Following last weekend's "Resistance & Surrender Workshop

Dear group- sometimes I can't find words for my experiences in these groups. Something happens for me when a group explodes and everyone comes alive and the heavens open up and all the feelings come pouring through and there is healing and surrender and joy and pain and LIFE all the way without holding back and we are one and following the flow. It makes me cry just to write this. What we are capable of as human beings when we surrender to the full flow. Such healing, such wisdom and grace beyond words. So many images that stick in my mind- of aliveness, freedom, truth, discomfort, struggle leading to breakthroughs, courage, generosity. I know this is how life really is- I want to support that. Go out and be alive!

Thank you for this bliss I feel. Love ann

Thirteen Days in Israel - Part 1 - Part of a Series of Blogs on Ann's work in Israel

Thirteen Days in Israel -- Part 1

From March 7 through March 19, 2011, I traveled in Israel and Palestine doing Radical Aliveness group healing and coexistence work with Jewish, Arab Christian, Druse, Muslim, and Bedouin men and women. My workshop itinerary was organized by the Beyond Words organization, a group of multiethnic women working to bring about peace in Israel and the occupied territories. I’ve had the privilege to train these women in Radical Aliveness work at Esalen Institute here in California and also in Israel.

Over the course of working with eight different groups arranged by Beyond Words, there were giant feasts put on in my honor with more food than I could possibly eat. There was a Jewish man who cried for the first time in 20 years, and a Bedouin woman who had never shared with anyone her heartbreaking story of being ostracized by her tribe, standing up to her husband, and struggling to survive without any help. People from diverse religions, cultures, and political backgrounds screamed at, sobbed with, and ultimately embraced one another. During the last days of my trip, the kibbutz where we were working was hit by mortar fire. As I huddled in the bomb shelter, Layla, one of the Bedouin women we had been working with before the bombing, came into the shelter and said, “What are you so afraid of? If today is your day to die, then so be it. Come on!” I started laughing and left the bomb shelter with Layla to finish our work. As we drove off to meet the other Bedouin women who were waiting for us, I realized Layla was right. We’re not finished with our work yet -- but we are getting closer.

March 1, 2011—Noha's College in Mgrar

"There was an Arab man who lit up the room -- a big juicy man."

My colleague and fellow Radical Aliveness facilitator on this trip was Anna Timmermans, from Holland. The first place the Beyond Words organization sent us was my friend Noha's college in Mgrar, an Arab village. A lot of Westerners are unaware that there are many pockets of Israel populated almost exclusively by Arabs. They call themselves Palestinians, because Israel was known as Palestine before it was renamed. Noha’s college is a satellite of a Jewish college, and the first college in her village. It trains graduate students who want to be teachers and different types of therapists.

This first workshop group comprised mostly Arabs and a few Jews, all studying drama therapy. Through the coordinating efforts of Beyond Words, Noha invited us to her school to introduce the Radical Aliveness work to these future therapists. Noha was the first woman in her village to drive. Now she's running this amazing college.

Because these workshop participants were already adept at emotional work, it was easy for Anna and me to get them to come alive. The most interesting thing that happened in this group? There was an Arab man who literally lit up the room the second we saw him -- a big juicy man. The Arab culture is incredibly alive and full of passion, but when an individual shows his emotions, it’s looked upon as a weakness. This is especially true for men.

We started with an exercise I often do with new groups, in which we break them into groups of three and they ask each other questions about what messages they got from their family, from their culture, and from the other culture. Then in turn, two partners repeat the answers of the third one back to him or her, and that person is asked to focus on what’s happening in his or her body.

When this large Arab man listened to his own words reflected back, he was aware that he felt the top part of his body a lot, but couldn’t feel the lower parts of his body. We started by getting him hitting The Cube -- a gigantic fabric cube the Beyond Words women had sewn together for me, stuffed with foam. (Throughout this trip, The Cube became a major character, traveling with us all across Israel and Palestine, crammed into back seats, often on top of an unlucky passenger, pulled over by some cops, kicked, beaten, and beloved.) We watched in awe as this man, whose energy filled up the whole room, went wild on The Cube. He was so powerful and full of energy and willing to let it out.

After he had been hitting for a while, I asked him to start kicking The Cube. He was hesitant at first, and we had to encourage him to keep going. What came out was that he said he was afraid of his aggression, and felt that he couldn’t be trustworthy if he were to get in touch with all that trapped energy. He said he feared that he would do things that were against his religion and culture. I explained to him that if we don’t get in touch with our blocked and frozen energy and let it flow, then it will either come out in unconscious ways, or we will have to be in constant control to keep it from coming out -- and that will compromise our aliveness. When we’re afraid of feeling all our energy, we sometimes act inappropriately. This man understood, and then he really came alive. Everyone was encouraging him, especially the women.

Afterwards, the women in the group were crying, "I want my father to do this work, I want my brother to do this, I want my husband to do this!" They were so unbelievably moved and touched that an Arab man would be expressing himself so fully, that he could be so vulnerable, and that he was talking about his feelings and using his energy in such a powerful way.

This experience supported our knowledge that real power comes from the place where we become vulnerable and claim all of our energy fully, without controlling it.

That evening, Noha took Anna, Nitzan (also from Beyond Words), and myself to her house for a feast in our honor. One of the things you discover about Arab culture, and about which they are deeply proud -- and rightly so -- is their incredible hospitality. They welcome you into their home whether they know you or not. They give you all their food. When you are in an Arab culture, you can be sure that you’ll be taken care of and treated as an honored guest wherever you go.

GROUP "Three Sisters"

"Group" Trailer -- Radical Aliveness with Ann Bradney

Message from a 1st Year Student in the Radical Aliveness / Core Energetics Training Program

March 2011

Here is what I have to say to potential new students.

I have tried several different types of therapy and none have come close to working like Core. There is something so unique about the process that makes it hard to put into words other than it works and it works fast. If you want fast, real, tangible change in your life –this is for you.

It has the unique quality of circumventing your mind and ego so you cannot control, stop or slow down the process like with talking types of therapy. It moves through you on a cellular level leaving the imprint of change that will stay with you.

I was worried that I wouldn't have the time to do this program with my busy life, but it has actually fit very easily into my very busy schedule.

I wasn't even looking for major change or to deal with major issues when I joined. I just saw some things in my life that I wanted to change and empower. I was looking for subtle shifts and fine-tuning. I got that and so much more.

Only halfway through my first year and I am living a more authentic life than I could have imagined for myself at this point. I feel so powerful and clear and true to myself.

I joke to my friends and tell them that I am the Bourne Ultimatum of Process work. I feel laser sharp and intense clarity when dealing with people, life and myself.

If you have the courage to show up and the willingness to grow to your highest potential, then the RA training program is for you.

- Jonathan, 1^st Year Student

For more quotes from students, see this previous blog post http://annbradneyradicalaliveness.blogspot.com/2010/07/testimonials-from-students.html

After the 5-Day Radical Aliveness Workshop at Esalen

Dear Radical Aliveness Participants,

I am still sitting with the energy of all that we experienced. I want to remind you to take care of yourselves. Work like this opens things and always leaves one with a lot to think about and feel. Please reach out, get support if you need it.

Remember all the great things you did. Take them out into life- risk, reveal, tell the truth, take responsibility, sit in the fire.

That last afternoon is seared into my brain and heart- that is my vision for a better world. I have such an image of so many voices, bringing different perspectives, staying with a messy process, standing up for what felt true, bringing out your voices - helping to unfold a deeply healing and profound experience. No one held the truth- there was no right way- everyone was needed to find our way. This is what I want you to take most of all- you are needed to help unfold the deepest healing of this world. It takes courage, it takes patience, it takes a willingness to be uncomfortable- but look where we go when we all show up!

There is a quote which I can't quite remember but it goes something like this- "I am not afraid of the cruelty of humanity- that is not what will be the downfall of us- what I fear is the complacency- the blind acceptance of what is without questioning"

Thank you for your vulnerability, for the stepping into the not knowing, for standing up when you did know, for risking making messes, and for your willingness to see your responsibility in what gets created. I have so many memories of moments that brought such deep healing. You are in my heart.

Love,

ann