Classes and Schedule
Welcome to the Cedar Wind Center. We offer Meditation, Mind-Body Fitness, Tai Chi, and various workshops exploring the mind-body experience. Scroll through to see what we offer. Already know what class you want? Sign up HERE
Class Updates
Check here for all class cancellations, changes, and other timely info
Week of May 4-8 Class Changes:
-No Stretch, Strengthen, Flow classes
-No meditation Tuesday, May 5th
-No Cambridge Tai Chi May 5th
-all other mentoring and Cedar Wind Center Tai Chi continues as scheduled
Workshops & Retreats
Green Tara Follow-up
Thursday, April 23rd, 6-7pm This session will go over the Green Tara Practice to help facilitate personal practice
prerequisite: participants must have attended the Green Tara Empowerment
Qigong
New 4-week qigong class series starts April 6th.
Session 1: Mondays, 6-7pm. April 6, 13, 20, 27
Session 2: Mondays, 6-7pm. May 11, 18, 25, and June 1. NOTE - this session includes Memorial Day, so check your calendar before committing!
Cost: $80 total. Cash or check payable to Cedar Wind Center brought to the first class
Signup: reserve your spot HERE. The signup only shows the first date, but know you are signing up for all four sessions.
More Info: learn more here
Mind-Body Fitness
Stretch, Strengthen, Flow
Our signature mind-body fitness class, SSF is a result of Ben’s inspiration to offer the benefits of all that he has studied in mind-body arts across the world in one flowing experience.. Merging Yoga, Tai Chi/Qigong, Kalaripayattu and athletic training, this class offers a comprehensive wellness experience. Increase flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health, balance and mobility. Importantly, this class offers a unique approach to building proprioception and body awareness. The class begins in flowing movements that encompass a wide range of circular to linear expressions across multiple planes of space. The flow naturally builds from gentle into more challenging movements before shifting into steady strengthening and lengthening postures that gradually reduce intensity to a relaxing finish.
Mondays 8:00-9:00am, Wednesdays 8:30-9:30am, Fridays 8:00-9:00am.
Who: all are welcomed! No experience necessary, and all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend.
Cost: $15 Cash or Check payable to Cedar Wind Center brought to class
Bring: water bottle and your own yoga or exercise mat
Signup: Note: No Classes week of May 4-8
signup opens each Thursday morning around 9:00 for the following week’s classes
please signup for up to TWO classes initially. If a third class date is still available the day after registration opens,, then feel welcomed to reserve a third class for the upcoming week.
reserve your spot HERE
Meditation
SITTING MEDITATION
Meditation is perhaps one of the most important things that we can do, as it cultivates stillness and tranquility as our foundation, with the resultant intuitive insights that occur within that open mental space. Group meditation is a wonderful experience. Coming to the center removes distractions - you are here, now, with nothing to do but sit. We find strength from each other, sitting quietly together. It is powerful to experience many minds merging into one space of stillness.
Each session begins with a short talk to set the intent and offer guidance from foundational to nuanced concepts followed by a brief stretch to open and prepare our bodies to sit. We then sit meditation for 35-45 minutes in two blocks with the opportunity to stand and stretch in the middle. While there is a short talk at the beginning, the intent of the meditation sessions are for them to be highly experiential via the quiet group meditation, as, ultimately, meditation is the process of inward discovery.
Tuesdays, 6-7pm except weeks where Meditation Exploration happen. All are welcomed. Meditation cushions and chairs are provided.
Cost: There is no set cost for this. Please contribute an amount comfortable for you when you come.
Sign Up: reserve your space HERE
MEDITATION EXPLORATION
This session explores different meditation practices each month from the rich traditions of Buddhism and beyond, such as chanting, mantra recitation, bowing rituals, and more.
Next Session: Chanting. May 12th, 6-7pm.
Cost: There is no set cost for this. Please contribute an amount comfortable for you when you come.
Signup: space is limited. SIGNUP HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT
This session will explore a chant with a beautiful range of sound and rhythm. We will utilize a very simple mantra: Namo Amitabha. Within that simple mantra, there will be a soundscape derived from the Korean Zen tradition with a wonderful soulfulness, leading us deeply into a meditative state.
The chanting techniques will be taught, so no experience necessary. As always, NO SINGING SKILLS REQUIRED for chanting! While this practice has a natural musicality, it is a meditation and not a performance, so please do not worry or feel self-conscious. In fact, chanting is a great way to get us out of our heads and into an unhindered flow - break through distractions and saturate yourself in the spirit of sound.
Tai Chi
We currently hold 19 Tai Chi sessions a week through the Cedar Wind Center! Tai Chi offers a lifetime of exploration of our potential. It is a “foundation art” in that it offers insightful ways to approach all of life’s endeavors. Tai Chi has broad reaching benefits across physical, mental and energetic capacities.
Tai Chi Combination Form 42
Over the generations of practice, Tai Chi split into various different styles, with each style emphasizing a certain aspect of Tai Chi. The Combination Form rejoins the four major styles of the Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun traditions back into one form. As such, this form explores the breadth of the Tai Chi tradition. Due to its beauty and complexity, it is used in China for performance Wushu Competitions. We teach a unique version of Combination form 42 that has maintained the beauty of the competition form while also emphasizing clear applications and meditative intents, expressing a full range of health benefits, energy, functional applications, and philosophy. This is a practice of insight through movement as a way of life. Every movement is richly layered with physical skills, internal energy, and a deep philosophical symbolism that turns each step of the form into a meditative journey.
Joining Tai Chi: CONTACT US to join the waitlist for the next beginner class. Tai Chi at Cedar Wind is taught progressively, so is not offered as a “drop-in” or rolling admission style class. All new participants begin together and progress week by week through a comprehensive teaching system.
Ongoing classes: Winter-Spring session for returning students begins week of February 2nd and ends last week of May
no classes: March 2-6
Cambridge Tai Chi Schedule: for Cambridge details, click HERE
Mentoring sessions for existing Tai Chi students:
Monday 5:00pm - Cedar Wind Center
Tuesday 11:00am - Cedar Wind Center
Wednesday 3:30pm - Cedar Wind Center
Thursday 9:00am and 10:00am (10:00 oriented towards beginner class) - Cedar Wind Center
Friday 10:05am - Prima Care 829 Main Rd