Eco-Somatic Workshop at Bothe Napa Valley State Park, July 19

As I enter the forest I am,....open, small, excited, peaceful, curious,....

These are some of the words shared as participants gathered at Bothe Napa Valley State Park on Saturday, July 19 for an eco-somatic workshop with me.  

We had kicked it off with a poem entitled Redwoods, by Dorianne Laux from the book You Are Here.  Her poem begins “The first time I entered a forest,..” and helps us to aesthetically open to the poetic awe and wonder that begins to unfold as we creak open our senses to the experience of being in the Redwood Forest.

Each layer of the workshop was designed to bring us deeper into preparation to move, draw and write in response to this deepening relationship with the place.  

I felt the disarming warmth of a small group of people finding themselves at ease in conversation about their sense of interconnectivity and belonging in this place.  We then walked in silence as I introduced them to one of my favorite simple nature walk exercises- the 5,4,3,2-

Notice things that feel appealing to you/your nervous system:

5 things you can see

4 things you can hear

3 things you can touch

2 things you can smell

When we arrived at the clearing, about ½ a mile into the park along the creek, we were ready for landing into our bodies through some gentle and simple guided somatic awareness practices.  This sets the stage for exploring mirroring the beings around us that reflect the movements of our lives.

Growing like the Redwoods.

Reaching like the Redwood branches.

Falling like the leaves.

Meandering like the paths and the water.

Rooting like the roots.

Feeling stuck like the fallen leaves and sticks in between rocks in the creek.

These movements inform our exploration as our bodies mirror the metaphors.  How am I moving in my life lately?  What movements do I want to invite in?

The poetry and drawing that emerges reflects the pause we’ve taken in time to connect deeper to ourselves, the grove, and one another.  It is a natural pallet through which we hear our shared human experiences.

I am always in awe of how I can have these kinds of experiences and each time have some new insights come to me as I listen to what the forest beings may be saying to me.  A few excerpts from my own explorations preparing for the group:

When the forest spoke it said,...

6/14

I speak in the language of Being,

Can you hear me, in the pulsing of your heart?

In your toes in contact with the skin of the forest floor?

In your crouching you feel stuck

The reverberation of the long term squeezes of life in flesh,

And yet have patience

There is no such thing as not change here

My stagnancy is food for the ecosystem

Slowly making its way

There is no waste here in my belly

Everything serves its purpose

Your repetitive churning is a cauldron of change

Where strea- like life force rivulets a dance through

And your soul knows the eternal truth

As your body flesh does the mortal dance

Stagnant becoming

Looking for rivulets of renewal

Where life force flows.

6/16

Root my friend.

Root into your community.

Root into your friendships.

Root into your Spirit life.

Grow.

Grow like the cerebral spinal fluid.

Solid and supple and center.

Like a Redwood.

Slow and stable and alive.

Root into earth

Trust the darkness

Grow from your cracked places

Green tendril shoots

Into life

Grow into this next phase of your life

Rooted by the life you have lived

Better for it.

For the falls and failures

And missteps

And crooked bends

The meandering path is the path

Better for the way your 

Face lights up with

Creases when you smile.

The knowing in your heart and eyes 

When loss fractures

And the unknown shakes you to your core.

Rooted in history.

Yours.  The Ancestors.  The Earth.

Growing into the discovery of now and the Eternity of Spirit.

The beauty is in the openness of the experience for a myriad of voices to come through.  I love hearing how participants respond to the prompts in their own creative ways, mine becoming just one voice in a chorus of voices. 

As we finished up our Bothe workshop I felt a tender warmth in my heart at the kind of calm and open hearted presence our group had arrived at together.  How special for a new group of people to come together and in 2.5 hours experience a sense of quiet connection, ushered in by the specialness of the place itself, and the opportunities to be in relationship with it and one another in a new and spacious way.

Does this sound appealing? Check Back at my website for upcoming Eco-Somatic workshops as they become listed, and reach out if you are interested in participating or would like to discuss me curating one for your group.