Introducing Omkara Yoga by Octavia Nasr
I write this note after a long absence to update you on my life and my latest projects. This is the first BLOG addressed to my media community and my yoga community together. Both of you have supported me over the years in amazing ways and I wish to one day see you all under one roof. For now, we are under this digital roof and I am grateful for this opportunity to communicate with you.
After the fall of Baghdad in 2003, I took a seven-week vacation to cleanse my mind and my heart from the tension leading up to the battle and fall of Baghdad. During this period of time off, I started practicing yoga and quickly became an avid student of this ancient practice. It supported me through all the ups and downs of a big chunk of my broadcasting career and it provided me a safe haven to balance and ground in the midst of a turbulent and very stressful job. When I was on call 24/7 at CNN and when every vacation was interrupted by breaking news, I turned to yoga every single time to find peace and quiet, to recharge and go back to the grind of a supercharged life and extremely demanding job.
So, in 2014, when I decided to make the shift from full-time business owner and lead media consultant, opinion editorial writer, and political analyst, it was mainly to spend more time doing what I loved to do most, spend quality time with my family and practice more yoga. It wasn’t easy to make the shift, it meant really cutting off social media and moving away from notifications and news-all-the-time to a much quieter headspace.
Since 2014, I completed thousands of hours of yoga certifications. I traveled to India about eight times to spend time with my teachers and experience ashram living. I taught thousands of classes at yoga studios, ashrams, and festivals. I also kept my consulting business and took on a few exciting projects here in the US and abroad.
This year 2020 has been extremely challenging for all of us, me included. I found myself having to reinvent my offerings as a journalist and as a yogi. The result was a revamp of the website octavianasr.com to reflect all my yoga activities since this is now the breadth of my existence. I plan to revive my political writing in English and Arabic around the Spring of 2021 and will share it with you when that happens. I have made and will continue to make appearances on global media channels, something I have done with our election 2020 and will continue to do occasionally in the future. As a matter of fact, as you are reading this early, you can catch my live appearance on BBC Arabic at 5p GMT or online after.
I would love for you to become a subscriber to my newsletter, I promise not to bombard you with unnecessary emails. I also hope to hear from you with updates about your life or the things you might like me to write or speak about. If you choose to unsubscribe, I totally understand and I wish you well always. For now, please check out the new website, sign up for a class, a package of classes, or a membership and I’ll see you all on the mat.
I launched my online community, Omkara Yoga, only a month ago and the response has been amazing to say the least. Twenty members signed up and took classes. Two Founding Memberships were snagged. Only two remain. I received your feedback about the offerings and will be making changes accordingly. Our first change is the current Wednesday 7:30p Yoga Nidra will become a Restorative & Yoga Nidra class, still 60 minutes. You will be able to use your class passes for that and it will be included in your packages as well. Please check the website for passes and schedules and let me know if you need assistance. I will offer one scholarship and one Karma Yoga trade-in package. If anyone is interested in such an exchange, please reach out to me to discuss.
Looking forward to communicating more regularly and to staying in touch. Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, HAPPS.TV or Medium.
