My best feeling of the week is at Erica's DOWH sessions.
Messages from Erica
Collage by Erica Ross
May Message from Erica
HAPPY SPRING Beautiful Ones,
Life is blooming all around us these days. I hope you are stopping to breathe in the smell of the blossoming flowers and take in the beauty of the stunning colours. What a joy to behold!
Today, I sit in calm repose after the completion of the 'Unfolding' Series, the 'Ecstatic Dance for ALL', and 'Sundays with the Muse' Spring Series.... and continue to dream in the next few months with such gratitude and love in my heart and soul for this practice, community, and LIFE!
I am thrilled to say that due to popularity we've added 2 more spots to next fall's inaugural DOWH Immersion: Facilitator Certification & Wisdom Path Training! Mari Rossi and I, along with Twyla Kowalenko, are preparing a juicy, bright and deep journey. Please contact me ASAP if you are interested.
In the meantime, I invite you to join Twyla and I, Saturday, June 19, for a deliciously luxuriant PWYW FULL DAY Solstice Celebration called 'SHINE!'.
Come join me the week after in Buffalo NY, Saturday, June 26, for 'AfterGLOW', a Post-Solstice Dance Celebration, and for another delicious PWYW FULL day workshop called 'Phenomenal Woman', on Sunday, July 18, back in Toronto.
March Message from Erica
Hello Beautiful Ones,
I hope you are well. I have just returned from 2 glorious months (January & February) in South India. While I was away I found deep relaxation, joy, flow and compassion, by allowing myself to slow down and drop into pure beingness. I am now back in Toronto with a greater sense of peace and ease, and I look forward to sharing my new shiny-ness with you. Please come dance with me as we weave love, healing & community, together, for personal and collective wellbeing and bliss.
This spring & summer you will find me DJing 3 Ecstatic Dances for ALL (2 are extra long, to give you an extended experience of ecstacy!), and facilitating a new 6-week Series, 'Unfolding'.
I'm also offering 3 beautiful Pay-What-U-Want events: Sundays with the Muse Spring Series, & 2 (NEW) FULL DAY PWYW Workshops- 'SHINE!', A Solstice Celebration, & 'Phenomenal Woman'.
I so look forward to seeing you there. Please tell all your sisters. All are welcome!
December Message from Erica
Hello Beautiful Ones,
As we are now approaching the busy-ness of the holiday season, we are also entering the deep richness of winter - a perfect time for contemplation, reflection and fire-building for the soul. With this turning of the wheel comes Winter Solstice (in the northern hemisphere) on December 21, marking the time when the sun is reborn, heralding hope and renewal of a new year around the bend.
I hope that you will find balance and nourishment in this interesting time of connections, reflections, and dreaming in of new possibilities.
As I look back over the year, I have so much to be grateful for; a wonderful partner, child & family, friends and community. Thank you to all who have crossed my dancing path, both in and out of the studio. Special thanks to the 8 Muses and the women who participated in making 'Sundays with the Muse' a great success, and to each woman who graced a DOWH session, workshop or series. Look out for a NEW Sundays with the Muse Series starting Spring Equinox, Sunday, March 21, 2010!
I will be taking a 2 month sabbatical from my life in Toronto in a solo journey to South India (Kerala and Goa), January 2 - March 2, 2010. It has long been my dream to return to India, a place which touched my life profoundly when I was just 19 years old. And now, 36 years later, after raising a vibrant 18 year old daughter and delicious dance practice, I am ready for a new adventure to nourish and rediscover myself. I will also be offering a workshop in Goa, allowing me to seed my dream to begin facilitating dance events internationally!
While I am away, my dear friends and allies Nan Keyser (the co-creatrix of DOWH) and Caro Cloutier will be keepers of the Dance Our Way Home fire! Nan will be facilitating at Sheena's Place, and Caro will be offering “Dreaming In the Dark”, a beautiful 6-week DOWH series, plus a FREE intro, at the Dovercourt House. I am grateful for their friendship, devotion and support for this practice and it's beautiful communities.
I look forward to coming back from India with fresh ideas and possibilities (including the outline of my new book), to be MORE of who I am and what I have to offer and share.
I am delighted to also tell you that I have just given birth to my first CD called Unwind. This relaxation CD will take you on 3 soothing journeys of surrender, renewal and empowered visioning, created and led by myself, and accompanied by flutist Laura Nashman and the soundscapes of Michael Moon. Offering both spiritual nourishment, inspiration, this powerful stress-relieving CD would make a wonderful stocking stuffer or holiday gift. Look for it on the Music Page!
And lastly....
Inspired by the women who have expressed their wish to facilitate DOWH, as well as to deepen their inward practice, I am happy to say that my apprentices and I have been busy creating the inaugural DOWH Teacher Training Programme, September 15-December 15.
This unique programme will be rich in both practice and theory, guided by and drawing on a breadth of female experience in the expressive, spiritual, visual and healing arts. Engaging both right and left brain, body, heart and soul, you will develop the necessary skills and experience to facilitate this healing and sacred practice as well as deepen your own embodied exploration, regardless if you choose to facilitate DOWH or not.Stay tuned for the details and upcoming info sessions. In the meantime, if you are interested in participating please contact me at erica@danceourwayhome.com, and dance as much as you can, even if it's in your livingroom!
September Message from Erica:
Beautiful women,
Thank you to all who have been so generous of heart, to share their feedback and hopes and dreams for DOWH. Because of YOU, DOWH is growing and offering our magnificent dance community mutually shared, ever-widening and deepening experiences. To support our mission, please read about:
1) Our Practice
2) Opportunities
Our Practice
This fall, in addition to our Set Your Life in Motion Workshop we will be offering two BRAND NEW Core Series called Nest and Nourishment. In these series we are focusing on the embodiment and exploration of the DOWH principles, and applying them in our day to day living. In Nest we will build a nest of trust, relaxation, peace and compassion, while in Nourishment we will open our bodies, minds, hearts and souls to the flow of nourishment within, around, and between us.
We are also producing a 9-week Series for Oct/Nov called Sundays with the Muse. These Sundays will support the DOWH journey and showcase 8 exceptional women. All 9 Sundays are "Pay-What-U-Want". You can come to any or all.
Also, starting in 2010, we are launching the Expansion Series, offering fresh and innovative explorations for women with prior experience in the DOWH Practice.
Realizing the value of dialoguing after being in a 'no-talking' transformative space, we are implementing a “talking and sharing” segment to connect us, and support each other in our growth and development as women. After each Series we will have time allocated just for that! We look forward to exploring this new dimension with you.
Opportunities
1. DOWH Facilitators
For those women who expressed a desire to become DOWH facilitators and to contribute their own unique talents to the DOWH practice and community, a Leadership Programme will begin in fall 2010, available to women with experience in the Core and Expansion Series. Stay tuned.
2. Internship Opportunity
DOWH is expanding outside of the studio walls by offering you an opportunity to participate in its growth, and contribute your skills and talents. Right now we are looking for:
To apply send an email with resume to: erica@danceourwayhome.com
If you have other skills you’d like to offer, please let us know. It’s time for DOWH to grow! Thank you for all your support.
All the best,
Erica (DOWH Co-founder, Director and Dancing Goddess)