Relax and Be Present
A new series to assist those struggling with stress and anxiety and that find it too difficult to focus on traditional meditation. Discomfort in one’s body, an agitated nervous system, and distressful thoughts and emotions often make meditation too agonizing or tedious for many people. Over the years in working with my students and clients, I’ve found elements of chi gung, taoist breathing, and the Feldenkrais method can help make developing a meditative awareness more easily accessible and pleasurable as well.
The series consists of three 4 week sessions.
1) Relaxing into your Body: We’ll use Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement lessons and basic Taoist Breathing and Chi Gung principles to help you become more physically comfortable within your body. How often are we told to “Just relax”? Yet this state feels completely elusive at times. You will learn techniques and strategies to be able to create a relaxed and easy state on your own – anytime; anywhere.
Dates: Thursdays, 6:15-7:15pm; June 16 – July 7; at my home office in the Sunset District of San Francisco
Fee: $70; bring a friend/practice partner and you each get 10% off
2) Relaxing into your Breath: This class will be devoted to learning the foundational principles of Taoist Breathing in depth. In all of my years as a psychotherapist, this is the number one technique that clients have reported getting positive results form regarding anxiety, panic disorder, and processing overwhelming thoughts and emotions. We will be looking particularly at the foundational body mechanics as well as the principle of circularity – a central technique in being able to fully release, relax, and stabilize the nervous system.
Dates: August 4 – 25
3) Relaxing into the Emotions: This class will build upon what you’ve learned in the previous classes and apply it to fully processing emotions and mental patterns. We will use the breath and circular movements to discover where and how in ourselves we get stuck. We will use clear and structured exercises to practice processing distressful thoughts and emotions fully and then release and smooth out our nervous system until there’s a sense of ease and comfort.
Core Connection: the Heart of Relationship
I’ve noticed over the years that my students and clients have had difficulty translating their learning and internal shifts into being fully in relationship with others and the world around them. The ability to be deeply present with oneself while also contacting another is a very foreign skill to most – but one so very essential to truly satisfying relationships as well to those wishing to be healers or Shamans as myself. I had my first big insight to this as a young child trying to pray. One day I realized “I’m treating God like Santa Claus – always asking for something. I think I need to learn to listen.” And from that day forward, it’s been a central focus on my Path.
In this class, I will integrate those principles from Shamanism, Taoism, and the Existential movement that I have found to be the most useful and transformative. I thank several of my students for inspiring me to put this on there. This is a largely experiential class so much time will be devoted to meditation, Shamanic journeying, and homework with partners. It is meant for those people who are deeply committed to their personal growth and healing and are willing to be very honest and do the work.
*** This class will be in teleseminar format. It will be recorded and emailed out each week for review as well as for those who have to miss a class. ***
Dates: Mondays, 11:30am – 1:30pm PST beginning June 20
Fee: $400
