Zoom Magic

Many years ago, someone told me that the Movement Medicine people in England were offering online classes and that I should do that too. I was, predictably, horrified. Embodiment online? ARE YOU FUCKIN’ KIDDING ME?

Thanks to dear covid, I have experienced a total, almost religious, conversion. Believe me, I would have never thought of Skype (remember Skype?) as a vehicle for embodied awakening. But Zoom has worked hard to deliver the impossible. The music, for one thing! All you need is a little space to move, just enough light so you don’t look like a zombie emerging from a dark cave, and speakers that don’t completely kill the music.

And so I discovered that, despite the dorkiness of this medium, all the tech glitches, sound atrocities, frozen gestures, all the dropping off and on – the depth of intimacy that is available in a zoom room is amazing. Nothing can seemingly stop this from happening, not even the occasional power outage or internet fiasco.

I thought for a while of changing my name to Zoomza (no worries, I won’t). The unbelievable power of the internet came into me, and I saw how we can connect, expand, and belong together through the magic of this graceless tech portal across the human universe.

Now I wouldn’t dream of offering a program where we meet in person for a week every quarter and disappear from each other in between. In my yearlong programs, the online (live, experiential, engaging the 3D experience of my breathing, moving, feeling body) calls are what makes the whole thing work and make possible a kind of growth I had never known in any of the old school on-and-off trainings.

What do we do in these calls, you ask? Well, I thought you never would!

practice!

these calls are an opportunity to move together regularly and explore all kinds of other ways to get from here to here… meditation, resourcing, desperate prayer? both in a whole group and via the virtual miracle of break-out rooms – through movement, breath, words, and/or sound (sometimes a lot of very loud sound but we can’t hear you so why not? – this is a lovely departure from live in person meetings where we have to modulate sound a little so as not to blow each other out of the water) (I mean, if you don’t feel like screaming, are you paying attention??)

healing or personal work

short one-on-one sessions to explore any difficulty, dilemma, or dream coming up in your work, love relationships, parenting, health, and any area of interest; they are witnessed by the other circle participants who share their experience afterwards. This allows everyone to feel seen, supported, and held not just by a facilitator but a circle of radical love; the healing power of this kind of reflection is hard to find in one-on-one work.

personal sharing and community building

regular check-ins, deep sharing, clearing, vulnerably showing up, risking your heart, being seen, exploring visibility, inclusion, interpersonal intimacy – and everything that’s in the way (duh! you say? but just think of all the talking heads meetings you’ve had to sit through in the last 3 years!)

teaching or training sessions

bite-sized lectures clarifying the practices and concepts of embodied presence, somatics, relationship, and how this relates to the daily walking of the path; education and guidance with examples made relevant and personal by engaging the particulars of everyone’s life situation

Q&A mentoring

where both I and the other participants answer your questions, share our experience and insights, and give feedback to help you develop and deepen your practice of therapy, coaching, teaching, group facilitation, or – human being; this includes exploring what is in the way of you taking the next step on your path… and sometimes may veer into the territory of business coaching, practical advice, strategy sessions, or networking and resource sharing.

These online meetings (with a little help from WhatsApp) is what contributed in large part to the sense of deep community, support, sustained connection and – lasting friendships in the last two yearlong cohorts.

So, wherever you live, you can stay connected, supported, and loved.

Which is my deep wish for each of us.

PS. Okay so, are you still going to tell me how you don’t think Zoom can work for embodied work? If so, we need to talk!