Thursday   

This class is for students who have taken the "Birding in the Chico Area" class more than once. We will not cover birding basics and will spend more time in the field. We will meet once a month at different locations for field trips that may involve 2-3 miles of walking.

Join us for a leisurely walk of up to four miles along the tree-lined shore of Paradise Lake. Let's connect with nature in a way that stimulates our senses and unclutters our minds while enlivening our bodies with easy walking. Let your to-do list take a back seat for a while and allow the nurturing energy of Mother Nature to slow you down as you appreciate the tranquility of your surroundings.

We will explore the beautiful Bobelaine Audubon Sanctuary, hiking 5-6 miles of gorgeous, pristine riparian habitat. Mostly flat, but can be uneven and muddy depending on the weather. You should be fit for moving at a quick pace. We will hike through mature oak forest, open grassland, sloughs, a small lake, mixed riparian woodland, and the west bank of the Feather River with over 200 bird species reported.

This is the shortest of the six major Yang-style tai chi movements, taking about six minutes to complete. Tai chi is known for developing balance, strength, and flexibility. It is a form of meditation in movement. In this class you will learn all 24 forms and by the end be able to join other groups wherever you go.

Where safety meets socialization! Join Butte County Public Health for walks around Chico and learn how to be a safer pedestrian every time you leave your house. Pedestrian safety is an important topic, as everyone is a pedestrian. During this class we will go for social walks, identify how we can get around safer, and get to know each other all at the same time. Safety items will be provided to participants of the class and each walk is about 1.5 miles long.

Let go of stress and come home to yourself. Over millennia, the sages of the Himalayan Yoga Tradition developed highly effective methods of movement, relaxation, and meditation. In this study group you will learn foundational practices from the Himalayan Yoga Tradition. Each session will have three phases: gentle movement and breathing, deep relaxation, and meditation. Members can expect to leave this class refreshed. Please note that the movements taught in this study group are not acrobatics. They are suitable for people with no yoga experience. If you've attended yoga classes and found them to be too strenuous or otherwise challenging, this study group is for you.

This class is for both beginning and experienced birders. Through observation and the use of binoculars, field guides, and birding apps, class participants learn to identify birds in their natural habitat. We will meet once a month at different birding locations for field trips that may involve 1-2 miles of walking.

This class is a chance for you to explore and reveal your truest movement potential. The class starts with a gentle warm-up for the body-mind-spirit. It progresses to movement phrases guided by the teacher and interpreted by you for your own best interests. Dancers will explore time, flow, breath, weight, space, balance, imagery, focus, memory, relationships, harmony, and disharmony. Maybe you will also unlearn some movement habits that no longer serve you.

If you can't draw, know that it's not your fault. You weren't taught properly. First published in 1979, Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain applied brain science to drawing instruction. Using her teaching techniques to bypass our internal barriers and connect us to our innate ability to draw, we learn we can do more than we believed. If you want to start exploring art classes but still draw like a child, start here. Stick-figure level drawing skill is perfect and welcome.

Author Zora Neale Hurston, anthropologist and folklorist, was a prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance. Her thoroughly-researched novel, published in 1937, follows the fictitious life of Janie Starks, a Black woman in Florida, from her 1890s childhood through her third marriage in the 1930s. Join this learning through conversation seminar as we follow Janie, her husbands, her friends, and even her enemies through their lives, joys, and sorrows within their entirely segregated communities.

Exercise your thinking skills with a collection of games and puzzles that involve logic, deductive reasoning, observation skills, critical thinking, and strategy. Solve mysteries, spot fakes, and enjoy a little friendly competition. Join discussions about evaluating reliable sources and the impact of AI on our filters and perception of reality. This playful class aims to challenge your brain in a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere.

Chico State's tradition of academic excellence goes back more than 130 years. Numbering over 1,000, Chico State's graduate students are often doing exciting and relevant work of their own. This class will give you a chance to hear some of them talk about their original research, centered around their theses.

Most women have a variety of casual friends with whom they socialize, yet many women feel they don't have deep emotional closeness with enough of those friends. They long for more intimate friendships where they feel truly known at a deeper, more personal level. This class will explore how to develop deeper meaningful friendships between women, as well as share our own experiences. Topics will include friendship myths, types of friendships, unhealthy friendships, steps in developing meaningful friendships, and mutual sharing and self-disclosure in friendships.

Do you draw, write novels, knit, paint, collage, hook rugs, embroider, or make any other art or craft? Do you need an impulse to get you going? Instead of doing it alone, come to the OLLI Creation Zone. We will have tables (with plastic sheets covering them to allow for messiness) and chairs set up. You bring yourself, your ideas, and your materials. No instruction, no demands, just a group of people creating in comradery.

Join us for dinner and a show! We will enjoy a pre-show dinner followed by a play at a local theatre. Dinners are optional and will be scheduled closer to the dates of each performance. Come enjoy local talent and socialize with fellow show lovers.