This class will be offered at the White Heron Sangha Meditation Center in Avila Village.
As the year turns and the days reach their quiet stillness, we come together to honor the Winter Solstice — a time to pause, reflect, and renew.
Join us in community as we look back on the joys and challenges of 2025 through reflection, movement, meditation, and heartfelt conversation. We’ll practice deepening our awareness of the light that continues to guide us — both within and among us.
Whether you join in person or online, this gathering offers a space to rest in gratitude, wisdom, and connection as we welcome the return of the light, and the joys, challenges, and the ways our Dharma practice has supported us through it all.
We will begin with a meditation and Dharma talk on Reflecting on Our Dharma Practice led by Ali Hedayat. After a short break, Laura Liss will guide us through gentle movement, helping us settle into our bodies with calm awareness. We will conclude with chanting, Q&A and group reflection.
- This is a free community event. All donations are warmly welcomed — 100% of contributions will support the Pantry Project and the SLO Homeless Project.
- All are welcome! No prior experience is necessary.
- While there is no fee to attend, registration is required for planning purposes.
- This retreat will take place at the White Heron Sangha Meditation Center and on Zoom.
Items to bring to the center or to have available at home:
* A yoga mat, blanket, and if you have them – bolsters/cushions.
* Paper/journal and pen/pencil – if you’d like to write down your reflections.
Remember to wear comfortable clothing! Tea and snacks will be provided at the center.
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This class will be offered at the White Heron Sangha Meditation Center in Avila Village.
The series will explore several formal meditation practices and is designed for people who would like to learn about meditation, establish a consistent practice or refresh current practice.
The basics will include grounding posture, anchors to present moment experience, lightly guided practice and gentle inquiry. As we cultivate our natural capacity to observe direct experience through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (the body, feelings, mind and phenomena), we’ll also explore the motivation and dedication of practice which is to benefit all beings, as well as the significance of the three jewels – the Buddha, dharma and sangha.
- Beginners and all levels are welcome!
- Space is limited and registration is required.
- There is no fee for this class and dana (donations) will be accepted.
In one of the Buddha’s earliest teachings on the path for the realization of unbinding, he gives instructions on sustaining focus on the body, internally and externally. In Sanskrit, Yoga means to unite the body, mind and spirit through meditation and movement.
This class will bring together these practices through gentle, mindful movement to help unwind and unbind tension in the body, and will finish with meditation to allow space for relating to the breath, body, thoughts and emotions.
The heart practices of loving kindness, compassion, joy and balanced states will be weaved into our time together.
- Beginners and all levels are welcome!
- Space is limited and registration is required.
- There is no fee for this class and dana will be accepted.
- Bring a yoga mat and any props to support your practice. There are some blocks and cushions available at the center.
Mindfulness through movement is one of my life passions and when beginning yoga many years ago, I was instantly drawn to the connection to the moment through the breath and body. This is still true today and is what guides my meditation practice.
As we age and our bodies change, so do our limitations and abilities. I’ve had to adapt my practice over the years and as an instructor, do my best to offer gentle poses with options that are accessible to many. Releasing and manifesting energy is essential to our health and well-being as well as checking in with how we’re feeling from the inside out.
Each class offers breathwork and a series of gentle poses to alleviate tightness in the shoulders, neck and hips, and increase muscular strength and overall flexibility. Guided movement along with invitations to feel into the moment through the breath and body help cultivate one’s awareness and bring it into every day life.
All levels are welcome! No prior experience is required.
