HEALING STORIES WORKSHOP-ALLISON COX & MERNA HECHT March 21, 2009

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Did you ever want to tell healing stories or use story in you own healing and growth? Merna Hecht and Allison Cox will be leading a Seattle Storytellers Guild sponsored workshop on Healing Stories, March 21st at the Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th St, Seattle, WA 98117, from 9:50 am to 2pm. Tickets are $30 for Guild members and $40 for non-members. Space is limited. Bring a brown bag lunch. Here is a full description of what will be presented:

WHAT THE HEART HOLDS: A WORKSHOP ON HOW STORYTELLING & POETRY HELP US EMBRACE &, ACCEPTOUR LOSSES

When we experience a significant loss, it often brings us to the most tender and fragile point of our life exerience. Words can seem to be an inadequate artifact for meeting the intensity and confusion of grief. Workshop participants will consider how a story or a poem may be able to take up residence in the mind and heart of an individual who is experiencing and embodying the myriad effects of loss. We will work with stories and poems that help children (and all of us) feel less alone duirng times of grief and loss. We will create our own poems and work with stories from different cultures that speak to the possibility of sustaining and celebrating connections with what or whom we have lost and of moving forward in our own time and our
own story across the bridge of loss toward a place of acceptance.
Participants will work with stories and poems that have the power to touch the heart with vibrant images and soulful honesty. The focus of the workshop will be on how storytelling and poetry can help us give voice to the enormity of tenderness, wounding, memory, loss and hope that are part of our shared human experience
MERNA ANN HECHT, poet, storyteller and arts and literacy educator, has built her life work around the vital role of story and spoken word in communities and cultures. She is a recipient of a National Storytelling Network 2008 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling for a pilot project using storytelling, creative writing and art in working with children who are dealing with loss at BRIDGES: A Center for Grieving Children, in Tacoma, WA. A poet in residence for Seattle's Writers in the Schools Program, Merna has worked in many specialized settings including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center School, detention centers and facilities for homeless youth. She also presents courses for educators on using poetry and story as a way to teach social justice and global awareness. Merna is currently working with young immigrants, many from war-torn countries, using poetry and storytelling to help them create their personal stories of leave-taking and arrival.

AWAKENING DREAMS & PLANTING SEEDS:CELEBRATING THE MYTHS AND JOURNEYS OF THE VERNAL EQUINOX (SPRING!)
Throughout the ages and around the world, the rituals and traditions of the vernal (spring) equinox celebrate the return of life and renewal to the earth. Even the Great Sphinx was built pointing directly toward the rising sun on the day of the vernal equinox. What ancient meanings were drawn from this shift in the seasons and how did they evolve over time? How can the traditional practices of spring equinox affect our contemporary world and busy lives?
Allison Cox will explore with workshop attendees both the ancient and current meanings of inviting spring back into our lives. Through discussion, journaling, exercises, guided meditation and multiple stories, this workshop will gather together our collective dreams for the future and sow fertile ground for applying new possibilities both in our daily lives and the world at large.

Participants will learn stories from a variety of cultures and experience multiple methods for both individuals and groups to process the tales. This workshop is for anyone interested in utilizing metaphor as a means toward personal evolution for yourself and your listeners.

ALLISON COX (MA Psychology, Graduate Cert. in Public Health) travels acrossland and sea,performing, teaching and interviewingother storytellers for her books. She is the co-editor and a contributing author of The Healing Heart books on storytelling as a healing art.Allison is also a co-founder of the Healing Story Alliance, a special interest group of the National Storytelling Network of the US. Since she dreams in color, Allison tells tales of all hues. www.dancingleaves.com, [email protected]

Tickets are $30 for Guild members and $40 for non-members. Space is limited. Bring a brown bag lunch.


Organized by Seattle Storytellers Guild

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Ticket Info:  

• Member, $30.99
• Non-member, $41.00

Official Website: http://healingstories-upcoming.eventbrite.com