Community Education for Personal Growth and Transformation

The New Earth Institute of Southwestern College is now offering a new branch of courses that we are calling, “Community Education for Personal Growth and Transformation.” These courses are designed for the general public as part of the college’s commitment to raising the collective consciousness as we usher in a “New Earth” that awakens us to humanity’s greater purpose. Never before has Southwestern’s unique curriculum, reflecting our values of creativity, compassion, self-awareness, personal responsibility, and service, been available to the wider community.  It is our hope, that by sharing certain elements of our transformational graduate courses, that we will be able to contribute to the soul development of individuals as well as the greater good for all.

To view and register for our current course offerings, please click here!

Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (EPGT 2404-A)
Presented by Kita Mehaffy
Thursdays, October 10, 17, and 24, 6 – 7 PM MST | Online via Zoom
Cost: FREE

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an evidence-based program designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, to help harness our own innate capacity to cope with the anxiety and stress of life’s challenges. Originally used to address pain relief for UMass patients, ongoing studies have also shown positive outcomes for the management of high blood pressure, insomnia, anxiety, stress, depression, and the overwhelm that can come from everyday life experiences. Jon Kabat-Zinn defined MBSR as “paying attention on purpose, moment-by-moment, non-judgmentally.” This introductory course will provide students with a framework for mindfulness methods from MBSR that support resilience, calm, a non-judgmental presence of mind and heart, and overall sense of wellbeing.

Kita Mehaffy studied Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of California San Diego in their Professional Training Institute’s MBSR certification program. She carries a love of the earth and the many peoples and cultures that make our planet so extraordinary. Her first career was in health care where she taught meditation for stress relief to patients and retreat clients. After many years of meditating using various methods, Kita decided to explore MBSR. Along with specific meditations, she learned how to cultivate mindfulness in a way that addressed re-visioning our relationships with ourselves and the world around us. It changed her life, and now she is grateful to teach others simple and profound ways to take control of their own stress, enhance their well-being and find their own place of resilience through presence of mind.

Introduction to Soma Breathwork (EPGT 2405)
Presented by Aiyana Pendleton
Thursdays, November 7, 14, and 21, 6 – 7 PM MST | Online via Zoom
Cost: FREE

Soma Breathwork includes different rhythmic breathing patterns, visualizations and hypnotic music that bring practitioners into expanded states of consciousness and promote healing and overall well being. The method was developed by Niraj Naik, a UK educated pharmacist, who cured his own chronic illness using these ancient pranayama techniques and manifested a new life for himself. He now trains others in his methods, which are now practiced all over the world. This introductory minicourse will provide participants with the science behind Soma Breathwork, as well as basic Breathwork techniques and practices for daily use. Access to Soma Breathwork videos and class recordings will be included.

Aiyana Pendleton is a Soma Breathwork Master Instructor and is trained in Reiki and Pranic Healing methods. She leads meditation and Breathwork sessions locally in Santa Fe with adults and teens for transformational healing and to reduce performance anxiety. For more information visit www. infinityrhythms.com

Embodying Your Heart’s Wisdom Through Somatic Movement, Expressive Arts, and Archetypes (EPGT 2406)
with Marialuisa Diaz de Leon Zuloaga
Dates: Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23, and 30, 11 AM – 1 PM MST | Online via Zoom
Cost: $160

From a physiological perspective the human heart is an organ central to the circulatory system. From an archetypal perspective the human heart is an organ central to our imagination, intellect, and aesthetic sensitivity. The intention for this 4-week series is to explore, express, embody, and bridge into your life, the wisdom of your own heart. Participants will enter the somatic, imaginal, and relational realms of their heart and will learn that there is a connective tissue, a fluid rich membrane, between those realms. At the end of the series participants will gain embodied and creative resources to cultivate a practice of connecting with the heart, speaking from the heart, listening to the heart and, most importantly, trusting the heart’s wisdom in their day-to-day lives and relationships.

Marialuisa Diaz de Leon, MA, REAT, MSME/T, is an expressive arts therapist, somatic movement specialist, mythologist, educator, researcher, and performer born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Marialuisa’s professional experience in somatic movement, dance, and psychology spans over twenty-five years and includes work in education, private practice, and community intervention. Marialuisa is the creator of Mythic Life: Embodying Wisdom, Beauty and Courage (mythiclife.net) where she brings her expertise on facilitating meaningful and transformational experiences to women from all over the globe. She has developed a mythosomatic theoretical framework; a forward-thinking integration of myth, arts, somatic movement and archetypal psychology which informs her philosophy of practice. Marialuisa serves as adjunct faculty at Southwestern College, Associate Teacher at Tamalpa Institute, ISMETA. She served as Program Director and core faculty at Tamalpa Institute in California and continues to supervise advanced students’ fieldwork projects. Marialuisa is a registered Master Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator from ISMETA. She gained organizational embodied leadership experience while serving nine years on the ISMETA Board of Directors, the last three as Board President. She is also a registered Expressive Arts Therapist through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).

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