Relax, Regroup, Reset: A Communal Mindfulness Experience

Join us for a multisensory exploration of movement, sound, and ritual with audio pharmacologist Shannon Harris and yoga instructor Rhya Moffitt.

The evening begins with a Hatha yoga practice grounded in gratitude and enhanced by scented oils crafted by Moffitt. Harris then transforms the space into an immersive experience at the intersection of wellness and the arts, weaving together pure nature recordings and tones, medicinal music, indigenous healing arts, harmonic instrument tuning, sonic/sacred geometry, light therapy, TCM(Traditional Chinese Medicine), 5 Element System Qi Gong, brain/body entrainment, and meditation. The evening concludes with a light seasonal reception.

All APL programs are free and open to the public. To help us continue to provide these programs and build a hub for arts & culture on the South Side, we appreciate donations of all sizes. Your support sustains the rich ecosystem of artists that make the Arts Block so vibrant. To make a donation, please visit our giving page.

Shannon Harris is an award-winning multidisciplinary innovator whose career bridges information technology, anthropology, ethnomusicology, global music studies, and wellness. With over 30 years in the IT sector—including work with Fortune 500 companies—his parallel journey as an artist, DJ, musician, and cultural researcher has taken him across six continents over four decades. A turning point in his life came after battling bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic illness, prompting a deep dive into alternative therapies such as sound healing, acupuncture, meditation, Qi Gong, and traditional medicine. This led to the creation of his trademarked healing systems: Audio Pharmacology™ and Frequency as a Ph*rm*cy™.

Harris is now a leading figure in therapeutic sound science and mindfulness, offering customized sound, light, and aroma experiences across the globe—from Silicon Valley and Hollywood to India and Central America. His work has been featured at institutions like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Adler Planetarium and Sedona Yoga Festival. In 2020, he co-founded Self Care Laboratories LLC, a consultancy focused on well-being. Since 2023, he has collaborated with the Chicago Department of Public Health and DCASE under Healing Arts Chicago and currently serves as the Healing Arts Facilitator at the Englewood Mental Health Center.

Rhya Moffitt is a registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance. She completed 500 hours of study at the Samyak Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda in Mysore, India in January of 2025 where she earned certifications to teach yoga in the styles and methods of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Props, Pranayama, and Yoga Nidra. Rhya’s personal practice focuses on the Ashtanga Primary Series, following the lineage of Sri Pattabhis Jois, and she practices Transcendental Meditation as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. 

Rhya is also a Neubauer Family Fellow and PhD Candidate in the Black Studies cohort in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on Black anxiety, madness, and consciousness, and she is writing a dissertation tentatively titled, “Black Anxiety: Phenomenology, Affect, and Epistemology in the Black Feminist Coming-to-Consciousness Text.” As her work continually probes what Ntozake Shange calls the “metaphysical dilemma” of “bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored,” Rhya views her yoga practice and teaching as a necessary wellness intervention that compliments her intellectual work. 

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