(Part 1 of the Summer Saturday Workshops Series, “Managing & Metabolizing Overwhelm”)
Being able to construct and maintain containers internally is an important skill in supporting and preserving health and vitality on all the levels.
Our bodies do it physically all the way down to the level of the cell where the outer membrane delineates the edge of the cell container and decides what is allowed to come into the cell and what needs to stay outside of it.
Emotionally, we need containers to help us not feel overwhelmed by the watery world of all the feelings 24/7 while still being able to tap into and spend time with our emotions, especially the deeper ones, when we have the time, space, and support to do so.
Cognitively, we need containers to help us group and prioritize tasks so that we can determine where to direct our focus and to protect the channel of that focus once we are engaged in a task.
Sensorily, we need containers to help us navigate and filter the barrage of sensory inputs in our world to maintain the balance of alertness and relaxation that feels best to each of us in any given moment.
On an energetic/soul level, like the cell membrane, we need containers that help filter the flow of information, imagery, and sensation from across the veil so that our systems are not constantly overloaded with the energetic flows and binds of other beings – be they past-life, ancestral, or wandering.
This being said, if you, like me, are someone who experiences higher sensitivity and porosity on any of these five axes (physical, emotional, cognitive, sensory, energetic/soul), there are likely times when one or more of these containers begin to break down in response to external stressors, grief and loss, trauma processing, shift in developmental phase, soul initiation, and/or spiritual crisis. When this happens, your system likely gets flooded on some level and goes into a state of overwhelm, disorientation, and/or collapse.
This is where playing with building containers creatively comes in. First of all, externalizing an internal state so you can actually begin to interact with it in a more concrete way out in front of you can help A LOT when dealing with inner structures and energy flows. Secondly, if you can sort and build what you need out in front of you, you can begin to sort and build it inside of you. Thirdly, play in connection and community tonifies the ventral vagus nerve within your brain and helps to move you out of collapse (which is ultimately a freeze state) and back up the vagal ladder to a place of social engagement and creative possibility.
So this is what we will be doing in this workshop! We’ll take a little time in our opening circle to tune into ourselves and the land to feel into what kind of container is wanting to come into more focus and consciousness and then you’ll get to let your imagination run wild with all kinds of art materials and possibilities for how and what to create. A variety of already-formed containers will be available for decoration and enhancement and/or you may choose to create from the bottom up with clay or paper maché. All materials will be provided and you’ll get to take your container home with you at whatever level of completion it is by the end of the workshop. We’ll finish with a closing circle to reflect on the process and experience of it all as a group.
This workshop can be taken as a stand-alone experience or as part one of a three-part series that includes the “Unburdening & Re-centering” and “Calling in the Helpers” Summer Saturday workshops as well.
When: Saturday, 6/27, 11am – 2pm
Where: The Healing House
Investment: Single Workshop – $85; 2 of the Saturday Workshops – $160; All 3 Saturday Workshops – $230 Sliding scale available for LGBTQIA & BIPOC folx, if/as needed.
To Register: Click here.