The Embodied Life™: Meditation, Guided Inquiry and the Teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you—don’t go back to sleep. -Rumi

All methods devoted to human potential emphasize the importance of awakening to the present moment. All that we long for — love, joy, peace, harmony, truth — require the fundamental capacity for presence.

This seminar uses ancient and modern methods for directly and simply uncovering this natural capacity. Put simply, we need the capacity to: 1. Sit quietly with our own thoughts. 2. Mindfully welcome our feelings/emotions. 3. Find comfort in our own bodies.

The meditation we will practice is a bare-bones approach to experiencing the present moment “As It Is.” This is the basis for being at home in ourselves. Chairs are available and help is given to those who find sitting challenging. Guided Inquiry includes a variety of awareness experiments based in the Focusing method of Eugene Gendlin. Learning to bring a warm, caring, curious presence to our feelings/emotions/“negative” thoughts is truly transformative. The movement lessons of Moshe Feldenkrais are perhaps the most neurologically sophisticated and effective ways of transforming our motor patterns and self-image; these lessons are also interesting and fun. Through meditations, awareness practices, movement lessons, and conversation, we anticipate a meaningful and joyful time of learning together.

This retreat is open to all people who are interested in living an awakening life.