What is love, really?

Love is a state of being born of abundance. It lives in the place below language and is a primary agent of healing, empathy and joy.

Love is also elusive, sometimes veiled by a wanting that generates a false love - an imitation that actually blocks receptivity while wearing the mask of love.

Knowing this, how do we learn to recognize and then generate a true love, from the inside?

I say, start with the body.

• Your body is a profoundly intelligent, biologically programmed miracle of nature that has the capacity to perceive an infinite spectrum of sensations, emotions and thoughts.
• Your body has the ability to tell you when you are in danger, when you need nourishment, and when it is time to rest.
• Your body comes equipped with the instinct to bond, the ability to love. It offers the experience of love and pleasure exquisitely intertwined in the mysterious domain of sensation.

But if you are like most people today, unconscious habitual behaviors limit this natural instinctive responsiveness. If you're lucky, the discomfort provoked by the civilizing process will get you interested in change.

This workshop, in the tradition of Lomi Somatics, integrates practices such as meditation, conscious movement, the Enneagram, and Gestalt with the intention of establishing a centered, embodied presence - a presence that radiates abundance and inspires community. Please join us.

The Enneagram fixations and passions fluster the body's natural energies, often causing us to feel uncomfortable inside our own skin. A return to natural instinctive responsiveness requires understanding the body of natural design, and then using embodiment practices to hasten the process of disengaging from both our cognitive and physical imbalances. The somatic approach has been shown to be invaluable to this ongoing process.

Over the last twenty years, professional body therapists and educators have employed the Enneagram, in combination with the Somatic approach, as a tool for establishing a more centered, embodied life.

What is the research showing? What conclusions can we draw about the effectiveness of this partnership? What are the real life stories?

In this unique format, we'll hear from a panel of experts who have used the Enneagram to deepen their work with clients. Each will present their own research and findings followed by a panel discussion focusing on the future of incorporating embodiment practices into the Enneagram work, and vise versa.

No matter how old you are, how much you weigh, what gender you are, what color you are, or what Enneagram type you identify with, you live in an absolute miracle of nature, your very own human body! Unfortunately the civilizing process often pits mind against matter, teaching us at an early age to suppress the call of instinct. When we don't know how to understand the difference between the instinctive messages of the body and correct civilized behavior, we end up distorting the posture of natural design. When a person spends a lifetime holding back expression, feeling ashamed of excitement or anger or hunger, the body gets literally tied up in knots.

Each of the Enneagram types has a particular somatic signature. Through simple somatic exercises, you will explore the pattern of holding associated with your type. Using slides of great art we'll see how the great masters understood this point.

Both experiential and didactic, this class invites participants to investigate the differences between deluded versus centered thinking, feeling, sensing and moving. We will engage the body's wordless language, improve posture, and explore how Enneagram type shows up in the body. But most importantly: Even enneagramers unacquainted with their body will find this class fun and interesting.