Spring Schedule 2013

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OFFERINGS FOR KIDS


Classes:

Open Circle Time

Location: REACH School Sebastopol  6/7 class
Time: Weekly Wednesday class at 1:00 pm

 

Workshops:

 

Singing for Girls ages 9-13
Location:  ID Classroom – Sebastopol, CA
Date and Time:  Saturday March 2 from 1-4 pm
Cost:  $45  includes all materials and healthy snack

 

In this workshop girls will experiment, play and express with their voices.  No experience is necessary – you don’t even need to feel comfortable singing in front of others because that’s part of what we will explore.  We will begin the afternoon with a circle, play some voice games and do fun exercises. The goal of the exercises will not be to gain technical skills or techniques, but rather to connect within and play with your personal expression and power. If a girl has a song that she has been working on or would like to sing more authentically, there will be time to share and sing. After snack, there will be some group singing and a guided meditation to end the day.  

 

Help for School Stress  ages 10-14
Location:  ID Classroom – Sebastopol, CA
Date and Time:  Saturday March 23 from 1-4 pm
Cost: $45   includes all materials and healthy snack

 

Kids at the end of elementary school, middle schoolers and beginning high school students begin to face bigger challenges both academically and socially.  In this workshop, we will first discuss the issues and give students a chance to talk freely about them.  From there we can begin to explore strategies for coping and thriving including:

 

* relaxation techniques
* organization 
* clear, authentic communication
* emotional check-ins
* reducing peer pressure through reframing

 

Afternoon will also include snack and short meditation.

 

Writing Stories for Fun ages 9-13
Location:  ID Classroom – Sebastopol, CA
Date and Time:  Saturday April 13 from 1-4 pm
Cost: $45  includes all materials and healthy snack

 

During this creative afternoon workshop, we will open with a circle and discussion of why we like stories and share some of our favorites.  Then we will do a series of exercises designed to stimulate the imagination and help kids connect to what they love and remember what moves them.  Students will have time to free write after snack and continue to vividly develop their ideas.  We will return to circle for some closing games and sharing.

 

The Art of Play ages 8-12
Location:  ID Classroom – Sebastopol, CA
Date and Time:  Saturday May 4 from 1-4 pm
Cost: $45   includes all materials and healthy snack

 

This afternoon is designed for kids who want to play, create and imagine but end up spending their weekends in front of the TV or computer out of boredom, necessity or lack of play companions.  We will start the afternoon with circle and soon open it up to using art and building materials, outdoor space and imagination to engage in some deep and satisfying play time.  Spontaneous ideas and projects are the name of the game and care will be taken to ensure that all children are engaged and included.  After snack, we will also have some quiet time and a guided meditation before a little more creative time and closing circle.

 

OFFERINGS FOR PARENTS

 

Cultivating Presence in Parenting

 

Location:  Coffee Catz  Sebastopol, CA
Date and time:  First Tuesday of every month beginning Tuesday March 5  12:00-1:30 
Cost:  $15 (or donation based on ability – no sincere parent turned away)

 

This is an ongoing parent support group that will be focused around the idea that the greatest gift we can offer our children (or indeed anyone) is  our non-judgmental presence. Many factors keep us from being present with our children:  busy work lives, our agenda for them, our worry and fear, electronic devices, behavior issues, frustration, anger, adult relationship difficulties, entertainment, financial concerns and many more. 

 

Being in the moment offers tremendous benefits because “the now” the only place from which we can really listen, accept and utilize our full creative power. Our children can sense when we are present and grounded and it helps them stay present as well. When our children trigger us, it shows us that much of our energy is still tied up in past emotional trauma and keeps us from being loving, having clarity or finding effective solutions now.  Each month we will meet as parents, discuss our challenges and explore strategies that help us be lovingly present and create healthy relationships with our kids.

 

For more information or to register for classes and workshops:
Call Nicole Daspit at 707-874-8104 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Workshop Schedule

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Upcoming Inner Discovery Workshops

“Nurturing Retreat for Girls”  ages 8-12  

 Saturday October 20 Noon – 4:00 pm   $50

Come and celebrate our femininity! Create natural bodycare products, perfumes with pure essential oils, and hair ornaments. Includes healthy snacks, guided meditation and quiet journaling time.

“Soul Painting” kids ages 8-12

Saturday Nov. 10 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm $45

Through guided meditation, make a connection with your unique inner spirit.  Explore and express your impressions through painting on canvas.  Learn how to access your creative flow.  Includes snack and all materials.

“Friends and Fitting In” kids ages 9-12

Saturday Nov. 24 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm $45

Circle time, fun exercises, creative journaling, snack and meditation. Find out why it is so important to be you!

Call Nicole at 707-874-8104 or e-mail to register. Images-1Imgres-6

“Start a Love Train, Love Train”

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The last Inner Discovery workshop ”Fun With Feelings” turned out to be a terrific day of exploring and synchronicities. We got into looking at feelings from the perspective of choosing how we respond to them when they arise.  None of the kids thought that suppressing them would be a great idea nor acting them out on others or themselves even though everybody talked about how sometimes we do that in our frustration and lack of knowing what else to do in the moment.  It turned out that two of the young people had recently been on a train trip and possibly even on the same train trip!  So we started to look at it like being at a train station and choosing a destination.  Even if your departure city is Angerville, you can choose a different destination like Peace Valley or Awesometown!  Kind of silly, but we had fun with it.  Just accepting where you are at the start of your journey without judging yourself- “ok, I am in the this place of sadness, fear,” etc…. already kind of puts you on a track to another place that is allowing and therefore will feel less intensely painful.  One boy talked about how runaway trains are ones without conductors that get disconnected and can be dangerous.   He said that with runaways, it becomes priority number 1 to stop it and reconnect it. That was a great reminder to us all that we are the conductors and we are in charge of our emotional train.  We can keep ourselves on track and prevent runaway emotions through our intentions, our allowing of the feeling to be, choosing our destination no matter where we start and making it a priority to keep a loving connection with ourselves.  I couldn’t have written down ideas or planned a class as well as what emerged spontaneously.  I am learning to trust that when we gather, all the important ingredients for learning together are always present if we stay open. 

I think we could have kept chugging all day with the train metaphor, but we shifted gears to a creative project: creating a destination or sanctuary and the kids chose to build outside.  They ended up building a fort and an outdoor bedroom/resting area that was awesome and is still in the play yard.  I have felt lucky to do some summer reading and even have a nap on the outdoor bed they made.  I can’t part with it yet, so the haulers will have to wait until fall.

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Imagination and Source Workshop

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Last weekend, I had the privilege of hosting a creative play space for a small group of pre-teens. We talked about the role of imagination in our lives and our world. Then we did a lot of fun exercises to get our imaginations fired up. As a warm up, I asked them to make an invention that would clean their rooms and not worry for the moment about the realities of physics or computer science, just let go and dream up something that you wish could exist. Here is a sampling of the ideas:

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Then they had to imagine a happy day for themselves. After all, if you can’t imagine what that would look like, how you can you really create it in your life? Got everyone thinking about what actually makes them feel good versus what images they have in their minds of things that are “supposed” to make them happy. Interestingly, this group came to a conclusion that many things that are supposed to be fun and make you happy – like “stuff”, big parties, roller coasters, winning something, don’t always feel that great. The things they talked about in their imagined happy day? Play time with friends and family, expressing themselves creatively – building, writing, art and being in nature. Great wake up call for us parents right? And we can all afford those things!

The next exercise was inventing something that could benefit all people. They noticed how often the thought of “that’s impossible, I shouldn’t even say that!” came up. We remembered how people told the Wright Brothers that they would never fly but eventually, through their experiments, the science and methods caught up with their imaginations. So we learned to ignore the naysaying voice for the time being. Here are a couple very cool examples of what they dreamed up:

“The replicator”: a machine that materializes pure healthy food and drink so that hungry people will never go without.

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“The instant transporter’: a device that lets you travel anywhere quickly with no discomfort and cleans the atmosphere while it takes you there!

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Perhaps someday the science will catch up with their imaginations too! I hope so.

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Inner Discovery Spring/Summer Schedule 2012

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Inner Discovery Spring/Summer Schedule 2012

Saturday April 21 1-4 pm ages 9-12 Knowing Your Heart workshop
Saturday May 19  1-4 pm  ages 9-12 Imagination and Source workshop

Mini-Camp: June 18-20 ages 6-10 9-3 pm
July  23-25 ages 6-10 9-3 pm

Saturday August 11 1-4 pm ages 9-12 Fun with Feelings workshop
Saturday August 25 1-4 pm ages 11-13 What is Love? workshop

Call 707-874-8104 to register for all classes and camps

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Winter Workshops

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“Thoughts & Feelings:  What’s the Deal? and How to Deal”

Saturday January 21  
1-4 pm, for ages 9-12  $45 
Location: ID Classroom in Sebastopol, CA  
call 874-8104 or e-mail to register

This will be an afternoon of exploring what goes on in our minds and bodies and how to work with, rather than resist or fight, what we experience.  We will use art, drama and journaling as a means to learn about ourselves and how to:
* name and identify the “usual culprits” (aka difficult feelings)
* shift out of negative thoughts and pictures
* help our bodies feel better
* reconnect to ourselves

There will be time for circle, creative expression, mediation and snack and usually some spontaneous happening that is fun and/or meaningful to the group.  

Laughter Meditation !

Saturday February 4 
1-4 pm for ages 9-12 $45 
Location: ID Classroom in Sebastopol, CA  
call 874-8104 or e-mail to register

Since breath connects us to ourselves and everything else, laughter is a particularly fun way of getting there!  We will do circle time, silly games, jokes and goofy art to get our breath flowing and connect to the joy inside us.  

Inner Discovery at Rivertown Revival

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On Saturday July 30 from 11-7, Inner Discovery for Kids will be at the Petaluma Rivertown Revival http://rivertownrevival.com – Come craft and play in the awesome kid’s area!

This is a fun family friendly and FREE event put together by many lively and generous Petaluma community members.  There will be bands, crazy contraptions and boat races on the Petaluma River, local vendors, art, savory foods, a much expanded KIDS AREA and more.  We will have several craft stations for kids to make clothespin dolls, bindlesticks (just like Huck Finn), cork boats, ribbon wands and anything else kids can invent with recycled fabric, string, stick, ribbon and yarn.  There will also be a station for planting seeds in your own take home container so you can watch it grow.  In addition there will be game boards set up for checkers, water trough play and other good ol’ fashioned kid fun!  For moms with small children, Sono-Ma http://sono-ma.com/ will be there to provide a restful space for nursing moms or anyone else who needs a sanctuary at the fair with water, shade and snacks.  Hope to see you there!