Asheville Movement Center Director Lavinia Plonka: Courageous Living: Body/Mind Tools for Anxious Times

People have sometimes told me that they are afraid to take the workshop - afraid that all the demons and terrors they have tucked away in safe places deep in the psyche will come exploding out in a melee of fright. The wonderful thing about life is how far so many of us manage to get in spite of our fears. And yet, the possibility exists that fear can become an ally and a teacher when we learn to recognize, identify and work with the various fears that lurk, or broadside us when we least expect it.

This workshop creates a safe environment for pulling back the covers, looking under the bed, opening the closet door. There will be no dramatic confrontations, no compulsion, nothing to prove. Instead, we will nurture the quiet spirit of each person's own approach to courage. By using a multi-disciplinary approach, each individual will have the opportunity to examine aspects of the question "What are you afraid of?" from many different perspectives.

A few of the topics that will be covered include:
1)Symptoms of fear, denial, and the masks of fear.
2) Fear of pain or death
3) The illusion of control and the creation of choice in a situation.
4) Fear of inadequacy, fear of failure and success, and much more.

Each person will leave with a journal of possibilities for moving courageously into the world. While journaling has become a popular technique for many kinds of learning, the writing here will be specific to ideas and questions that relate to different aspects of fear.

It is important to note that although we will do movement and even some exercises borrowed from the theater, there is no performance. The movement sequences derived from the teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais, called Awareness Through Movement¨ lessons, are gentle, meditative movements designed to turn the student's awareness toward a greater understanding of one's own use of self. There is no demonstration, no visual model, no "correct" way of moving. The teacher guides the progression of the movement and provides choices and cues to assist this process. The theater exercises come from various aspects of actors' training that relate to the development and expression of character. These include exploring the carriage of the body and the experience of how posture affects the state, work with masks in order to free the body from the mask we perpetually wear, and exercises to improve one's observational powers.

The use of other artistic media - music, storytelling (deriving from traditional, mythological or folk as well as personal anecdotes), and visual arts are woven throughout the workshop. They provide support in the journey, offer alternate ways of viewing a theme, and ultimately even provide a creative outlet for those who might choose to channel their learning into a future expressive direction.

Participants will leave the workshop with concrete tools they can use in their daily lives - somatic exercises that calm the nervous system, meditative and writing techniques to assist the investigative process and a bibliography/resource list for further study.