{{Back By Popular Demand Again!!}}How to Village Well: A Day of Connection Games

{{This will be our third time offering this class since last September! The last class sold out - this workshop is currently half full. If you are interested in attending, make sure to sign up today! We would love to share this work with you.}}

In these times when so much of life can feel out of control – and community as we know it can leave so many needs untended – we invite you to a unique afternoon experience designed to help you revive hope through relating with others.

Through simple, playful and embodied connection games, participants will get a taste of how to engage those difficult and easy to avoid conversations while honoring our unique, embodied, and individual experiences. Together we will practice listening well, pooling resources, tending to diverse needs and having fun in the process – how to “village” well.

This workshop is “emergent,” meaning that the content is drawn from what YOU as a village-builder want to work on. You are invited in your application to share what relationship skills feel vital and important for you to learn and hone at this workshop. We will then design the curriculum for our afternoon around the village tools you say matter to you. Together we will slow down how we relate and build a new playbook for how to village well.

We are delighted to offer this workshop 3.0! Our first and second gatherings in September and then November were full of authentic connection, honesty, hope, joy, reflection and growth (as you will read in the testimonials below). We are honored to keep the momentum going.

** If you think this would be a great fit for your community and live elsewhere, please contact us to talk about bringing How to Village Well to your neighborhood. **

THIS EVENT IS FOR YOU IF:

- You value relationships and are willing to invest time and energy in them
- You are open to connection including with those new to you
- You strive for the ability to say what’s true for you while preserving your connections
- You understand that embodiment and embodied practices matter
- You may not “enjoy” vulnerability but you are willing to gently stretch when supported
- You know that there are better ways to engage in community than what seems available

“How to Village Well” springs from both of our (Grace & Jessica’s) histories with the movement, Authentic Relating (AR) Games, a practice growing around the world of peer-led groups. AR Games are designed to deepen relational intelligence, grow trust and strengthen bonds in any group.

At this workshop we will teach our versions of AR Games with a focus on tending to both individual needs as well as the needs of the “whole” health of the group, a tricky and vital survival skill for our worlds.

We (Jessica & Grace) will guide you, step-by-step through big group, small group and partner exercises designed to build connection, to lessen the experience of loneliness and to give you skills you can bring back to grow the depth of all of the relationships in your life.

PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS' REFLECTIONS:

“Jessica & Grace helped bring much needed, world changing skills in a relatable, achievable and memorable way. This session would be valuable for anyone desiring to build strong community.”
- Gabrielle Vanwert

“This workshop is an invitation to listen inwardly, to witness openly, and to share meaningfully in a heart-centered space. The facilitation offers space for everyone to show up exactly as they are and be held in community.”
-Group Participant

"I walked in so anxious, not knowing what to expect, but Jessica and Grace are pros at bringing comfort, acceptance and growth. I cried and felt safe with strangers. I laughed and played. What an experience! Can't wait to try out some of these activities with other people in my life and feel our connections deepen." - Darcy

SKILLS WE MIGHT FOCUS ON INCLUDE:

- Asking for what you want/need
- Receiving support
- Engaging playfully/spontaneously with others
- Trusting in uncertainty
- Setting and receiving boundaries
- Honoring sometimes invisible identities
- Holding complex co-occurring feelings at once (joy & sorrow, ease & discomfort)
- Staying embodied in connection
- Deepening capacity to stay present in discomfort
- Leading, following and cooperating
- And more based on what you ask for!

The thing with these games is that they don’t feel like the kind of “work” that happens in therapy, even though many people compare the benefit of participating to the growth experiences in therapy. Instead, the exercises will likely feel like play, play that feeds our sense of belonging and being belonged to.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

- A slow pace throughout to allow our bodies and nervous systems to arrive over and over
- Step-by-step guidance through exercises as well as room to improvise and make any activity your own
- Big group, small group and partner format
- An invitation to share your experience to the degree you desire
- Freedom to participate at the level that supports you
- Movement/dance breaks!

We are excited to share this day with our communities, to lean into the wisdom of these games and tools and to discover what is possible when we prioritize listening well to ourselves and one another as intentional practices.

OUR DAY WILL BE GUIDED BY THE FOLLOWING FOUR AGREEMENTS:

(1) Practice kindness to self/Go slowly. Resist the urge to speed up when you feel vulnerable.
(2) Practice kindness to others. Less judgement, more curiosity and understanding.
(3) Own your experience and take responsibility for yourself and your actions, including using “I” statements. This kind of communication brings us closer to one another.
(4) Confidential container. Lessons leave. Stories and identifying details stay!

Sounds like pretty good guidelines to live by, no? Our hope is that by the end of “Village Well”, you will leave with a living template that you can take with you to support all of your relationships and your vital role in the communities to which you belong.

DETAILS FOR JOINING US:

NOTE: As of this FB event being launched, this class is half full. Enrollment is limited to 22 folks! Please register early to secure your spot! Or better yet, register with a friend to get the buddy discount! Ticketing info below.

Sliding Scale Pricing: $69, $79, $89

Bring a Friend! Register for 2 people for $110

BIPOC / PGM identified folk: $45


TO REGISTER:

Step 1: Fill out our online application: https://tinyurl.com/yc7xt858

Step 2: Send your sliding scale payment to https://venmo.com/u/Jessica-Tartaro. Please title your payment “Village Well – [Your Name(s)].”

That's it! You’ll hear back from us within 3 days to confirm your registration.

Cancellation Policy: Up to 48 hours before the event, we will refund your ticket if you need to cancel for any reason. Within 48 hours of the class we will not be able to refund your investment. However, we can apply half of your ticket price towards the next class. You will be responsible for the remaining balance.

Physical Accessibility: The Hive is an accessible space for most bodies. Please contact us if you have questions about how we can support your abilities.

Additional Considerations: Please note that Connection Games are not a therapy setting, and the facilitators are not there in the role of counselors. If you have needs that would best be served by a mental health professional, do not consider this practice as a substitute for such care.

Read more here to get a taste of the Authentic Relating movement that informs this offering:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/the-club-where-you-bare-your-soul-to-strangers/545786/


YOUR FACILITATORS:

DR. JESSICA TARTARO (she/her) is a cis-gendered, able bodied, second generation Sicilian Jewish Intimacy Coach & Connection Facilitator who brings to her teaching nearly 20 years of experience in the healing arts facilitating individuals, couples and groups. Through her one-of-a-kind workshops, Jessica powerfully weaves together the threads of conscious intimacy, Authentic Relating, positive psychology, trauma-sensitivity, improvisational dance and mindful embodiment. Plus, she loves to play. Former Fulbright scholar, Jessica has founded communities across the country dedicated to healing the collective experience of belonging. On the Olympic Peninsula of Washington where she currently lives with her husband, Jessica is facing her greatest intimacy challenges yet as a mother to her fierce and fiery toddler, Joya. To stay current on her evolving offerings, inquire about her private coaching and check out her adorable toddler photos, go to www.DrJessicaTartaro.com.


GRACE BRYANT (they/them) loves inviting people into the joyful challenge of Spiritual Liberation, Conscious Relating, Awakened Embodiment, and Social Change. They have been a whole life educator for two decades, integrating drama, music, movement, meditation and yoga, mindful living, creative play, teamwork, conscious collaboration, anti-racism, community building, and leadership with youth and adults. Play-based connection games and relationship building are very dear to Grace’s heart and practice.

Grace currently offers holistic life and intimacy coaching, spiritual mentorship, day-long workshops, silent retreats, and ongoing Liberation courses rooted in classical Tantra and the explicit awareness of liberating from cultural and societal oppression. They are exceptionally grateful for all the communities, colleagues, and badass people in their life who inspire creativity in the chaos and have taught them so many tools of radical acceptance and personal and societal dismantling. See more of Grace’s work at bewholebehappy.com.


PHOTO CREDITS:

Photo by Andres Iga on Unsplash

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