nature time and Somatherapy

Yesterday we spent in the Bay Area. Erik took me to a place just outside Mt Tamalpais State Park, a trail called Steep Ravine. It runs along a creek. It was lightly raining, so not many people were out. I will probably post some pictures later. We saw two banana slugs, a cute little mouse, and lots of green.

Then we went to Stinson Beach. We walked on the shore and got our backsides soaked by rain that was hitting us from behind. When the rain stopped, we found a place among some grasses to sit and just stare at the waves for a while. We were very cold.

Then we drove into Berkeley. We went to dinner at House of Curries, and our food was excellent. I had baingan bartha and rice. Erik had paneer tikka masala and rotis.

Then it was time for the whole reason we went to the Bay Area yesterday, and that was a Somatherapy workshop in Oakland. Somatherapy is a radical anarchist therapy, and the workshop I attended was a three hour introduction to the kinds of games the Somatherapy consists of. It was held at an Aikido dojo, so the floor was springy. The games involve a lot of physical contact. For a picture of the kinds of things we did, see the above Wikipedia link.

The experience was incredible. I learned a lot about myself, about my ability to trust people physically (I don't trust people very much--in fact, I think I was the least-trusting person in my group, for one of the exercises--everyone else closed their eyes, and I wasn't able to).

I won't go into detail about the things we did, in case you ever do a Somatherapy workshop--it would be best if the experiences were new, for you. But I will say that some involved defying gravity. My arms are sore today, and there's a slight bruise on the inside of my left arm. The games we played were intense, I'm surprised no one cried.

After the games we sat in a circle and talked about that happened. As usual, I was silent in the group. I enjoyed listening to people talk. If you ever have a chance to try Somatherapy, I 100% suggest it.