Body, Breath and Story Online: a new monthly online gathering with fairytale and myth at its heart.
In this time of profound uprootedness, how do we build a muscular relationship with story, image and symbol? How to we let stories under the skin? Can we use this world wide web to earth ourselves in story, body, breath? What are the family of stories we can draw succour from? What do we have to offer back?
I absolutely loved running my Body, Breath and Story course live in 2019 and 2020: the courageous participants, the locations, the communal dinners, the Sunday morning dances. Then covid came along and disrupted everything… but we all know that story well now. Since then, it’s been a blur and a muddle, and I’ve ummed and ahhed about how to re-format the work to fit this new paradigm we seem to be tumbling into. There has been resistance, bursts of inspiration, confusion, more resistance, and many doodles on bits of paper. But recently, I’ve been hankering after the deep, embodied, fleshy and soulful atmosphere of stories shared in the presence of others; stories deeply imbibed and met with the body. So here is my proposal: a monthly gathering, via our screens, in which we all attempt to inhabit our bodies and homes, whilst also meeting story. Every month I will tell one or two stories from the vast repository of fairytale and myth – they may offer a perspective on what is arising in the collective, or connect with the season, or be inspired by one of you. After the telling, we will make use of a range of somatic and imaginal practices to amplify, embody and digest the stories, whilst building a community of fellow story-listeners and tellers.
My desire is for the sessions to be nourishing and enjoyable. You can participate as much or as little as you’d like, with camera on or off. I will lead the sessions, but if enough people sign up and there is some extra cash, I’ll invite some of my wonderful, inspiring colleagues to join us as well. I will set up a private Facebook group for people to connect and share experiences, insights and creative responses in-between the sessions. All sessions will be recorded and available for members. If you’re interested, here is some practical info…
How much?
£11 monthly subscription via PayPal.
What does this include?
• One 90-minute zoom session every month, which will include a short grounding meditation, a story/stories, commentary, plus activities and discussion.
• Membership of a closed Facebook group
• Access to all recordings
• 10% discount on other offerings from Jo
When?
Thursday evenings once a month, 7pm – 8:30pm
Recording available the following day for those unable to attend live.
Dates for 2022: Sept. 8th, Oct. 6th, Nov. 10th, Dec. 8th
Dates for 2023: Jan. 5th, Feb 2nd, March 9th, April 13th, May 11th, June 8th, July 6th.
What do you reckon? Will you join me? I hope so… it would be great to see you there. Bring yourself, wherever you are, and let me and story do the rest.