Sunday Somatics – Healing with Yoga
This beginner-friendly yoga series features a heart-centered, healing slow flow practice intimately linked to the Smart's How Do We Heal? 2026-2027 exhibition. Held in the museum lobby, the series features gentle movements and contemplative prompts that begin by exploring the various sources of suffering from which we might seek to heal—the physical, emotional, structural, ancestral—then move to methods and practices for healing. This 75-minute class culminates with aromatherapy, breathwork, and contemplative viewing of intentionally selected pieces from the How Do We Heal? collection. Class is led by certified yoga instructor Rhya Moffitt who guides practice with the intention of cultivating inner stillness, awareness, and presence. In collaboration with Arts + Public Life (https://artsandpubliclife.org/) and Spiritual Life (https://spirit.uchicago.edu/). Free; RSVP encouraged. Limited number of mats available.   The first four sessions move through various sources of suffering: 1. physical (health & illness): October 18th2. emotional (loss, grief, and renewal): October 25th 3. structural / collective (displacement): November 1st 4. ancestral (trauma): November 8th The last two sessions get into the how with a focus on: 5. wholeness, integration, (mind, body, and spirit): November 15th 6. supportive healing modalities (healing objects): November 22nd   Rhya Moffitt holds a RYT-500 certification through the Yoga Alliance. She studied at the Samyak Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda in Mysore, India, where she earned certifications to teach yoga, meditation, and breathwork. Her personal practice focuses on the Ashtanga yoga tradition, bija mantra meditations, and mantra chanting. In Chicago, Rhya teaches and programs community yoga events in conversation with the arts and healing work at Haji Healing Salon, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, and Arts + Public Life. Rhya is also a Neubauer Family Fellow, Lindsay Dissertation Completion Fellow, and PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at UChicago. Her research focuses on Black anxiety, madness, and consciousness. Rhya views her yoga practice and teaching as a necessary wellness intervention that complements her intellectual work.