New American Short Stories and many other periodicals and anthologies. She has taught creative writing at Columbia University; Summer Literary Seminars in Russia, Canada, Lithuania, and in the Republic of Georgia; and at the Center for Fiction. A 200-hour Yoga Alliance certified instructor with additional certifications in yoga nidra and prana vidya, she combines the practice and philosophy of yoga with MFA-level writing tools.

By Dawn Raffel

  1. . 
    couney

    The Strange Case of Dr. Couney

    By Dawn Raffel

    Published by Blue Rider Press

    PURCHASE

    What kind of doctor puts his patients on display? This is the spellbinding tale of a mysterious Coney Island doctor who revolutionized neonatal care more than one hundred years ago and saved some seven thousand babies. Dr. Martin Couney’s story is a kaleidoscopic ride through the intersection of ebullient entrepreneurship, enlightened pediatric care, and the wild culture of world’s fairs at the beginning of the American Century.

    As Dawn Raffel recounts, Dr. Couney used incubators and careful nursing to keep previously doomed infants alive, while displaying these babies alongside sword swallowers, bearded ladies, and burlesque shows at Coney Island, Atlantic City, and venues across the nation. How this turn-of-the-twentieth-century émigré became the savior to families with premature infants—known then as “weaklings”—as he ignored the scorn of the medical establishment and fought the rising popularity of eugenics is one of the most astounding stories of modern medicine. Dr. Couney, for all his entrepreneurial gusto, is a surprisingly appealing character, someone who genuinely cared for the well-being of his tiny patients. But he had something to hide . . .

    Drawing on historical documents, original reportage, and interviews with surviving patients, Dawn Raffel tells the marvelously eccentric story of Couney’s mysterious carnival career, his larger-than-life personality, and his unprecedented success as the savior of the fragile wonders that are tiny, tiny babies.

About this series

Writing Workshops

We strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

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