Every session will sensorially facilitate reciprocity between the body, language/word, and Longings (active imaginations)—to orient towards presence and resonance, savor delicate connections, and, most importantly, develop self-awareness through deep wonderment.
S.L.o.W. Presence
Somatic Katha on Perimenopause- an embodied writing and movement arts workshop
Katha is a Sanskrit word that means story/narrative
a six-week embodied writing and movement arts workshop
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This six-session course illuminates the path of Sensing your body, accessing inner longing, and integrating orientation to the parts of the inner world through conscious wonderment about the transformative years of perimenopause.
Together we will:
Explore bodily experience as we cultivate inner presence, self-reflection, and deep listening.
Witness the perimenopause/menopause katha (narrative/story) we live with.
Co-create a welcoming and supportive space for embracing each other’s katha (story) by sharing and deep listening.
This six-week series relies on the medicine of katha (a story or series of stories), by offering space for oneself and everyone to come together. It’s not focused on writing as an art form. It rests on slowly cultivating presence to our inner katha, a somatic narrative, within us.
I hope that the space will offer deep curiosity, joy, listening, and supportive connections with one another.
Somatic Katha on Perimenopause is rooted in the reciprocal relationship between the body and the language/words. Inspired by the aesthetics of movement arts and insights of somatic psychology, the invitation is to deeply listen to the body’s pleasure response (sukha) and offer creative resonance (rasa). We will engage in sensory immersion and a dance between the objective and subjective aspects of our bodily existence through detached witnessing and writing.
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Fees: $321 (reach out to me if finance is a concern)
Receive a workbook/companion guide
Class size is limited to 10.
Dates: Three options to pick from
Mondays, May 26th -June 30th, 7-830 pm PST.
Tuesdays, June 3rd- July 8th. 5-630 pm PST.
Wednesdays, June 11th- July 16th. 11:30 am - 1:00 pm PST.
Where? live- Online
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Welcoming- Grounding
supportive guidance
Movement Arts-based writing practice
Writing - silent space
coming together- gathering wisdom
Wrapping up- Grounding
Overview
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Cultivating a Slow Presence by engaging with deep Attention, Intention, and Agency.
Begin by exploring the importance of the body in cultivating presence for the perimenopausal body.
Explore how we access deeper parts of ourselves through embodied, creative, and contemplative explorations.
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Being with and not looking away. Create a language to write our katha (story).
Awaken and increase embodied awareness to the body’s language (small, unconscious movements, the body’s signals, and guiding us to sense into our bodies).
Sensations: Somatic Katha on Perimenopause is rooted in the reciprocal relationship between the body and the language/words. Inspired by the aesthetics of movement arts and insights of somatic psychology, the invitation is to deeply listen to the body’s pleasure response (sukha) and offer creative resonance (rasa). We will engage in sensory immersion and dance between the objective and subjective aspects of our bodily existence by engaging in detached witnessing.
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What Am I Longing For?
Begin with the body’s katha/story, and explore how our longings, symbols, dreams, and images may serve as a point of entrance to listen to the body’s wisdom on perimenopause.
Dr. Carl Jung called Active imagination a rich, nurturing, and equally real corollary to reality. We will engage in a practice that entails a slow witnessing of the ever-present sensory murmurings within the body. The practice considers these involuntary invitations to witness subtle murmurings, deeply seated appetites, shapes, patterns, even narratives (Katha) that may inform our instincts to move and act. Language plays a pivotal role in this practice. It not only evokes images but also offers reminders and permissions to witness the unknown. Engaging with Longings is a sensorial body-mind practice that fosters a deep sense of well-being through guided orchestrations of deep rest, trust, containment, carefreeness, and courage.
The practice is designed to foster ease at both the physical and imaginative levels, allowing one to
Become sensorially receptive
Imagine in a more unselfconscious and uncensored manner.
Explore, play, move, and write.
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Orientation with Openness (open mind - curiosity; open heart - compassion; open will - courage).
Dive deeper into the body and explore how simple orientations —both inward and outward —offer profound wisdom.
Engage in drawing, movement (with music), and writing. What story/katha does the body carry?
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How do I bring the lens of Wonderment as I navigate through not knowing?
Explore what is alive with a lens of wonderment. What is your perimenopausal body seeking and wondering about through creative movement, drawing, and writing?
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Look back and come together to integrate your experiences.
Engage in conversation about coming home to the body (physical, subtle, breath/pranic, and spiritual) and coming home to the perimenopausal body
Notes from the facilitator!
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I'm so glad you're here.
Hi, I’m neera/ dr. m! I’m a Somatic Experience Practitioner (SEP®) and contemplative practice facilitator, a chaplain, and a perimenopausal woman. I am also the facilitator of S.L.O.W. Presence, a community space that focuses on somatic skills, trauma healing, and education.
I have over two decades of experience as an educator in the fields of neurodiversity, writing, gender & sexuality, social identities, interpersonal neurobiology, and somatic psychology. Additionally, I am a lover. Lover of life, my family, gardening, cooking/baking, ceramics, clay, and movement arts.
I warmly welcome anyone navigating this profound phase of life to join us. Join me for a six-week somatic writing series on Living with Chronic Pain during Perimenopause. If you don’t live with chronic pain, but are exploring, entering, or are in the Perimenopausal stage, you are welcome.
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My perimenopausal stage is extremely challenging yet enlightening, painful yet the pain has been my teacher, an experience of absence yet very profound presence.
I live with chronic pain, fatigue, forgetfulness, and frozen shoulder to an extent that I often wake up at night crying in pain.
The Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is barely making a dent, and I'm wondering how I show up for myself and this weary world with my authentic presence and being supportive to all those around me.
I have worked with medical professionals who have given their best to support me or relieve my pain, yet they were not so impactful.
As a lifelong student of body-based practices and a trained Somatic Experience Practitioner, Indian classical dance, I found that movement arts, writing while carrying my body, or embodied writing — also known as somatic writing — helped me ground myself and be present with what was in front of me, rather than looking away*.
Somatic practices have given me a sense of presence in my body, allowing me to witness and notice what is there—being seen by myself has been an empowering experience. This liberating experience offers new light to whatever is present in front of me. This is the art and science of cultivating S.L.O.W. Presence with attention, intention, and agency.
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Staying with is a state of non-duality—a practice of non-separation.
Not looking away is a practice of inclusivity.
When one is in pain, very often we experience duality, trying to separate oneself from the pain, fixing it, getting rid of it, instead of bearing witness to the pain. When we offer intentional attention, we include every part of us. When we are one with our body and mind, the roots of pain begin to heal. This, to me, is a laboratory action!
