Writing
(Click one of the links below to go to a particular section of writing)
Embodiment
During this unguided experience, music supports our choices as we interact with each space as inspired. In the movement space, anything goes. The invitation is to dance, to bring in elements of other practices such as yoga or t’ai chi, or to simply stand and sway, sit and rock, or crawl or roll around on the floor. Again, anything goes.
In the witness space, we observe ourselves and each other without judgment. (Note: this is potent medicine.) In the stillness space, we sit.
Simple. Juicy beyond words.
When I first met still.being.moved, her name was Embody. She was just being born into this world and I was among those invited to attend the birth. She came into being through the genius of my friend and teacher, Sarah Marshank, about ten years ago.
We’ll start wherever we are.
Already, there are movements your body knows and feels safe doing.
Maybe you dance, practice yoga or Pilates or Nia, engage in martial arts or Five Rhythms. Maybe you’ve done Jazzercise, hoop dance, or other aerobic workouts to music. Breathwork. Rowing. Weight lifting. Barre. Maybe you enjoy walking. We can start there …
Maybe you have yet to discover the movement forms your body feels happy and safe with.
Perfect either way.
Contact Kathryn with questions: kathryn@wellwisestrong.com
Where is our base? That depends. Sometimes it’s our two feet. Other times, it can be hands and knees. Our back body — as in lying down. Our buttocks and thighs — as in sitting. So many options …
In this playshop, we begin by embodying a variety of bases, so we’ll have several to choose from when the music starts. During the 21-minute playlist, everyone is free to choose a base to begin and then to allow the song’s beat to move us from there.
When we feel curious, we can change to a new base to see how the beat comes through now. When the next song — with its new beat — comes along, which base will we choose to play with? The choice is always ours.
Contact Kathryn with questions: kathryn@wellwisestrong.com
The Medicine Moves Playshop series might be for you if …
you love music (and are ready to hear some new tunes)
you need more movement in your life (but not in a public setting)
you would enjoy a friendly community experience (facilitated by an experienced leader)
you are interested in freeform movement (and are looking for guidance and inspiration)
you can spend 1.5 hours on Mondays, April through mid-May
Yes? Maybe? Read on.
In this slow-paced, gentle playshop, we practice safe movement in our spine and explore how music can inspire this movement into something else. Something possibly resembling a dance, possibly not. My hope is that your body will decide, based on your sensation of comfort and pleasure.
We begin with a teaching: three motions from yoga, each done in two directions, and each presented with options for sitting, standing, and reclining. If you prefer not to sit on the floor, it might be helpful for you to have a chair, cushion, or ball to sit on. A mat or rug would be good for reclined exploration.
Next comes a 20-minute playlist, when we can continue to play with spinal movement, alternating with stillness and witness, as our bodies choose.
Contact Kathryn with questions: kathryn@wellwisestrong.com
In this event, we play with our breath, allowing the music in the 28-minute playlist to inspire varying patterns and intensities. I will provide a bit of guidance and a few ideas up front, but what you do is completely up to you. Nothing is expected of you. You can turn off your camera for privacy and you will be muted while the music is on. If you stay for the whole event, there will be a few minutes at the end for voluntary sharing.
As always, no previous experience — in breath work or in movement — is required.
First, a brief intro. I’ll guide you through some OPTIONAL, VOLUNTARY exercises designed to help your voice emerge in a way that is pleasurable and creative. If you prefer, you can just witness me doing the exercises. Then I’ll sample the playlist for you, giving background about the songs and suggesting ways to interact with them when they come up in the playlist.
Next comes the music itself: 35 minutes of tunes, chosen for the various aspects of voice: gorgeous, goofy, hypnotic — some for listening and others that invite a singalong. While the music plays, the invitation is to slip in and out of movement, stillness, and witness, as we choose. As always, we conclude with brief optional sharing.
Play: “To engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.” We play to circulate our life force energy, to let go of preconceived ideas of what’s “normal” or “proper,” and to joyfully connect with others.
My aim for this playshop is to help stimulate movement creativity by providing opportunities for pretending to move like an animal, a fantastical creature, or a force of nature — or to try on and play with various emotional states in the safe container of our movement space. Juicy, liberating, and fun.
Questions? Ask.
Contact Kathryn to register: kathryn@wellwisestrong.com
In this one-hour workshop / playshop, we experience the relationship between physical sensation and music. We begin with a guided meditation on the range of somatic responses to various soundscapes. Next comes a 20-minute playlist, when we may slip in and out of movement, stillness, and witness, as our bodies choose. We conclude with brief optional sharing.
Your role? Relax, receive, and allow your unique response to arise. All responses are welcome.
Enneagram & Coaching
I’ve listed some of my favorite enneagram resources in this blog. You can find them in the expanded view. Enjoy!
At any point in your exploration, I invite you to contact me for a half-hour consultation and introduction to coaching, which is free. If you’d like to continue with private coaching, I currently have space in my schedule for two or three new clients.
I agree with Ram Dass: “We're all just walking each other home.” I get that your path is unique.
I respect you. As coach, I am not going to tell you what to do. I bring humility to our experience. I consider you sovereign in your life. I am embodying sovereignty more and more in mine. It’s taking time and I like the sensation of going slowly and savoring the journey.
Musings
… especially mushrooms. And especially in a large enough dose that I surrender fully to their medicinal effects — whatever those may be on a particular journey.
It’s always different. Brilliantly intense. Never more than I can handle, but not what I’d call a joy ride either.
I value how the medicine takes me to the edge of my edge on an inward spiral, and then outward and beyond, until the journeyer is no longer “me” but instead a sort of essence that feels like pure consciousness.
This is where Union with All That Is rests — including this journeyer.
Your cost will depend on the length of your retreat and whether I provide meals. In any case, you will get great value for your investment.
When I showed my original retreat invitation to my niece April, who owns the guest house where retreats will take place, she had one criticism: I needed to say more about the food. At the time, I wasn’t ready.
But this past Saturday I invited one of her current tenants, a 25-year-old man, to dinner after I realized he was alone for the weekend. I had roasted some vegetables to eat during the week: sweet potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onions … There was also bok choy sauteed with garlic and homemade sauerkraut. He was enraptured. Wanted to know how I made everything. No problem! It’s really, really simple.
Now I’m realizing that April is right: I need to share this kitchen witchery with folks. To inspire others to enjoy playing around with food.
You, perhaps? Or your daughter, your sister, your friend?
I’m thinking sometime this spring or early summer for a food-focused retreat. Tell me when is a good time for you to come to Texas and we’ll make this happen.
During our retreat, we’ll learn, heal, and play. For example …
Learning. The Enneagram has been life-changing for me. We can dip in or geek out, as you wish. Same with Selfistry — Artistry of the Self.
Healing. We will share gut-healthy meals and I’ll teach you what has helped me heal my own digestive system. Moving on to the bedroom, I’ll share my wisdom on sleep hygiene practices and/or the experience and enjoyment of sex. We can also explore Yoga, meditation, and plant medicine.
Play. Bring what you know and love from any movement modality — and a beginner’s mindset — and we’ll turn it into play through music. And if we need more play, there’s always Bananagrams …
Friends ~
I’m ready to host women's retreats, finally! We start in January 2023.
My intent is to create and offer meaningful experiences for the time we live in.
My plan: to get together with thoughtful and curious women and to co-create an experience that benefits us all.
My aim is to learn about what would be most satisfying for YOU — and for future participants.
Find details about lodging, cost, and meals under “Read more.” Still have questions? Contact me!
I just reread my first-ever blog: Solstice Possibilities post from June 2020. How naïve I was to be thinking, on June 8, 2020, that by June 20 it would be okay to have people in our house.
Now, two years later … I think it may be safe — finally — for three people to gather here with me to welcome the Solstice. People who know they are not currently infected and are within driving distance. (And yes, you are invited to spend the night if that makes the drive easier). Others can Zoom in, as always on Wednesday evenings.
Let’s do this. Wednesday June 22 from 7:00 to 8:30-ish CDT. Who will join me?
Christina Updates