Calendar

Travel Schedule– NO CLASSES ON:

April 14-16, May 11-20, 2023

Nikyta’s Current Yoga Classes as of March, 2023

Vinyasa Yoga: Saturday, 9-10:30 am

Hatha Yoga: Tuesday 6- 7:30 pm

At DownDog Studio on Midnight’s Farm: 3042 Center Rd, Lopez Island– please email to reserve your space: nikytapalmisani@gmail.com

Class Packages as of Jan 1, 2023:
Drop in: Sliding scale, $15-20
Packages: 5 classes for $75, 10 classes for $140.
Payments of cash, check or Paypal or Venmo accepted:

PayPal: nikyta4@yahoo.com

Venmo: nikytapalmisani@gmail.com

*************************************************************************************

I also teach every other Thursday, as part of Lopez Island’s “Creaky Yoga” Program for ages 50 and over:
a Gentle Mat class from 9:15-10:15 am
a Chair Class from 10:45-11:45 am

This class is currently meeting in person at Grace Hall, masked, and has a zoom hybrid option.
Classes are a suggested donation of $5-15 sliding scale, and mats and props are provided for in person classes.

For weekly Zoom links and teacher’s schedules: www.creakyyoga.org/schedule

Local food and artistic cartography, an Art Event at Alchemy Arts Center & on Zoom

This coming Friday July 22 (4-5 pm, free) Nikyta Palmisani, Juniper Blomberg, Anya Gleizer and Pablo Fernández Velasco will present at the Alchemy Arts Center on San Juan Island and on Zoom. The upcoming presentation is the result of their ongoing collaboration, in which they employ creative approaches to explore the ways in which coming to terms with existing ecological boundaries can both reveal and transform one’s sense of a place.

Nikyta and Juniper are local Lopez artists. Anya is an artist and researcher at Oxford University, and Pablo is a researcher at Trinity College Dublin. Anya and Pablo are doing a residency in Lopez Island, culminating in the upcoming presentation. Integral to their common project is a focus on local food and the boundaries one encounters in the effort of eating locally and therefore limit the use of non-local resources. The act of procuring, preparing, cooking and eating food (an art ritual in itself) has deep parallels with the act of making art – it reflects how our bodies and spirits are nourished, and also where this nourishment originates from. Thus tracing the flow of energy from sun to farm to pallet to painting reveals the flow of energy and the invisible networks that support our being in place, that ARE the place itself. Our embodied interactions with each step of mindful local eating are a constant interrogation of origins: how far did this food travel to get to my home? Where was it grown and who grew it? How did its transport contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions? How does my eating impact the global climate system; when examined mouthful by mouthful – what boundaries still exist to depending entirely on a local, healthy, sustainable foodshed? It is in attempting to navigate these boundaries through the local eating/art challenge, that our collaborators have started to unearth the very networks that could support a local-based sustainable lifestyle. These questions: How can I support a more resilient, sustainable and equitable foodshed in the place where I live? the very material from which that foodshed is built up.

The project faced an unexpected boundary: even in the local setting of an island we are not insulated from global troubles and pandemics. Anya and Pablo tested positive for Covid upon arrival and therefore spent much of their residency isolating in a garden shed of Lopez Wilde Steading. Determined to continue working despite this turn of events, they decided to work within the very local boundaries fate had dealt them, using the materials and food available in that very particular place (the garden shed) and receiving news

from Nikyta and Juniper as stories and letters. Nikyta and Juniper shared the ins and outs of their local food challenge: stories of where the ingredients came from, as well as the unexpected difficulties, the pleasant surprises, photos of succulent looking meals, and funny anecdotes.

Never stepping out of the shed, and using only materials it provided, Anya and Pablo constructed an imagined map of the island and its food networks based only on the content of the correspondence with Nikyta and Juniper. The result was not a topographic map, but an affective cartography dictated by the experiences of exploring the local foodshed. These correspondences and maps have been transformed into physical letters within envelopes and embedded within the art installation for viewers to explore and examine this Friday July 22^nd.The artists will come together physically and virtually (in the case of Anya and Pablo) to share art, writing, psychogeographic maps, photographs, and reflections on what local eating means in a globalised world and how we can aspire to live within local and planetary boundaries. This artist talk will also be broadcast over zoom:

***Note about rural bandwidth connectivity (or lack thereof): Alchemy Arts Center is situated on 10 acres of beautiful rural land and does not have stable wifi (even though they have 4 different forms of providers!). So if for some reason we are unable to zoom live, we will record the session and post it here by Saturday, July 7/23/22. Thank you for your understanding. *****

Audio file of lecture presentation here: https://we.tl/t-i3As2mEKdz
Please check back for slideshow accompanying audio file which will be posted after August 10, 2022. Thank you!

One of the most magical parts of Summer on Lopez Island is the ability to be embodied and fully immersed in the beauty of nature. Come join Nikyta Palmisani for an all levels yoga class taught outdoors in a shaded pavilion on the Whispers of Nature Herb Garden Labyrinth.

Each yoga class will include a guided labyrinth walking meditation with a different medicinal herb as the weekly theme. Using the metaphors and qualities of each herb you will learn about lavender, echinacea, calendula, and many other herbs growing on the labyrinth within your own embodied exploration on the mat.

Please RSVP to reserve your space by emailing nikytapalmisani@gmail.com.

Drop in classes are $15-20 sliding scale with class packages available. Bring your own mat and props or you are welcome to borrow some on site.

Please arrive 10-15 minutes early to set up your mat as the walking meditation will begin promptly at 9 am.

Whispers of Nature Labyrinth is at 220 Fisherman Bay Rd. To learn more about the Labyrinth: https://whispersofnatureherbs.com/labyrinth/

Looking forward to practicing, healing, and moving with you as we walk this sacred path together.

“Performance Artist Explores Inner & Outer Space of Pandemic Isolation”

How has this year of pandemic been for you? What inner explorations have you traversed? What outer explorations of our planet have you traveled without ever leaving your home, mediated by screens?

On Saturday, March 27th from 9 am – 6 pm, come to the Lopez Village Park to see Space Lotus, an interactive performance piece that seeks to explore these questions about our collective experience of this long year.

The Space Lotus is a performance piece that speaks to our collective experience of isolation to mark a full year of Pandemic lockdown. It features Nikyta Palmisani, who is a Performance Artist and Yoga and Mindfulness Instructor, in a durational performance piece done inside a 4’ x 4’ transparent cube made from wood and plexiglass. The transparent box is a symbol that speaks to many people’s experience of life suddenly restricted to the four walls of our own homes. The other two metaphors included in the piece are of inner and out space exploration. Nikyta has a background in mental health and was constantly wondering how to better help build resilience during the Pandemic for so many struggling with the sudden isolation. She researched two primary groups who have developed working practices for internal self regulation within isolated environments: astronauts and monks/monastics/yogis. These form the symbolic exploration of the piece: what have been our experiences of inner and outer space during the pandemic? Nikyta will have a livestream through zoom where folks from all over the world can participate in facilitated conversations about these explorations. During the performance Nikyta will spend 1.75 hours at a time in each of these two domains: The Lotus, in practices and conversations about mindfulness and our inner experience of the pandemic, and Space: as an astronaut, who spends all of their waking life mediated by screens that connect the small space capsule to the rest of the Earth through virtual spaces of socialization, work, exercise, and dialogue.

Audiences are invited to view and interact with Nikyta in person the day of the event through the Covid safe medium of the transparent cube, or to join the livestream conversations via Zoom.

Hygge in the Heart, Local Authors Book Reading Festival

Hygge is a Danish word and concept, defined as “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being” (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture). Hygge-making items often include good books, warming beverages, candles and firelight, cozy blankets, and time indoors. To create more Hygge on Lopez for the very cold and dark month of January, Nikyta Palmisani, in partnership with Lopez Bookshop is hosting “Hygge in the Heart, Local Authors Book Reading Festival”. This online festival begins Friday, January 8 and runs through Saturday, January 23, 2021. Readings will be done over Zoom on Friday and Saturday nights at 5:30 pm PST for an hour.

Artisan Sale for Winter Solstice,

Saturday, December 19, 2021

12 pm – 5 pm, OakLotus Studio: 1058 Islandale Rd, Lopez Island

Come join Nikyta Palmisani and Matia Jones for a Winter Solstice Artisan sale of jewelry, art cards, visual art pieces and prints.
Only 3 people maximum inside the studio at a time, masked, with HEPA air filter. Fire outside for waiting, with masks and distance. Thank you!

About Matia Jones’ work: All of my artwork is inspired by the natural world. I create with deep gratitude and respect for the magnificent planet that we all share and depend upon. In addition to the forms and creations of nature inspiring my motifs, my processes and materials also reflect this reverence for the earth. All the jewelry is made from responsibly sourced gemstones. The sterling silver is from a net zero company in CO that reclaims and recycles silver. All pieces are one of a kind