Journey into Embodiment

For many years I have known that my work is with women, especially young women.  There is a deep need in our society for positive role models, especially for women.

We live in a different time than our parents and grandparents.  As young women we now have the opportunity to receive higher education, to create our own work, to travel alone, to express ourselves authentically, and to start families and have babies after experiencing independence.

We have the power to choose.  What do we really want, separate from the pressures of society and what is expected of us.  How can we best move through the world with impeccability and authenticity?

For me, dancing has been one of the most liberating, healing, joyful expressions of my true essence from the time I was a girl up into my adult years.

I then had the opportunity to explore myself, my life history, my beliefs, my way of being through all mediums of art.  What an amazing experience to use the creative arts to help me reflect on who I am and who I want to be in the world as I move forward on this journey we call life.

I want to share all I have learned on my journey thus far.  I feel deeply moved to work with women of all ages, especially around feminine empowerment, expression and authenticity.  I am called to create a sanctuary where transformation can occur, where community acts as our mirror, where self-discovery through creative arts can fuel our passion and self-direction in life.   This sanctuary is built in a spot with a view of the river and Ocean, the jungle and the Fertile land of Costa Rica, this is a place to come into remembrance of who we are in connection with the Earth and the elements.

As women we have come away from living with and of the Earth.  We are bombarded by twisted messages in the media;  telling us what is accepted, what is perfection, what is beautiful, how we can get what we want, how we should express our sexuality, what we need in order to live in the world, what medication we should take for every body symptom we experience.

Journey into Embodiment

It’s disturbing and quite frankly I can not even look at magazines without feeling sick to my stomach.  How does this affect our young women as they try to navigate  themselves into womanhood?

What would it look like to be fully supported in the expression of our true selves from the time we were born?
To have the knowledge that we are perfect exactly as we are?
To know that we have all the resources and wisdom we need for this life we lead?
To trust ourselves and our bodies implicitly?
To learn how to listen to our bodies as a resource rather than a nuisance.?

I am passionate to guide young women into living a more authentic, embodied and empowered life.
I am creating this program as a rite of passage into womanhood.  I will be offering many tools and resources to help young women navigate through this journey step by step.  I am also bringing in other amazing wise women and men of all ages to share their gifts and skills with our young women throughout the program.
Let us dance our dreams across the canvas of our days.  Let us discover the power of expressive healing arts as we dive deep into what it is to connect with the divine feminine within us all and the fertile land of Costa Rica.
……………………………..

A Creative Arts Journey into Embodiment

21 days of exploration, discovery and expression…

….held at Bamboo YogaPlay in Paradise.
www.bambooyogaplay.com

Participants are given the opportunity to explore their life stories within a creative model.  Through expressive healing arts we will take our life history and stories and use them as material to create art.

Taking time to map our bodies, we will explore each different body part through the various art mediums.

By mapping the body and exploring all of our body parts we will discover the myths and stories that live in our bodies. Through movement, drawing and dialogue; written and spoken we will experience the power of expression and what it is to be witnessed authentically in community.

Learn tools and inner resources to help deal with adversity.
·    Meditation
·    yoga
·    Awareness of thought patterns
·    Movement as a practice
·    Devotional temple dance
·    journaling
·    nature walks
·    breathing exercises
·    tracking sensation
·    power of visualization and intention

Creations:
Mask making
Life size Self Portrait

Awareness of the shadow within and outside
·    Acceptance
·    Exploration

Awareness of your body as a temple body
·    Conscious eating
·    Self adorning
·    Self-care
·    How do you want to worship your temple?

Creating a solo practice as part of regime:
What expressive tools help you to feel most connected to an empowered state of being.  i.e movement practice, yoga, meditation, journaling.

Create healthy boundaries
·    Learning to speak your truth
·    Putting yourself first
·    Tools to protect yourself

Discover your gifts and talents
·    What inspires you?
·    What brings you joy?
·    Living with ease and grace and discovering bliss
·    Decision making….how to know what is in alignment with your highest self

Make healthy choices around your sexuality
·    Awareness of std’s & contraception
·    Awareness of how we are affected on a spiritual, mental, and emotional level
·    Authentically expressing your sexuality in a way that serves you
·    Awareness of how our sexual expression affects others
·    Containment of sexuality
·    Learn open communication around the exploration of your sexuality
·    Philosophies of Tantra

Body-image and self confidence
·    Dialogue around the influence of media
·    Self-love and acceptance
·    Taking action for change
·    Connecting with strength, capability and beauty of your body
·    Temple Body…vehicle for moving through life with grace
·    Shift your perspective of your body and how it serves you
·    Photo-shoot    -   we will offer a photo-shoot with the intention of helping you see your own beauty and feminine essence

Connect with the land
·    After a short hike in the jungle we will come to some amazing gardens and waterfalls….Sleep up in the caves beyond the waterfall at Art of Union …www.artofunion.com
·    Creating a personal practice to connect with the land and waterfalls
·    Learn about sustainable living and eating off the land

·    Sweat lodge

Menarche
·    Positive connection to menarche
·    Learn the ancient ways of honoring the moon cycle
·    Red tent
·    Heightened intuition
·    Regular cycles vs. irregular and skipping of periods
·    What is it to be a woman and have the ability to give birth

Understanding the feminine and masculine qualities within us all
·    Symbol of the cross
·    Horizontal- feminine
o    Expansive
o    open
o    wide
o    enveloping
o    flexibility-snake
·    Vertical- masculine
o    Ability to cut through- sword
o    Connected to the earth and the divine
o    Integrity
o    focused

Self Empowerment- knowing ones worth
·    Power of intention
·    Speaking your truth
·    Creating boundaries
·    Creating ritual
·    Power of dance…..accessing your essence and expressing
·    Power of your voice/discover your soul voice
·    Power of being witnessed and witnessing
·    Power of community and sharing openly
·    Taking up space….spatial awareness of oneself
·    The power of body mudras…..sealing in intention

Creating altars- why we do it, how to do it
·    Bridging the mundane with the spiritual
·    Creating sacred space containing sacred objects
·    A unique expression of your inner through sacred objects and visuals
·    Creating collages….a physical manifestation of what we see/what we want to create/reflections of spirit

Learning how to own ones own experience and speak from the “I”
·    Having an outside eye and self-awareness, ability to be ones own witness and self reflect
·    See life from our own perspective
·    Compassion…self and other
·    Where do our judgments come from….acceptance
·    Self-acceptance
·    Patience…being where you are
·    Trust
·    People reflect aspects of ourselves….mirroring
·    How to be self-actualized and live in our society
·    Not allowing fear and negativity to influence our own experience and optimism
·    Learning how to be a witness/to listen with whole body
Creating a rite of passage ritual performance
·    Where do you come from?
·    Where are you now?
·    Where are you headed?
·    What do you want to call in?

Outcome:

My hope is that young women will leave this program with a sense of true embodiment.  To have a higher level of Self-esteem than when they arrived.
With an understanding of how they dis-empower
and limit themselves and to know they have the
power to change this.
To see the power of the creative arts and the
Resources and wisdom held within the body.
To see they have the power to choose how they want
to move through the world.
To understand their own body mythology and
Integrate all of their parts through the expressive
healing arts process and the creation of their own
healing ritual.  To remember what it is to be in
connection to the Earth and to listen to nature and
the cycles of the Earth.
To be passionate and inspired about their life and all
the possibilities of creation.

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