December’s Contemplative Feast: Bringing in the Light
Our first Contemplative Feast was really beautiful, and we are looking forward to sharing again!
Saturday, December 17, 11AM- 2PM; Near Amherst, MA; Join mother-daughter team Leslie Cerier & Michelle Huber
Are you overwhelmed by everything that is happening in the world and in your life? Are you craving a space to slow down your busy life and get in touch with yourself? Do you hear about the benefits of meditation but need support in practicing it? Are you feeling disconnected from your body? Are you looking for a space to join in community and celebrate the local harvest?
Half-day workshop: $40 early registration received by November 25, $50 after that. Must RSVP in advance: (413) 259-1695
Space is Limited to 10 people! _________________________________________________________________
11:00-11:15: Arrival and Tea
11:15-1:00: Contemplative Practice: deepening self- connection, guided breath, movement explorations, meditation and journaling
1:00-2:00: Gourmet, Organic, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free Lunch
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December’s Theme: BRINGING IN THE LIGHT: Come join us as we bring breath and movement into the tight space in our bodies, hearts and minds. We will evoke spaciousness and light, sharing in community a beautiful respite during the darkest part of the year.
Both advocates of self-nourishment, Leslie and Michelle come at it from different angles:
LESLIE, the Organic Gourmet, has devoted her life to teaching hands-on cooking, and creating nourishing meals that are not just good for you, but pleasurable and good for the planet. http://www.Lesliecerier.com
MICHELLE is a movement facilitator whose work pulls from experiences with the Feldenkrais method, Dance Improvisation, Meditation, Journaling, Authentic Movement, Nonviolent Communication, Body-Mind Centering and Performance. She strives to interweave these methods to increase connection to self, others, and the earth. www.MovedMichelle.wordpress.com
Backyard Project: Berlin October and July
It’s been three months since I returned to the states.
Amidst the chaos of collecting all of my things and scattering my good-byes around Berlin, I made a point of returning to my old backyard to repeat the process of filming myself dancing as a documentation of the journey, of the circle of my travels, of the continuation. I edited this second video in the summer, but in the context of looking for all of the new pieces of my life, I haven’t gotten around to posting until tonight. So, from the comfort of my new nest, I post my original video, made in October and a new one that I made the day before I left Berlin.
I think my biggest take away and hope I have to carry into my re-integration to the US is the sense of time and spaciousness that I experienced during my travels. I loved meeting a friend and allowing hours of hanging out to unfold without an agenda. I loved gathering in a dance studio to share practices and explore whatever was interesting to the collective mind of the people present. I loved spending two hours with myself in the morning to journal, meditate and tend to my body. I had many days and tomorrows and next weeks without plans. It was a luxury, it was terrifying, it was SO different than what I was used to.
I am carving out a new life, a hybrid which includes the feeling of traveling, alternative lifestyle communities, daily creativity and connection with more stability, meaningful work and longer relationships with people. I got pretty tired of saying good-bye to all of the amazing friends that I met along the way. So for now, I have settled back in Western MA, and as the leaves start to fall, my life is slowly settling into place.
Thank you all for being part of the process, and I am so looking forward to continuing the conversations– in mind, body and spirt!
The Contemplative Feast
Come join my mother Leslie Cerier and me for a morning of nourishment.
I will begin the day with a practice of deepening self- connection with guided breath and movement explorations, followed by meditation and journaling.
Then we’ll feast on a gourmet, vegetarian lunch prepared by Leslie Cerier, the Organic Gourmet.
10:15-10:30: Arrival and Tea
10:30-12:00: Contemplative Practice with Michelle
12:00-1:00: Lunch and Sharing
Dates: Oct. 15th, Nov. 5th, Dec. 3rd
The Contemplative Feast will take place in Shutesbury, MA, we will send out directions after registration. Weather permitting we will spend some time outside, bring layers, as well as cushion, blanket or mat for comfort.
Please RSVP to Michelle.a.huber@gmail.com and register here: http://www.lesliecerier.com/classes/ (scroll down to Contemplative Feast Description)
Cost: $50
We have a few Bed and breakfast accommodations available for extra fees, first come first serve.
*The Contemplative Feast is a once a month series to relax, reflect and recharge in an intimate setting nestled in the woods*
www.lesliecerier.com
www.movedmichelle.wordpress.com
Check out the facebook event: Contemplative Feast (Our first one!)
Collecting Uncertainty
I have been without a routine for about a year, even longer if I start counting from my last day working at Nobles. It has certainly been an experiment. A laboratory of testing how much can I live in the unknown. Can I wait until the day I arrive in a place to figure out where I am sleeping? Can I arrive in a place not knowing how long I will stay? Can I not know where I’ll go next? Can I stop planning and see what happens? The simple answer, is, no or at least not very comfortably, or not without my mind going into wild brainstorms of all the possibilities and precautions I could/should do (and will start imminently to research online). But the answer is also yes, (more and move over time!). Things always work out, surprises happen, people are incredibly kind.
I am seven days from returning to the states, SEVEN. It’s wild to think about all of the endings I’ve anticipated before, graduating high school, college, leaving Argentina, Cuba, Nobles, Boston, it all just comes and goes. Over and over during this trip I’ve made plans or had ideas that felt far off in the distance, they existed as some imagined semblance of a place, a signpost along the map of my future. Then they get closer and closer, and before I know it, that event has passed and fades out behind me; all the while watching my hair grow, my skin fluctuate with the sun and the bottom of my feet with the ground.
I am finally getting around to sharing about my time in Spain. It’s taken me a while, because it was kind of a strange time. I just never found myself in a traveling groove of making deep, serendipitous connections to people or feeling like my life was changing dramatically before my eyes. I’d developed pretty high expectations up until that point!
Part of it was that I didn’t know anyone there. And part of it was the size of Spain, versus Berlin or Israel, where I was really able to cover a lot of ground with ease. And part of it was sheer exhaustion. As I wrote before, I became very tired of sleeping in rooms that weren’t mine; in systems I didn’t create for how to use the kitchen and how to be a good guest/volunteer. It manifested in missing my home and parents more than I ever had before. It was perhaps a necessary phase of my year, because it got me really excited to go back to the US.
I of course, did meet some beautiful people, had beautiful moments and visited beautiful places. I got to swim in the sea on three sides of the country! Don’t get me wrong; it was just the most challenging, unstable part of my year.
Pictures are from Barcelona, Living Arts Base, Santander, and Granada.
One of the best things that I did in Spain was attend a contact festival in País Vasco. What was so cool about it was that the festival committee did an exchange with the town of Lasarte to use the gym for free for the weekend, so the festival did not even need to ask for donations from the participants. Anyone who wanted to could sleep in the space.
In exchange for use of the school gym, the festival agreed to do three things; 1) Host an open contact jam that anyone in the town could join for free, 2) DJ a party in a bar on the Saturday night, 3) Do a public performance in the town square. Done.
Made me really want to do more public performance!
I loved this model so much. The town was willing to exchange its space for cultural enrichment. I am so inspired by these arrangements outside of our traditional money system.
I also visited two different raw vegan food communities in beautiful Southern Spain.
I have been exploring and questioning what I am putting in my body a lot more since my Lakatim trip in Israel.It’s very challenging and I notice that this challenge is majorly heightened when I am in cities; because cities are full of TEMPTATION. I realized this is one of the things I find taxing about cities, the constant invitation to consume– clothes, hip sunglasses, shoes, beautiful little pastries and amazing smelling breads on every block!
Things I’ve learned to appreciate while traveling:
- A big clean towel
- Having a space to store groceries
- Refrigerators
- Washing Machines
- Closing a door to a space that is temporarily, “mine”
- Sleeping in a room alone
- Big beds
- Unpacking
I left Spain on June 15th, and returned to Berlin. This is what greeted me as I got off the plane:
Very appropriate.
I came to do the second module of the Embodied Performance workshop that I did in November. It was a very cool process to return to the work of Body Mind Centering and Creativity after six months. I’m still digesting this workshop and I will write more about it later…
So, very soon I will be in Shutesbury, MA, in the house I grew up in, trying to make sense of the past months.
What has happened? Everything. And yet… and yet, the questions remain. Right? They don’t just go away. But they’ve shifted. I have moved from, “WHAT am I gonna do!?” to, “HOW am I going to do it?”And I’ve found more clarity in myself as I grapple over and over again with how to create balance with structure vs. freedom, convenience vs. engagement, depth vs. breadth, activity vs. receptivity…
I have learned a lot about my natural pace. I like to move slowly, I am efficient because I don’t like to be rushed or feel pressured. I also learned to follow and trust my natural waves of energy. If in one moment I am not acting and I wish I was “doing” something, if I give into the impulse to rest, I will very reliable later come back with energy and “do” a lot.
I have become very comforted by my own company.
My daily meditation has been a major rock for me this year (only 5-35 minutes a day!) For me, meditation is a time to allow all of my thoughts to rise to the surface. I actually focus less on trying to empty my mind and just allow this natural sifting through my consciousness to happen. Without the open space, I feel like my thoughts would be stuck down at the bottom of the pot. Instead, I allow them to surface, give them space to breathe, be heard and then to move on. I hear a lot of people saying they’re bad at meditating, that they can’t clear their minds, but I really don’t think that has to be the point. I think it’s simply beneficial to have some “empty” time without consuming new information.
During a recent authentic movement session, I came out with the phrase, “I don’t have to keep anything.” Referring to the fact that I can let go of any part of my identity or stuff that I carry (physically and emotionally) at any time. It’s all fair game, it’s all disposable, and can be reinvented. I then wrote it on a piece of paper, and colored around it, and proceeded to love my picture, photograph it and want to keep it. Ironic, I KNOW.
I felt a lot of resonance while listening to this episode of Invisibilia: The Personality Myth. It is about our capacity for change and how our bodies are constantly changing, our cells constantly turning over. These ideas have helped me a lot as I imagine going back to familiar places and familiar people and trying to integrate my experiences over the past months. I grant myself permission to be whoever it is that I am right now. And I grant everyone else in my life that same permission. Let’s not make any assumptions.
(Side note, I was also really touched by the first story of this season of Invisibilia, where they talk about an old oil rig and how the macho male employees increased productivity and decreased fatal accidents significantly by learning to be vulnerable and speak from their hearts. Yay Invisibilia!)
I’ll leave it there for the moment, thank you for continuing to bear witness to my process!
A Spontaneous Performance with Vicky Kapo, June 26th, 2016, Ponderosa
Score: 1. Deep Chat 2. Rehearse once 3. Perform the same day
I was so touched by this process, so simple, and so satisfying. Here’s to risk and simplicity, and to working together again!
Score to try (clear the mind)
Speak non-stop gibberish while moving with inspiration from your surroundings
3-10 minutes
Do alone or with a partner witnessing, trading roles
Tension & Trauma Release Exercises
This is something I learned about a couple of months ago, and I’ve been meaning to share it: Tension and Trauma Release Exercises
https://traumaprevention.com/what-is-tre/
The practice activates our natural reflex of shaking to relieve muscular tension and calm down the nervous system. It’s like when you see a frightened animal, it shakes, and we humans, do the same thing! So the idea is to do a little bit of physical exercise and then lay on your back with your feet together, in a butterfly position and allow your legs (and sometimes whole body) to shake.
I have incorporated this practice into moments when I am feeling really emotional, allowing my body to release tension wherever I am holding. It’s not always necessary to know where the tension came from to release it. I really encourage reading about it and checking it out.
I also recently saw someone having a traumatic physical reaction and he was shaking all over. I learned how important it is to let the body move in these kinds of situations, the shaking is a way of releasing the tension.
An Introduction to NVC with Yoram Mosenzom
This past weekend I got to study more NVC. I really have discovered something that gives me so much energy and makes me so excited!
The trainer of this weekend made a Ted talk introducing NVC that is very clear, entertaining and helpful:
Some of my take aways from the weekend:
- Don’t try to be too spiritual too soon! Take the time to air out all of your judgements, have a “jackal party” (jackal= the language of right and wrong, good, bad, and judgements). Your jackal celebration can really help you guess you go underneath your judgements and get in touch with your feelings and needs.
- Giving empathy in NVC is a process of helping someone figure out their feelings and needs. It is not advice, or relating to a story of yourself in a similar situation. To do it effectively, the most important thing is that you always ask questions. Allow the person you are empathizing with to correct you, which will help them get more accurate and go deeper. And the big take away about this for me, was that you really don’t have to right in your guesses at all. Yoram says, the underlying message of your guesses is: “Please correct me, as I want to see you as you see yourself from the inside”.
- NVC is related to dance. Of course it is! Because words, tones, non-verbal communication, judgements (and everything in our environments) have effects on our bodies. This is why it’s so important to connect with ourselves when we feel some kind of emotional discomfort. Don’t let the emotion get stuck inside, or it will, in my experience, either leak out in ways you didn’t intend, often towards people that are unrelated to the pain, or it will create physical pain or illness in the body. Conversations are improvisations, we can look at our habits and choices like we look at dance.
- NVC is a process of gaining skills not to eliminate conflict from your life, but actually to be able to use conflict as an opportunity for growth and to find deeper connections. So, my personal goal is to feel excited, not terrified when I get that sinking feeling in my stomach and I know I have to talk to someone about something 🙂
Enjoy the video! I’d love to hear your comments and reactions!
you can’t rush growth/ cycles of solitude
This is a video I made in the mountains outside of Granada, where I stayed for two and a half weeks doing a work-a-way exchange. I made it on my first day off, a day I spent with no internet and no socializing. It sounds so normal, but somehow, that’s not something I think I had ever done before. I’ve been feeling very inspired by plant cycles lately, spending a lot of time working in gardens.
movedmichelle 