Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms® Movement Practice
Facilitated by Tammy Burstein, Certified Teacher
Discounted Pricing through May 1st
All three maybe purchased for just $195.00
Any two for $140.00.
Individual workshops are $80.00 apiece.

To enroll, go to www.Aphroditephoto.com > Workshops> 5Rhythms® in DC 2008
May 18, 2008: Connecting Waves: Moving with the Self, the Other, and in Community
September 21, 2008: Shadow Waves: A Moving Journey through the Shadowland
November 16, 2008: Change Waves: Awareness, Attention and Moving to Action

Sundays, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm at Carderock Springs Swim & Tennis Club, Bethesda MD

Waves - Dimensions Series: Gabrielle Roth¹s 5Rhythms® Movement Meditation is a multi-dimensional practice that moves the body, heart and mind in the service of the free soul and the collective spirit. This three part series is an opportunity to expand our visceral understanding of three deeper aspects of the practice.

Connecting Waves: Wherever we start, whichever direction we take, it's all about connection, about relating, outside in and inside out. In this 5Rhythms® workshop we'll move through multiple Waves as we explore the dances of partnership, the dances of connection - with ourselves, with partners, and as members of a community. We'll discover where we connect and where we lose touch, where we partner and where we part. We'll move, on our own and together, through and to a fresher, deeper and more loving understanding of relationship, to the self, the other and our many tribes.


 Shadow Waves: We all know how it feels to just not want to get out of bed in the morning, to slog through the day, and finally fall back into bed.  What if we could turn our inertia into art, turn ourselves into a ball of energy? Take a chance to dance out loud the tension in a jawbone or held in a shoulder, embody our stick figures and move on out fully fleshed?  Give up control, dive beneath the surface and melt the ice that casts the shadows we so often find ourselves moving through?  In this workshop we'll dance through the shadow-land and follow the map of the 5Rhythms® into the light.


Change Waves: The 5Rhythms® practice is a practice of embodying change from the feet up, from the inside out, straight from the heart, and out into the street.  We are all creatures of change, constantly in motion, whether we are aware of it or not.  We resist it and we crave it.  We dance with it and sometimes we sit it out.  But no matter what, change is going to happen with or without our attention.  In this workshop we'll shake ourselves up from the ground we move on as we challenge ourselves to dance bigger and bolder, softer and more vulnerably.   We'll give ourselves the opportunity to expand our options, embrace possibility and move into action on and off the dance floor.

 
Venue: Carderock Springs Swim and Tennis Club
(Huge hardwood dance floor!!!)
8200 Hamilton Spring Court, Bethesda, Maryland 20817
Approx. 1.7 miles from I-495 & River Road

To register now, Click: http://www.aphroditephoto.com/Workshops_Frame.htm

Questions or Additional Information:
Contact: Jim Guzel - Tel: 202.627.9903
or Email: Jim (at) AphroditePhoto.com

This entry was posted on April 30, 2008 at 1:20 AM and has received 1054 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If you are going to Dark Odyessy 3/21 in DC and either are gender queer or are GQ friendly then come to
the Gender Queer mixer before dinner. And on Friday I will be hosting a Ostara ritual to celebrate the spring equinox. Hope to see you there!


Saturday
7:00-8:00 pm Regency Foyer
Queer and GenderQueer Mixer

Calling all dykes, fags, queers, FtMs, MtFs, trannies, crossdressers, and
genderqueer peeps: join us for refreshments, schmoozing and cruising. For
those going to the Banquet, we¹ll head there together. For others, this is a
chance to get a group together to eat dinner. People who identify as queer
or gender variant (or both) as well as partners and supporters are welcome.

Friday
8:00-8:30 pm € Hall of Battles
Ostara Pagan Ritual

The Spring Equinox brings a time of balance. The Sun God has overtaken the
darkness and day and night are of equal lengths. The Goddess, our Earth
Mother, awakens from Her long slumber to replenish the Earth. We see new
Life rising from the cold ground. The Horned God has grown weak from the
Winter and at this time dies in order to return to the healing Earth. From
His "death,² He is reborn as the Green Man. He has shed his antlers and fur
for green leaves and vines. He is young still, but as the days grow longer
he gains strength. He is a God of fertility, to aid our Goddess in the
growing of our fields and livestock.

This entry was posted on March 5, 2008 at 1:41 AM and has received 430 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Could radical acceptance of the many things, events, and people that we find unacceptable invite us into a space of deep loving where healing can take place?  Tom Goddard and Roger Telschow are leading a session to find out!


On the Frontier of Loving:  Radical Acceptance

Saturday, 4pm to 6pm, February 2

-- Falls Church, VA --

Potluck Gathering, 6:00 pm


What's on your list:  a child's attitude, a spouse's habits, a job, a neighbor's junky driveway, air pollution, foreign policy, or any number of the injustices plaguing our world?   Our coping mechanisms for these unacceptable things range from rage to gritting our teeth to turning our heads and much in between.
 
We won't be practicing shoulder-shrugging or capitulation.  Rather, through a series of experiential processes, we'll explore what it might be to accept what is, completely and radically.  Some suggest that it is only with this foundation that we can be effective agents of loving change in the world.  Come join us in the experiment!
 
BRING A DISH FOR 8 PEOPLE (main dish, salad, side dish, bread & beverage, or dessert).
 
Invite along a friend if you like.  Can't make it at 4pm? - then just stop in at 6pm for the potluck! 

 DIRECTIONS
to this month's meeting place (the home of Barra Kahn in Falls Church, VA):
 
 
From the beltway (I-495), take Arlington Blvd. (U.S. 50) eastbound toward Falls Church/Arlington.  In about 3 miles you will pass a McDonald's (it's off on the right on the service road).  Turn right at the next light, Annandale Rd.  Go 7/10 mile & turn left at the second light (Kerns Road).  Take Kerns through the light at Sleepy Hollow.  In a couple of blocks Kerns becomes Lily Dhu Lane.  Continue past the "Dead End" sign.  The house, 6438 Lily Dhu Lane, is a few houses past that sign on your left.  Barra's phone # is 703-941-8849.

This entry was posted on January 30, 2008 at 12:40 AM and has received 1265 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

David Hollies told me that he used to do Christmas big time. He had a big
neighborhood party, a fancy tree, lots of lights, and decorations all over the
place.  Since his brain troubles started a few years ago, he has had to be much
more careful about how he spends his energy.  He had to ask himself what was his
favorite part of Christmas and how could he continue to manifest that piece.
Here is what he figured out:

"Once I posed the question, the answer was obvious.  I just love getting a bunch
of people together and singing.  So a Wednesday Dinner Gathering dedicated to
caroling has become the centerpiece of our Christmas celebration.  We bring the
piano out of mothballs, light a fire in the fireplace, pass out
songbooks, and dive in with enthusiasm."

"Often, someone brings a guitar. We also have an electric piano for anyone who
feels inspired to play that.  I, for one, have a hard time carrying a tune, so I
find it helpful to sing with others.  Musical accompaniment makes it even
easier.  So, if you're a musician, please come and play with us.  Drums, flutes,
didigeroos (however you spell it!), or whatever calls to your musical
expression.  We hope you'll join us."

WHAT:  Come join us for an evening of carol singing and good cheer.

WHERE:  Michael/Michelle's house in Rockville.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 19th from 4:00 - 10:00p.m. Singing after dinner at 8pm

REGISTRATION:  Just show up.

BRING: Your enthusiasm -- good singing voice is NOT a requirement.  We'll
provide songbooks.  Piano fingers (we'll have a piano),
guitars, other instruments, or small percussion items.

COST: $20 - We'll provide drinks and dinner.

More info on Gathering

This entry was posted on December 15, 2007 at 2:28 AM and has received 640 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Playa del Fuego is Burning Man festival in Delaware - a celebration of 
the spirit of radical self-expression, community, and participation. And 
plenty of music and fire art! Playa del Fuego is the burning event of 
the Mid-Atlantic Region.  Our Fall 2007 event will take place this 
October Columbus Day weekend,(10/4-10/8) from Thursday 5 pm through 
Monday noon. Tickets are $35 for 4 days (what a deal!) for camping. The 
cut off for online tickets is Friday, Sept. 14th at 9pm. 

More info at
http://www.playadelfuego.org/

This entry was posted on September 3, 2007 at 9:55 PM and has received 403 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here is the Erotic Trance Dance mix that I gave at Loving More East in September 2007

Warm up

1. Ravi Shankar - Omkaaraaya Namaha (1:53)
2. The Romantics - What I Like About You (2:58)
3. Binder - Billo Raneeay (4:08)
4. Deva Premal - Shree Ram Jai Ram (6:43)
5. Niraj Chag - Nomad (5:09)
6. Hot Club De Norvège - Hot Club De Norvège / Nuits Des Saints -Germain-Des-Près (5:03)
7. Rodney Jones - Groove Bone Part 1 (5:24)
8. Loreena McKennitt - Incantation (2:35)
9. Jason Hann - Boukman Impasse (6:26)
10. Madonna - Drowned World/Substitute For Love (5:09)
11. Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love '97 (5:18)
12. Ganga Giri - Afrodisiac (6:55)
13. Madonna - Like A Virgin (3:11)

Trance Dance

1. Flowing (0:04)
2. Ravi Shankar - Gaayatri (3:28)
3. Various Artists - Didgeriddo Girl (5:20)
4. Staccato (0:05)
5. Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible (4:12)
6. Devo - Whip It (2:41)
7. INXS - Devil Inside (5:15)
8. Haircut 100 - Favorite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) (3:05)
9. Safri Boys - Rahaye Rahaye (5:35)
10. Chaos (0:04)
11. Telesma - ...Give (5:13)
12. Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People (3:39)
13. Lyrical (0:04)
14. Soni Pabla - Dil Tera (3:51)
15. Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love (5:34)
16. Sapna - Pyar Do Pyar Lo (5:26)
17. Stillness (0:08)
18. Sat Kartar - Guru Ram Das Chant (8:25)
19. Various Artists - Tower Whales (3:22)

This entry was posted on September 3, 2007 at 9:15 PM and has received 926 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am hosting a Cuddle Party at my house in Rockville Sat 8/4/07

Saturday August 4th from 2-5:30 pm
My house Rockville, MD
Directions: http://abundantmichael.com/blog/page.cfm/Directions
Host: Michael Smith 301-996-8372
Fee: $40 per person, $30 per person if you register with a friend
You can paypal me or mail me a check. Limited seating so register early
to guarantee your cuddle spot!


In case you still wonder what Cuddle Party is all about:

A Cuddle Party is a three and a half hour communication workshop
Centered around touch and affection that teaches adults new ways to
connect with one another. It is a drug/alcohol free event which is
organized/hosted by respectful, caring, dedicated, highly-trained
individuals and is designed to meet the human need for nurturing,
non-sexual touch. A Cuddle Party meets this need by: creating a safe
environment to explore non-sexual touch, addressing concerns,
encouraging clear communication, fully answering any questions and
honoring a persons right to free choice at all times.

Besides, it's just plain fun! Where else can you come as you are, in
the company of p.j. clad adults and walk away (or float away) feeling
like you just spent a weekend at a relaxing retreat? Well, that's my
experience of it  :) 

Please also, pass this message on if you feel so inclined, to those in
your circles. The facilitator is the wonderful Edie and her numbers are 
215-249-9190 and cell 215-738-8668.
www.cuddleparty.com is the website. Check it out for all things cuddly!

This entry was posted on June 20, 2007 at 12:35 AM and has received 446 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am giving some workshops at FSG.
http://www.free-spirit.org/Festival/ClassesAllAges.html

Getting Real: Practicing Honesty in Relationships
"Presence is what makes you radiantly alive, confident, and attractive. The key to presence is honesty."

Getting Real teaches truth skills that make honest communication safer and more fun. Most people are afraid to be totally honest. They fear damaging the relationship, creating a hassle, or hurting someone's feelings. But when you learn to put your attention on your own here-now experience rather than worrying about the outcome, you discover the real source of personal power and self-trust. We all participate in speaking honesty and noticing how language affects how we communicate. There will also be some fun exercises including playing an honesty game. We will explore: * What practices are available to support my living in my here-now experience instead of in my beliefs, judgments, and shoulds? * The difference between my senses and my mind. * How we can express anger and sadness without trying to control the other person. * How we can transparently label our intent.

Improv Play
Do you want to be more playful? Would you like to think more on your feet? Would you like to get over your fear of making mistakes? This is a hands-on workshop and it will be a lot of fun! Improv is entertaining, energetic, and exciting. Improv is always different. If you find repetitive tasks dull, this is for you! Expect your confidence to increase, virtually all players improve on assertiveness, and creativity and problem solving are increased, as is public speaking, poise, and skill. We will learn the basic principles of improv and then create a improv play together.

This entry was posted on June 2, 2007 at 12:29 AM and has received 427 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We will be playing with paint this Saturday at my house in Rockville MD
It will be fun. You don't need any experience in painting - just show up and
be prepared to experiment! The last time was a lot of fun!

 * What is Free the Artist Within?

I like to paint and write poems. I don't seem to get around to it
often. This group is for people who want to create art of some form or
another but who have some internal blocks to doing it regularly.

For more information see Free The Artist Within.

Cost: $10.

See Directions

This entry was posted on May 8, 2007 at 11:58 AM and has received 945 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I will be hosting trance dances on Friday 5/18/07 and Friday 6/15/07. Location TBA but will either be Rockville or Bethesda.

This entry was posted on May 4, 2007 at 5:36 PM and has received 696 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.