In-Person: Compassion as an Embodied Practice – A Half-day Yoga Retreat
with Oneika Mays
Sunday, July 19th, 2026 | 10:00am – 1:00pm ET
Location: New York Insight at 115 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
There is suffering in the world, and many of us are asking: how do we respond?
This half-day retreat explores karuna (compassion) as embodied practice – putting compassion into action starting with yourself. Through therapeutic yoga and yoga nidra, we’ll honor the body as sacred space, learning to move with care rather than force.
We’ll spend most of our time in longer asana sequences designed to help you notice where you hold tension, where you resist, and how to tend to yourself with compassion. This is practice in motion, meeting suffering right where you are in your own body.
You’ll learn to respond to your body’s wisdom, to move in ways that support rather than push, and to practice karuna as a lived experience. We’ll close with deep rest through yoga nidra. Everyone is welcome.
In-Person Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
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Bring a Buddy: If you are a member of our Circle of Friends, you’re invited to bring a Dharma buddy to this program for no additional cost. Simply select “1” from the drop-down next to the Bring a Buddy level, and enter your special discount code (provided in your Circle of Friends welcome email) to reduce the price to that of a single, standard registration. This registration will grant attendance for you and your buddy.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Oneika Mays
Oneika Mays is a meditation teacher, E-RYT yoga instructor, and author of Sit With Me: A No BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation (HarperOne, 2026). She specializes in metta (lovingkindness) meditation and has nearly 15 years of teaching experience with an accessible, justice-centered approach that welcomes all bodies, all identities, and all levels of experience.
Oneika has taught for Yoga International, Kripalu, and Embodied Philosophy. She was a Mindfulness Coach at Rikers Island and helped spearhead wellness programming for NYC Health + Hospitals. Her teaching emphasizes that contemplative practice must lead to real-world action and behavioral change.
Oneika completed her 200-hour meditation teacher certification with the Interdependence Project (IDP), where she also served as a mentor teacher. She has studied MBSR, metta, and trauma-informed mindfulness, and is a guest teacher at the Community Meditation Center in Manhattan. Her accessible style of teaching creates space for people to practice being with themselves exactly as they are. She believes that learning to love ourselves is how we change the world.