Guidelines for Workshops, Trainings, and Ceremonies
By Luisa Elena Kolker MA LPCC
1. Check-ins
Tune in to the emotional sensations in your body. Speak concisely about one or two emotions you’re aware of and where the sensation of that emotion is located in your body. The 8 basic emotions are: fear, shame, pain, anger, guilt, joy, passion and love.
Example: “I’m feeling a warm sensation in my belly. That’s love. There’s a heaviness across my chest; I think that’s shame.”
No background stories, advice, opinions, interpretations, please. Just here and now information. This helps the energy in our circle to be vibrant and in the now.
2. Projection
Projection is a powerful transformational tool. Notice when you find yourself judging or comparing yourself (favorably or unfavorably) to another person to the extent that you feel an emotional charge in your body (often in the solar plexus). Then, follow the emotional charge of the feeling inward. Breathe into the charged place and ask yourself “What part of myself am I seeing in that other person?” or “What does that person have that I want?” It’s also helpful to try this on: “Oh, I do that, too.”
Mindfulness of your projections helps you to see where you are losing spiritual power and abdicating emotional responsibility. Use your awareness of your projections to access your inner shadow material (shadow material means any feelings or personal qualities that aren’t compatible with your conscious image of yourself). Remember, your shadow material is not negative; it is simply what is unknown to you about yourself.
3. Ritual Objects on the Altar
You are invited to place, on our communal altar, objects of personal significance to you and especially those with thematic significance related to this workshop. Please be respectful of ritual objects on the altar, as well as other people’s drums, rattles, etc. Ask first before touching.
4. Take care of yourself
Ask me or my teaching assistants for assistance if you need it. If you have a question, it is likely that someone else in the circle has a similar question and will benefit by your asking it.
5. Let other people have their own experience.
Don’t “rescue” others who are expressing sadness, anger, vulnerability. Ask for permission to touch someone who appears to be in distress.
If you find yourself wanting to “rescue” someone else, stay present with the urge to “fix it” and see how that may relate to your discomfort with your own emotions.
6. Be open to having a new experience
If you’re used to being quiet in a group, explore speaking up and sharing more. If you’re used to sharing a lot, explore the experience of holding and transforming your experience inside your self. Explore the limits of your self-concept.
7. Confidentiality
Confidentiality is essential to creating a group space in which participants feel relaxed and safe. Please maintain confidentiality (forever) about what you’ve been privileged to witness of other people’s words and experiences in these groups.
IMPORTANT:
My workshops, ceremonies, and individual sessions involve processes, rituals, and teachings that may push you to stretch beyond your comfort zone. My mission is to use depth psychology and shamanic journey work to liberate more of your naturalness and vitality. You may find yourself challenged to take responsibility for your emotions in a new way both during and after the workshop. Please show up with a willingness to witness your responses to your inner and outer realities without making them into a story or projection. In this way, you may catalyze practical and enduring alchemical changes in how you feel and function in your everyday life.
Copyright 2010-2024
Luisa Kolker MA LPCC www.luisakolker.com
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