Dance Empowerment & Healing Arts

Dance Empowerment Video

This is a promo for the Women’s Empowerment Ashram I’m working to build in Brooklyn, NY.  This stems from my work as a #ClimateChangeWarriorYogini focused on protecting Mother Earth.  Now I’m interested in integrating Eastern and Western techniques to promote health and wellness among millennial women.  Only by spiritual cleansing through yoga, dance, music, and other art forms as well as proper nutrition, diet, workouts, and mental health and professional counseling can the young women of today avoid the pitfalls of today’s fast paced unhealthy celebrity focused social media platforms where bullying, comparisons and jealousies, and a race to the bottom are so dominant.  We will combat these unhealthy socialization patterns through creating holistic pathways for integrated health, happiness, and empowerment.

#CoolBigSisNYC

#ZoukFusion

#DanceEmpowerment

sonalipchitre.com

What Yoga Means to Me

I started doing Hatha yoga when I was a child with my mother - around 3 or 4 years old.  Then I did yoga daily at Chinmaya Mission in Maryland from the ages of 7 to 12.  It was very life changing for me - I was very flexible, and I loved meditating about Shiva - I could see his blue throat very clearly through my third eye.

I've always loved the body - mind - spirit connections that yoga builds.  Yoga is also not just about gyan (knowledge), but about bhakti (faith) and karma and dharma - or doing good works because they are your duty.  This devotion to a yogic lifestyle is why I decided to become a public interest international environmental lawyer.

I recently got back into yoga after only doing it sporadically during my college, law school, and NYC days.  I have tried Vinyasa Flow, Hot Yin, Bikram, and many other styles that incorporate different elements.  I’ve also been lucky enough to find a singing teacher who practices reiki and guided mediation.

The amazing thing about the throat chakra is that you really have to open your lower chakras first to access it.  I gained so much confidence from this latest yoga retreat in Colombia, South America organized by awesome teachers Loren and Bea from Yoga Works in LA.  We did a lot of kirtan, chanting and singing to mother Earth in English, Spanish, and Sanskrit!  The gorgeous voices of the faithful practitioners were so beautiful.

Yesterday I went back to the ballroom studio, Stepping Out in Manhattan, to work with Nikolai Shpakov on International Latin dancing - Rumba and Samba in particular.  I felt much more grounded, flexible, and lean and toned.  I love how yoga and dance go together!