Awakening the Sensitive Body: Touch and Energy

Awakening the Sensitive Body: Touch and Energy

Course Description: Beginning with the premise that energy or life force can be felt and worked with directly, the student will explore practices that increase and encourage a direct experience of energy and presence both in herself, in others, and in the natural world. If given the opportunity, energy will re-align to create healing in mind, body, and spirit. Many traditions have understood how to work with it. In this class, the student will ground her knowledge in Cranial Sacral Therapy, Chi Kung, and Chi Nei Tsang with the intention of developing her own language of touch and intuition.

Objectives:

-To embrace my sensitivity to energy and learn to work with it more intentionally in my own body, with others, and with the earth

-To work with intention and meditation as sources of personal and global healing

-To expand my knowledge of human anatomy through text, direct experience, and meditation

-To develop grounding and presence through personal energy practices and Chi Gong

-To ground my personal and direct experience in the work of healers who practice Cranial Sacral, Chi Nei Tsang, and Chi Gong

-To discover my own path of healing and feel confident in my intuition

Activities:

Personal Practice

-Create a journal to track the evolution of my experiences and awareness (10 hrs)

-Create a Daily Practice that includes self energy work, meditation, and movement (30 hrs)

-Give and receive weekly sessions and do practice with Christel (20 hrs)

-Do meditations once a week that connect to the land and natural elements and journal responses (15 hrs)

Research

-Study anatomy texts and do weekly embodied explorations of anatomy (15 hrs)

-Read two texts or portions of texts and video of different modalities of Energetic Healing and write 1-2 page reviews of these texts. Some possibilities are The Heart of Listening, Hands of Light, and Taoist Ways... (30 hrs)

-Receive three sessions with different kinds of Energy Workers, report on my experiences, and talk to them about their work. Write up a short synopsis of each. (10 hrs)

-Specifically explore how to use this work with women; opening the pelvix, freeing sexual energy, and how that energy can be used in healing. Look at passages from Healing Love through the Tao, Luna Yoga, and Christel’s friends thesis about Sacred Prostitution. Create a thesis for a piece of research about “Freeing Sexual Energy for Healing” based on practice, observations, and research (10 hrs)

Integration/Offerings

-Give 5 Energy Sessions with Christel, and share experiences and insights (10 hrs)

-Give 5 Energy Sessions on my own, and write about each. Create a form to record observations and a consent form (10 hrs)

-Create 3 movement explorations to bring to Contact Lab. Report on these experiences in my journal (5 hrs)

-Create a short offering for women about “Freeing Sexual Energy for Healing”. (5 hrs)

Plus 10 hours spent planning the course.

Materials:

- The second brain. Gershon, Michael

- Between Heaven and Earth. Beinfield, Harriet, Korngold, Efrem.

- The heart of listening. Hugh Milne

- Healing Love through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy. Chia, Mantak

- Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality: The Inner Smile * Six Healing Sounds Mantak Chia

- The magic anatomy book. Conner, Carol

- Craniosacral biodynamics, volume 2. Sills, Franklyn

- Tao Te Ching - Lao Tsu

- Anatomical atlas of the temporomandibular joint . Ide, Y.

- Emotional anatomy. Kelleman, Stanley.

- Atlas of human anatomy - Netter, Frank H.

- Luna Yoga. Ohlig, Adelheid. Ashtree Publishing.

- Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin. Montague, Ashley.

- Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong

- The Way of Qi Gong Cohen, Kenneth

Evaluation

- Weekly sessions and feedback with Christel

- Write-ups of Sessions that I do on my own, as well as creation of a form for writing about sessions and a consent form

- Weekly check-in around journal entries and evolving points of inquiry

- Two response papers to Texts

-Three Synopsis’ of my sessions and meetings with healers in different modalities

-A thesis paragraph about “Freeing Sexual Energy for Healing”

- Oral review of objectives at the end of the course