Tuesday 5 May 2009

What are Open Your Heart workshops like?

Open your Heart Workshops are run as day workshops, weekend and week long retreats as well as shorter workshops and talks. The theme is always a journey into the heart to see where the heart needs to be healed and where someone could open and expand their energy more.

The day workshops involve meditation, a lot of dance, much connecting in partnerships, boundary work involving becoming really clear about saying Yes and No and acting these out with a partner, visualisation, sometimes writing and sometimes art depending on the group and the situation.

The day will start with an easy ice breaker of choosing objects from a selection of trinkets placed on the floor. Each person will then introduce themselves through talking about why they chose their objects. There will also be some partner work to connect with why they are here, to talk through how their heart is, what they want and what is blocking them. I may then do a meditation to connect them with their heart if appropriate to the group. I engage them in a lot of creative dance which is fun and sensual and gets them into their bodies and into their hearts. I choose music which are mainly classic tracks from different eras which connect to love and the body and they provide instant keys for people to feel their heart. We also work strongly with boundaries working on Yes and No and seeing where people are blocked around these and if they are blocked in their bodies. Many people struggle with Yes or No or both which is why they cannot open to their next level of growth.

After Lunch we may engage with more partner work perhaps looking at sadness, shame or anger, some visualization, some visioning about the perfect life for each person and what that would look like and what they need to include in their lives now in order to make their current life connect to this perfect vision. There may be some writing and/or drawing, there can be more dancing but it depends as I follow the energy of the group (it is always different).

The closing ceremony involves everyone giving a gift in the middle of the circle, lighting a candle and making an intention. Each person receives a present from the middle and this is often an amazing process as people receive relevant and surprising presents (it happens every time, amazing but true).

People go home mainly in a beautiful, open and loving state and I get many emails and feedback about how they feel bathed in a sea of love. In this place many things are possible and many clients have made great changes from engaging in new work, meeting a partner or changing an attitude towards themselves.

The weekend or week long retreats also have a similar theme but there is more time to engage deeper with different issues and exercises. We may do more art, writing, deeper work, more dancing, ceremonial things. So it can be very helpful for people although I believe that if is the right time a person can make a shift in 2 minutes or half an hour it is a lot to do with the willing and readiness.

The effect on people is very deep and profound many people have told me they have never felt such love, that they have longed for love and now they know what it is. Many people have dared to start new businesses, get themselves art studios or dare to do something they have genuinely longed to do. Many people have met a new partner or have had deep healing with the current one or have dared to leave a bad relationship. Some people have re-found a deep sexual connection with their partner (where it had closed down). Most come away with a new sense of love, beauty and light and what is possible for them.

The people who come are a massive mix from actors, teachers, coaches, therapists, stylists, journalists, designers to political activists and people who work in corporations. The age I have mainly 2 thirds women to 1 third men but it can be all women too. I have had teenagers and people in their sixties, very rich and very poor. I have mainly white people but also have a good amount of black and asian people coming. On the day workshops it can range from 8 to 22 people though I have run workshops with 60 and with 100.

Day workshops cost £70, though I often work for other organizations where they can charge different prices.

The workshops are aimed at everyone and I have ambitions to take them around the world and also into The Houses of Parliament and get some Lords and MPs dancing.

Hints to take away

1 Practising saying Yes and No
2 Visioning your perfect future and bringing that into your current reality
3 Feeling confident and beautiful (practicing this at home to music)
4 Knowing your really feel good self (once you know something you can always return to it even if you lose it)
5 Many emotional tools to look at your fear, your blocks and your faith
6 Being more in tune with your heart and with love

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