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Workshop dates
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Saturday 6-19-10 1 - 5
Source on the Solstice
Sunday - Tuesday 6-27
Breitenbush Retreat
Sunday Aug 15
The Shadow
& SoulCollage®
December 10 - 12
Breitenbush
Retreat
April 22-
24, 2011
SoulCollage® Facilitator
Training
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UnCommon
Quotes
19th rule of Improv: Sooner is better than later. Do it now. When an
opportunity for an action comes up- do it! Don't speak about it,
don't lead up to it, don't put it off.
David Algier
You are all supporting actors.
Del Close
Improvisation takes place upon a firm foundation of training and
practice.
Think of J. S. Bach's public improvisations on the organ . . .
a vocabulary
of conventions and possible variations is committed to movement
memory and deeply
explored.
A.C. Albright
Zenprov is about connecting to the Source of Genius and bringing
uncompromised Truth to your performances. It sees all learning as unlearning.
Chicago Improv Assoc
Improvisation is the
practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and
creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's
immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the
invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or
symbols, and/or new ways to act.
Wikipedia
Philosophically, improvisation often focuses on bringing one's
personal awareness "into the moment," and on developing a
profound understanding for the action one is doing. This fusion of
"awareness" and "understanding" brings the
practitioner to the point where he can act with a range of options
that best fit the situation, even if he has never experienced a
similar situation. The study of the skills and techniques of improvisation can strongly influence
one's competence in business, personal life,
and/or in the arts.
Wikipedia
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SoulCollage®
Corner
Tips for diving
into your SoulCollage® cards
SoulCollage® Improv
If you've read any of your cards and been surprised
and astonished by what you read, welcome to SoulCollage® Improv.
When people are just learning how to work with cards, they often hit
a wall. They get a sentence or two and then the Critic, slams
the door shut. The Doubter questions.
Working by Yourself:
You can do these SoulCollage®Improv activities by yourself, or in a group setting.
To get past the walls erected by the Doubter and the Critic, try a simple Improv technique. Do
your reading and when you feel the flow stop, "Yes . . . and" and see
what comes out next.
Another cool thing we played with in our local Facilitator Group, was
letting the card speak and then say, "And I remember when . . ."
Use one of those book of questions for taking an oral history, or
those card packs that are conversation starter and use them to
interview your cards. I like the Chat Pack for Kids. www.thequestionsguys.com
"If you could be part of a large parade, what would you
want to be doing in the parade?" Draw your favorite card
and draw a shadow card and see how they'd answer.
SoulCollage® Improv for groups:
60 Second Fairy Tale:
"The Ugly Duckling"
- 60"
timer
- Moderator
- 3
players
- 1
Moderator
Select 3 people
and a moderator. Have each of the 3 people draw a card randomly
without looking at it. The Moderator recaps the story" for
example: There once was a homely little bird born in a barnyard
who suffers abuse from his neighbors until, much to his delight (and
to the surprise of others), he matures into a graceful swan, the most
beautiful bird of all.
The 3 characters are the Ugly Duckling, the Mean Barnyard Animals,
The Beautiful swan who reveals the Ugly Duckling's true
identity." The Moderator will assign the roles. The
cards are turned over and the players have 60" to enact the
story.
You can do this with movies, or any story everyone knows well such
as:
Cinderella
Casablanca
Turtle and the Hare
Robin Hood
Red Riding Hood
If you'd like more resources to learn about your SoulCollage® cards or work with them, visit my web site.
Enjoy!
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Join Our List
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Hello,
Portland Relationship
Institute is born!
After laying the ground work since January, my colleague Jonelle
Richards LCSW and I have opened a new office and will be expanding
our services. You'll eventually see groups, services for
families, workshops, Saturday hours and be featuring some special
services. More later!
I've posted a few photos of my new office.
Fondly,
Suzie
suzie@suziewolfer.com
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Life as
Improv
One
of my favorite TV shows is "Whose Line Is It
Anyway?" Four comedians take cues from
the audience and an irreverent moderator and make just about anything
funny. Their slogan is "where anything can happen and
usually does."
Sound a lot like life?
We could learn a lot from Improv, as we face the daily challenges and
opportunities in every day life.
Improv Techniques:
1. Yes . . . And. Most of us approach life with
"Yes . . but" rather than "Yes . . .
and." When we meet life with "Yes . . and" a
flat tire can become a comedy of errors. We wake up the morning
with a vague feeling of anxiety. "Yes . . . and how will I
not get caught in the same old script. letting anxiety push me around
and tell me what to do." A friend says, "Wow that red
color looks good on you." If you tend to brush off
validation, try "Yes and it's a little daring to wear it
today."
"Yes . . . and" says that we accept what ever is happening,
rather than blocking, denying or trying to re-negotiate "what
is." You commit fully to living life as it comes, and
making comedy . . . or at least not taking yourself so seriously.
"Yes . . . and" can be a mindful practice to get creative
with what is, rather than trying to fight the things with which we
disagree. Like water off a ducks back, we swim freely through
life, detouring if we need to, trying a new road . . . because we
can.
For a little video adventure into the land of "Yes . . .
and," watch Yes Man
where Carl (Jim Carrey) reluctantly promises to stop being a "No
Man" and vows to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity,
request or invitation that presents itself thereafter. The film is
based loosely on the true story and 2005 book Yes Man by British
humorist Danny Wallace.
Try it for 5 minutes, or an hour. Or be daring and try it for a
day.
2. Take action
and respond. This can be
scary. This is where you stop playing it safe, where you are
contributing to the "scene" by stepping up and engaging
with the "players" in your life. Take risks, make
choices, let go of waiting and engage. When we listen deeply
instead of thinking, we can respond from the deep and creative
reserves of the right brain, where the unexpected and the profound
make life more colorful.
If you're familiar with Byron Katie,
the Four Questions will help you get out of the script playing over
and over in your life and, into a new story. Who would you be
without the story that you should be more productive? More
kind? More organized? More Healthy? Ask and find
out. Meet your story with "Yes . . . and"
Perhaps if you stop "shoulding" on yourself, you might take
action and respond to people, events, even your body differently.
3. Tell the Truth. Be Authentic. If you've ever
tried improv, you know that trying to be funny, isn't. But when
you are present and can report on what's happening in your thinking,
your emotional self, even your body, it's easy to be truthful and
sometimes funny. If you are present enough to be aware of
another's point of view, emotional state and body language, guess
what. You are experiencing empathy -- that heart melting
connection between too people where life feels vital and alive.
Debbie came in with a powerful self defeating story that she was so
damaged from her chronic work stress, she was going to have to give
in to burn out and just quit. Then something interesting happened.
She started telling the truth. Not confronting and attacking,
but the simple truth. "I'm getting burnt out. I'm
gaining weight. I yell at my kids when I get home. I hate
living like this." She stopped "shoulding" on
herself and thinking, "I should be able to get my work
done. I shouldn't be so cranky with the kids."
She used the Four Questions,
- Is it true I shouldn't be so
discouraged and irritable? Yes
- Can I really be sure? No, I
really am discouraged
- Who do I become and how do I act when I
tell myself I have got to do this for 15 more years until I can
retire." Cranky, exhausted, unproductive . . .
- Who would I be without the story that I
should be able to do this job and be a great mom, and lose
weight and volunteer at my kids school?
This last question gave her a
bit of trouble. In fact she burst into tears. She had
never even thought outside the script of her discouraging life.
Through her tears she said "I'd be someone who was happy, and
creative. I'd look for another job. I'd have adventures
with my kids on the weekend instead of beating myself up every waking
minute."
After a few weeks of working with Question Four, the dark cloud that
had been surrounding her started to life. She started being a
worker, a mother, who did Improv with life. She starting
thinking outside the box. She looked at her work
differently. She started applying for new jobs . . . She
started to feel alive again. Life was starting to feel like an
adventure, just a little, enough to give her a feeling of possibility.
Bonus Improv
Technique:
There are No Mistakes. Watch Whoopi Goldberg and Colin Mocherie
on Whose Line Is It Anyway.
Notice how they go with anything. They evolve, they make loose
associations, they interact intimately and they take themselves
lightly. They are so present, so connected that we can't
help but be right there with them, laughing. No Mistakes.
Like Byron Katie says, "It sounds a lot like
Namaste." No Mistakes.
Learn more about improv
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SoulCollage® Workshops
Going to the Source
with SoulCollage®:
a
Worldwide Solstice Celebration
Suzie's Studio, 12132 SE Foster
Place, Portland OR 97266
1:00
- 5:00 Saturday June 19, 2010
Early
Registration on or before Tuesday June 15: $36
After Tuesday $49
Join us in a community of like
minded individuals to experience a powerful workshop on the Source.
Seena
Frost, founder of SoulCollage® describes the Source as "the
Spirit holding all our parts together, and what a gift to the soul
that experience is! Without Spirit, by whatever name it is called,
Source or Love, Mystery, Higher Power or God, without It, creation
would simply fly apart if it existed at all. The SoulCollage®
process suggests that you make one card for this center, a card we
call the Source Card. It is not a card for a specific divine being
but for the Ground of Being, for the Unmanifest out of which
everything flows and back into which everything
dissolves." See her Source card
Read more and register at Suzie's
Web site
 Breitenbush Hot
Springs
Women's
SoulCollage® Retreat
2
spaces left
Sunday
June 27 through Tuesday June 29 Detroit, Oregon
Early
Registration Before May 13, 2010 $130 plus lodging, or
$149 after May 13 plus lodging. Register by calling
Register at: 503-854-3320 Monday through Saturday
9am-4pm Tour Breitenbush
What could be more delicious than gathering with
a group of women in a yurt, bathed in the sound of a clear mountain
river, surrounded by the natural beauty of Breitenbush? Allow
your creative spirit to soar and collage to your heart's
content? Experience how aspects of your personality,
archetypal influences, animal companions and community members reveal
themselves as you enter into conscious relationship with them.
Open a portal to your inner wisdom. Deepen your connection to
Self and Soul. Awaken your intuition. You will be gently led
into the process through music, meditation, collage card making,
guided imagery, storytelling and journaling.
Read more at Suzie's Web site
NEW The Shadow and
SoulCollage® 
Sunday
August 8, 2010 12 - 5 PM $60 New Renaissance
Register
at 503.224.4929 or New Renaissance online
The
Shadow includes all that we abhor about ourselves as well as the
hidden gold that we have buried inside for safe keeping.
We disguise these negativities by seeing what's
"wrong" with others. Then we camouflage our positive
potential when we admire or idolize others. SoulCollage® helps us
embrace the Shadow and liberate us from limiting stories.
Unacknowledged, these stories are held in our subconscious, affecting
our day to day behaviors.
Meeting
the Shadow turns the dark angles within us into beacons of
light.
Breitenbush
Hot Springs
Women's Winter SoulCollage® Retreat
December
10 - 12, 2010
SoulCollage® Facilitator
Training 2011
Friday
April 22 - 24, 2011, Portland OR
McMenamins
Kennedy School
Download registration
information
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UnCommon Quotes
for the Soul
 We cannot know
the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just
beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That
humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during
the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind
of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or
a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective
unless it helps a child to open up himself to life."
Maria Montessori
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Thanks for
reading. Please send any feedback or article ideas to me at suzie@suziewolfer.com
Sincerely,
Suzie Wolfer LCSW
Counseling Services of Portland
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SoulCollage®
Corner
See the side bar for a new activity to try.
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