I've gotten some repeat questions about the classes I'm offering, so here's some answers!
Honoring the Ancestors - Oct. 26th @Neighborhood Acupuncture
Question: Who is this class for?
Answer: This class is open to *anyone* who wants more information on culturally appropriate ways to honor their ancestors - no matter their spiritual, cultural or racial background.
Whole Heart Connection for People of Color - Nov. 2nd + 3rd @Apricot Forrest
Question: What is Whole Heart Connection?
Answer: This is a more difficult question to answer because it's an experience.
Whole Heart Connection was designed by Thea Elijah, a licensed Chinese Medicine practitioner and Sufi Healer. Please check out her website to find out more information about the program's designer, dreamer and founder. If you ask 20 different participants, "What is Whole Heart Connection?" you are likely to get at least 20 if not 100 different answers. A more science-y answer is that this program has been designed to provide embodied tools to help a person balance their sympathetic nervous system (the part of our nervous system that handles fight/flight/freeze responses) with our parasympathetic nervous system (the part that handles resting/digest/process). When environmental stresses like socioeconomic disadvantage or racism trigger the sympathetic nervous system, which controls our fight-or-flight responses, studies have shown that this leads to complex biochemical events that turn on genes, which may result in poor health outcomes (Thames, 2019). By providing participants more tools to help reach a parasympathetic state, Whole Heart Connection’s goal is to support long term health even when exposed to the stresses of life.
A less science-y answer is that it is an experience designed to provide the participant more tools for resiliency, self-healing, and mercy. You will be encouraged to learn different embodied practices as the basis for giving you tools to remain calm, focused, in addition to staying healthfully engaged and observant of both your internal and external environment that work even while under pressure and oppression. These tools have been crash-tested by several individuals (including the facilitators and this program's founder) in several environments of both peace and pressure including activist live-action protests, teaching pre-schoolers, while tending to fussy babies and children, in traffic, in line at the grocery store, and more.
The first day focuses on introducing the main principles behind these embodied practices while the second day is about refining these teachings by giving participants the opportunity to practice these skills. This is the kind of program that is beneficial to take more than once - and in fact, there are many individuals in the DMV area that have become a dedicated group that come out quarterly for a brush up on how to keep these skills in their bodies. Repeating this learning is a great way to give yourself a tune-up when your internal or external environment changes in a way that leaves you unable to remain peaceful for long periods of time.
This particular offering of Whole Heart Connection for People of Color is very special because it is the first time this teaching will be given in an all POC environment including its facilitators. After a year and a half of intense training and mentorship with the program's founder, both Mahlia and myself are incredibly honored to be able to walk this out on our own and remain dedicated to giving the POC community of the DC, MD and VA areas the opportunity to receive the learning in a safe and culturally-informed environment they requested. This program remains FREE to all POC individuals in the area courtesy of the Whole Heart Connection Economic Redress Fund, a reparations-style fund created by Thea in order to address economic disparities still present in the POC population.
Crystals & Gemstones for Self-Healing
Nov. 16th @ Neighborhood Acupuncture
Question: Is this class only for practitioners?
Answer: No! This class is designed to give everyone information on how to both ethically source and use some of the most popular stones used in healing today.
If you have any other questions about these or other upcoming workshops at Amazon Grove, please continue to reach out either via email or by giving a call. Keep your questions coming!
In community, ~Rachelle
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