A new 1-day workshop exploring the healing power of compassion and community
Thank you for your interest in this pilot
Shame Tending Workshop
“Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love, belonging and connection.”
What we’re offering
A safe, courageous and supportive space in which women (for this initial ‘pilot’ event) can come together to explore their shame stories and experiences.
We will offer exercises, practices and structures which foster compassionate presence and witnessing, and help us repair the ruptures of shame through the inherent healing of being seen, heard and held with love.
This process, both new and ancient, naturally invites stuck energies to flow as we experience the compassionate connection, holding, empathy, belonging and repair which were typically absent during shaming experiences.
When we tend to our shame in this way, we reclaim our wholeness, reconnecting with parts of us which have been exiled, denied, repressed and under-expressed, enabling fuller expression of energies which our shame held in check including our creativity, curiosity, compassion, courage and healthy risk-taking, joy, exuberance, serenity and love.
“Our shame is still largely unspoken, unheard, untended and so unmetabolized, in us as individuals and in the collective.”
Why tend our shame?
Anyone who has experienced the ‘warm wash’ of shame knows how debilitating it can be. In her TED Talk Listening to Shame, leading shame researcher Dr Brené Brown shares how, when left untended, shame can have a toxic effect on our sense of connection, self-worth and belonging, our health and wellbeing, our relationships, self-expression, purpose and contribution.
There is plenty of research showing how our untended shame causes and/or contributes to anxiety, depression, self-harm, violence, addiction, dissociation, compulsive behaviour, and more.
Sadly, in Western society, the strong taboos which persist around experiencing or expressing our shame mean it commonly remains shrouded in secrecy, silence and judgement, the very qualities which amplify and exacerbate it.
“We desperately don’t want to experience shame, and we’re not willing to talk about it. Yet the only way to resolve shame is to talk about it.”
We’re committed to sharing this work because we know there’s a different way…
Turning towards…
In recent decades, research has caught up with what many wisdom traditions have long held to be true: that when we turn towards and meet our shame with loving awareness and compassion, we release unhealthy beliefs and transform our pain and suffering.
In this immersive 1-day workshop, we will share tools and practices drawn from a range of wisdom traditions to evoke our compassion and gently invite the stuck energy of shame to flow again.
Our experience is that tending to our most vulnerable emotions and experiences in community can be especially healing and transformative. From here, we may naturally experience a greater sense of peace, freedom and ease, in ourselves, in our relationships and all areas of our lives.
“The wound in one person can become the door through which everyone can find the centre of life again.”
A tender space…
The workshop is designed to be participatory and experiential although everything is invitational and you’re welcome to share as much or as little as you wish throughout the day.
We will spend time creating a safe, supportive, compassionate and encouraging space in which we can journey together.
Our day together will feature a mix of group practices, sharing in pairs and smaller groups, personal inquiry and reflection, journalling, and time outside.
We will share insights, skills and practices from a range of wisdom traditions blended with leading-edge compassion research.
We will draw support from poetry, story, archetypes, sound and silence, movement, visualisation, and ritual to help make this experience as inspiring, engaging and transformational as possible.
To allow time for the sharing, deep listening and compassionate witnessing which are at the heart of our approach, and to help ensure as rich and fulfilling an experience as possible, we will be welcoming a maximum of 10 women to this pilot workshop.
Our intention
Our intention is for our time together to be inspiring, engaging and above all transformational.
No previous experience is assumed or expected; there are many levels to this work and you can take what you need for where you are in your own journey.
Before we meet, we will send you some preparation information featuring group agreements and optional inquiry questions which you may like to explore in advance.
After our session, we will send you a curated selection of resources to support your on-going journey.
We’re interested in offering an optional on-going online space, mostly likely once a month, where ‘graduates’ of this workshop can meet to share their experiences and deepen their compassion-based learning and practice with us. We will say more about this at the end of the workshop.
Pricing
We want this work to be as accessible to as many people as possible and are offering a pricing scale to support this. If this scale is beyond your present means, we welcome a conversation about payment plans, partial scholarships, and other ways of contributing:
£85 – Standard rate (choose this option if you have sufficient financial resources for this experience).
£65 – Discounted rate (choose this option if you have limited financial resources and would benefit from supported access to this workshop).
£45 – Scholarship rate (choose this option if you have limited resources and/or have difficulty saving due to less reliable income or pay).
Booking
This pilot workshop will take place on Saturday 30th November 10am-4pm (UK) at the 1st Norwich Sea Scouts Hall, Old Lakenham, Norwich, NR1 2NW (directions)
Places are limited to 10. If you’d like to join us, book here to secure your spot.
On receiving your booking, we will send you a brief registration form. This form will prompt you to explore what’s alive for you in the shame tending space, and share anything with us you’d like us to know. It will help us get to know you a little, and connect with any questions, concerns or needs you may have.
If you have any questions about this workshop please contact us.
We look forward to sharing this journey with you…
“We know how to be kind and compassionate to others when they’re feeling bad about themselves or are suffering in some way. We know what to say and do. We just have to remember to do it for ourselves.” - Kristen Neff
