Sara K. Schneider workshop at Esalen May 8-10, 2009

In the meantime, please click here for the official Esalen "Rehearsals of Death" flyer.

Description:

In the West, we are supposed to be saddened by others’ deaths and unable to contemplate our own at all in advance. However, many spiritual traditions urge their adherents to “die before dying,” to mentally “practice” for death as a way of entering more fully into love and life. Many such spiritual practices have a surprisingly playful or whimsical quality; others may be sobering in the moment but produce a sense of release and freedom from fear.

This two-day workshop draws from Buddhist, Christian, and yogic traditions, among others, in order to help participants experience alternative tonalities for death and dying as they enter into a direct, and physical, relationship with their own impermanence. Brief lectures on historical and spiritual traditions lead into meditations, dances, dialogues, and postures that re-enact the encounter with death. Personal journaling and elective sharing within the group support participants’ deepening insights and recollecting a sense of their grounded spiritual selves.

Although no previous movement experience is expected, participants will get to re-create a medieval Dance of Death as well as to improvise dialogue and write in this workshop. Exercises balance individual, paired, and small group work, as participants are supported in moving into their own bodily realities in a gentle, protected, and ultimately joyous manner. Participants emerge with a deepened compassion for themselves and for the embodied selves of others.

Please click here for the flyer for Sara K. Schneider's five-day workshop for Esalen,
"The Song of the Body."

Please contact Sara at sks@thinkingdr.com for more information
or to schedule workshops at your retreat or conference center.