5 to 10-day intensives
circles for deepeningAre you ready to sink in? To go deeper?
On this page you’ll find 5-day and10-day flash intensives to deepen into the amazing, the scary and the profound.
It’s a lot of work traveling down the healing path, and it’s often a process of trial-and-error.
I’m so familiar with that process. I’ve spent years untangling myself from emotional and physical challenges, going from doctor to naturopath to osteopath to massage therapist to counselor to acupuncturist to energy worker to shaman, and in the process, I’ve gathered quite a few resources.
I’m sharing these resources with you because I know that:
- You’re looking for as much insight and information as possible.
- You’ve exhausted your own ability to research and discover and wade through what’s useful and what’s not.
- You want a wide-range of perspectives and approaches to your challenges.
In each intensive we address a specific subject and I share every last little useful nugget I’ve come across.
You will receive:
- a preparatory e-mail
- 5-10 daily e-mails (depending on how long the intensive is) filled with guidance/prompts for learning
- one follow-up e-mail with further resources, inspirations and opportunities to deepen
Perplexed? Unsure? You’ll find Frequently Asked Questions at the very bottom of this page. Or just get in touch with me.
Let’s get started.
Outline Your Memoir is a FREE 2 hour workshop. I’d love to have you join in!
Honouring Our Grief
A 5-lesson journey into loss, heartbreak and deep joy
How many of us have been allowed to cry freely and express our pain upon losing a loved one? What about the smaller losses? Divorce? Transition? Aging? All of these experiences require grief, if we are to let go and move into our new situations.
We live in a culture of people disconnected from grief, from sadness, from even the simple knowledge that grieving is useful, should be supported, and can heal.
It is hard to grieve fully and deeply when that need is not honoured or supported, and when the people around you feel so uncomfortable around your feelings and their own. How do we grieve when we’ve never seen anyone go through a healthy grieving process? How do we grieve when we don’t know how? How do we grieve when we can’t cry around our loved ones?
Honouring Our Grief is about allowing. And witnessing, as we allow for the full range of feelings that come with loss.
Honouring Our Grief is a deep dive into, well, grief. It’s a discovery of the beauty that comes on the other side of grief. The sparkling moments of joy, of beauty, and of connection, all of which are only possible because of the grieving that has been done. The crying of tears, the anger, the sadness, the acceptance of how unfair life can be. It is through honouring our grief that we come to understand and honour our joy better.
This is a 5-lesson journey, including five e-mails guiding you into working with your grief (spaced once a week) with a final e-mail with further resources, inspirations and opportunities to deepen.
Day & time – The lessons start upon signup
How – via e-mail
Registration – confirmed upon receipt of payment
Cost – $89 Canadian
Honouring Our Anger
A 10-day journey into fierceness and fury
How many of us can say that we are connected to our anger? That we can feel it, and more importantly, differentiate between healthy righteous anger and seething resentful bottled up anger? How many of us can say that we were taught how to express and identify anger in healthy ways.
We live in a culture that denies us of our anger. We’re taught that anger is ugly, that anger is scary, that anger is so powerful it ought to be bottled up and held in tightly, because nice girls aren’t angry women.
Honouring Our Anger is a deep dive into the fierce, the furious, the phenomenally powerful rage that lives in each of us. It’s an exploration of what anger means, and how it can be felt and expressed and honoured as power. Anger is a guidepost and will tell us clearly and firmly what is important to us, when our boundaries are being violated, and when we need to step up.
With that in mind, we’ll nurture a deep appreciation for anger, for Kali, for the destroying and generative forces of anger, in a safely guided and contained space.
This is a 10-day journey, with daily e-mails containing each lesson, final e-mail with further resources, inspirations and opportunities to deepen.
How – via e-mail lessons containing a story, embodiment prompt, writing prompts and healing resources
Registration – confirmed upon receipt of payment
Cost – $89 CAD
Growing Your Own Spine
Cultivating self-leadership in an externally oriented society
A 7-day journey
Two months ago I woke from a black and white dream. In it, I was holding a chalky feeling spinal column. Looking down at the column between my hands, it was clear it was not complete. There were no articulations and separations between the vertebrae, and it seemed blocky. It was like a half finished carving.
I watched my hands holding this spine, and noticed that they were slowly filing away and carving out the vertebrae, one by one. I was growing my own spine, creating my own spine, building it.
Physically, our spines provide a central column and core support for our bodies.
Metaphorically, our spine represents that central column of no. And yes. Where our values reside. Where our integrity resides.
We live in a culture skewed very much towards meeting external demands. External expectations. Striving towards appearances. Our media floats on the surface, deeper issues are glossed over, people throw parties in which they explicitly request that guests do not talk about politics. Or religion. Or anything that will ruin the ‘vibe’.
We grow our own spines by encountering experiences and making decisions about what will, and will not, stand.
What we stand for is important, and we cannot stand without a spine. We cannot take action without a spine. We cannot be self-directed self-aware powerful people without having a spine.
So let’s take a plunge into all the ways that we can grow our own spines. We do this through creative writing. Embodiment. Deep thought. Consideration. Each of these actions are the ways in which we carve out and articulate our vertebral columns. The ways in which we stack each one on top of the other until we have a full, mobile, flexible yet powerful spine to support us.
This is a 7-day journey, including daily e-mail lessons, a secret facebook group and a closing videocall.
When – TBA
Registration – TBA
Cost – TBA
Honouring Our Bodies
A 10-day journey into bodylove
How many of us can say that we absolutely love our bodies? And that we were taught how to love and accept our bodies?
We live in a culture that profits off of shame-based messages, a culture that tells everyone they aren’t beautiful enough or fit enough, ever.
We can be so hard and unkind to our bodies. Honouring Our Bodies is about reconnecting with our bodies, about appreciating how they support us, admiring how phenomenally complex and unique they are, and understanding that there is no reason to believe you are not beautiful.
Honouring Our Bodies is a deep dive into bodylove. It’s an exploration of what beauty means, and how self-love can be sparked by exploring our senses. Our bodies are our only true homes. With that in mind, we’ll nurture a deep appreciation for the power and beauty of our body with gentle body movement prompts, creative body visualizations and shared stories.
This is a 10-day journey, including daily e-mails, a facebook group and instagram hashtag for sharing (if desired) a closing videocall and final e-mail with further resources, inspirations and opportunities to deepen.
Next session – TBA
Day & time – TBA
How – via e-mail & facebook
Registration – confirmed upon receipt of payment
Cost – $89 CAD
Honouring Our Ancestors
A 10-day journey into your roots
How many of us can even name all of our great-grandparents? What about knowing their histories, their heartaches and their joys?
We live in a culture of people orphaned from our own diverse heritages, stories and languages.
How do we understand ourselves when we don’t know what shaped our ancestors? Honouring Our Ancestors is about reconnecting with those that have gone before us by following the threads of family tree, of stories, of secrets, of the unspoken.
Honouring Our Ancestors is a deep dive into ancestry. It’s an exploration of roots, of tangles, of stories, both real and imagined. It is through untangling and honouring that we come to understand and honour our own selves better.
This is a 10-day journey, including daily e-mails, a facebook group and instagram hashtag for sharing (if desired) a closing videocall and final e-mail with further resources, inspirations and opportunities to deepen.
Next session – TBA
Day & time – TBA
How – via e-mail & facebook/instagram
Registration – confirmed upon receipt of payment
Cost – $89 CAD
Honouring the Darkness
A 10-day journey into the dark and quiet spaces
In the depth of winter, everything in our environment is encouraging us to hunker down and draw inwards, yet the holiday season feels so busy.
We live in a culture that encourages doing over being. A culture that values activity over contemplation, production over the hidden benefits of lying fallow.
But how can we do the things we do without a foundation of self-knowledge and deep connection to our own internal landscape, our own values? Honouring the Darkness is about reconnecting with yourself, your experiences of being alone, in the silent and sacred spaces that have so much to offer.
Honouring the Darkness is a deep dive into your relationship with darkness. Aloneness. Nurturance. It’s an exploration of stories and mythology that honour the times of retreat, the spaces that are sacred. We’ll explore the Goddess Sheila Na Gig, ideas of wombs, of sacred spaces, both real, imagined and created for yourself. It is through this digging into retreat that we come to understand and honour our own selves better.
This is a 10-day journey composed of gentlly curated daily e-mails with writing prompts, a follow-up e-mail with further resources, and an optional closing videocall.
Dates – 2019 – the 10 days leading up to December 21st – Winter Solstice
How – via e-mail & a closing videocall
Cost – FREE (my winter solstice gift to you)
Sign up for 2019’s Honouring The Darkness below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a workshop or a class or a circle? I don't understand the difference.
Most of these courses are self-directed. On occasion I offer them as live classes, in which case, the space looks like a small group of people, gathered to learn and share their own experiences, I facilitate the time we have together in order to be able to dig deeply into the topic, to ensure everyone has a chance to speak and to be heard, and to ensure that we stay connected to the topic we’ve gathered together to explore.
How are you qualified to teach?
I’ve got a great deal of experience teaching classes, teaching one-on-one, and working with small gatherings. If you want more information, please go to my About page.
I don't know much about the topics. Can I still join?
Absolutely! In fact, you’ll probably discover that you know more about the topics than you think. And, what you have to offer will be appreciated. You’ll also learn from other people’s stories and sharing. This space is meant to be welcoming and accepting.
I'm shy. Will this work for me?
Sometimes these intensives are completely self-paced. Sometimes I offer the option to participate in a secret facebook group and/or a live videocall.
I find that working in small groups in a circle/online format is a great setting for shy people. You might still find you feel shy. However, this setting is a chance to take a risk and express yourself, around other people that are willing and able to listen.
It’s a pretty amazing experience to be heard, and have the contained online space to share at a pace that works for you, without being interrupted. Join us.
What if the subject matter makes me uncomfortable?
These circles are run with respect for everyone. Having said that, we are digging deep into topics that stir up emotions, and that can be an uncomfortable experience. This is normal and ok. It takes courage to explore personal and cultural ideas and start to deconstruct them. It’s quite likely that at some point you might feel uncomfortable as we work through the subject matter. I encourage you to dig into those feelings in yourself and see what comes up.
What about refunds?
After the course has started I do not issue refunds. Space is limited and it’s not possible to fill the spot after beginning. These intensives are brief 10 day commitments, so make sure you can give yourself the time and space to participate fully before you sign up.
If you want to experience my style before committing to a paid course, you can take this free 5 day creative writing ecourse for women, called Not Sweet!
Or you can sign up for one of my free live 2 hour Outline Your Memoir workshops.