Healing Loss and the Body in Motion

 HEALING LOSS and the BODY in MOTION

A 5Rhythms® and Externalization workshop on healing loss:

Led by Karen Ritscher and Peter Selwyn

To lose someone or something that we hold dear to our hearts, or even to have to let go of a cherished dream is an integral experience of being human. But how do we move forward, with grace and self-compassion during these difficult transitions? So often, we are asked to minimize our feelings, “to get over it,” and to “carry on”, in order to make other people more comfortable.

Grief and loss manifest uniquely for each of us. In this workshop we come together to explore, witness and support each other, using the tools of the 5Rhythms® Practice as well the griefwork developed by Elisabeth Kubler Ross. To lose someone or something we love, or to have to let go of our cherished dreams or expectations, is an intrinsic part of being human. However, our reactions to these challenges are unique to each of us. So often we’re asked to minimize our feelings, “to get over it” or “carry on,” and we don’t have accessible ways to feel and express the emotions that are part of the natural process of grief. In this workshop, we will come together in a safe and supportive space, to explore and move all that we’ve been feeling and holding.

Over the course of the three days, we will use the tools of the 5Rhythms®Waves and Heartbeat Maps as well as offer a process often referred to as “Externalization.” This Externalization “deep-dive” Exploration can include simply witnessing, or possibly releasing feelings through verbal as well as physical expression, in presence of the group. The combination of dancing as well as Externalization, opens us to an even deeper embodiment and connection to ourselves and each other.

The Poetry of Space

 In this workshop, grounded in the body & supported by the 5Rhythms® Waves Map, we start by exploring and enriching our constant relationship with the physical space inside each of us, between us and around us. The dance gives us a place where we can open the possibility to be with all of this life; to touch and be touched by all the possibility moving through us as individuals and together in community. With great support from our dance map, we practice being receptive to this life; we practice opening into more expanse & spaciousness and into the magic that is LYRICAL.