Journaling: How writing daily creates an archive and explains who we are with Ayanah George

In this workshop, we will explore how journaling can be a transformative journey towards self-discovery and self-awareness. By examining the patterns in our writing, we can identify our unique style, preferences, and even potential purpose in life. I will guide you on how to get started with journaling, providing tips and prompts to kickstart your practice. Join me on this eye-opening experience as we invest in ourselves through the practice of journaling.

Smash and Mend Grief Workshop with Amy Aronstamn

In this expressive arts workshop, we will engage in the cathartic process of smashing ceramics and using the broken pieces to create something new in the form of a mosaic project. This project is a beautiful metaphor for grief, as we often feel shattered and missing pieces of ourselves after a loss. Through radical self-care and a commitment towards healing, we begin to rebuild and repair our sense of self and our place in a changed world. Through the healing process, we are no longer who we were before the breakage, but can become something beautiful and whole, if different.

Participants are invited to bring any dishes or objects to add to their mosaic that might have significant meaning or represent and aspect of their person or loss.

Community Healing and Care: A Spell for Mutual Liberation with Chris Patch

“Without inner change there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters” ⁃Reverent Angel Kyodo Williams, Sensei

How can we care for our community and in turn, care for ourselves? How can we begin to build the world of our dreams as a spell for our mutual liberation?

In this workshop we will cross pollinate radical lineages and our collective knowledge to understand care as a spell for possibility. Rather than falling into despair or indifference, this workshop invites you to fall into community. First we will examine lineages of community care practitioners to better understand the possibility in caring for one another. Then we will map our communities and skills as a collective. Recognizing our personal and communal power to make generative change. Finally we will feel into our bodies to ground our learnings, affirming that what feels good in our bodies also feels good for the world. Whether you are entrenched in networks of care or newly exploring collectivism, your unique knowledge will enhance this workshop.

Please bring a journal and pen.

Living Connection to Eros and the Lower Body with Emma McGonigle

In a safe ritual space, we will work with Eros energy, accessing the depth of the lower body through the felt-sense and breathwork. When we focus on specific parts of the body, we are aiming to activate and awaken the energies of that area - which helps us create a more refined mind-body connection (this is the key to somatic work - to have a better sense of embodied awareness). The lower body, pelvis and genital area can feel like coming home to a deep part of yourself and may feel like restoration of a sense of empowerment and love. We will call on and mix in pleasure to support the process.

Even so, we hold a lot in our lower bodies, so we will safely work with what is coming up and learn how to resource throughout the process. In the group field, each of us will work individually with a subpersonality or piece of the body that is holding an objection to the lower body connection. Dancing, sounding and moving are welcomed and encouraged throughout the process.

Afterward we will rest and nourish our bodies with pleasure and relaxation, bathing in Eros.

Thriving After Life Knocks You Down with Maria Olsen

At age 50, Maria got sober from alcohol and drugs, got divorced, became an empty nester and was living alone for the first time in her life. She felt rudderless and had to start over, resuming her career as an attorney after 15 years of principally being an at-home mom (though she did pro bono work for domestic violence victims and migrant farmworkers, became a foster mother for babies awaiting adoption and wrote for magazines/wrote books when she was primarily at home). As a gift to herself for her 50th year, she tried 50 new things to determine how she wanted to live her next chapter. Maria will share concrete ways to practice self-care even when one is very busy; small and big ways to elevate one's life--spiritual endeavors, social activities, travel and adventure, learning and teaching, physical challenges/well-being, thrill-seeking ventures and lifestyle changes. She does not suggest that anyone do her list of 50 new things, but will ask participants to start their own dynamic lists of things they want to try while living this life. Maria encourages those who attend her talks to not settle for the gray safety that sameness promises. Her workshop is based on her book, 50 After 50: Reframing the Next Chapter of Your Life, which is summarized in her TEDx Talk, "Turning Life's Challenges into a Force for Good," in which she discusses her life's traumas (including childhood sexual abuse and assault) and how she transformed them. Maria is working on a book sequel, now that she is 60, as well as a book about the unintended consequences of consumer DNA tests, having found out at age 53 that the father who raised her is not her biological father. Join the workshop for more self-discovery and ideas for living your best life, despite its inevitable challenges.

Food is Your Friend. Let’s re-evaluate that relationship! with Tara Cassidy

Walk away with a more connected relationship with that activity we engage in several times a day. Safety is key in Tara’s classes. Those with eating disorders are welcome. Come for the entire workshop or dip a toe in to see for yourself.

Attendees can expect short meditations, a talk on what mindful eating is and wisdom sharing among the group. There will be a guided meditation with a variety of healthy snacks provided (or bring your own).

Our workshop goal is to re-evaluate our relationship to food, no matter where you are on your journey. We look at the value of mindful eating in the real world and how we can incorporate it into our daily lives.

Play Therapy and Meeting the Inner Child with Robin Warner

My name is Robin Warner and I am thrilled to be sharing some of my experiences with you!

I'm a licensed mental health therapist in Washington, DC, with 8 years of experience in the field. I specialize in working with children and am passionate about using play therapy, a powerful method where children express themselves unconsciously through play. It's amazing how play, something so natural to children, can reveal so much. And I try to remember that we, as adults, still crave that playful freedom!  

Outside of work, I love immersing myself in the vibe of summer concerts, reveling in the joy of being a delightfully weird cat mom, and exploring various avenues that bring me an authentic sense of joy. Whether it's through exercising, expressing myself through painting, finding new music, or diving into a book, I find fulfillment in these moments of self-discovery and expression.  Just as I find joy and connection in exploring various activities outside of work, I believe that play therapy offers a unique way for people, especially Wild Women!, to tap into their inner selves, express their emotions, and connect with others in a safe and nurturing environment.