Spirit-Body-Mind Coaching Practice located in Bells Corners

Unsure about the workshop? Special Offer

2011-04-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

Introduction to Inner Relationship Focusing and Nonviolent Communication
September 9-11, 2011
Toronto, Ontario

IF:

you aren't sure that the combination of Nonviolent Communication and Inner Relationship Focusing is for you
you're curious to know what makes the combination different from each individual practice
you want an experience of what you are going to learn in the Toronto workshop (for more information see Introduction to Inner Relationship Focusing and Nonviolent Communication )

then here is an invitation to try it at a special rate. Experience for yourself the powerful combination of the Inner Relationship, felt-sensing in the body, and needs consciousness.

Shulamit Berlevtov is offering potential participants one guided NVC+Inner Relationship Focusing session at a special rate of $50.

Sessions last 50 minutes. There will be an experiential segment as well as time to ask questions.

For more information or to book a session, email Shulamit at the following e-mail address: shulamit (at) shula (dot) ca, or call 613-868-9642 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 613-868-9642 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Toronto workshop: Introduction to Inner Relationship Focusing and Nonviolent Communication

2011-04-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend workshop runs approximately 9am - 5 pm on September 9, 10 and 11, 2011.

This workshop is for you if:

- you’d like to release self-criticism and increase self-love and acceptance

- you’d like to know better what you feel and want

- you’d like to release action blocks

- you’d like to make clear and centered decisions

- you would like to live from fullness rather than from lack

- you want to live your full, present-moment, joyful whole self and potential…

Over the weekend, you will be introduced to the 2 movements of NVC and Inner Relationship Focusing:

1. Moment by moment mindfulness and EMPATHIC PRESENCE to whatever is blocking our path to action, taking away our energy, and stopping us from embodying the ideals we have.

2. Moment to moment self responsibility, and living from wholeness rather than lack.

Nonviolent Communication combined with IR Focusing give us skills to develop true intimacy as the combination helps us:

• develop honesty and empathy inside of ourselves and in our relationships. Really knowing all parts of ourselves, we are able share on more & more authentic levels.

• learn new ways of thinking and speaking that lead towards connection, nourishment, and continual growth in relationship to ourselves and others.

• recognize and value the needs behind all our actions, seeing them as gifts.

• learn to embody the presence, authenticity and self responsibility that lead to lasting healing and self-empowerment.

$425.00/person after July 1, 2011 $375.00/person before July 1, 2011
$150.00 non-refundable deposit

Balance due August 12, 2011
Contact Norman Pasewalk with questions: normanpasewalk@gmail.com

To register, mail a cheque made out to Gina Cenciose to
PO Box 16, Eastman, Quebec J0E1P0, Canada.

Facilitators: Gina Cenciose and Shulamit Berlevtov

GINA CENCIOSE has been living and sharing NVC and other modalities intensively since 2002. She offers mediation and counselling sessions, as well as group programs in Transformation of Consciousness every week. She is currently leading 7 different 1-year NVC integration programs with colleagues, in English and in French. Gina Cenciose has studied transpersonal healing, shamanism, trauma work, and non-dualism with Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle. She teaches in prisons, hospitals, community organizations, spiritual centers and offers NVC and musical conferences as well. She trains new NVC trainers with the international center for NVC at www.cnvc.org . In many of her year long programs she adds Whole Body Focusing, Inner Relationship Focusing and Inquiry with NVC. www.embodyingempathy.com

SHULAMIT BERLEVTOV As a spirit-body-mind coach, Shulamit supports women in transforming what is painful and difficult into meaning, ease and new life. To do so, she applies the tools of Nonviolent Communication, Focusing, yoga (in its widest sense), mindfulness, reiki and the Tapas Acupressure Technique. She is a certified Focusing guide and teacher, a multiply-certified yoga instructor and therapist, and has passed the assessment for certification as a trainer in Nonviolent Communication. She has been in private practice since 2000, and is currently completing an MA in Counselling and Spirituality. Shulamit's passion is guiding one-on-one Focusing sessions (by phone, Skype or in person) for people who are familiar with NVC because the unfolding that occurs is beautiful and inspiring beyond description.
www.facebook.com/YogaYogaOttawa
www.twitter.com/shuliji
www.shula-yoga.blogspot.com
www.shula.ca

About my e-mail autoresponse

2010-12-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

I've set my e-mail accounts to send you an auto-response in service of connection, so you can know your e-mail landed in my inbox.

I receive more emails than I can respond to in the amount of time I would like. If you don't receive a response from me in the time-frame that suits you, I invite you to support me in responding to you by re-sending your e-mail.

I am always aiming for brevity to support respect for others' priorities as well as my body which is limited in its capacity to sit and type. If what I write is not received as expressing care, please write again.

You might also like to read this post about short e-mails.

I'm open to hearing what it is like for you to read this explanation.

Be well,

Shulamit

Did I send you a brief email message?

2010-12-29T12:51:00.000-08:00

I value the finite time and attention that we all have available to us. I also find conversations to be rich and meaningful.

That said, I have a lot of email coming into my inbox. Maybe you do, too.

I am always aiming for brevity to respect others' priorities and to support my body which is limited in its capacity to sit and type. If what I write is not received as expressing care, please write again. My hope is that a timely, concise response respects you as much or more than a longer one because it is giving you the information you need quickly and more easily; you aren’t waiting for me to answer and don’t have to wade through a bunch of information to figure out what’s going on.

My brevity is intended to ensure I don’t bottleneck our conversation. I’m happy to have deeper connection and extended conversations. Please continue the conversation if it’s appropriate, and feel free to write in whatever length and style that feels comfortable for you. I don’t want my anti-bottlenecking practice to bottleneck you.

Also, I am open to receiving feedback on what it is like to have read this message, or to have received a brief message from me.

Be well,

Shulamit

PS If you’re curious about where I got my ideas for effective email management, and from whom I stole much of the wording for this post, check out http://www.productiveflourishing.com/how-to-write-brief-emails-without-being-a-jerk/ as well as these other free resources http://www.productiveflourishing.com/tag/email/ and this blog post http://www.martineve.com/2010/12/15/using-producteev-to-manage-overbearing-inboxes/

Telecourse: Integrating Nonviolent Communication and Focusing

2010-12-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Deep and Lasting Transformation of Consciousness through NVC and Inner
Relationship Focusing  

A Telecourse with Gina Cenciose and Shulamit Day Berlevtov starting February 8th 2011.

There will be a free Introductory call with Gina and Shulamit on Tuesday
evening January 18th 2011, 7 pm to 8:30 pm Eastern time. Please contact shulamit at shula dot ca for more information or to register.

*In integrating NVC and Inner Relationship Focusing skills you will:*

• Learn how to be truly and deeply present with what is alive in you
moment by moment through any part of your life

• Connect with even the most stuck emotional reactions so they make sense
and release you

• Make clearer choices to respond to life as your whole self

• Make contact with your bodily felt senses, which are doorways into fresh
energy and new possibilities

• Learn a step by step PRESENCE PROCESS to embody radical empathy, radical acceptance of what is, and therefor open to real change and inner growth

To register: http://nvctraining.com/courses/telecourses/GC-SD/nvc-and-focusing-20110208/index.html
* *

Overview

Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) is a process for emotional healing and
accessing positive life-forward energy. It has been developed by Ann Weiser
Cornell and Barbara McGavin primarily out of their own practice, based on
the Focusing work of Eugene Gendlin, with some influences from a number of other methods. (Cornell and McGavin, 2002.) Above all, the practice of IRF has been developed over 18 years of intensive work with clients who were engaging with difficult issues such as action blocks, addiction (primarily eating disorders), depressed and anxious states, and experiences of low self-worth. In addition to these types of issues, IRF has been developed with people who wanted to make decisions that were appropriate for them and to feel more confident in their own inner sense of rightness about their next life-forward steps. Despite its application to difficult life issues, IRF is not a method that is aimed at particular problem areas, but is
adaptable to any issue that a client has, including relationship issues and
even the suffering caused by pain and physical symptoms.

Like the Focusing method from which it emerges, IRF can be taught to people as a self-growth skill and can be done in pairs in a ‘peer counseling’
format. Networks of people doing IRF with each other in ‘Focusing
partnership’ have arisen in a number of places in the world, and since the
process can be done by telephone, partners do not need to be in the same
physical location in order to work with each other. Professionally, IRF can
be used by therapists, counselors, and other healing professionals in
conjunction with other modalities, and it can also be done as a stand-alone
practice by an ‘IRF Guide.

With Inner Relationship Focusing, you go directly to the place where you
have a deep body knowing about a situation. There is wisdom in our body-mind which we tend to ignore, partly because our modern, fast-paced,
head-oriented culture is just not set up that way.

This class is an introductory (Level One) class in Inner Relationship
Focusing. The curriculum will be presented in the light of NVC
consciousness, informed by the principles and practices that NVC nourishes.

We will learn to experience ourselves, our inner voices of criticism,
judgment, shame and blame, as well as our needs, freshly and from a more
holistic angle.

Inner Relationship Focusing gives us the capacity to see clearly what is
happening in the moment, to turn towards it and to accept it with love.
During this program, we will explore the Nonviolent Communication and Inner Relationship practices of empathy; and compassionate awareness that
cultivate acceptance, allowing us to genuinely embrace ourselves and each
other. You will have the opportunity to practice being with the parts of
your life that are judged and unforgiven. The workshop will include talks,
guided meditations called Focusing attunements, experiential exercises, and
discussion.

You will leave with a radical new approach to self-acceptance, and a new way to connect to all the levels of life happening inside of you, that you may
not be currently aware of.

Class Outline:

Each class will include a remembering (focusing attunement), 25-45 minute
teaching with feedback and questions, and small group practice, along with
harvesting and extended check out. Empathy buddies and Focusing buddies
between class sessions will also be included.

Course Schedule:

*A six-month program which meets every other Tuesday (12 sessions)*

*12 Tuesdays, February 8 - July 12, 2011  4:00 - 6:00 PM PST / PDT*

** ** Requested NVC Experience: Beginner.* This includes
anyone who has 16 hours or more of NVC training and has a grasp of the NVC basics. The basics of NVC will not be covered. Focusing experience is not requested; anyone with zero or more Focusing training is welcome to register for the course.

*Fee: $350.00 USD*

*All registrants receive access to all recordings of the course.*

*About Shulamit Day Berlevtov*

I support individuals in transforming what is painful and difficult into
meaning, space and new life. I am a spirit-body-mind coach, have passed my assessment for certification as a trainer in Nonviolent Communication, am a certified Focusing teacher and guide and a certified and registered Kripalu yoga teacher. I also offer reiki and the Tapas Acupressure TechniqueR.

Since experiencing a serious illness in 2002, my commitment to compassionate authenticity and total nonviolence for myself and others has framed my spiritual and life practice and political action. www.shula.ca

*About Gina Cenciose*

Gina has been a workshop leader, group facilitator (Certified community
building trainer and Restorative Circle facilitator) and teacher for 15
years. She has been teaching NVC full time for 7 years, and has trained NVC
trainers in year long to 3-year long NVC programs for 5 years. She leads 6
different yearlong Integration programs every year, and has co created and
facilitated NVC year long programs with other colleagues in 22 different
programs so far... She is certified with the CNVC and works as a certifying
coordinator with them. www.embodyingempathy.com

2010-10-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Focusing is a practical, physical way to open the body's consciousness to the transcendent giftedness of everything

"How do I live each day so that a felt consciousness of living in a Presence can grow and deepen right within the experiences of daily life?

The habit of felt sensing (Focusing) is a practical, physical way to open my body's consciousness to the transcendent giftedness of everything, including events that threaten biological life.

Living itself can be prayer. The body itself, which we so identify with mortality, is meant to be our conscious bridge into immortality.

It is the body process that creates an experiential faith.

The habit of felt sensing gives us the body-feel for how in the practical order we can live connected in this world of gift, no matter what happens to us."
Ed McMahon, BioSpiritual Focusing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shulamit Day Berlevtov offers guided Focusing sessions in person or by telephone at the rate of $75/session. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200.

Free offer:
Three guided Focusing sessions.
Expires Oct. 31, 2010.
Some restrictions apply; please e-mail me shulamit at shula dot ca for details.

No matter what you do, when you know Focusing, it will go better.

Righteousness and Justice

2010-09-26T05:49:00.000-07:00

Who is a tzaddik or tzaddeikit? Who are the righteous of the world? R. Zalman Schachter Shalomi, in A Heart Afire writes: "Are they not those who are participating in righteousness at that moment? That is what we are talking about here, the will directed toward righteousness in any given moment. Those who participate in that "aggregate will" are the tzaddikim for whom G-d created the world."

It's interesting that the root of tzaddik (righteous person) is tz-d-k, which also forms tzedek (justice) and tzedekah (translated as charity but really means more the justice that comes from sharing the material wealth of which we are only... stewards). Therefore, I like to think of tzaddikim as justice-ers, people working to bring justice to the world.

Extending the thinking that G-D created the world for tzaddikim, we could conclude that G-d created the world on purpose as a place intended for social action and that humans are intended to work for justice: "Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof" ("justice, justice shalt thou pursue." Shoftim (Deuteronomy) 16:20). That pasuk goes on to imply that justice is what is necessary, it is in fact a prerequisite, for us to thrive and come into our inheritance (that is, the world in which we live).

Change is our very nature

2010-07-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

Positive disintegration

It is helpful and despair work to realize that going to pieces or falling apart is not such a bad thing. Indeed, it is essential to evolutionary and psychic transformation. For the individuals who, in confronting current anomalies of experience, allows positive disintegration to happen, it can bring a dark night of the soul, a time of spiritual void and turbulence. But the anxieties and doubts are creative, not only for the person but for society, because they permit new and original approaches to reality.

What "disintegrates" in periods of rapid transformation is not the self, of course, but its defenses and ideas. We are not objects that can break. We are open systems, whirlpools in a river of the ever flowing water, patterns that perpetuate themselves.

We do not need to protect ourselves from change, for our very nature is change. Defensive self-protection, restricting vision and movement like a suit of armor, makes it harder to adapt. It not only reduces flexibility, but blocks the flow of information we need to survive. Our "going to pieces," however uncomfortable a process, can open us up to new perceptions, new data, the responses.

From World as Lover, World as Self, by Joanna Macy, www.joannamacy.net

Enlightenment: the liberation of concepts

2010-07-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

In Focusing, we learn that concepts can interfere with experiencing things as they are, freshly. I recently learned, through @Ali Miller, about a teacher called Gangaji. When I read Gangaji's writing about the nature of her enlightenment, I was deeply moved because I recognize what she calls the liberation of concepts. Her words make enlightenment accessible to me.

With Focusing, I already know how to experience without concepts, and have had many experiences of experiencing without concepts (so to speak). This connects me with the trust I feel in my body, as a result of what I have already known and experienced, that even more freedom is available to me as I move Focusing and felt-sensing out of the formal practice and into daily life. I feel excited and inspired about the next step forward in my understanding and lived experiencing that is supported by Gangaji's words:

"Even though there is a personality associated with this body, and a sense of a “person” in experience, it is continually revealed to be nothing in the face of truth. It is not possible to integrate this truth into anything else because truth already exists as everything and it always has. Instead, you can recognize is that your life is already inside this vastness or infinity; it is already a part of that integral whole. Then every situation in life is an opportunity to recognize the ground of beingness that holds it all.

Any thought of separation from this whole, however much suffering follows it, still is only a thought. Separation must be maintained, it must be thought, it must be proved, and it must be practiced to exist. Without this maintenance, the experience of separation vanishes.

However your daily life presents itself, whether it is a life devoted to monastic duties or a life in the midst of the world, every moment is an opportunity to realize who you are. True investigation reveals that whatever prior limitations you think keep you from who you are (be they grand or lowly) are nothing but concepts, concepts that, when not maintained by mind activity, cannot cause suffering. These concepts can be liberated so that you, as you are, can shine fully. This is the invitation extended to you."

From The End of All Excuses, by Gangaji.
http://www.gangaji.org/index.php?modules=content&op=all_excuses

The great one, who went to the mountaintop said, "You can't solve nothing with violence!" Oscar Grant I

2010-07-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

This video moved me deeply and made me cry last night. It's the grandfather of Oscar Grant III, a young Black man who was shot in the back by a white transit officer while being arrested, speaking on July 8, 2010, after an all-white jury convicted the officer of involuntary manslaughter.

Daisaku Ikeda, in an essay called the Courage of Nonviolence, writes, "Nonviolence is the highest form of humility; it is supreme courage. Prime Minister Nehru said that the essence of Gandhi's teachings was fearlessness. The Mahatma taught that "the strong are never vindictive" and that dialogue can only be engaged in by the brave. "

In Liberation Magazine (October, 1959) , the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, "There is more power in socially organized masses on the march than there is in guns in the hands of a few desperate men. Our enemies would prefer to deal with a small armed group rather than with a huge, unarmed but resolute mass of people."

I pray for the day when I can be a one in a huge, unarmed but resolute mass of people who are brave enough to live in dialogue, creating the very peace we wish to see in the world.

May we, Oscar Grant, his family, Johannes Mehserle, the jury members and every one of us affected by Oscar Grant's killing and the verdict against Johannes Mehserle, be filled with lovingkindness for ourselves and others.

May we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May we be well and happy.

May we know peace.

What we can offer one another

2010-07-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

"The only thing I think we have to offer someone else is our own centredness, our own being all right, and knowing beyond a doubt that they're all right. If I know that about myself in a way that lets me know that about everyone, I speak with true authority, in the sense of knowing what is so. But if I don't have that experience of being all right, if I am afraid for you because I am afraid for me, all I have to offer you is my fear. "Maybe if you quit drinking..." or "Why don't you try such-and-such?" That all comes from my own fear.

I think it's disrespectful of someone else's life process to assume that they are inadequate to their experience. It would be good to follow that back and see how I am simply projecting my own fear of inadequacy onto them. I simply cannot know about someone else's life... The contribution I can make is to clean up what's mine... I can't remove the obstacles to your path, but I can avoid putting things in your way... I this way to do I most deeply vow to train myself."

Cheri Huber, Good Life: A Zen precepts retreat

Discipline, submission and love

2010-06-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Bindu Wiles' 21.5.800 challenge (see http://binduwiles.com/buddhism/my-new-project-21-5-800/) and her writing on discipline, "Discipline, the word we mostly cringe at (http://binduwiles.com/buddhism/discipline-the-word-we-mostly-cringe-at-21-5-800-day-8/comment-page-1/#comment-1158):

For me, I think of discipline as surrender, not as in I surrender to an opposing army but as in I surrender, swooning, into the arms of a lover.

If
- I envision the practice to which I submit myself as my lover,
- love infuses the act of surrendering myself to the lover,
- in surrender I reach out, not closing but rather opening to the fullness of the experience, as my vulva, vagina, cervix and uterus swell with blood to support the sexual experience

then the whole experience of submission or surrender to discipline is transformed.

There are some things in life - especially, for me, I have noticed, the subtle experiencings of my emotions, soul, spirit and heart - that require aspects of to submission or surrender, an opening and turning toward, for me to experience them at all. Otherwise they pass unnoticed. This has become most clear to me since beginning a personal practice of Focusing, which I do without fail a minimum of once a week, and often more.

I *love* the experience of discipline when I think if it this way. One of my yoga teachers said that if we are ready, the experience will happen. (I'm sure this is not unfamiliar to many of you.) Surrendering in love to discipline is how I make myself ready.

Bindu, thank you for opening the space in which I can reconnect with the juiciness in me in relation to this topic.

Shulamit

Felt-sensing occurs in us every day

2010-06-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

Eugene Gendlin gives an example of how felt-sensing occurs naturally:

"Imagine you have that funny feeling that you have forgotten something, a kind of inner discomfort or conflictual feeling inside yourself that just won’t go away. You scrunch up your face, bring your hand to your head, searching around inside of yourself. Not this, not that . . . and then, suddenly, “oh yes, it’s that!” Ah ha—you and that feeling have made contact. You are left with a sense of resolution for now understanding (i.e., being able to communicate) something that had been disturbing and unknown before." Gendlin, E. (1981). Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.

Focusing is a method for directly accessing this kind of knowing. With training or support, you can find the entry point to your embodied knowledge. After that, you can become able to stay long enough to interact with it. and surprising new steps of change, thought, and action can come from it.

Focusing is supported by a long series of operational research studies conducted first at the University of Chicago and now internationally.

I offer guided Focusing sessions or Focusing instruction. $75/hr or save $25 with a three-session package for $200.

www.shula.ca
shulamit@shula.ca
613-868-9642 (Eastern Canada time zone)

The 'Why', 'What' and 'How' of Restorative Circles. An interview with Dominic Barter

2010-05-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

The 'Why', 'What' and 'How' of Restorative Circles. An interview with Dominic Barter and Information on Restorative Circles facilitator training in Ottawa, June 3-8, 2010.

An Introduction to Restorative Circles with Dominic Barter from Restorative Circles on Vimeo.

Restorative Circles Introduction and Facilitation Modules

Ottawa, Ontario June 3-6 and 7-8, 2010

To register contact the CICR

http://www.cicr-icrc.ca/pages/en/training/register.php

Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution

in partnership with

NVC Ottawa-Outaouais

Presents

Restorative Circle
Building Compassionate Conflict Resolution Systems

June 3 to 6, 2010

Plenary in English: consecutive translation as needed.

Documents and breakout groups will be in choice of English or French.

Restorative Circles allow individuals and communities to establish connection, discover meaning and recover power on profound levels. They create a forum for reaching agreements that help sustain effective and nurturing relationships both personally and within society.

Circles have developed within the RJ (Restorative Justice) movement, which in recent decades has adapted ways for communities to promote responsibility and healing. Rethinking justice, and engaging to consciously build whole-system responses to people’s well-being, has opened up revolutionary possibilities for furthering a culture of peace.

Restorative Training

June 3^rd, the first evening, is gratis and open to all friends & families: an intro to 5 pre-requisites for creating RC in communities.

The next 3 days dynamically explore the key assumptions underlying the RC model which Dominic Barter has been sharing all over Brazil for years.

Participants may experience loosening of closed ideas, uncovering of human motives behind painful choices and discovery of effective strategies to meet pressing needs. They will partake first-hand in the RC process, with step-by-step integration of both RC & NVC skills.

NVC is a skill which affirms that we, human beings, share common, universal values (such as needs for community and respect), as well as a desire to see these needs met. By focusing on these shared values, and then moving on to strategies, there can be found solutions which are more satisfying, empowering and sustainable.

NVC is based on the premise that each of us can access our remarkable inner resources if we are given empathy, and that we all fare much better if we know how to do this in collaboration.

Gina Cenciose

Gina has been a practitioner of nonviolence and conflict resolution for many years.

She is a certified community-building facilitator, a certified trainer for the Center for NVC and a Restorative Circle (RC) facilitator. She has been sharing NVC full-time for seven years in prisons, hospitals and non-profits.

She currently runs seven year-long NVC Integration programs, and also mentors others through the Center’s certification process.

Gina offers and teaches NVC-based mediation in families, businesses & groups of all kinds.

A long-time colleague of Dominic’s, Gina has been facilitating Restorative Circles in different environments since learning this wonderful model directly from him.

Valérie Lanctôt-Bédard

Valérie has been teaching NVC since 2003. She intervenes in a variety of environments – including all kinds of organizations at work, couples and families and therapeutic relations in health centers, where she offers empathy in dealing with anger, beliefs, grief, healing, change, parental skills and social activism.

She also works with individuals on their life path, sharing her 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, facilitator and therapist.

She is a certified trainer of the Center for NVC and co-founder of the Québec Circle of Certified Trainers.

For more information on both trainers:

www.cnvc.org www.spiralis.ca

www.facilitatechange.org

www.nvc-transformation-cnv.com

www.Mainenvcnetwork.org

***************************************

$550, 00 plus GST

$495, 00 before May 6^th plus GST

$275, 00 for students plus GST – Thursday night free

Location: Saint Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1C4

Time

Thursday Evening: 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

Friday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Saturday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday: 9:00 am to 3:30 pm

For those with RJ background: experience how inserting NVC's ABA-type listening can enhance resolution sustainability.

For those with NVC background: experience how deepening NVC dialogue can empower facilitation of circles.

For those wanting to contribute to ‘peace’: experience the immediate ‘vigor', in your community, of this unique combination of Alternate Dispute Resolution skills!

NVC Ottawa-Outaouais is a non-profit network offering NonViolent Communication-based facilitation, mediation, practice groups and teaching in businesses and communities.

Restorative Circle II

Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution

in partnership with

NVC Ottawa-Outaouais

Presents

Restorative Circle II
Building Compassionate Conflict Resolution Systems

June 7 & 8, 2010

and

October 1 & 2, 2010

Plenary in English: consecutive translation as needed.

Documents and breakout groups will be in choice of English or French.

Restorative Circle allows individuals and communities to establish connection, discover meaning and recover power on profound levels. They create a forum for reaching agreements that help sustain effective and nurturing relationships both personally and within society.

Dominic Barter, the certified trainer in charge of the RJ project for the Center for NVC, has created a wonderfully empowering & sustainable restorative process!

www.nvctraining.com/media/GC/TP-key-diffs-200812

http://oorcfn.blogspot.com/

Restorative Training

These two days dynamically deepen the key assumptions underlying the RC model which Dominic Barter has long been sharing all over America.

They are the next steps to developing the skills required to facilitate an RC after participating in a 3-day Intro. Because everyone comes from a different background and level of expertise, Dominic recommends a total of 9 days of training in this particular model of facilitation. Participants will learn to hone their awareness of group dynamics and they will specifically evolve:

° Deep clarity around the whole process and each of its steps,
° Self-awareness and self-care,
° Co-facilitation with other people,
° Flexibility and creativity,
° Interrupting and focusing to track meaning,
° Staying connected with the RC intention throughout, while skilfully intervening in a group,
° Empathic listening and guessing,
° Making clear observations,
° Identifying a doable action plan within a specific time frame.

This 2-day experience will be highly interactive with demonstration, practice, individual coaching and group debriefing of each step.

Gina Cenciose

Gina has been a practitioner of nonviolence and conflict resolution for many years.

She currently runs seven year-long NVC Integration programs, and also mentors others through the Center’s certification process.

Gina offers and teaches NVC-based mediation in families, businesses & groups of all kinds.

A long-time colleague of Dominic’s, Gina has been facilitating Restorative Circles in different environments since learning this wonderful model directly from him.

Valérie Lanctôt-Bédard

She also works with individuals on their life path, sharing her 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, facilitator and therapist.

She is a certified trainer of the Center for NVC and co-founder of the Québec Circle of Certified Trainers.

For more information on both trainers:

www.cnvc.org www.spiralis.ca

www.facilitatechange.org

www.nvc-transformation-cnv.com

www.Mainenvcnetwork.org

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$375, 00 plus GST

$350, 00 before May 6th plus GST

$200, 00 for students plus GST

Location: Saint Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1C4

Time

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

For those with RJ background: experience how inserting NVC's ABA-type listening can enhance resolution sustainability.

For those with NVC background: experience how deepening NVC dialogue can empower facilitation of circles.

For those wanting to contribute to ‘peace’: experience the immediate ‘vigor', in your community, of this unique combination of Alternate Dispute Resolution skills!

NVC Ottawa-Outaouais is a non-profit network offering NonViolent Communication-based facilitation, mediation, practice groups and teaching in businesses and communities.

Intrdoction to Felt sensing and the Inner Relationship (Focusing) for Nonviolent Communication

2010-05-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Quick reference:

What: Intro to Felt-sensing and the Inner Relationship (Focusing) for Nonviolent Communication phone course

When: Mondays, July 5 – August 2, 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern

Cost: 375 in the currency of your country of residence plus purchase of manual from http://www.focusingresources.com/materials/manuals.html.

Pre-requisite: one 1-hour guided Focusing session (see below for details)

Registration deadline: June 15, 2010

To register: e-mail Shulamit at shula dot ca or call 613-868-9642

In NVC we talk about "the shift" that comes from connecting with needs. With Focusing, we can learn a reliable way to connect with the inner experiencing that can lead to that shift. In an Introduction to Focusing for NVC, we will learn and apply the basics of Inner Relationship Focusing with an awareness of the NVC process and needs consciousness.

A certified NVC trainer recently said that with Focusing, self-empathy is deepened exponentially. Eugene Gendlin, who brought Focusing to the world, himself said, "No matter what you do, with Focusing, it will go better," and this has definitely been my experience with NVC, and in general. Focusing, Gendlin’s book, used to be on the recommended reading list for certification candidates, which is how I was first introduced to it.

The series will run for 5 weeks on Mondays, July 5th to August 2, 1:00–3:30 p.m. Eastern time. You will be asked to do a 1-hour Focusing partnership exchange with a classmate and some reading as homework each week between classes. Cost is 375 in the currency of your country (AU, CA or US dollars, Euros, UK pounds etc. Please contact me if you would like more information about pricing.) Please be aware you may incur long distance or other charges associated with dialing into the conference line.

Pre-requisite: one 1-hour guided Focusing session. If you book with me, the cost is 35 in the currency of your country. You can also have a session with any other Inner Relationship Focusing teacher, see http://www.focusingresources.com/irf/directory.htm.

Materials: Focusing Student’s and Companion’s Manual, Part 1. Available at http://www.focusingresources.com/materials/manuals.html.

I am a certified Inner Relationship Focusing teacher and guide, and a CNVC-certified trainer candidate. More about me:

· website www.shula.ca

· blog www.shula-yoga.ca (scroll to the very bottom for videos of Gendlin talking about Focusing)

· e-mail shulamit at shula dot ca

· call 613-868-9642 (I'm in the Eastern Canada time zone).

For more about Focusing, see www.focusing.org or www.focusingresources.com.

Looking forward,

Shulamit

A felt sense: the characteristics of Focusing (video)

2010-05-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Akira Ikemi, Ph.D. (Kobe Japan) presents the characteristics of Focusing, from the 12th International Focusing Conference held in Pforzheim in Germany, 2000.

Cultivating the courage to ask for help

2010-05-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

I asked an NVC colleague to give me empathic listening time about a difficult issue. We have an agreement that we are welcome to ask one another for help at any time, and yet I still felt uncomfortable. A part of me still believes asking for help is "taking," and I have no right to "take" without giving back.

My colleague gave me feedback about what it was like to accompany me. From her response, I experienced that asking for help is not only "taking" from someone, it is also giving.

What helps me get in touch with that is the "post-empathic request": would you be willing to tell me how you are affected by being with me in this way?

When I take time to elicit, receive and be affected by the response of the person helping me, it connects me with the flowing of giving and receiving in my body. It’s a physical experience I can call to mind anytime. Taking time to receive it makes it more likely I will remember it.

Making the post-empathic request and receiving the answer gives me the courage to keep asking for help because it supports me in remembering how asking for help can make both our lives more wonderful.

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I offer Nonviolent Communication coaching, introductory and deepening workshops. I also integrate NVC in my practice of holistic psychotherapy. Sessions are available at $75/hr or 3 sessions for $200. For more see www.shula.ca, or contact me at shulamit@shula.ca or 613-868-9642. Follow me on Twitter: Shuliji

Empty space is sacred space

2010-05-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

To follow the way of the listener, you must be empty. Set down, beside you, your feelings, knowledge and know-how. When you are already full, how can there be room for the other person?

In emptiness, the listener responds freely to the fullness of the other,
sensing the movement of life, the subtle ebb and flow of relational depth.
The empty space is a sacred space, if only we can keep it empty.

Rob Foxcroft

The Value of Focusing

2010-04-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

Today I am appreciating the value of Focusing in my life. Gene Gendlin says, "No matter what you do, with Focusing, it will go better." And how true that is! I guide and teach Focusing because I am passionate about how it supports me in being whole and want to share that opportunity with others.

I was struggling with an interpersonal conflict. It felt painful. I was angry. When I took just a brief moment to look inside, I discovered how I yearn for both of us to be OK. Connecting with that yearning, and my beautiful vision of “OKness,” I felt an easing, and a wave of love toward myself (when before I was self-critical) and toward the other person (when before I was feeling angry). Not only does loving just plain feel better than being in pain and angry, it is way I want to be in the world.

Today, I am so grateful for how Focusing has supported me in connecting with and experiencing my deepest values, even in the midst of pain and conflict.

Focusing is a scientifically-proven and -validated way of accessing our inner wisdom and gaining physical and mental ease. I offer guided Focusing sessions on the phone or in person for $75 each or three for $200. For more see www.shula.ca or e-mail shulamit@shula.ca

I Know Nothing Ahead of Time

2010-04-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

My certification as a Focusing professional took place on April 1st. Of course, during my certification assessment, I spent some time listening to my insides. At the close of my Focusing, they gave me a knowing. As I stepped forward into the “fullness of this” (my self as a certified Focusing professional), my insides wanted me to remember that I “know nothing beforehand,” reminding me of the Fool card in the Tarot deck.

This was very satisfying to hear. It is an experiential reminder of how I want to be in life, with myself and other people, and especially with psychotherapy and Focusing clients. It’s like Gene Gendlin says,

I want to start with the most important thing I have to say: What matters is to be a human being with another human being, to recognize the other person as another being in there… So, when I sit down with someone, I take my troubles and feelings and I put them over here, on one side, close, because I might need them. And I take all the things that I have learnt… and I put them over here, on my other side, close. Then I am just here... There are no qualifications for the kind of person I must be. What is wanted for the big therapy process, the big development process, is a person who will be present.

It is useful to have learned things. But they do not guide my being with myself or someone else. Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi writes that it is necessary to leave what I know. I “have to leave the here to go there, to sacrifice the here for there.” In the holy place of “being with,” I must release myself from thinking that I know anything. Otherwise, what do I know? Only what I knew before. But touching the awe and mystery of what is happening now is dependent on not knowing, on not putting things in boxes. I must open a window through which I can see Ain Sof, the Open Space of the shining, infinite light of the Divine. “The place of unknowing… is desirable ignorance,” teaches Reb Nachman of Bratslav.

Just like The Fool, I have my traveller’s pack. It is here with me, on my shoulder in case I need the contents along the way. I know how to support people in process and by listening. I know how to demonstrate to them that I am with them. I know my professional boundaries and how to care for myself so I am in integrity and we are both safe. But how this person will be, who they are, and what is alive in them? This I do not yet know. The responses lie in this very moment. They are what is happening now, and it is for what is happening now that I want to drop my pack and be present. It is in reference to this moment of “being with” that “I know nothing beforehand.”

With gratitude to my Focusing teachers Ann Weiser Cornell, Diane Bourbonnais-Caron and Ruth Hirsch, and to Eugene Gendlin who brought Focusing to the world.

Gendlin, E.T. (1990). The small steps of the therapy process: How they come and how to help them come. In G. Lietaer, J. Rombauts & R. Van Balen (Eds.), Client-centered and experiential psychotherapy in the nineties, pp. 205-224. Leuven: Leuven University Press. Available at http://www.focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2110.html

Shachter Shalomi, Z. and Miles Yepez, N. (2009). A Heart Afire: Stories and teachings of the early Hasidic masters. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

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To celebrate my certification, I am offering two free guided Focusing phone sessions (some conditions apply). Offer expires April 30, 2010. Please contact me for details.

I offer guided Focusing sessions in person or by telephone at the rate of $75/session. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200.

I also offer holistic psychotherapy that is grounded in the Focusing process at the rate of $75/hour-long session.

For more information: www.shula.ca ~ shulamit@shula.ca ~ 613-868-YOGA

Spirituality in Psychotherapy

2010-03-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

For many of us, bodily feelings have vague meanings. With Focusing, staying with these subtle bodily feelings brings new, clearer meanings.

The coming forth of new, clearer meanings is a process that is both spiritual and transcendent. It is transcendent because it involves moving beyond a former frame of reference in a direction of higher and broader scope. Its spiritual nature lies in the felt shift that results from the sensing of the new meaning and that may involve
experiences like a sense of rightness, bodily felt release, more life energy, and/or a feeling of being more present. The felt shift comes to us as a gift, not as something that we can maintain, create, or control. When a person attends to his or her felt sense and it unfolds into a transcendent growth process accompanied by a felt shift, the Focusing process and the spiritual process become one and the same.

This process definition of spirituality can be experienced by all human beings and does not judge or exclude anyone. The distinction between a process and a content definition is extremely important; each person’s religious beliefs and background, and thus the words and imagery they may use, are unique. But the transcendent, spiritual process in Focusing can be experienced by every person.

This spiritual process is always available to us. But like any aspect of our holistic, intricate, changing processing, we can become alienated from it. Our processing may then become stuck or stopped. Focusing gives us a way to re-connect to this inner experiencing so that our innate impulse toward growth, or transcendence, can carry forward.

Adapted by Shulamit Day Berlevtov based on Elfie Hinterkopf*.

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I offer holistic psychotherapy with a spiritual focus grounded in the process described above at $75/hour.

I also offer guided Focusing sessions in person or by telephone at the rate of $75/session. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200.

For more information, see www.shula.ca.

*Hinterkopf, Elfie. (1998). Integrating Spirituality in Counseling: A manual for using the experiential focusing method. The book was first published by the American Counseling Association in 1998 and may now be ordered from The Focusing Institute, 34 East Lane, Spring Valley, NY 10977. The book may be ordered in the UK and Europe only from PCCS Books Ltd., 2 Cropper Row, Alton Road, Ross-0n-Wye, HR9 5LA, UK.

Kripalu Gentle yoga class series starting April 20, Tuesdays 6 - 7 p.m.

2010-03-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

Kripalu Gentle yoga class series at Blue Crane

Starts April 20th. 10-week session, Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m. $120. To register, contact Shulamit by e-mail shulamit@shula.ca or 613-868-YOGA.

Location: Blue Crane Yoga and Wellness, www.bluecrane.ca, 202B Main Street (above Wheatberry)

Kripalu yoga is a compassionate approach, emphasizing respect of self in the postures as well as transformation that overflows into daily life. In a Kriplau class, each student learns to find their own level of practice on a given day by looking inward.

Gentle classes begin with stretches that are followed by a series of individual poses and a final relaxation. The viniyoga approach of combining breath and movement is an integral part of this class.

No previous yoga experience is required to attend this class.

Shulamit is a multiply-certified and registered yoga teacher. For information about her, see www.shula.ca.

Charter for Compassion

2009-11-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

A call to bring the world together… http://charterforcompassion.org/

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

The simple power of being a companion

2009-11-04T04:17:00.000-08:00

“For hundreds of thousands of years ... a friend or companion has sat down quietly on the ground close by and listened. And little by little some kind of opening has come, and there has been some sense of a way forward…. It seems more than probable that these simple things have been known at all times and in all places ... We are passing a golden treasure from hand to hand.” Rob Foxcroft

When I read this, I feel comforted in my body. My insides relax and I feel a sense of simple, peaceful calmness and joy. They say, “Yes! This is how I want to be. This is the simple gift I want to give."

Shulamit Day Berlevtov
Holistic Psychotherapy

I support people in transforming what is painful and difficult into meaning, inner spaciousness and new life.

Sessions are available for $75 each or a package of three for $200.

List of Services

2009-09-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

Focusing Guiding and teaching: “No matter what you do, when you know Focusing, it will go better.” Focusing is direct access to a bodily knowing. It is a mode of deep listening through inward bodily attention that is more than being in touch with your feelings and different from body work. The skills you will learn in Focusing also enable you to accompany the most difficult of inner experiences with safety and ease. Sessions are available by phone or in person.

Compassionate Communication (Nonviolent Communication or NVC) Coaching and instruction: The NVC process develops skills of consciousness and communication with yourself and others, supporting a quality of connection that gives rise to a flow of natural compassion (particularly when you find this the most challenging to do, and you need compassion the most). The NVC process is useful for personal growth as well as for interpersonal communication and conflict resolution in all kinds of settings including intimate relationships, family and work. Coaching sessions and instruction are available by phone or in person.

Integrative bodywork: Incorporating deep listening through facilitated bodily attention with energy healing through light physical touch, integrative bodywork supports personal growth and healing. It is an opportunity for total mind-body-spirit processing so that you can access and experience freshly the living-forward energy of any situation or issue. Sessions take place clothed, lying on a massage table, in person only.

Restorative Circles facilitation: Restorative Circles are a community response to conflict. With my NVC colleagues in Ottawa/Outaouais, I co-host Restorative Circles for communities that have experienced disconnection and want to restore harmony, dignity, trust and safety.

Tapas Acupressure Technique®: Promotes inner peace, relaxation, vibrant health and empowerment by placing your attention on whatever the issue is and touching a few specific acupuncture points on your face and at the back of your head. Guided TAT® sessions by phone or in person. TAT®, Tapas Acupressure Technique®, and TATLife® are registered trademarks of Tapas Fleming.

Reiki: A holistic, light-touch healing modality that re-establishes a normal flow of life-force energy to support and accelerate your body's innate healing ability. I move through a series of hand placements either directly on or just above your body. Sessions take place with you clothed, lying on a massage table. In Bells Corners.

Yoga and Yoga as Therapy: Integrating Kripalu postures and experiential technology with breath and posture elements from the Viniyoga tradition. Promotes wellness by incorporating body, mind and spirit. Individual Yoga as Therapy sessions are available in person in Bells Corners. Group and individual yoga classes are also available. Please inquire for locations.

Fees: All services are available at the rate of $75/session. Insurance coverage may be available under some extended health care plans. Save $25 by purchasing a 3-session package for $200. All fees are payable in the currency of the payee's country of residence. I accept cash, cheque or Paypal (pay cash directly from your bank account or by credit card without revealing your financial information).

What is Empathy and why you may find value in it?

2009-08-11T04:23:00.000-07:00

"Empathy can be likened to standing in another person’s shoes, understanding the feelings and values of another person’s perspective at any given moment. It begins with an internal choice to see from a different point of view, to understand another side of a story. Empathy is the state of being fully present to each other's feelings and needs. Empathy is not agreement, but rather a willingness to fully understand how things look from another’s point of view. To create empathic connection, one need not have ever been in the same situation of the person you are listening to - for example, even if one has never had a child does not mean that they would be unable to empathize with a parent.

Empathy is being present to what the other person is experiencing, not being triggered by it or trying to fix it. When we allow the person who is before us to simply be, without our values, judgments or decisions to be placed upon them, we are offering ourselves in what some have called unconditional love. Connecting with open-hearted curiosity accesses our natural ability to respond with compassion and clarity. It's an experience of mutual giving and receiving.

Empathy is the meeting ground where the needs of all are acknowledged and considered, including our own. When we deeply accept another, the other person is far more open to hearing and understanding us. With empathy we all have a greater chance of resolving conflicts peacefully and meeting our universal needs and values.

"I often say we've got a budget deficit that's important, we've got a trade deficit that's critical, but what I worry about most is our empathy deficit."
—U.S. President Barack Obama" http://nvctraining.com/courses/telecourses/IDEA/empathy-20090816/empathy.html

For opportunities to learn more about the value of empathy and strengthen your empathy skills, contact Shulamit 613-868-9642 or shulamit@shula.ca Individual sessions are available for $75 each or a block of three for $200. Group workshops are also available. Please contact Shulamit for details.

You can also register for a series of FREE empathy teleconference classes at the NVC Academy, an NVC teaching organization I recommend very highly. For more information, see http://nvctraining.com/courses/telecourses/IDEA/empathy-20090816/empathy.html

Focusing is a practical, physical way to open the body's consciousness to the transcendent giftedness of everything

2009-06-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

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Shulamit Day Berlevtov offers guided Focusing sessions in person or by telephone at the rate of $75/session. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200. See www.shula.ca.

No matter what you do, when you know Focusing, it will go better.

10 Things We Can Do to Contribute to Internal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Peace

2009-05-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

(1) Spend some time each day quietly reflecting on how we would like to relate to ourselves and others.

(2) Remember that all human beings have the same needs.

(3) Check our intention to see if we are as interested in others getting their needs met as our own.

(4) When asking someone to do something, check first to see if we are making a request or a demand.

(5) Instead of saying what we DON'T want someone to do, say what we DO want the person to do.

(6) Instead of saying what we want someone to BE, say what action we'd like the person to take that we hope will help the person be that way.

(7) Before agreeing or disagreeing with anyone's opinions, try to tune in to what the person is feeling and needing.

(8) Instead of saying "No," say what need of ours prevents us from saying "Yes."

(9) If we are feeling upset, think about what need of ours is not being met, and what we could do to meet it, instead of thinking about what's wrong with others or ourselves.

(10) Instead of praising someone who did something we like, express our gratitude by telling the person what need of ours that action met.

The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC.org) would like there to be a critical mass of people using Nonviolent Communication language so all people will get their needs met and resolve their conflicts peacefully. 2001, revised 2004 Gary Baran & CNVC. The right to freely duplicate this document is hereby granted.

Shulamit Day Berlevtov offers training and coaching in Nonviolent Communication. Individual sessions are available at the rate of $75 each. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200. For information on group workshops, please contact Shulamit. For more on Nonviolent Communication, see www.shula.ca.

Encounter life with Focusing

2009-05-16T04:56:00.001-07:00

Are you yearning to know yourself better? Are you feeling stuck?

Focusing allows you to meet yourself directly, with nothing (old habits, prior assumptions, fears, or any other kind of baggage) in between.

Focusing is a way of encountering life itself
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"When I Focus, I am seeking to know myself better. When Focus, I become more clear about my priorities. I value my relationships. I change... I don't stay stuck in the same ruts. I surprise myself. I move into my potential.

Focusing lets me meet people directly, with nothing in between. My relationships are enormously better now than before Focusing. I am truly present and engaged in living my life." adapted from Ann Weiser Cornell www.focusingresources.com

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Shulamit Day Berlevtov offers guided Focusing sessions in person or by telephone at the rate of $75/session. You can save $25 when you buy a 3-session package for $200. See www.shula.ca.

No matter what you do, when you know Focusing, it will go better.

Some Suggestions for Individualized, Breath-Centered Yoga Practice

2009-03-08T05:37:00.000-07:00

Some Suggestions for Individualized, Breath-Centered Yoga Practice

Presented by Leslie Kaminoff to 170 students at 7am practice on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at Symposium for Yoga Therapy and Research, Los Angeles.

© Leslie Kaminoff www.yogaanatomy.org
Please feel free to use and share these ideas with as many people as you wish. However, please respect the original language, and preserve proper attribution when forwarding.

10 teaching points:

1. "OM" at your own pace.
Everyone's breath is a different length. Let's honor that with 3 comfortable, non-competitive OM's to start and end the class.

2. Vinyasa yourself.
A salutation done in group synchrony is a powerful experience for sure, but because the breathing pace is everyone's, that means it's actually no one's. It's shocking how many experienced group-class students have never done a single vinyasa at their own pace.

3. Function over form.
Give functional suggestions instead of form-oriented instructions. Promoting the idea that there's an ideal form to the poses neglects the context that asana doesn't exist unless expressed by the unique body of a single individual. Pursuing an unattainable, ideal form only leaves the student wondering what they've done wrong.

4. Be an opener, not a poser.
Even some of the most seasoned teachers make this mistake. A student's experience is never wrong as long as it's THIERS, not yours. Class is the time for students to have their own, unique experience, rather than being told what they should be feeling. Students are very vulnerable and suggestible in class, so instead of telling them what should be going on inside, just point them in the direction you want them to look, and be open to surprises. If they have trouble feeling anything, then that's exactly what they need to notice.

5. Honor dyslexia.
The most useless and confusing words in yoga class are "right" and "left." Does it REALLY matter what side you start a pose on? All the traditional justifications for starting on the right side can be countered with equally persuasive counter-arguments. Given the freedom, most people will do their easy side first - even if they don't consciously know which side that is. In the right context, this is very revealing.
When giving instructions for any pose, try saying, "choose a foot (or hand) and start with that one - we'll get the other one next. Now, you can refer to the limbs as "first" or "front" or "back" or "other" and everyone will be much happier.

6. Try free-form counterposing.
Instead of teaching thee usual counterposes to intense asanas, give the students a few minutes to do whatever their bodies need - based on what they're feeling. Prepare to see some people do the expected just out of rote habit, which they should recognize. Be also prepared to see the unexpected and counter-intuitive. For example, some people want to go deeper into a backbend after wheel, rather than into child's pose.

7. Try free-form krama.
Krama means steps (for more advanced students). Assign your class a challenging "target" pose, which they will do after a series of self-selected, progressive preparatory practices. Afterwards, see #6.

8. Disassociate your breathing.
One of the strongest patterns exhibited by experienced students is the simultaneous initiation of breath and movement. The deepest practice of vinyasa-bandha is most easily revealed when breath and movement are consciously DIS-connected. Try starting the breath before the movement, or vice-versa. Simple idea, big topic. Buy my next book.

9. Take a stand for freedom.
Let's try to banish the words "correct" and "proper" from discussions about asana, and especially breath. Either the goal of yoga is to be free, or the goal of yoga is to get it right - choose now, because you can't have it both ways.

If you just chose freedom, you've divested yourself of that crazy idea that you had to get it right. Stay with that, and...

10. …Congratulations. Welcome to YOUR yoga.

Enjoy! Feedback welcome.

by Leslie Kaminoff www.yogaanatomy.org

Kripalu Yoga in Centrepointe

2009-01-17T04:59:00.001-08:00

Kripalu Yoga Class - General Level
Session begins 9 February 2009

This series is a general-level 10-week session of Kripalu yoga classes.

Kripalu classes are designed for your body, mind and spirit. Destress and refresh your body as you stretch and tone your muscles, releasing chronic tension. Calm restless thoughts and cultivate your concentration to support mental clarity and confidence. A Kripalu yoga practice encourages self-acceptance, teaches you to honor your inner wisdom, and invites peace within.

Kripalu classes taught by Shulamit will integrate Kripalu postures and experiential technology with breath and posture elements from the Viniyoga tradition. Classes begin with warm-up movements and breath awareness in preparation for postures. The heart of each class is a sequence of postures that stretch, strengthen and balance your body. Each class ends with deep relaxation.

Time: Mondays 7:45 - 8:45 p.m.
Location: Livewell Health, 100 Centrepointe Drive, Nepean
(see http://www.livewellhealth.com/web/la/en/pg/1381/inside.asp)

Cost: 10 classes for $140
Pre-registration is required.
To register, contact Livewell Health at 613-225-3339.

For more about Shulamit see www.shula.ca
To contact Shulamit, call 613-868-YOGA or e-mail shulamit@shula.ca

2009-01-11T11:56:00.001-08:00

Kripalu Yoga for Total Wellness and Stress Reduction

Session begins February 9, 2009

This 8-week course brings together many facets of Yoga that have been especially effective in reducing stress and facilitating wellness. Each class features various learning modalities to present both body-based experiences and educational information about stress, wellness and Kripalu Yoga. It is based on the principles of Integrative Yoga Therapy, an aspect of the ancient science of Yoga that focuses on health and wellness at all levels of the person: physical, psychological and spiritual. It marries Western and Eastern approaches to health and well-being.

Curriculum:

Week One: Introduction to the Course. “What will I learn?” and The Breath: Are You Really Breathing?

Week Two: Body Awareness: Facilitating mind-body-spirit connection is the key to health.

Week Three: Understanding Stress. Learning to use Yoga for stress management.

Week Four: The Power of Belief. Bringing greater health and energy into our lives.

Week Five: Living From the Heart: The physical and metaphorical heart and its role in health and healing.

Week Six: Energy: Yoga’s source of health.

Week Seven: Introduction to Ayurveda (India’s traditional medicine): Ayurvedic anatomy.

Week Eight: Opening to Life: Integrating the course.

Students will leave this program with an understanding of the importance of the mind-body-spirit in maintaining and promoting health. They will also learn effective tools that they can take home and use in their daily lives to deal with stress and promote wellness at all levels of their being.

8-week session, Mondays 5:30 - 6:30 pm, beginning February 9, 2009. (to be confirmed)

Pre-registration and pre-payment is required by February 5, 2009. $80 for the program.

Contact Shulamit shulamit@shula.ca or 613-868-YOGA

Location: Knox United Church, 5 Gibbard Avenue, Nepean, ON

This program is presented in association with Barrhaven Yoga
See www.barrhavenyoga.com for a full schedule of classes.

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2009-01-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

I've set account to send you this auto-response in service of connection, so you can know your e-mail landed in my inbox.

I receive more emails than I can respond to in the amount of time I would like. If you don't receive a response from me in the time-frame that suits you, I invite you to support me in responding to you by re-sending your e-mail.

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Shulamit Day Berlevtov
www.shula.ca
613-868-9642
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