Our dominant culture isn’t so good at making space for the hard stuff.
So we’re often encouraged to push it away.
To shove down big emotions like rage + fear + grief,
To run from wild + unruly forces like death + chaos,
To sweep away hard realities like injury + betrayal so that we can pretend they don’t exist.
But there’s a cost to all of this denying + avoiding + pushing down:
It cuts us off from the bigness of life and pulls us away from the true + resonant depths we find there.
It shrinks us (by asking us to shut down + unplug parts of ourselves in an effort not to feel).
It makes life smaller (by fragmenting it into pieces so that we can leave the not-so-easy parts behind).
It seats us in the shallows (out of fear of what waits for us in the depths).
The deep + wild + chaotic intensity of our human experience isn’t easy. In my experience, nothing makes it less hard.
But I still believe it’s absolutely worth exploring.
Because the hard stuff invites (and sometimes even initiates) us into a deeper + bigger way of being.
Inside the swirl of painful experience, deep forces, and hard emotions, we still have agency. We still get to use our power + freedom to create, respond, and decide how to be in relationship to what’s hard.
And this is what we’ll explore together during this adventure into spirit + shadow.
Over the course of these 5 weeks, we’ll…
...dive into the deep shadows + dark corners of what we’re often conditioned to push away.
...have open + forward-facing conversations about the power of our rage, the bigness of death, the pain of betrayal, and the wildness of chaos.
...consider what it means to respond to their invitations (into presence, truth, bigness, healing, and power).
...explore ways of getting rooted in our bodies, staying connected to our power, and deepening our capacity for the hard stuff.
…fine-tune our skills in navigating the intensity of the deep stuff.
This is our plan:
Week 1: Fear (+ its invitation into Presence)
What it means to work with our fear as an evolutionary tool that heightens our senses + brings us back to embodied + responsive presence.
Week 2: Rage + Hatred (+ the invitation into Truth)
Why rage + hatred are okay + normal (+ important to feel) and how we can work with rage + hatred to step toward truth and cultivate deep knowing.
Week 3: Death + Grief (+ the invitation into Bigness)
What it looks like to deepen our relationship with death, answer the call of our grief, and work with both to create a deeper spirituality + vaster space for bigness in our lives.
Week 4: Injury + Betrayal (+ the invitation into Healing)
Acknowledging the pain, naming the harm, navigating the disorientation, and turning toward resilience.
Week 5: Chaos + Uncertainty (+ the invitation into Power)
What it looks like to lean on paradox, find power in chaos (+ why that’s a different thing than control), and find a coherent guidance system to help us navigate the unsettled wildness that comes with being alive.
Details:
Group calls will take place on Saturdays, beginning March 7 + ending April 4, at 12:00 CST + run about two hours, leaving plenty of time for Q&A and group coaching.
All calls will be recorded.
There will be an optional facebook group for discussion, Q&A, and coaching between calls.
Price is $175. There is also an option to add 2 one-to-one sessions for additional individual support for this work. Total price for this option (class + 2 sessions) is $375.
*Payment plans are available. If this would make life easier, please reach out to me directly, and we’ll set this up.
Please note: I plan to turn the intensity + depth all the way up for this particular adventure. Please make sure you’re ready for that before signing up. If you’re interested but not sure this is for you (or are hesitant around any of the topics), please reach out to me here + we’ll sort it out.
Looking forward to excavating the shadows together.
