Somatics & Poetry For A Softening Heart
An online experiential workshop.
Hosted by Brooke McNamara & Rachel Blackman
23rd January 2025, 5pm to 7pm UK time
£40/£30 GDP (approx $48/$36 USD)
What it is ...
Our hearts are wildly wise, when given our attention and breath. So resilient, when they are allowed to receive, feel, soften into suppleness, and maybe break more open.
Perhaps there is even a dimension of heart that could be called indestructible, and the pathway to touch that radical resilience may paradoxically be to fully feel each ache, loss and limit.
Vulnerability and true strength seem somehow always mysteriously woven into one another.
Is there any part of our being so able to digest the mysteries of being creatures on earth guaranteed loss and death, as well as joy and wonder, as this human heart? Is there any portion of our humanity so capable of being with the unfathomable challenges we encounter and witness others encounter?
Join Rachel Blackman and Brooke McNamara for a 2-hour workshop as we tend to the softening of our hearts through gentle guided somatic practices and visualizations, nourishing community connection, and the potent emotional and imaginal medicine of poetry.
Bring the truth of your tenderness. And may we walk away softer, in radiant resilience.
Perhaps there is even a dimension of heart that could be called indestructible, and the pathway to touch that radical resilience may paradoxically be to fully feel each ache, loss and limit.
Vulnerability and true strength seem somehow always mysteriously woven into one another.
Is there any part of our being so able to digest the mysteries of being creatures on earth guaranteed loss and death, as well as joy and wonder, as this human heart? Is there any portion of our humanity so capable of being with the unfathomable challenges we encounter and witness others encounter?
Join Rachel Blackman and Brooke McNamara for a 2-hour workshop as we tend to the softening of our hearts through gentle guided somatic practices and visualizations, nourishing community connection, and the potent emotional and imaginal medicine of poetry.
Bring the truth of your tenderness. And may we walk away softer, in radiant resilience.
Why this work?
It is the easiest thing to let the rough weather and the pain of the world freeze or harden our hearts. It can happen almost before we've noticed.
It is one thing to let our hearts soften when we are feeling good, it is another thing to find softness when things don't feel good. When there is pain and suffering shaking our world, how might we find a way to be brave, elastic and tender in the heart, even in those moments?
Pema Chodron says - "There is a teaching that says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time."
It might feel a radical or risky act to open ourselves up in this way, perhaps it is deeply longed for, or maybe some combination. What is it for you?
Somatics helps us be with what is happening with more presence. Poetry helps us turn it into something that can touch the world.
In this workshop we work in a nervous-system informed way to tune in and listen deeply to the language of the heart - What wants or needs to be fully felt?
Then we explore, what poetic expression might want to take form from that soft spot deep within?
What song, prayer, battle cry or blessing wants to be brought into form through you?
This is an example of the kind of space holding and quality of exploration you can expect from the live workshops Brooke & Rachel will be facilitating in the Feeding Your Genius 7 month small group program starting in March 2025.
It is one thing to let our hearts soften when we are feeling good, it is another thing to find softness when things don't feel good. When there is pain and suffering shaking our world, how might we find a way to be brave, elastic and tender in the heart, even in those moments?
Pema Chodron says - "There is a teaching that says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time."
It might feel a radical or risky act to open ourselves up in this way, perhaps it is deeply longed for, or maybe some combination. What is it for you?
Somatics helps us be with what is happening with more presence. Poetry helps us turn it into something that can touch the world.
In this workshop we work in a nervous-system informed way to tune in and listen deeply to the language of the heart - What wants or needs to be fully felt?
Then we explore, what poetic expression might want to take form from that soft spot deep within?
What song, prayer, battle cry or blessing wants to be brought into form through you?
This is an example of the kind of space holding and quality of exploration you can expect from the live workshops Brooke & Rachel will be facilitating in the Feeding Your Genius 7 month small group program starting in March 2025.
Options
- by Nayyirah Waheed
'you do not need to be a fire
for
every mountain blocking you.
you could be a water
and
soft river your way to freedom
too.
- options'
GENTLE
- by Alfred K LaMotte
'A gentler world begins
in the way you touch your heart.
Be soft with the light inside you.
Caress your body with this breath.
God is nothing else
but the place where the sun comes up
in your chest.
You are the glimmering destination.
You are the golden honey daubed
on the bread of the ordinary.
Whatever is perfect,
whatever is heavenly,
begins here.'
in the way you touch your heart.
Be soft with the light inside you.
Caress your body with this breath.
God is nothing else
but the place where the sun comes up
in your chest.
You are the glimmering destination.
You are the golden honey daubed
on the bread of the ordinary.
Whatever is perfect,
whatever is heavenly,
begins here.'
Flow of the Workshop
Opening Prayer & Intention setting
Arriving in the body & an initial poetry prompt - Brooke & Rachel
Somatic drop in - Rachel
Sharing Circle
Poetic expression - Brooke
Sharing Circle
Onward Pathways & Worldly Actions
Closing
Everyone with a heart is most warmly welcome.
When you purchase, you receive access to the live online workshop, plus lifetime access to the recordings as well.
To participate in the workshop, bring a notebook, a pen, and your own wild heart.