Senses Wide Open
A Body-Based Approach to Self-Investigation
Johanna Putnoi
HomeSenses Wide Open
A Body-Based Approach to Self-Investigation
Johanna Putnoi
This popular lecture or workshop presents an overview of the principles of Somatics and how they provide an invaluable companion to the Enneagram Work.
The Enneagram of the Body
No matter how old you are, how much you weigh, what gender you are, what color you are, or what Enneagram type you identify with, you live in an absolute miracle of nature, your very own human body! Unfortunately the civilizing process often pits mind against matter, teaching us at an early age to suppress the call of instinct.
When we don't know how to understand the difference between the instinctive messages of the body and correct civilized behavior, we end up distorting the posture of natural design. When a person spends a lifetime holding back expression, feeling ashamed of excitement or anger or hunger, the body gets literally tied up in knots.
Each of the Enneagram types has a particular somatic signature. Through simple somatic exercises, you will explore the pattern of holding associated with your type. Using slides of great art we'll see how the great masters understood this point.
Both experiential and didactic, this class invites participants to investigate the differences between deluded versus centered thinking, feeling, sensing and moving. We will engage the body's wordless language, improve posture, and explore how Enneagram type shows up in the body.
Private Sessions
Johanna offers private sessions to individuals and couples by appointment in her office in Menlo Park, California.
TYPES OF SESSIONS
1. Lomi Somatics sessions use both hands-on and off techniques designed to enhance body awareness, intelligence and function by bringing the body back into natural alignment with gravity. This speeds the return to a more natural state of presence in all three centers of perception: body, heart and mind.
Hands-off techniques include listening to your story. Noticing how the body reflects your story - the habits of attention that drive both weaknesses and strengths. Our intention is to create an internal spaciousness in which life's paradoxes can be more honestly observed and assessed, thereby creating a map that leads to somewhere.
Movement meditation exercises bring awareness to sensation, illuminating the importance of living an embodied life. Hands-on bodywork helps tight muscles to replace tension and anxiety with centered delight.
2. Senses Wide Open after Fifty sessions are designed for those who are preparing for, or recovering from, joint replacement surgery. I am one year out from double knee replacement and have found my study of Somatics invaluable to my very successful healing process. I would be especially happy to share my insights with anyone dealing with joint replacement.
3. Enneagram sessions are geared toward both beginning and experienced enneagramers. They include help with ennea-type questions in general, self-typing and type issues of body, heart and mind.
All sessions are one hour and fifteen minutes.
Cost: $125 (sliding scale available)
Sessions also offered via Skype and phone
Johanna designs workshops and lectures to fit specific groups like:
Organizations, Psychologists, Bodyworkers, Healthcare Providers, Work Teams,
Actors, Writers, Dancers, Friends and
Those considering or healing from joint replacement surgery.
Sensation, emotion and thought join together to create a dynamic approach to life. When these forces are in natural alignment, we thrive. We engage the world as it is, and as it changes. But when clouded with bias, we suffer. We feel uncomfortable inside our own skin - blind to our own motivations - tricked by cognitive misunderstandings formulated in childhood.
A return to healthy engagement with the world requires direct attention to the body/mind itself. And what better place in nature to re-engage with our “real” selves than Esalen Institute?
Surrounded by the wonder and beauty of nature in a time of uncertainty, we will engage the body’s sensate language and explore how a sustained, open attention can lead to a more vital reality.
This workshop, in the Lomi Tradition, is an invitation to come to your senses – to honestly investigate the differences between experience fueled by defensive patterns, and experience fueled by centered, clear attention. It is a compelling invitation to see what is - in present time - in the company of friends.
The tools for this exploration are meditation, conscious movement, the Enneagram and gestalt. Our intention is to create an embodied presence both individually and collectively - a presence that allows us to give and receive – a presence that embraces paradox, radiates abundance, and inspires community.
