Wisdom Body and Awakening Art co-workshop Leonie Northfield and Diane Butler at Candi Teja Amerta, Tejakula, Bali 19-21 Sept 2014
Contact Hours: 15 hours
Suggested donation: US $135 per person (tuition-free for Indonesians)
Kindly note: lodgings, food, and transportation are not included.
modest homestays are available should you wish to reserve a room.
Inquiries and to Register dharmanaturetime [at] gmail.com
Wisdom Body approaches movement practice from the understanding that our bodies are intrinsically connected to Mother Earth and possess an innate wisdom and intelligence that will, if allowed, move us to balance and heal. Awakening Art is for people of all ages and backgrounds with an interest in intercultural creative dialogue through traditional and contemporary dance/movement studies, music, theater, craft arts and fine arts, architectural design, environmental art, writing and poetics, performance art, media arts, contemplative arts, healing arts or interarts.
In this 3-day workshop, Leonie will guide 2-hour sessions in the theme of Moving Yoga Nature: Exploring Awareness and Alignment in Movement & Stillness. Alignment is generally not something we actively or consciously seek in life, but we know how good it feels when things seem to just naturally come together. In physical terms, alignment helps the body to function more efficiently and with minimal effort. We feel connected, coordinated and more at ease in our movements. The gentle yogic practices of pranayama (conscious breathing) help to center and ground us in the present moment, while yoga nidra (relaxation) enhances sensitivity and opens the space for receiving. In this way, we can open to a deeper experience of connection and alignment, within our selves, with others and also with the living environment that supports our body, being and belonging.
Diane will guide 2-hour sessions in the theme of Tri Hita Karana in Environmental Art inspired by the Balinese principle of Tri Hita Karana (three causes of goodness and prosperity), which are a harmonious relationship between human beings and with nature and with God/the Source of Life. By placing and moving three small stones and two bamboo sticks, each person can practice an architectural sense of how their posture and movement forms space as well as how the shape of a place affects their posture and movement. We will explore the spatial concepts of utama, madya, and nista (upper, middle, and lower), kaja/kelod (mountainward/seaward), and kangin/kauh (toward sunrise/sunset) as applied to human anatomy and to the home and temple architectural space. After that, in small groups, we create environmental art compositions in dialogue with nature and the social and spiritual dimensions.
The fifth hour each day will be a co-lead session for integration through presentation and discussion.
About the workshop location and presenters:
Candi Teja Amerta in Tejakula Village, North Bali, is an ocean-mountain art temple garden inspired by the architectural styles of the Central Javanese Candi Sukuh on Mount Lawu, Balinese temple, and Mayan pyramid. Solonese movement artist Suprapto Suryodarmo designed and built this 1,000 square meter land at the coast in 1999 and dedicated it to Tejakula Village for the local society and visitors to use for arts practice and intercultural sharing. The odalan temple anniversary of Candi Teja Amerta is held on the Full Moon every October.
Leonie Northfield co-founded and resides at the Prana Ridge conscious living project with her husband Graeme in Nambucca Valley on the New South Wales Mid-North Coast (just south of Coffs Harbour) in Australia. She shares her experience of 28 years as an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and more than 20 years of exploration in Amerta Movement and Sumarah Meditation, with a background that includes Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Nursing and Naturopathy. Leonie encourages the integration of a self-practice into daily life, especially when it develops communion between body, heart, mind and nature.
Diane Butler, Ph.D., is a movement artist, teacher and program director who has collaborated with artists from diverse cultures and faiths in the Americas, Europe and Asia for 25 years and resided in Bedulu and Tejakula, Bali since 2001. She co-initiated with Suprapto Suryodarmo an international cooperative foundation, Dharma Nature Time, to support interculture in cultural environments through sharing in the arts, religiosity, and nature. In the 1980s, Diane lived in New York and assisted and performed in site-specific dance works by Ruby Shang with American, Asian and European artists in the USA, France, Japan and UK. In the 1990s, she contributed to the field of contemplative education as an Associate Professor, Founding Chair of InterArts Studies and Director of Dance/Movement Studies for eleven years at Naropa University in Colorado and Director of the 2001 Naropa Study Abroad in Bali. She holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School; MALS in Dance & Culture from Wesleyan University; is the first foreign scholar to earn a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Universitas Udayana, Bali; and is an alumna of the 2011 UNITAR Series on the Management and Conservation of World Heritage Sites. Diane has been leading Awakening Art workshops since 1997 – initially in Europe and USA and since 2001 in an annual series in Bedulu, Bali and as a guest teacher in other countries.
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This workshop is part of a preview series in the theme of
Back to Home - creating the home as a life stage
prior to the formal opening of the Dharma Nature Time Institute
at Goa Gajah later this year.
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