Saturdays at 5pm
We’re so grateful for the unique voice that each Cultivate facilitator brings to their classes. If you haven’t had the fortune of meeting her yet, we’d like to introduce you to the one-of-a-kind Nadia Diamanté. Nadia imbues her unique Kundalini & Yogic Sleep fusion class with her signature wisdom and wit (which are often one and the same). Those who have never tried Kundalini or Yoga Nidra are often intimidated due to their unfamiliarity with the practices, but Nadia’s down-to-earth teachings, warm personality, and undeniable sass make these practices accessible and fun to even first time students. Here, in her own words, Nadia illuminates the workings of these practices and the gifts of her signature class:
“My Kundalini Yoga and Yoga Nidra combo class is what I call a nervous system power wash that makes you feel like you slept 10 hours, drank a liter of water, fixed three generations of ancestral trauma, and ate your favorite piece of cake. All at the same time.
In a nutshell, what is Kundalini Yoga and Yoga Nidra?
Kundalini Yoga is called “the yoga of awareness.” While all yoga cultivates awareness on some level, Kundalini uses the technology of reprogramming energetic and physical systems throughout the body to deep clean the energetic field and set the foundation for connecting to the infinite trust of you. In this class at Cultivate, we do light physical movement to warm-up the spinal column and spin the Kundalini energy through the body. I personally find that movement, even very simple movement, brings deeper activation to any meditation and makes the mind very porous and flexible. A flexible spine is a flexible mind! We will then do a Kundalini meditation. It could be breathwork, meditation with intention, or chanting mantra. It really just depends on the theme of the class, which I always base on what I am channeling from the Universe.
Then we get to the Yoga Nidra (aka Yogic Sleep) portion. This is that piece of cake. If Kundalini is moving into the house of your dreams, Yoga Nidra is renovating it and decorating. Many people think that Yoga Nidra has a movement element, so they are confused when they are prompted to lay down and enjoy the journey. Yoga Nidra is the yoga of divine sleep and my main goal is always to deeply restore and reset your nervous system. You are led into intention setting work, body scan, and a guided journey that sinks you deeply into the restorative field of the hypnogogic state. While it is a very systematic and active practice for me as your guide, for the practitioner Yoga Nidra is different because instead of asking you to focus, as many meditations do, it is asking you to dissolve into spacious awareness. The body is free to rest and sleep while the mind can follow along, or melt into a dreamlike state. You get lost in the bliss, and awaken renewed in both the most subtle and the most profound ways.
Both devout Kundalini and Yoga Nidra practitioners report this work helping them to not only release trauma from the body, but also to feel more relaxed than they ever have before. This state of relaxation brings out different reactions to the world and different perspectives. I strive first and foremost for relaxation in my Cultivate class because I believe that we are all suffering from a collective traumatic stress reaction to the world. The best thing we can do to shift the world is to shift our own selves into a state of deep rest, deep unknowing, deep questioning, and deeper remembering so that we can take conscious, actionable steps to help others and ourselves through these times. And if all you want to do is come and sleep a little, come and sleep a little! Come enjoy yourself, too.
See you in class!”
It is such a heavenly combo. Don't forget, all of our classes at Cultivate are low-to-no-impact. This gentle and delicious class is meant for everyone!