Early Starting Classes   

No previous Tai Chi experience is necessary. All the movements are slow and gentle, and no martial arts applications will be taught or practiced in this study group. These methods may help lessen body pain, correct spinal misalignment, cultivate a sense of internal energy, and rest the mind. Participants can wear comfortable roomy or stretchy clothing and some soft tai chi shoes or socks to wear on their feet.

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 the first in a planned four-class sequence based on Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Together, the sequence follows the long arc of human history from the origins of the universe to the modern scientific age. This course focuses exclusively on part one of Harari's book, prehistory from the big bang to the threshold of the agricultural revolution. The purpose here is to explore the evidence underlying the starting point for Harari's story of how evolution produced an unremarkable primate – that's us, Homo sapiens – that sort of by accident came to dominate the planet. Throughout the class, particular attention is given to separating well-established evidence from interpretation and informed speculation.

Rachmaninoff and Chopin are two popular classical music composers. Both were concert pianists in their own right and spent much time on stage drawing very large crowds. Their fame, however, was generated by their composing, which has found its way into the standard classical repertoire. Both had difficult times politically with Rachmaninoff falling into disfavor with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and Chopin obtaining more artistic freedom leaving his native Poland for the more appreciative culture and lifestyle of France. Besides performing, both have had their music regularly included in many motion picture soundtracks.