Want to book WellSpring for a workshop?
We are available for booking for private, corporate, educational, and healthcare organizations. Choose a topic below or propose something new!
Topics include:
• Trauma-informed care
• Self-massage + self-shiatsu
• Queer-centered healing
You can view an example of a WellSpring workshop here.
This self-massage workshop was offered in partnership with Self-Reclaimed, a Chicago-based nonprofit that connects survivors of sexual violence with ongoing healing support. If you view this workshop, please consider making a donation here - any amount helps Self-Reclaimed sustain their programming!
Monday February 19th, 2024
9:30am-5pm
Zen Shiatsu Chicago
12 CEUs
TRAUMA-INFORMED SHIATSU TECHNIQUE
Shiatsu is, in many respects, an inherently trauma-informed modality. Its emphasis on supporting optimal functioning centers the body's generative blueprint and innate capacity for resilience, while its holistic approach holds space for the multifaceted ways in which trauma can show up in the body, brain, and energy field. Even the fact that the work is done fully clothed can make Shiatsu feel more accessible to survivors than other forms of bodywork.
We can further support ourselves and our clients by developing a toolkit of treatment strategies that we can use with clients whose safety and/or accessibility needs may prohibit certain "traditional" Shiatsu techniques. The goal is to offer authentic, effective Shiatsu that respects each client's agency and bodily autonomy.
We will explore a variety of practices, including working positions, assessment techniques, and alternate ways of supporting harmonious flow of qi, that can be uniquely tailored to each individual, so that no one feels like they have to choose between receiving good shiatsu and feeling safe and empowered while on the table.
We will also explore how we as practitioners bring our own life experiences of trauma and resilience to the treatment space, and how we can actually use these experiences to enhance our capacity for sensitivity, empathy, and transformative care.
This workshop is part of Zen Shiatsu Chicago’s “Going Deeper” series, designed to specifically meet the needs of advanced students, open only to graduates or advanced students of Zen Shiatsu Chicago or other Asian Bodywork Therapy schools.
Fridays, April 4th-April 25th, 2024
10am-1pm via Zoom
12 CEUs
TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE: EMBODYING RESILIENCE
This comprehensive 12-hour course of trauma-conscious pedagogy and practice equips healing arts practitioners with the tools they need to safely and effectively work with survivors of trauma.
We explore the physiology of trauma and resilience, how "the body keeps the score," and how we as bodyworkers are uniquely equipped to promote a survivor's innate capacity to heal. We discuss how to integrate nervous system support practices in our daily lives, and how to share these tools with clients so that they can have agency in their own physiological states of being.
We review the basic tenets of trauma-informed care, including safety, agency, consent, how to work with triggers, and how to foster sustainable, effective boundaries in the therapeutic relationship. We also contextualize individual trauma and resilience experiences within the broader scope of historical, intergenerational, and persistent institutional trauma and healing.
This course gives practitioners a solid theoretical and practical foundation that is necessary for anyone who is interested in specializing in trauma-informed care.
Friday, April 5th, 2024
9am-4pm
Zen Shiatsu Chicago
6 CEUs
TRAUMA-INFORMED THERAPEUTIC TOUCH
How do we translate the theoretical principles of trauma-informed care into embodied practice? How do we communicate our values of safety, agency, and consent via touch? How can we adapt our treatment practices to support a more intentional level of fluidity, sensitivity, and ethical care?
In this course, we explore various trauma-conscious bodywork techniques that can be implemented in a range of body-centered care practices. We also investigate strategies we can implement to subtly shift any technique in any modality to accommodate a more trauma-informed perspective. This class is centered on application of technique rather than exploration of theory.
Students are recommended but not required to take "Trauma-Informed Bodywork," or to have some other comprehensive training in trauma-informed theory, to give themselves a solid foundation of trauma-informed principles that will inform the touch practices shared in this course.
Friday, June 21st, 2024
10am-1pm via Zoom
3 CEUs
ETHICS: HOLDING SPACE FOR QUEER CLIENTS
Do you find navigating pronouns a bit bewildering? Do you wonder if “queer” is even a word that’s OK to say? This class offers tools for working in an ethical and informed way with the LGBTQIAP2S+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and Two-Spirit) population.
We will cover a range of topics, from understanding pronouns and chosen names, to holding space for identity-based trauma and resilience, to supporting individuals through medical transition.
Our fundamental goal is to affirm clients as their most authentic selves, and to hold space for queer clients to feel a sense of agency and safety.
Exploring the nuances of caring for individuals across the constellation of queerness will help us work with this community in a more ethical, accessible way.
PAST WORKSHOP - AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE BOOKING
ETHICS: SAFETY, AGENCY, AND CONSENT
How can we center safety, agency and consent for our clients and for ourselves? What does it mean to create a practice where the boundaries of both the client and the practitioner not only coexist in harmony, but actually support and sustain the therapeutic relationship? What tools can we use to create the safest possible space for our clients?
In this class, we explore the essential pillars of safety, agency, and consent, and how we can bring these concepts to life in all aspects of our practice.
PAST WORKSHOP - AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE BOOKING
ETHICS: TRAUMA-CONSCIOUS LANGUAGE
We may consider ourselves well-versed in the core principles of trauma-informed care. But how do we communicate that understanding with our clients?
Words have power, and our language in the therapeutic environment can invite our clients into deeper self-awareness, connection, and transformation. But this skill takes a significant amount of intention, practice, flexibility, curiosity, self-inquiry, and honest reflection.
This class explores the basics of trauma-conscious language and how we can center inquiry, invitation, and clear boundaries to create a judgement-free safe that supports our clients in feeling safe.
PAST WORKSHOP - AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE BOOKING
SELF-SHIATSU, MASSAGE, AND LOVING TOUCH
This self-love session invites us to slow down and connect with our bodies, our sensations, and our pleasure. We will explore the meaning of therapeutic touch and practice listening and responding to our embodied desires.
We will work with simple, accessible self-massage techniques through a lens of healing, support, and compassion. These techniques will provide resources for stress management and nervous system regulation as well as relief for physical aches and pains. All bodies and abilities are welcome.
PAST WORKSHOP - AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE BOOKING
BODY MECHANICS FOR LONGEVITY AND EASE:
Self-care for embodied care practitioners
As bodyworkers, our bodies are our most essential vessel for transmission and transformation. If we hope to have longevity in our practice, we must practice not only remedial but also preventative care for our precious instruments.
This class is specifically geared towards the kinds of work-related stressors our bodies experience. We will stock our tool belts with different postures and practices for managing work-related tension and strain.
We will explore ways that mindful body mechanics can support ease in our work - and how, in turn, this ease fosters more effective treatment for our clients. We will also work with yoga-adjacent postures that we can actually do for ourselves in the context of a session, that can be used on both the floor and the table.
All bodies and abilities are welcome.
PAST WORKSHOP - AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE BOOKING
TRAUMA-CONSCIOUS YOGA
For teachers and practitioners
This workshop is geared towards yoga teachers who wish to bring a more trauma-conscious approach to their classes. It may also be appropriate for yoga students who identify as trauma survivors who are looking to integrate more trauma-sensitive care into their personal practice. This workshop will give participants the basic tools they need to center safety, agency, and consent in their teaching practice, and to hold the safest possible space for all people - particularly survivors - who come into their class.
The foundation of a trauma-conscious approach is built from resilience, empowerment, openness, and compassion. We investigate how yoga can be a powerful tool by which we might invite survivors into deeper self-awareness, connection, and transformation. Participants will learn how to offer concrete, accessible options to their students that encourage students to use their own mind-body connection as their most trusted guide. We will explore how both verbal and embodied communication can be utilized to create a felt sense of safety and care. We will also discuss how to support students as they work through inevitable moments of being triggered, and how to establish our own personal boundaries to hold ourselves as we engage in this deeply impactful work.
This workshop includes lecture, conversation, and active practice, where participants will have an opportunity to experience a trauma-conscious yoga environment firsthand.