Somatic Dreamwork

The Dreaming Body workshops and sessions start by engaging in gentle, mindful movements that draw from somatic methods such as Feldenkrais, Body-Mind Centering, and ancestral healing work. Once habitual patterns of tension are eased and we relax into a parasympathetic state, we then enter into the dreamscape. This way of working with dreams honors the wisdom of the dream itself rather than making Dreamwork a mental or analytical exercise. This workshop also lays the foundation needed to join our ongoing bi-monthly 90-minute dream group.

Threshold Practices for Perimenopause, Menopause and Post-Menopause

This 8-week course is an honoring of the aging process and an exploration of how our bodies experience the natural cycle of endings and beginnings. It is based on the premise that within every woman is a place where wisdom and freedom live, and it approaches change and death as sacred thresholds. Thresholds that when acknowledged with gentleness, can deepen our capacity to live with vitality and purpose, while making space for new experiences in life.

Using a blend of somatic writing, mindfulness, dreamwork, and ritual, we bring awareness to our patterns and we explore ours relationships to change. This awareness can show us how to meet grief and uncertainty in ways that are aligned with our individual values as well as with the cycles of nature. We'll explore rites of passage practices and how we may call on ancestral guides to help us navigate change.

Somatics, Meditation, and Nature

These session combine the mindful movements of Feldenkrais, Body-Mind Centering, and Continuum with the sacredness of water and earth, along with the first three aspects of Satipatthana meditation: body, feeling, and mind.

Somatic Writing for Ancestral Healing

After experiencing first hand how the Feldenkrais Method increased her own capacity for creativity, Lena developed physical approaches to writing, which she calls somatic writing. She then saw how memoir and poetry added an important dimension to the ancestral healing work that was passed down to her by her Afro-Cuban family lineage. Writing and creative arts help us see the connection of our lives to all that has come before more clearly. By inviting our ancestors to play an active role in our creative processes, we increase our capacities for channeling poems, stories and creative work, while simultaneously developing lasting foundation for spirit-infused connections and life-long practices.

In this process, we first connect to our bodies, engaging in somatic movement and mindfulness, to make space for what is alive in us. Then we spend time in sacred creativity, relating to our ancestral spirits, and optional sharing with each other.

Somatics and Compassion

Lena started teaching Mindful Self-Compassion as a way to better resource women healing from grief and trauma. In recent years, she began offering these workshops to clients needing more self-care in their lives and also to those needing tools to reduce self-criticism and shame. Her approach to Mindful Self-Compassion is unique in that she integrates an hour of somatic developmental movement into each 3-hour session. Currently, these workshops are two-month deep dives into all forms of compassion: toward self and beyond -- into our world.

Somatic Journey into Voice, Breath and Movement

This journey explores how we integrate the subtle motion of voice, breath, and functional movements in our bodies. Body-Mind Centering and Feldenkrais movement lessons help uncover habitual patterns that obstruct our bodies’ natural vocal abilities. This class honors both the function and sacredness of sound, and explores human developmental patterns of moving and speaking. Results include more efficient breathing, mobility, releasing of unnecessary tension, and freeing the voice. These workshops are offered in spring and fall in Arcata.

Individual Body-Mind Sessions

Integrative bodywork sessions combine modalities, such as Hanna Somatics and the Feldenkrais Method, with ancestral healing, parts work, dreamwork and/or any of the other work mentioned above.

$100 for 90 minutes, in person.

Integrative Group Sessions

$200 for 2 hours (up to 4 people)

$375 for 3 hours (up to 7 people)

Offered online and in-persoon.

Seasonal public workshops are also offered (on a sliding-scale or gift economy basis).

Questions for Lena?

Text: 415.424.2069

To receive workshop calendar and class updates,

email: [email protected]