Current Classes and Workshops
Nourishing Darkness~ Into the Arms of Mother Night
Nov/Dec 2023
Artist Nicholas Roerich
Dearest Dancers,
I am writing to you from a dark wet afternoon, the rain is coming from the sky on an angle against the windowpane. There is a single candle lit (even though it’s just after lunch) and the embers in the wood stove burn hot and bright to dispel the damp. The season has changed and we are entering the darkest time of year.
For me, this has always signaled that it is time to go in, and not just indoors, but into the places below the surface of the external world. As the darkness hems in the day, both morning and evening, I feel such a longing to step away from the things that take me out into the world. I want only to be wrapped in a warm soft blanket of darkness, swaddled in the gentle night, so that I might dream and rest and drift into those places within that restore, and rekindle, and replenish.
Recently, my little daughter asked me, "why Momma, are the trees putting all of their leaves on the ground?”
And I found myself saying, "they do that because they are ready to rest. They are going to sleep now for the winter, and their summer leaves will feed the ground, so the ground can feed the trees, so that they can grow new leaves in the spring…”
Later that day I began to wonder what leaves I was letting down and what nourishment was piling up there at the base of my own being? That afternoon I stood on the forest path with the dogs and the fallen alder leaves and I marveled at the mysterious alchemy of composting seasons within a lifetime, at those cycles ending to nourish an unknown beginning.
Yesterday, I woke in the dark just before dawn. Rain was coming down and the wind was blowing the copper chimes in the old cherry tree. Something was stirring. I got up and closed the window and pulled the feather duvet high up over my head, but it was no use, I could not go back to sleep. It seems that the inspiration for the upcoming session arrived with the wind and before I knew it I was up, putting the kettle on, lighting the fire and searching for a pen.
And so it is that I would like to offer you a 4 week session between Samhain and the Winter Solstice.
For one moon cycle, I would like to invite you to come in from the cold and to sit by the hearth of your own fire deep within. Together we will explore themes of yielding and surrender, of hibernation and restoration, of healing and tending, of prayer and mending. Let us be like the deciduous trees and drop our tired leaves, so that we too might rest a while. Let there be nothing to hold, or make, or do, just letting go into the arms of Mother Night and the Nourishing Darkness that she is.
Class One~ At The Well
Class Two~ In The Cave
Class 3~ By The Fire
Class 4~ Beneath The Moon
Classes
Classes will commence the week of November 6th and run through the week of December 3rd 2023.
Please Note: There will be No Classes the week of November 27th, as I will be away.
Zoom Classes will take place on Monday Evenings from 6:30 pm- 8:00 pm PST.
In-Person Classes will take place on Wednesday Evenings from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at Sally’s Yurt in Courtenay B.C.
Cost
Zoom- $80 for 4 weeks
In-Person- $100 for 4 weeks
Payment
Please send payment via e-transfer to: naoisobel@gmail.com
If you are outside Canada, please send payment via Paypal: honeygrove@telus.net
With Deep Gratitude,
Nao
dancewithnao.com
Artist Amanda Clark