Holiday Madness

Taking the Madness out of the Holidays

NOTE! Date change! A one-day self-care workshop in Portland, Oregon. December 12, 2010 from 10am-4pm.

So your holiday actually *feels* like a holiday.

Holidays are supposed to be all about joy and connection, wonder and delight, right?

So, why is it that our actual experience of the holidays is often so very different?

Rather than joy and wonder, we experience stress and overwhelm. Instead of connection and delight, we find ourselves feeling more disconnected from our families and stuck in patterns of obligation and pressure.

What if….

  • it didn’t have to be this way?
  • we knew how to access the holiday qualities (joy, peace, thanksgiving…) from within whenever we had need?
  • we weren’t dependent on others (people, situations, external stuff) to determine whether our holiday was filled with ease or madness?

This workshop is about allowing the holidays to be what they are meant to be.

It’s about you infusing the holidays with the qualities you want/need.

It’s about finding the qualities of holiday within yourself so that you can be a walking, living, breathing model of holiday qualities like:

Joy, peace, love, celebration and whatever other qualities you want more of in your life.

Perhaps also ease, play, harmony (yes please!), closeness, connection, giving/receiving…?

And, it’s about learning new skills to take with you into the New Year…

…so that all of 2011 can be filled with whatever qualities are the most beneficial for you in every moment.

What we will cover:

  • Simple emergency care techniques – for helping you calm down and re-center when you are feeling overwhelmed.
  • How to identify the qualities that will be the most useful for you during the holiday season.
  • Practical, effective ways to interact with, connect with and embody the qualities you need.
  • Ways to work with patterns of stress and overwhelm (or patterns of familial dysfunction) so that you create new, more beneficial and more supportive patterns.
  • A plan for infusing more ease into the remainder of your holiday season.

I tend to think of Self-Care as an Adventure, remember?

Which means we need Allies – or tools to assist us. Ours are:

  1. Emergency Care Techniques from Ortho-Bionomy and beyond – simple, useful techniques and practices to help us feel at ease and in our bodies as we travel along.
  2. Shiva Nata – Or, as my boyfriend prefers to call it: Crazy Monkey Dancing. We will practice the Art of Flailing until we reach a state of inner stillness which will allow us to access our own internal wisdom – from which our Plan for the Holiday will emerge.And, be reassured. Absolutely no previous experience with Shiva Nata is expected or required. If you have some, great. If not, you will be in fantastic company.
  3. Self-Inquiry through Free-Writing – after each Shiva Nata session, I will pose several questions and you will scribble frantically, desperately attempting to keep up with all the wondrous insights emerging from your scrambled brain.

A tentative schedule of events:

10-11:15 – Introduction, Skill Gathering, Ally Greetings (the learning and practicing of our Emergency Self-Care Techniques).

11:15-12 – Introduction to Shiva Nata (Crazy Monkey Dancing) plus a brief journaling exercise.

12-12:30 – Introduction to Qualities – what they are, one way to access them.

12:30-1:30 – Lunch, naptime.

1:30-3:00 – 2-3 (depending on time) more ways to interact with and embody qualities including a partner exercise.

3-4:00 – More Crazy Monkey Dancing, more self-inquiry (free-write), and our final good-byes.

Details, Details, Details

What is it? A one-day workshop in Portland, Oregon.

When is it? Sunday, December 12, 2010 from 10am – 4pm

Where is it? The Little Church! Address: 5138 NE 23rd Ave, Portland, OR  97211

Who is it for? A small group of intrepid explorers wanting to learn more about themselves and how to bring more ease into their holidays.

How to register:

1. Email me to let me know you are coming. This is very important because there are only 8 spots available. Include your name, phone number, twitter handle (if you have one).

2. If paying by cash or check, simply mail the check to me at: 2861 NE Martin Luther King Blvd, Portland, OR 97212.

3. If paying with a credit card, click the button below and follow the instructions.

4. As soon as I have received your registration form and payment, I’ll send you an email that will contain more information (what to wear, what to bring, what to expect, etc).

5. We meet at the scheduled time and the Self-Care Madness begins!

Reassurances

  • No particular level of fitness is required for this class. There will be movement. The movement, however, can be adapted to any level of fitness and to practically any physical injury or weakness. If concerned, email me about your particular situation.
  • A lot of what we will be doing involves you tuning into and listening to yourself. Whatever you discover is yours. You will not be asked or expected to share anything you learn or discover. Of course, if you wish to share, there will be time for that as well.
  • FOOD! The Little Church is located within a block of NE Alberta street which is overflowing with amazing restaurants, food carts, cafes, etc. You are also welcome to bring your own lunch if you desire.