Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2022

COMING SOON: expandance membership

 

People who are on my mailing list already know about this
😉

COMING SOON

 


The first ever expandance membership!
This is a membership for people who have already taken an expandance class, retreat, workshop or private session in the past and would like to:
  • have anytime-access to expandance classes and workshops online
  • be FOUNDING MEMBERS in this 3 month BETA
  • have a say in shaping the membership for future expandancers
I've had a positive and excited response to this so far; thank you! I'm working on it at the moment on the back end and hope to have the sign-up window open before the end of the year, so that we can start in January. If you are interested in being a founding member and haven't yet told me, please just e-mail rachel@expandance.com and let me know.

Membership will include:

* Access to an ever-growing vault of expandance practices, with a new class added each month
* One live Q&A with me per month, where you can ask me anything about the practice or give feedback about the membership
* A private FB group (different from this one) for you to build community with fellow expandancers around the world and brainstorm, with me, ways to build the membership in the ways that you'd like
* All for the price of one class / month 
 
"My greatest lessons from expandance have ultimately been about fearlessness. The meditative technique goes beyond other types of sitting or moving meditation I've practiced. That is, it accesses deep awareness, calm acceptance, and loving-kindness...and also manages to make me feel like a better communicator and more confident in general. This technique has allowed me to give myself permission to take risks...at work, at play, and in my relationships with other people."
- Erica Frankel, New York
 
"I have worked with therapists on and off throughout my adulthood. I have always enjoyed dance and danced much of my adulthood for exercise, but more meaningfully as a fun, liberating, empowering and spiritual practice! Rachel's capacities and tools are among the most impactful and transformative I have ever experienced. In each of two 90 minute sessions, I felt and saw things that will carry me closer to the Me and Life I want. She has so much to offer!"
- A.H., Oregon
 
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Thursday, June 18, 2020

How do we know what our bodies need?

How do we know what our bodies need?

Sometimes our bodies whisper to us - maybe with a yawn to let us know they're tired. Maybe with a signal to the brain saying ''I'm thirsty'' if we're dehydrated.

And sometimes, when we don't listen for a while, our bodies need to get loud in order to get our attention. That can show up in the form of ailments, pains, muscle spasms, the ''back going out'' etc.

What if we started listening on a regular basis?

When I first started expandance (the dance company) with Laurie Schneider and Alicia Christofi Walshe, many years ago in Ireland with grant support from the Arts Council of Ireland, we were in the studio 5 days a week doing our expandance practice. From that practice, we created choreography and went on to perform those pieces at various theatres and festivals in Ireland and New York City.

And for those first few years when we worked together, something interesting happened.

None of us got injured.

In a full time working and performing dance company, do you know how rare that is? All because we were listening *deeply* to our bodies every day, and responding to what they needed.

That is why I now teach expandance practice not just to dancers, but to everyone. I know from experience the power of listening, and of moving from that deep listening place.

I invite you - if it's been a while since you did expandance, or if you've never tried it - to join me tomorrow for class. You can tilt your camera up while we are dancing if you don't want others to see you. It's a beautiful, freeing practice. You don't need ANY dance experience, or even a lot of space.

Here are the details:

Every Friday

8am Pacific / 11am Eastern / 4pm Ireland & UK

Register here:
(takes 10 seconds, and you'll get an e-mail with the Zoom link)

https://bit.ly/RegisterExpandanceFri
 
FREE for BIPOC & U.S. immigrants
Donation based for everyone else.
Donate here:

https://www.paypal.me/expandance
or
CashApp expandance

Suggested donation $5-$20 *or whatever you can do*

* Calm your mind and clear mind chatter

* Find those places in your body you're holding tension and let it go

* Get grounded and centered

* Feel more free, easier in the body and mind, and more uplifted
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! I'll open the room 5 minutes early so we can all get settled.

Keep moving, my friends,
Rachel x

P.S.

I'm also teaching Release and Restore (expandance and restorative yoga, with Sarah Jenness) every Wednesday at 5:30pm PDT through St. Joseph's Health. This class is FREE for the cancer community - patients, survivors and caretakers. Please register with the lovely Sharon at Sharon.doughty@stjoe.org and just let her know where you are in your cancer journey. 

Listening within; listening without


It's important to listen to our bodies.
It's also important to listen to people who have been oppressed for hundreds of years.

Here are just a few of the people I'm listening to and learning from online:

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.cargle/

https://www.instagram.com/thenapministry/

https://www.instagram.com/janayathefuture/

https://www.instagram.com/iamrachelricketts/

https://www.instagram.com/urdoingreat/

https://www.instagram.com/philipattar/

One documentary that was particularly helpful to me was ''13th'' on Netflix, and this video (posted this week by @janayathefuture) is beneficial in learning more about racial structures and belief systems:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBbY19ABa54/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Feel free to share with me any BIPOC authors, speakers, and artists you know and are learning from. 
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