Our hearts are important in many ways, including as an organ of perception. Did you know that the heart sends more messages to the brain than the brain sends to the heart? In the embryo, the heart begins beating just 4 weeks after conception, the first organ to come online. The face, also involved in sensing our world and in relational perception, grows on the heart, Until we are ready to lift our heads up into a more familiar human stance, we grow with our heads bowed down to the heart.
Due to the groundbreaking research of Stephen Porges, we now understand that our hearts and bodies are not only regulated by our sympathetic (fight-flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems but that we also have a third component of our autonomic, automatic nervous system. This more recently developed Ventral Vagus Nerve is closely associated with the cranial nerves involved with the senses in our heads. Together they form the social engagement nervous system, enabling us to bond at birth, to be socially present and at ease, to communicate our needs and listen to and respond to others. This involves down-regulating ourselves when we are in an activated fight-flight mode, increasing tone and presence if we tend to dissociate or freeze, and being able to accurately assess safety in present time. Our hearts are part of this important social engagement system and are intricately involved with activation and regulation. Our faces are home to many of our senses essential to social engagement.
In this 3-hour Continuum webinar, we apply the gentle sounding, breaths and mindful movement of Continuum to soften and awaken our hearts and faces and support our social engagement nervous system.
Why take this course?:
I need to slow down and rest more
I want to be more present with my body, my loved ones, my life
I would love to open and soften my heart more
I often find myself perceiving or acting from fear or anxiety or getting angry easily
This 3-hour webinar airs on Sunday, March 15th, 2020, 4 – 7 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. – 2 p.m. EST, 8 – 11 a.m. PST, 17:00 – 20:00 CET). The cost is in GBP paid via PayPal. £25 early bird price available until March 10th is about $32 USD, $42 CAD, 29 euros.
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Please set up a mat, blanket, sheepskin, etc. for yourself before the webinar begins so you can be comfortable lying down for long periods of time and still see/hear the webinar.
Cherionna Menzam-Sills is a prenatal and birth therapist, movement therapist and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist. Drawing on 40 years experience, her background includes an M.A. in Somatic Psychology (Dance/Movement Therapy) and a Ph.D. in Pre- and Perinatal Psychology, as well as Occupational Therapy, Massage Therapy, intensive study of BMC and Body-Mind Psychotherapy with Susan Aposhyan and 10 years intensive study with prenatal and birth psychotherapy pioneers, William Emerson and Ray Castellino. She worked intensively with founder of Continuum, Emilie Conrad for the last decade of her life. Emilie authorized her to teach Continuum in 2007. Her work is further informed by years of intensive Vipassana meditation practice and other mindfulness practices.