LPG Webinar: Poetry in Rest

When
29 Feb 2024
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Location
via Zoom

Registration is closed

Brick Books and the LPG invite you to an afternoon of finding poetry in rest. As part of Brick Book’s Poetry at Work initiative, it’s an introduction meant to help people and organizations find respite and resonance with a slower way of being in a world that is aggressively, capital-, clock- and productivity-driven.

We hope it will help you access a practical tool for cultivating pauses and breathing space in work and life, cultivate a sense of embodiment, expand your sense of being grounded, open, and connected, grow your sense of belonging and belonging in time, and develop the skill of attention.

What to Expect

Time for personal pre- and post-reflection

Four to five guided, simple restorative yoga poses (in other words, resting with props), that are entered into with the help of a recited poem, then experienced in silence

Time for group reflection (in the form of an online survey)

How to Prepare

Eat a light-ish lunch or breakfast (depending on when you’ll be joining us in your timezone)

Wear comfy clothes

Set up your space on a thick carpet or a yoga mat over a blanket for warmth

Gather:

3-4 blankets (like wool or woven blankets) or 3-4 thick towels

2 thinnish throw pillows

2-3 really thick books (shouldn’t be a problem!!) or yoga blocks

A couch cushion (the firm seat part) or square yoga bolster

A round yoga bolster (you’ll use blankets/towels if you don’t have one)

Have a scarf or sleeping mask available as an eye-cover

Shut down your email and notifications. Put your phone on airplane mode.

Our Instructors

Brenda Leifso is the finance and operations person at Brick Books. She has taught yoga for over 20 years and has specific training in deep rest and restorative yoga. She is a certified Relax and Renew® Level One Teacher. She is also a poet; her third book of poetry, Wild Madder, shortlisted for the Fred Cogswell award, follows Barren the Fury (Pedlar Press, 2015) and Daughters of Men (Brick Books, 2008), which was shortlisted for an Ottawa Book Award. Her poetry has been published in journals and anthologies across Canada, has won the Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award, and has been short- and long-listed for the CBC Literary prize.

A communications expert and experienced teacher, Brenda has worked with governments, non-profits, literary retreats, start-ups, and individual writers to raise their profiles and to edit their work. She’s taught editing and designed courses at the post-secondary level. She inspires students in every age group with her enthusiasm and warmth.

Alayna Munce is the publisher and editor at Brick Books. Her first novel, When I Was Young and in My Prime (Nightwood Editions, 2005) was nominated for the Trillium Book Award and appeared on the national bestseller list. Alayna has also worked as a freelance fiction editor. In recent years, books she has edited have won and been nominated for many national and regional awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, The Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Trillium Book Award.

Alayna has also worked for over a decade using poetry to craft and officiate custom weddings and funerals. She lives in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto in a bustling household of six, and is slowly at work on a new novel.

Contact Us

The Literary Press Group of Canada
234 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 502
Toronto, ON M4P 1K5

Tel: +1 416-483-1321
Fax: +1 416-483-2510

LPG acknowledges we are hosted on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat. We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and the Inuit people, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to meet and work on this territory.

With appreciation to our funders:

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