Events
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Mindful Movement Yoga
Explore Meditation
First-Thursdays, 8:15am-9:15am at Cedar Sanctuary
Sonia Weirich of One to One Yoga
Investment $25 (limited to 12 participants)
Save-your-spot here or email Sonia at onetooneyoga@gmail.com
Yoga Nidra, a Guided Meditation
or reserve your spot here:
Constant mind chatter keeping you awake is no match for the healing experience of Yoga Nidra. An ancient practice, Yoga Nidra, is a guided meditative inquiry into the states of being, and what is beyond these states.
In an hour and a half group session, nothing is expected of you, no need to be a meditator, bendy, or even fit. You’ll be guided into a resting position while suggestions and prompts guide your mind into relaxation.
What to bring: Please dress comfortably and bring a pillow for your head while lying in Savasana.
SoulDance
Move Your Body. Dance Your Dance.
3rd Thursdays, 6:30-8pm at Cedar Sanctuary
(Program on-hold for summer and will resume 10/17.)
Investment: $20 (limited to 10 participants and pre-registration required)
Contact Brenda Loukes to save-your-spot: bloukesb@gmail.com or 425.435.9498
We were born to move, and SoulDance is a safe and creative space to dance your dance ‘like nobody’s watching”. Dancing with no judgment of ‘right’ ways to move, this is a place for you to be you. To dance your soul with a freestyle movement experience that will light up your body, your smile, and your life. Come as you are.
“In a society that worships love, freedom, and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present.”
-Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
(Co-ed. No fitness or dance experience is necessary. Dance barefoot or wearing socks.)
Brenda Loukes-Johnson creates a juicy free-flowing journey for each SoulDance session using voice and soul-stirring music, while drawing on her experiences as a dance instructor, Kahuna transformational bodyworker, and holding space for creative Soulpainting programs.
Movement Medicine with MELT
With Susan Creighton of Subundance Wellness at Cedar Sanctuary
Saturday, October 26 at 9:30-11am
Investment $30. Reserve your spot online here or contact Susan to pay by check/cash at class: WellnessConnects@outlook.com
If you have just a few minutes a day to help yourself move and feel better, check out MELT. Using small MELT balls for hands and feet and a specialized soft foam roller for the body, you’ll learn easy techniques that you can do at home to improve joint mobility, posture, balance, and stability, while releasing neck, shoulder and back tension.
Whether you’re an athlete or someone simply looking to move with greater ease, MELT is a proactive self-care approach to maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle. We’ll review an upper body release sequence, including neck, shoulder, arm, and upper back areas. Aaaah…
Wear: Comfy exercise wear such as layered tops, yoga pants or sweats, wearing socks or barefoot.
Equipment: Provided for class use, and available for optional purchase by cash or check.
Moving Through Menopause
Saturday, October 26, 1-2:30pm at Cedar Sanctuary
Jennifer Soames of Santosha Bodywork|
Investment $30 (limited to 10 participants). Reserve you spot here (scroll all the way to bottom of listings)
Just as adolescence brought about dramatic change to your body and life, so does menopause. Beyond night sweats and hot flashes, menopause brings a shift in purpose and understanding of your Self. In this special yoga class, you will reconnect with your body and spirit, set an intention for this season of your life, and move forward with greater resilience and peace while surrounded in sisterhood.
The class includes guided meditation, Yoga Nidra (guided awareness practice), and gentle movement suitable for all levels of yoga experience. Beginners are welcome. Pre-requisite: ability to get down to and up from the floor.
You are invited to join us for tea, conversation, and connection after class.
Embody Music Concert with James Howard
Saturday, November 2, 7-9pm at Cedar Sanctuary
Cost: By donation at event (cash/check, please). Limited seating- get your ticket now via complimentary online registration here or email Susan Creighton at WellnessConnects@outlook.com
Award winning guitarist and singer/songwriter James Howard brings his acoustic guitar-voice solo concert to Cedar Sanctuary!
James inspires his audience with his emotive charismatic style, shape shifting his singing voice from sexy crooner, to blues shouter, to indigenous wailer. Whether he is singing a cover or jamming on an original tune, it’s his unique style of delivery that captures the ear and eye, transcending the song itself. As James embodies his music, we want to embody Cedar Sanctuary with the people who are supposed to come together to experience this vocal sound bath concert.
Kahuna Bodywork Training for Licensed Massage Therapists
With Brenda Loukes Johnson LMP of AlohaFLOW at Cedar Sanctuary
Thursday, 11/7 1-4pm
Friday 11/8 8:30am-5pm
Saturday 11/9 8:30am-5pm
Sunday 11/10 8:30-4pm
Investment (limited to 8 participants): $530 / Earlybird $495 (if paid in full before 15 October 2019)
Contact Brenda to reserve your spot at Brenda@alohaflow.net or 425.435.9498
Kahuna bodywork is often called the “dance of breath and life from the heart”. This heart-centered form of massage uses loving touch, dynamic music, movement and breath to unblock stuck energy in the body, to create more flow in your body and your life. It will take you on a journey and can facilitate real and lasting change on a physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual level.
Also called ‘Temple Style Lomi’, Kahuna is always practiced in the spirit of aloha, with deep respect for both giver and receiver.
Learning Kahuna bodywork is an ongoing journey and an art that is mastered over time. A Kahuna Bodywork Level 1 Training Retreat is a gentle beginning, a first step towards greater connection, joy, balance, openness, love, wellbeing and authentically living a life with more aloha. The work is taught in a relaxed, supportive style and infused with joy and play.
On Level 1 we will:
- Do gentle and healing stretching each morning
- Dave delicious shared meals to satisfy body and soul
- Get connection to nature, silent walks in the woods
- Have fun and laughter
- Listen to beautiful music
- Connect new people, forge new friendships
- Give and receive massage
- Do meditations for balance and peace of mind
- Recharge your battery and reignite your passion and enthusiasm for your life
You will learn:
- How to give a Kahuna massage on the back of the body focusing on the back, shoulders, head, neck and feet
- Joint rotations for health and wellbeing
- Correct use of energy and posture during a massage session to stay vibrant and healthy as a therapist
- Breathwork to release stuck energy in yourself and your clients
- Tools to access your real power and potential
- Powerful techniques to break unhealthy habits and create new habits
- About yourself, your belief systems, habitual patterns and how they affect your life
- Special movement forms to balance and align body, mind and soul
- How to build and maintain abundant vital energy (mana)
- How to bring simple meditative movement and flow back into your daily life
About Brenda: I believe that only when we come home to being in our bodies, and connect to the whisperings of our souls, can we live truly creative, authentic and wholehearted, heart-centered lives. My journey with Kahuna has softened my hard edges, and helped me to live with more ease, creativity, joy and gentleness, so that I can be a better functioning human being, contributing to the greater good.
I teach Kahuna Bodywork as it was taught to me by Anthea Hardwick of the Aloha Life Centre, in South Africa. She teaches the style of Hawaiian Lomi Lomi that was introduced to the global mainstream by Hawaiian Kahuna, Abraham Kawai’i.
Among many other roles in my life, I have been a Kahuna practitioner for nine years in my homeland, South Africa, and was initiated into teaching this work in 2013. I love sharing this sacred, beautiful heart-centered form of bodywork, as a way to heal myself, and to spread more love, aloha and healing in the world. I love that it is possible to heal with less words, through loving touch.
After living in Johannesburg for 50 years of my life, I am now lucky enough to be living in the Seattle area, surrounded by all this incredible beauty and abundant nature, so close to Hawaii. I look forward to journeying with you. The Kahuna journey is an extraordinary and exquisite, life-enhancing experience.
Contact Brenda for more info, or to reserve your spot: Brenda@alohaflow.net
Cacao Ceremony and Sound Bath
With Dawn Little Torres of Dakini Healing
Sunday, November 17, 5:00pm – 7:00pm at Cedar Sanctuary: 21407 NE 6th Place, Sammamish, WA
Investment: $40 in-advance / $45 day-of (limited spaces and must pre-register)
(This program sold out quickly last time, please Register ASAP here to insure your spot. Join mailing list for monthly program updates here.)
Everything is Energy in motion…even those things that appear to be still. There is a vibration that permeates all things in nature, including the thoughts, feelings and emotions that course through us. When these streams of energy flowing through us are in harmony with nature, it is energy flowing at a high and beautiful frequency. But when those thoughts and emotions are not in sync with nature’s balanced rhythms, we find ourselves Feeling out of sync. The stresses and fast pace of life can create anxiousness, fear, depression, fatigue and even physical illness, these are feelings NOT in harmony with nature and the body suffers when exposed to them long term.
You are invited to gather in circle and ceremony, beginning with a sacred Cacao Ceremony, to invite us deeper into the energy of the heart. Dawn will then guide you through some gentle movement to allow the body to release some of the stress and tension of the day. We will then come into a comfortable Savasana position to receive the healing vibrations and sounds of the Tibetan Singing Bowls, Crystal Bowls, Giant Gong and various healing sound Tools.
Please bring anything that will make your experience more enjoyable, such as blanket, pillow, eye pillow, etc. Dress in cozy layers.
About Dawn: As a yoga and meditation teacher, energy and sound healer, Dawn blends her love of teaching yoga with many years of studying alternative healing modalities. She guides clients and students to wake up their deeply rooted inner guidance system through Yoga, Reiki and Sound Healing. She has come to know that the body’s natural inclination is towards wellness, it is her passion to assist others in becoming aware of and removing the obstacles in the way of that movement. www.dakinihealing.com
Amigas
Saturday, September 28, 6-9pm at Cedar Sanctuary
Potluck (Store-bought aok!)
Amigas is a multicultural community of women who know that there is more that connects us than divides us. We connect to grow meaningful and enriching relationships, create a sense of belonging for everyone, and have fun together.
As we remember our strengths and reconnect with our vibrant selves and each other, we benefit both as individuals and the evolution of our planet as a whole. To quote female role model Mamma Gena, “The joy of life is not simply in serving oneself. The true joy of life is in being able to be a part of a larger community of service, taking one another higher.”
Amigas meets regularly at Cedar Sanctuary to surround each other with the support of sisterhood, community, connection, and inspiration. For more information contact Susan Creighton: susan333@live.com / 425.298.6428
Relax & Renew Mini-Retreat
A mixed-modalities afternoon of necessary indulgences and modalities. Our most recent program included Aromatherapy, MELT Method, Gyrotonic, and a Gong Sound Bath. Heavenly! Schedule your own Relax & Renew Mini-Retreat.
⇒ Join our mailing list for updates or contact Susan Creighton to schedule your own event.
COMMUNITY MATTERS: Kindness Rocks
February 2018: Do you believe that kindness rocks? This Community Matters program was a crafternoon of community connecting through art.
Kindness Rocks is a fun project that’s spreading all over the country. Here’s the idea: you paint rocks with positive and encouraging images or messages; then inspire others by dropping the rocks in random places for them to find them and play it forward.
We connected as a group, included a meditation to inspire creativity and inspiration, created uplifting treasures to share in our neighborhoods, and had a great time together!
This program was sponsored by Wellness Connects Providers Susie Hindle Kher, Susan Creighton, and the Redmond Library to support community connections, wellness, and a sense of belonging for everyone.
⇒ Join our mailing list for program updates or contact Susan Creighton to schedule your own event.
COMMUNITY MATTERS
What We Have In Common: 3 Faith Traditions
November 2017: This Community Matters panel discussion was sponsored by Wellness Connects Providers Debbie Lacy and Susan Creighton, Eastside Refugee and Immigrant Coalition, and the Redmond Library to support community wellness by building connections and bridges, and creating a sense of belonging for everyone.
Interfaith Leaders:
Aneelah Afzali, Interfaith Leader, Director at Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS)
Rev. Ellie VerGowe, Pastor at First Covenant Church
Rabbi Ruth A. Zlotnick, Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Am
A supportive community is vital to a healthy society. Community Matters gatherings are opportunities for people of all cultures, races, faiths, and gender identities to connect and converse about wellness and everything that entails; personal wellness, family wellness, and wellness in the world.
COMMUNITY MATTERS: You Belong
The Redmond Library hosted this free program in Sept, 2017.
You belong. Whether you’ve lived somewhere your whole life or just recently arrived in your new home, a sense of belonging can be hard to come by. This sense of belonging isn’t just good for personal health and happiness; it’s critical for community health as well. How can we create a stronger sense of belonging for ourselves and others?
During this evening of conversation we explored how to overcome challenges that can keep us isolated and even divided from one another, and:
· Brought people together who may not normally get a chance to know each other
· Engaged in meaningful conversation that honors our diverse perspectives
· Inspired small, but powerful actions that strengthen our sense of belonging and the health of our community
Event sponsored by the Eastside Refugee and Immigrant Coalition (ERIC), Wellness Connects providers Debbie Lacy and Susan Creighton, and the Redmond Library as part of Welcoming Week, a national celebration that brings together U.S. born residents, established immigrants, and newcomers to increase awareness and to build stronger unity across differences.
SoulCollage for Community Wellness
SoulCollage is an opportunity to foster community wellness with a creative, fun and meaningful art activity. Meet new people and learn an art form you’ll be able to easily do on your own whenever you feel the urge to create.
We’ll gather together to identify internal resources to build the kind of community we want to live in. You’ll then leave with a visual representation and reminder of your gifts – gifts you can consciously draw upon to strengthen community and your connections with others.
Making SoulCollage® cards is a creative and intuitive practice. Using found images from magazines and an easy cut and paste process, you’ll create a unique collage card that supports your goals and desires. No prior experience necessary. (Note: We won’t be teaching the pure SoulCollage method originally created by Seena B. Frost, but we’ll use SoulCollage techniques.To learn more about Seena’s method and to view a sampling of SoulCollage images, visit www.soulcollage.com)
Facilitators:
Debbie Lacy is a certified life coach, community facilitator, and Director of the Eastside Refugee and Immigrant Coalition. Debbie learned about SoulCollage from Noelle Remington, a certified SoulCollage facilitator, and has been incorporating SoulCollage techniques in her workshops for 15 years.
Susan Creighton is the Chief Inspiration Officer for our event sponsor, Wellness Connects. WC practitioners provides a network of support services from a wide range of wellness modalities. Members focus on creating, restoring and maintaining wellness through professional service and tools, cross-referrals to complementary practitioners, and public programs for education, outreach, and community connection.