Lisa Johnson

Summer 2015: Free Yoga Classes in Providence, Rhode Island

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*Updated 6/8/2016* Since there was very little response to this post and the FB Community, I don’t plan to do an update this year. If that changes, I will let you know!

duo yoga pose Since I started listing a schedule of free yoga classes in Boston and the surrounding areas, I’ve started noticing that there are many free yoga classes being offered all over the country. Rhode Island is a close New England neighbor to the south.

Growing up in southeastern Massachusetts, I watched Rhode Island television stations as well as Boston ones. The same went for radio stations. Last year I visited a wonderful Providence restaurant. I had the best time at WaterFire and recommend it to everyone. There’s a lot to love in the Providence area.

Naturally, I became curious about free yoga classes in the Rhode Island area. From my initial research, there are several being offered. Unfortunately, this listing is starting well into the summer, but there are a few weeks left to enjoy what’s left of the season.

Also, a one-off free class is coming up for Labor Day, Monday, September 7th from 9am – 10:30am at Goddard Park on Ives Road in Warwick. The class is being offered by Laughing Elephant Yoga. This yoga studio is also offering some other free community classes that are listed below.

It’s best to bring your own yoga mat to these classes, since they may not be provided.

Please click on the links provided in each listing to check on the classes and/or check the Facebook pages for further updates. Sometimes outdoor classes are cancelled due to the weather.

Many of these classes are part of a park series that is starting to wind down for the season and I’m not quite positive about the last day of classes, but it looks like they end by August 20th. So check before you go!

In addition to the Free Yoga Boston Facebook Community, I have formed a Free Yoga Providence Facebook Community where I will be posting as well. I will be providing more immediate updates there.

Like the listing for Boston, this Providence list will be a work in progress and an experiment. If it’s well received and helpful to people, then maybe I’ll do it again next year. We’ll see. Namaste!

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TUESDAY

Yoga for Honeybees
6:30am – 7:30am

This all levels Vinyasa class is with Joanna at Lippitt Memorial Park, 1001 Hope Street, Blackstone, Providence. Donations will be directed to the Pollinator Stewardship Council. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series.

WEDNESDAY

Free Yoga in the Park
6:30am – 7:30am

Classes are with JoEllen of Providence Power Yoga and are located at India Point Park, Gano Street, Providence. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series.

Prana in the Park
7pm – 8pm

This all levels Vinyasa class is with Christina at Lippitt Memorial Park, 1001 Hope Street, Blackstone, Providence. Donations will be directed to Shri Service Corps. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series.

THURSDAY

Vinyasa Summer Flow
7:30am – 8:30am

Classes are with Lauren at Prospect Terrace Park, 184 Pratt Street in Providence. Donations will be directed to The Laughing Yogi. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series.

SATURDAY

Free Yoga in the Park
7:30am – 8:30am

Classes are with JoEllen of Providence Power Yoga and are located at India Point Park, Gano Street, Providence. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series.

Free Community Classes
3pm – 4:15pm

These classes are offered by Laughing Elephant Yoga taught by recent graduates of the 200 hour teacher training program on the select Saturdays as follows: 8/22, 9/19, 10/17, 11/14, 12/12, 1/2. Enjoy this opportunity to get some free yoga, while an up and coming teacher shares their gift of teaching. Register by clicking here.

SUNDAY

Mixed Levels Yoga
10am – 11:15am

Classes are with Theresa at Roger Williams Park Carousel Village, 1000 Elmwood Avenue, Providence. Part of Fitness in the Parks Providence series. Donations are accepted.

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Image Credit: “Yoga Pose” courtesy of lobster20 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Girls Night Out: Hard Rock Cafe in Boston

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Hard Rock Cafe outdoor seatingLast Saturday was a girls night out!  Two friends and I wanted to get together and just relax. Have a simple meal and some summer cocktails.

I learned that Hard Rock Cafe has special tropical inspired drinks for the summer in mason jars. Who doesn’t love mason jars? Plus, when you order one of these drinks, you get to take a mason jar home! It has a cover and a hole for a straw. I’ve already used mine several times.

So many drinks to choose from!

Summer Splash Daiquiri – BACARDI Limón Rum, amaretto, Finest Call Mango Puree, sweet and sour mix and strawberries.

Hard Rockin’ Mai Tai – Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, BACARDI OakHeart Spiced Rum and amaretto mixed with made-from-scratch lemonade, pineapple juice, grenadine and splash of Sierra Mist®.
Summer Fizz – BACARDI Gran Reserva Maestro Rum and Cointreau Orange Liqueur shaken together with muddled fresh raspberries, Black Cherry Reàl and lime.
Summertime Blues – Fresh blueberries, mint and Blueberry Reàl muddled together with made-from-scratch lemonade and topped with Red Bull Yellow Edition.
Back Porch Tea – BACARDI Superior Rum, Bombay Sapphire Gin, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, iced tea, made-from-scratch lemonade, muddled basil and mint with a hint of Monin Cucumber.
Hard Rock Cafe Cocktail Back Porch TeaMy friends had the Summer Splash Daiquiri and Summertime Blues. I was intrigued by the Back Porch Tea.
It actually had a cucumber in it! Mine was not too sweet, plus nice and minty.

We all enjoyed our drinks and our mason jars to go! Our meals were delicious too. The servings are huge, so you won’t leave hungry.

For dinner, I had a veggie burger and parmesan fries.

The parmesan cheese sprinkled on the fries was a nice touch. The veggie burger was remarkably good.

I’m often hesitant to try veggie burgers when I eat out, because they can be quite bad. This was such a pleasant surprise. It was made of black beans, but didn’t have a bean consistency. If I recall correctly, the burger was topped with a huge mushroom and roasted tomato. It was quite divine actually and I’d definitely order it again.

This Hard Rock Cafe location is right across the street from the Millennium Hotel. If you’re staying there while on vacation or business, you’ll have a convenient and good place to eat.

If you’re a local and want to go, it’s right around the corner from Haymarket on the Orange and Green lines, if you’re taking the T.

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After we ate, it wasn’t very late. The night was still warm and there were many people milling about.

Music was playing and Faneuil Hall was just steps away. So we walked around, then sat on a bench and talked. And talked. And talked.

It was nice catching up and enjoying being out. We still remember the winter well and want to make the most of what is left of the summer.

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Disclosure: While our meals were free, we truly enjoyed them!

In Light of Venus in Retrograde ~ @CoherenceMovie

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Sci-fi movies are a guilty pleasure. I love a good dinner party. And with the recent blue moon, Venus in retrograde, and Jupiter getting ready to move into my sign next week, I’m feeling like COHERENCE could be an interesting movie.

So after seeing the library promote it as a new movie title, I just put the DVD on hold.

On the night of an astronomical anomaly, eight friends at a dinner party experience a troubling chain of reality bending events. Part cerebral sci-fi and part relationship drama, COHERENCE is a tightly focused, intimately shot film that quickly ratchets up with tension and mystery.

Will I enjoy it or will it be another two hours of my life that I can’t get back? I’ll report back!

*Updated 8/13/2015* Happy to report that I loved this movie! I definitely recommend it. It’s not what you think it is and I’m not even sure it’s possible to really figure it out, but it’s fun trying and I survived another retrograde!

Afro Flow Yoga: Schoolmaster Hill in Franklin Park

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“Like” Free Yoga Boston on Facebook to get updates to the class listing and find shorter-term classes and last minute classes that are not added to the big list.

Subscribe to the mailing list and be first to know about yoga news, classes and special offers!

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Afro Flow Yoga ClassThis morning, I finally made my way to a free yoga class in Boston! It was an Afro Flow Yoga® class taught by founder, Leslie Salmon Jones.

The class was wonderful! It was quite a workout and very hot under the bright morning sun. I worked up quite a sweat!

There was live drumming by her husband and co-founder Jeff Jones. Looking over the vast green space, it felt tranquil and what I imagine Frederick Law Olmstead may have hoped for in the future for this space he designed.

Schoolmaster HillIt was nice being in a yoga class where I wasn’t the only diversity. After all, brown people invented yoga, but often when yoga is shown in the media, it is usually very young thin white women who are portrayed. Yoga is far more than that. It is for every body.

In addition to it being a multiracial group, there were people of all ages and several men too.

Stone Walls Schoolmaster HillAs we moved to the beat of the drums, our teacher asked if we could feel the ancestors. I felt warm and happy thinking about those who came before me and thankful for this day and this time.

The drums added a deeper layer of spirituality to the class. While the class made me feel at one with the African Diaspora, the stone walls felt Druid and Stonehenge too. Very ancient. It was fitting that we are still under the influence of a blue moon.

There is a lot of history in this place. Schoolmaster Hill got its name from Olmstead who named it after poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a schoolmaster in Roxbury. He lived in a cabin here, before there was a park.

While he may not have been happy living there, centuries later, on a very warm Saturday on the first day of August, unlike Emerson, I did indeed find a slice of happiness on that same Schoolmaster Hill.