Offerings
On this page you will find individual DOWH drop-in sessions, workshops, trainings and retreats, plus ecstatic dances and other expressive/healing workshops and events.
New Message from Erica, December 2011
Dear Radiant Sister,
Happy Solstice, and Happy New Year!!!
Great news.... 10 NEW Facilitators have just completed the DOWH Immersion: Facilitator Certification, Wisdom & Healing Path Training! Congratulations to Tara Abrams, Anna MacLean, Vanya, Jennifer Peterson, Heryka Miranda, Tracey Tief, Zora Noronha, Nikki Singh, Maria Mars and Britta Sivasankaran.
And now... we turn the wheel of the year as we drift into the velvety enchantment of the dark, to celebrate Yule, Winter Solstice (here in the northern hemisphere), and the return of the sun. It's comforting to remember that we, like the seasons and the spiral path of DOWH, are cyclical and ever-changing. We revolve. We evolve. And thank goodness -- that means we are growing! :)
NOW is the perfect time to think and dream about what you wish to bring in, to grow, to change, to let go of, to transform and liberate in this auspicious 2012.
For me, my vision for 2012 came back in 11.11.11 while listening to a beautiful online meditation by Brenda MacIntyre. There, I saw myself dancing with the sensations of “Pleasure”, “Self-Love”, “Play”, “Beauty”, “Sensuality” and “Delight” in a sacred temple of light and beauty. The word “Pleasure” echoed and swirled within and around me, like angels singing to my heart and soul. As I held this beautiful vision, so visceral, so real, so juicy, so enlivening, I saw that I was not alone. I was with many women. We were all smiling and flowing. It was a most wondrous and awe-inspiring experience. I felt such delight and joy.
Once this vision melted, I quickly KNEW with every cell in my being that it was TIME for me to show up more powerfully, to be of service more deeply, to surrender and soften more fully, to accept this strong CALLING to DANCE with APHRODITE, a Goddess and archetype of love, devotion, sensuality and pleasure of which I have played with on and off for years but had never fully committed to.
I knew that it was time for me to CLAIM and embrace Her as teacher and ally, to listen to, be charged by, and celebrate Her loving embodiment, and then SHARE the joy with other women so they, too, can come home to their sensual, beautiful self and each other.
With this crystal clarity my new DOWH “AWAKENING APHRODITE Workshop Series” and “TEMPLE OF APHRODITE CEREMONY” were birthed!
And because I believe, at this critical time juncture, inviting a more juicy, playful, embodied and pleasure-able life of purpose, devotion, wellbeing, appreciation, power and depth, will help us navigate this crazy terrain, I would LOVE for you to join us in this sacred journey of the Divine Feminine. DOWH truly is a safe and sacred ground for you to do just that!
Come join the celebration of being female in our Sunday morning Awakening Aphrodite Workshop Series and a beautiful Temple of Aphrodite Ceremony, as well as our Wednesday night 2012 Chrysalis Series, with recent DOWH graduate facilitators. We will begin in the depths of winter and emerge into spring.
Know you are loved, cherished and appreciated. Thank you for gracing the DOWH community of loving dancers. See you in 2012.
Until then.... Sweet Goddess blessings to you.
Big hugz,
Erica
*
Director of DOWH Community Outreach, Twyla Kowalenko's Message.
Listen to Debbie Papadakis interviewing Erica on Aware Talk Radio
Listen to Marilyn Daniels interviewing Erica for A Field-guide to Evolutionary Leadership
Photo by Erica Ross, Clothing by Yes World Boutique, belts by Erica
Current & Future Offerings:
2012 Chrysalis Series, with recent DOWH graduate facilitators
14 Wednesday evenings: January 4 - April 4, 2012 6:30-8:15pm
Urban Nirvana, 895 Yonge Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto
Per Workshop: $20 *Limit to 10 participants each Wednesday so please pre-register now with Urban Nirvana or phone 647-242-7047
Every moment is a chrysalis for the next! ~sioux patullo
“Babies turn upside down in the womb before birth, fruit hangs heavy as it ripens, caterpillars dissolve inside a chrysalis to become a butterfly…Metamorphosis: a template for radical change!” ~We’Moon 2012: Gaia Rhythms For Women
Our New DOWH facilitators welcome you to the 2012 Chrysalis Dance Our Way Home Series at Urban Nirvana! Each Wednesday evening you are invited to be enamored by your own movements, to fall in love with dance all over again, to be free of restraints and to connect with other women in this healing, empowering practice!
2012 brings waves of transformation and promises moments of great change. When we give up who we think we are, so that we can surrender to who we are becoming, we allow our own and collective transformation to unfold.
With our 2012 DOWH Chrysalis Series we will be discovering how to trust our wings with Anna, taking steps inward with Vanya, planting new seeds for the new year with Astrid, claiming ground with Tara, finding out where magick and reality meet with Tracey, honouring our dark moon time with Heryka, unveiling our greatness with Britta, co-creating with Savita, and so much more over these 14 juicy weeks.
(Caterpillars have “imaginal cells”-cells that are able to imagine becoming a butterfly! In the chrysalis stage the imaginal cells come to life and transform the caterpillar into a bright being of wings and flight. Each of us who listens to the Earth and all her creatures, celebrates the Goddess, or imagines a new society free of constraints is an imaginal cell of the transformed world.)
Come discover your own emerging process with the Chrysalis Series each Wednesday:
January 4: “Trust Your Wings” (Anna)
January 11: “Footsteps Inward” (Vanya)
January 18: “New Seed, New Year Ceremony” (Jen plus 5 DOWH co-creatrixes) *limited to 6 participants
January 25: “Claiming Ground” (Tara)
February 1: “Baba Yaga: Where Magick and Reality Meet” (Tracey)
February 8: Full Moon: “Honouring Our Dark Moon Time” (Heryka)
February 15: Valentine’s Edition: “You are the One You’ve Been Waiting For!” (Vanya)
February 22: “Arbor and Ground” (Jen/Astrid)
February 29: Leap Year: “The Great Unveiling” (Britta)
March 7: tbd (Tara)
March 14: “Dancing the River” (Anna)
March 21: “Rebirth: Spring Equinox Transformation” (Vanya)
March 28: “The Co-Creatrix” (Savita)
April 4: tbd (Tara and Britta)
Hope you can join us, The DOWH Chrysalis Facilitators
AWAKENING APHRODITE Workshop Series, with Erica Ross
4 Sunday Morning Workshops: Jan. 22, March 11, April 8 & May 13, 2012 11am-1pm
Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd., 2nd floor, TorontoFull Series Investment: $125 REGISTER NOW
Per Workshop: $35 in advance, $40 at the door“This love of the body and the pleasure it holds for us has been the single most repressed knowing and awareness of all in our entire recorded history. For it contains the greatest power ever known. It's not far off in the heavens, this most potent power… It is letting yourself feel the pleasure that brings about the miracles and opens the alchemical doors of embodiment.” Jennifer Posada
Women! What is the cost we bear when we perpetuate the shame of having a female body?
Known as the Goddess of Spring, The Beloved, The One Who Emerges, The Shining Star of Heaven, The One Who Brings Calm, and She Who Shows The Way to the Stars, Aphrodite’s sweet nectar and songs will gently reawaken your inner nature from its winter sleep, and with deep reverence, kindness and patience invite you to flow, feel and delight, to come home to your senses, pleasure, beauty and power.
Are you ready to dance with Aphrodite to thaw what has been frozen, unlock what has been guarded, soften what has been hardened, and celebrate what has been revealed?
This Series through the DOWH journey of ecstatic, sacred and healing dance, guided imagery, relaxation and community, will prepare us, like Aphrodite's Priestesses, for the TEMPLE OF APHRODITE Ceremony experience.
REGISTER NOW for Full Series (or Full Series & Ceremony)
REGISTER NOW for Jan. 22 Workshop
REGISTER NOW for March 11 Workshop
TEMPLE OF APHRODITE Ceremony, with Erica Ross & other DOWH Facilitators
June 17, 2012 10am-5pm
Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd., 2nd floor, Toronto
Investment: $225 REGISTER NOW
Early Bird (payment in full by May 1): $200 REGISTER NOW
FULL Workshop Series & Temple Ceremony: $300 ($25 discount) REGISTER NOWAvailable Spots: 22
Imagine a deep nourishing sacred healing time where you can completely rest, soothe and deliciously awaken your senses.
Imagine a sacred space where you are utterly adored as the beautiful, beloved, sensual Goddess you were born to be.
Come join us in a deep nourishing sacred healing time where you can completely rest, be cherished and pampered, and deliciously awaken your senses so you may truly feel and know yourself as sacred and beautiful!
This exquisitely deep and gentle ceremonial space will weave together the elements of ecstatic dance, play, community, laughter, deep conversation, healing touch, and nourishment for all your senses, including vegetarian snacks and lunch.
Hymns of Orpheus to Aphrodite
Child of Ocean
amazing beauty, we honor you.
You rule deep earth,
encircling heaven,
the stormy seas
and everything in them.
Mother of sweet marriage,
you join the world together
with laughter and harmony;
even the Fates obey you.
Every eye seeks you.
Give us beauty and love.
Delighted by secrets
and lavish feasts
you are concord
and persuasion.
You are beautiful necessity
even in the frenzy of the shark,
delicate as sea foam of Cyprus,
fragrant as Syrian oils,
bright as golden chariots
on Egyptian plains
by the sandy bank
of the turquoise Nile,
a choir of the loveliest Nymphs
sings a hymn to your beauty.
With reverence we ask
for the gift of grace
*Pre-registration is needed. Investment is non-refundable but your spot is transferable to another woman.
BELLYLICIOUS: She Who Flows & Feels Workshop, with Erica Ross (part of the CWSE Wellness Series)
February, 2012 6-9pm Date TBA
CWSE (Centre for Women's Studies in Education),
OISE, University of Toronto, Suite 2-225, 252 Bloor St. W., TorontoIn a gently guided, safe and sacred female space, Erica Ross will offer a healing movement journey through the transformational DOWH practice of freestyle dance, relaxation and guided imagery. The focus of this particular workshop is on the discovery of our personal and collective flow, grace and depth of feeling; exploring and honouring the treasures and wisdom of our belly's watery realm, to become more relaxed, open, soft and available to change, healing, balance and fluid living.
To register, email Jamie at cwse@utoronto.ca
For Past Offerings click here.
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