$200 Value Your personal 1:1 yoga session for any level, and your choice of class: strong, energy or restorative. The form of yoga that I teach is called “Strala Yoga”. It helps you to shift the focus from pushing, into ease. The yoga flows are designed to focus on your movements, your breath and the way you feel. When you connect your breath to your body, you’ll see that the practice becomes one of ease and joy.

$175 Value A personal 1:1 session to help you delve deeper into your practice. This could be to answer questions, guide a practice, have a Dharma discussion, or for MSRB teachers to speak about whatever arises in teaching. Elaine Retholtz has been studying and practicing the Dharma since 1988. In addition to teaching Dharma at New York Insight, she is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher and has a deep interest in helping students integrate mindfulness practice into daily life. Elaine is committed to deepening her own understanding of issues of diversity and the way racial conditioning in the United States affects all of us — both as individuals and in relationship to the institutions we are a part of, including New York Insight. She’s been involved in New York Insight’s diversity efforts for many years, serving on the diversity committee, and working with others to create spaces – for diverse groups of practitioners as well as for white practitioners meeting separately – to explore these issues within a Dharma frame.

$200 Value Experience a one-hour, personalized nature meditation session in Madison Square Park, complete with Q&A. Discover how to embark on an inner and outer adventure, grounding yourself in the beauty of the park while cultivating a deeper connection to yourself, others, and the world around you. Lin Wang Gordon has dedicated over a decade to studying insight meditation (Vipassana) and has recently deepened her practice through the Tibetan Dzogchen traditions. She graduated from Mark Coleman’s Awake in the Wild Nature Meditation Teacher Training in 2017 and is currently enrolled in the Community Dharma Leaders Program (CDL7) at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Lin has gained experience leading ecodharma retreats and co-founded the Sacred Earth Sangha of the New York Insight Meditation Center. In addition to sharing earth-based practices and ecodharma, she hopes to guide others in meditation to foster inner transformation and cultivate a deeper sense of purpose and belonging in everyday life.

$150 Value An in person restorative yoga class for up to five people - a passive/receptive experience suitable for any and all (or no) experience with yoga. The winner will schedule this session (with Ann) to be offered here at NYIMC’s beautiful new home. Reinhabit your body, and calm and center your nervous system. Ann Megyas has practiced meditation and yoga in various traditions beginning in the 1970s. Her teaching certifications include a 500 hour vinyasa teacher training with Cyndi Lee, a 200 hour Kripalu Yoga teacher training, Jivana Heyman’s Accessible Yoga teacher training, and trauma-informed yoga trainings with Hala Khouri and with Warriors at Ease. Ann has specialized in yoga for arthritis, postnatal conditions, and multiple sclerosis, among others. So, she knows very well how to meet you where you are whether you’re a seasoned yoga practitioner or brand new to the physical practice.

$200 Value *We will be selecting 3 winners* Brian Simmons is a longtime teacher at New York Insight. He is a former award-winning Writer/Producer for Comedy Central and is currently a District Level administrator for a Westchester School District. Brian has pioneered the use of mindfulness in diverse educational environments, and published a chapter on Mindfulness in a college textbook on lowering school violence from Springer Publications in 2023. Brian has maintained an intensive daily practice since the 1990’s and completed teacher trainings at the Center for Mindfulness at UMASS Medical College as well as the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. Brian’s mindfulness work in education has been featured in a documentary on Audible, a NY Times cover story and various other outlets.

Join Gary for his Self Compassion course on the evening of January 23rd “When we react from this small, contracted place, caught in self-judgment, we’re cut off from our full intelligence and creativity, trapped in limiting beliefs and distorted actions. Imagine if you were freed from the collective self-critical voice, how much more energy and creativity would be released.” Gary Singer is a teacher of New York Insight and a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader’s teaching program. He’s been practicing vipassanna meditation since 1992 and integrates mindfulness into his psychotherapy practice. As a founder of NYI’s Family Sangha program, he writes and gives workshops on mindfulness, stress reduction, work/life balance, and intercultural/interracial relationships.

$450 Value Booker is a heart – centered, spirit – driven activist and meditation teacher committed to creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing. She completed Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training in 2020, and shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with New York City’s most vulnerable populations for over a decade. Booker has co – authored and contributed to several publications including the trauma – informed anthology Practicing Liberation and its accompanying workbook, for folks working towards social justice. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement.

$75 Value A collection of vegan cooking items accompanied with a cookbook.

$300 Value Nancy has been practicing meditation since 1996. She has been a member of NYIMC since it’s inception in 1997. Her first teacher Tamara Engel was one of NYIMC’s founders. Nancy has taught broadly on the Dharma since her graduation from the Community Dharma Leader Teacher Training Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2012. Since 2013 she has been a core teacher for the NYIMC Aging as a Spiritual Practice sangha and courses. Since 2019 she has been a core teacher for the Life and Death year long courses. Her primary teacher since 2012 is Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia.

$250 Value Amy Selzer has been practicing vipassana meditation since 2002. She completed two year-long classes on Integrated Study and Practice with Andrew Olendski. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program. After she graduated, she saw a need to address the aging population. She is one of the founders of that sangha, Aging As A Spiritual Practice, which meets weekly to this day. She has also been one of the core teachers in the year- long Death and Dying classes. She has served as Co-Chair on the Teacher’s Council for over 3 years. Amy’s former career was team- teaching young children in an inclusion program for children with and without special needs. In addition, she worked with and supported the parents of those children. She is particularly passionate about the dharma and the aging population, as well as all other practitioners.

$150 Value Lani Miller has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1976. She is a graduate of the third Community Dharma Leaders Program. Lani is also a graduate of the MMTCP – “Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program” and “The Mindful Mentor Training Program.” As a teacher, Lani values the opportunity to be a “channel” for supporting individuals and groups to find and explore spiritual truth through their own present moment experience. As part of this, she feels honored to introduce beginning meditators to meditation.

$200 Value David Grogan joined the New York Insight Teachers Council in 2023 after a decade of service as a practice leader with the Brooklyn Sangha and the Aging as a Spiritual Practice Sangha. He is also a member of the teaching team for Space2Meditate.com, an online community of dedicated practitioners co-founded by one of his longtime mentors, Jon Aaron. David is a qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor and he completed a yearlong Mindfulness Training Institute (MTI) teacher training program under the guidance of Mark Coleman and Martin Aylward. Insatiable curiosity is a catalyst in his life and practice, and he delights in accompanying others in the process of discovery.

$75 Value Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Carmel Harry and David Strawberry Flavored Short Bread Cookies Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles Lieve Dark Chocolate Enrobed Biscuit with Dulce De Leche Filling The Popcorn Factory Carmel Popcorn Hammond's Candies Mini Cocoa Waffle Cookies Pirouline Dark Chocolate Creme Filled Wafers Walkers Shortbread Finger Cookies Robert Rothchild Sourdough Pretzels Jolie Chocolate Flavored Tartelettes

$160 Value Join Marijke Eliasberg, a certified shifu (teacher) of tai chi, to reconnect with your body and breath, and empower yourself with basic tools to help maintain a balanced and healthy mind. Eliasberg is a long-time student of the tai chi Great Grandmaster William C. C. Chen, and is excited to share the joys of practicing this art with the NYI community. 8 week series at NYIMC

$120 Value Saturday, January 25th, 2025 from 10:00am - 4:00pm ET In Person or Online at NYIMC in partnership with the Community Meditation Center Join teachers Bart van Melik, Guiding Teacher of Community Meditation Center, and Leslie Booker, Guiding Teacher of NYIMC, for a day of practice and communal reflection. Participants are encouraged to slow down, drop into their experience, and find support in both stillness and shared connection. Drawing from personal experiences and insights, Bart and Booker will share wisdom on navigating critical or anxious inner dialogue, finding peace amidst life’s challenges, and uncovering the innate qualities of the heart. By taking refuge in the heart of kind awareness, we can listen to the truths of the present moment, bear witness to our personal and social pains, and find peace in our own awakened hearts.

A signed copy of Angela Dews' books Still, in the City and Harlem Hit & Run *We will be selecting 2 winners* Angela Dews found the dharma in 1996 on retreat from journalism, politics and government at Vallecitos Mountain Ranch in New Mexico. She is fictionalizing those experiences in a series of novels set in Harlem. Harlem Hit & Run is the first and is available now. She is a graduate of the fourth Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock. She began dedicated practice at Deer Park In California with Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. Venerable Pannavati Bhikkhuni is her teacher now and she is building community in her Harlem Insight Sangha.

A signed copy of Rebecca Bradshaw's new book Down to Earth Dharma: Insight Meditation to Awaken the Heart Most of us are used to living busy, productive, independent lives, but we have less experience with letting go, listening deeply, and embracing vulnerability. When these more “active” traits overpower the “receptive” ones, we don’t just feel a lack of harmony within ourselves—we also create a world built on domination, destruction, and oppression. This imbalance has made us strangers to our own hearts and bodies and disconnected us from the world around us, obstructing our path to inner freedom and connection. It isn’t sustainable—but it can be changed.

A gorgeous large style vase in a natural color selection of burnt red and tan with patterned design detail.

$75 Value This Reiki Infused and Smudged with Palo Santo painting is called Solar Plexus. Palo Santo was used in order to enhance the healing energy of Reiki. This painting can be used for spiritual guidance and healing. It helps with centering, grounding, relieves stress and anxiety. It can enhance the energy in any room!

$120 Value Virtual 75 minute guided healing breathwork session. No experience is necessary. Courtney Eller Williams will teach you the breath technique, what to expect in the session and some of the benefits of this powerful practice. Next, I will guide you on a breath journey, clearing mental chatter and releasing stuck tension and energy in the process, paving the way for deep relaxation and expanded awareness. 6/31/2025 Expiration www.courtneyellerwilliams.com

$160 Value In a 75 Minute Virtual session, Discovering your Type - Enneagram Typing Interview. An enneagram typing interview is designed to help you discover your Enneagram type (plus Subtype/Instinctual Sequence). Through our dynamic discussion, your core motivation (how our Type is determined) is uncovered. You'll discover the impact of your Enneatype on everything from relationships, to priorities & values, to how you show up in your everyday life. Post interview, you will receive informational material for further reflection and a 30 minute follow up call. Expiration Date: 6/30/25 www.courtneyellerwilliams.com