UPCOMING OFFERINGS
Yoga Otzma & Hillel Council of New England
6 Session Yoga Series for University Students and Recent Grads
Winter is coming! But first: Chanukah. How can we use a mindfulness-based embodiment practice such as yoga to best prepare our minds, bodies, and spirits to shine through the potential challenges of cold and dark days ahead? You are invited to join Yoga Otzma for a three-week-long, six-session online yoga journey, during which we will explore an invigorating (and relaxing!) pathway towards stress and anxiety reduction, and deepening and strengthening our sense of connectedness to ourselves, to each other, and to our larger communities.
Chanukah also offers us an opportunity to explore the mystical concept of “miracle,” and yoga offers us an opportunity to discover what it means to live our lives as if we are the miracle. Please join us for this unique, community-oriented program and step into winter with strength, grace, and purpose.
REGISTER HERE to reserve your spot!
PROGRAM DATES
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
Yoga Otzma has been truly life-changing for me. If you had told me at the very start of quarantine that I would find a new passion, gain a ton of physical strength, find a new sense of calm, connect with my inner self, and make new friends from my bedroom, I would have never believed you. But here we are eight months later and all of that has come true. I will be forever grateful to Evan and Yoga Otzma for giving students like me a community to constantly come back to and that always feels like home.
— Leah Thomas, Emerson College, Class of ’22
Yoga Otzma has given me a space to reflect on my personal wellness through a spiritual Jewish lens. I never thought that these two parts of my life could be so well integrated and connected, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey that Evan has taken us on and am excited to continue to grow in this way.
Yoga Otzma has been a wonderful opportunity to get to connect with people during covid while learning how to stay in shape. I have made so many wonderful friends and I now love yoga! Evan has made yoga both a supportive, fun experience, and also a strength-building, energizing experience.
— Jordana Meltzer, Emerson College, Class of ’23
Yoga Otzma has been both the comfort and the challenge that my yoga practice needed. I was starting to fall out of my routine before I found this community, and now it offers me communal motivation, structure and dependability, and a sense of accountability to show up more, still with a relaxed, flexible, and judgment-free vibe. Thanks for everything!
— Mel Friedel, American University, Class of ’19
ABOUT YOGA OTZMA
Yoga Otzma began as a collaboration between Artist and Yoga Instructor Evan Joblin, Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) of Greater Boston, and a handful of Boston-area Hillels, with the aim of providing meaningful and practical wellness-based events for students on campus. With the sudden onset of COVID-19 ushering in an entirely new reality, Yoga Otzma transitioned to an online series of workshops, drawing students from schools across the region to practice yoga together in community, from their respective places of residence. As the current situation continues to remain uncertain, Yoga Otzma is committed to helping students build stronger minds, bodies, spirits, and communities, with the aim of repairing the world, from the inside out.
Since April 2020, Yoga Otzma has served students from 30+ campuses across North America, including: Babson College, Becker College, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Brown University, Clark University, Emerson College, Emory University, George Brown College, George Washington University, Harvard University, Hofstra University, Humber College, Johnson and Wales University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Princeton University, Ryerson University, Simmons University, State University of New York (Potsdam), Syracuse University, George Washington University, The Ohio State University, Tufts University, UMass Amherst, University of Delaware, University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, Western Carolina University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
We’d love for you to join us!
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Evan Joblin brings 20+ years of eclectic personal, professional, and educational experience to Yoga Otzma.
Having earned his B.A. in English at the University of Southern California and an interdisciplinary Master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Evan went on to study herbal medicine in Israel, complete yoga teacher trainings in both the United States and Kenya (with Africa Yoga Project), and participate in facilitator trainings in Five Element Dance and Breathwork modalities on a tropical Thai island. He was recently selected as a fellow in the START “Spiritual Entrepreneurship” incubator, a collaboration between the Glean Network and Columbia Business School.
Over the years, Evan has worked extensively in experiential Jewish educational settings, including five years on staff at Eden Village Camp and Eden Village West, and– in collaboration with Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and a number of local Hillel Centers– he has brought Yoga Otzma wellness programming to university students and recent grads all across the Boston Metro and beyond.
In addition to his endeavors in the wellness realm, Evan is a working freelance artist and an avid world traveler. Having explored over 40 countries in the past several years, Evan has been preparing a large-scale painting project based on his adventures. You can see his work in progress at www.evanjoblin.com.