Eco-Somatic Workshop at Archer Taylor Preserve

Redwood, by Cynthia Leslie-Bole (excerpt)

You are a good mother

And your steadfastness comforts me

I am compelled to bury my nose

In the clefts of your bark

And wrap my arms around you

In filial embrace

Your wisdom is root-deep and sky-high

Your discernment grows

As you witness creatures

Living lives of frantic industry

At your feet

Redwood

Show me

How to slow my metabolism

So I too can feel the seasons

Show me

How to accept earth sustenance

So I too can have faith

In the long-term good

On May 16, 2025 a group of Land Trust of Napa County members gathered in the Redwoods of the Archer Taylor Preserve for my very first eco-somatic workshop.  Journeying to the preserve feels like a quest of its own, especially for first timers.  Once you are up on the hill in this wild corner of the Valley you feel almost as if you have entered another world entirely.  The workshop participants were almost all entirely new to the Tamalpa work that I have been training to lead over the last three years, and it was a joy to watch them drop into the activities with such willingness to explore.

I felt so honored to witness them as they connected to the beings of Nature in the way I was inviting, in the lineage of Anna Halprin.  I saw bodies arcing over rocks, resting into trees, captivated by flowing waters and budding understory.  I saw bodies in bloom, and bodies in rest.  We were all in this poetic exploration together, in which our own bodies became part of the poetry of the forest.  Where our metabolism slowed to feel the seasons.

After our explorations in meditative movement we made our way back to the grove where picnic tables hosted us in art making.  People were deep in the process as they illustrated the feeling of their explorations.  From there, they created poetry inspired by their drawings.

When I invited everyone to share in partners I could hear the grove come alive with the buzz of reflection on this unique experience they were all having. I then invited them together where we closed in a circle creating a shared spontaneous group poem based on lines from our individual poems.

As we finished, there was this sense of connection, a kind that I have found to be unique to this form of coming to know a new community.  When we interact through the arts we are at once more connected in the depth of our shared human and nature experience, and at the same time, the mediums of the arts have given us a sense of privacy around the details of our unique stories.  It is certainly a hard to explain phenomenon, one that I was so moved to see happen.

What some participants had to say about what they really enjoyed:

"Being in a heart centered space in Nature, and connecting with others without technology."

"All of it. I especially enjoyed having the opportunity to dive into nature explorations, both alone and with the group."

I am thankful to each and every participant who made their way up the hill and to the Land Trust for their embrace of this unique workshop. I look forward to future offerings in collaboration with the Land Trust of Napa Valley as a member benefit.

If you are interested in participating in something like this, I am looking forward to my next free group workshop at Bothe State Park on July 19th in collaboration with Napa Open Space. I will post a link to registration here when it becomes available.  I am also in the midst of planning a Sept-Oct 5 module workshop that I anticipate offering for a local nonprofit as part of my final year of Tamalpa training/practicum .  If you happen to be reading this and think you have a group that would benefit, please reach out!  This is an emergent endeavor, and it grows with the relationships that are being formed and tended along the way.