Playdates with the Soul on the Playground of Spirit
Creative expression as a meditation, as a way of being with yourself and your spirit
Art is spirit made visible. Being in the creative process allows the inner healer and creator to come forth deepening our connection to self and other simultaneously, crystallizing the essence of our being.
Nicki Koethner
CURRENT WORKSHOP OFFERINGS SPRING 2013
TESTIMONIAL
I had the pleasure and privilege of taking part in an amazing and life-changing expressive arts workshop facilitated by Nicki Koethner. Nicki showed me that only through the body and through expressive arts was it possible to truly access and release what had been stuck in my body for such a long time. Nicki’s experience and knowledge of her subject contributed to a day of intense personal transformation. I had more of an emotional breakthrough with her in 8 hours than I have experienced in the last 15 years using other therapeutic methods. Nicki's insights and perception are extraordinary and her compassion and love for expressive arts make working with her an absolute joy. I give her my highest recommendation. Sonika Ozdoba, Mountain View
******************************************************************
I had the pleasure and privilege of taking part in an amazing and life-changing expressive arts workshop facilitated by Nicki Koethner. Nicki showed me that only through the body and through expressive arts was it possible to truly access and release what had been stuck in my body for such a long time. Nicki’s experience and knowledge of her subject contributed to a day of intense personal transformation. I had more of an emotional breakthrough with her in 8 hours than I have experienced in the last 15 years using other therapeutic methods. Nicki's insights and perception are extraordinary and her compassion and love for expressive arts make working with her an absolute joy. I give her my highest recommendation. Sonika Ozdoba, Mountain View
******************************************************************
|
Stories from the Heart: Facilitated by Nicki Koethner, MFT & Suraya Keating, MFT
Do you have a story that you'd like to share with the world?
Want to feel more confident and vulnerable sharing yourself with others? Want to express a story that wants to be expressed? Come and join us this saturday for a fun and deep exploratory workshop. Release stuck voices. Find more confidence and spontaneity.
In this performance workshop, we hold that our stories are gifts, and we as storytellers are bringers of sacred gifts to the world. When we share stories from our soul, we create medicine not only for ourselves, but for those who witness us. We will journey into the art of accessing material for possible solo pieces from our life experiences, building skills of storytelling, acting, voice and movement. With the guidance, support and coaching of the facilitators, each participant will uncover, write, refine and perform a story based on their own life story, their imagination, or both.
Come take a journey into your soul and invoke the medicine that is released when you share your story. For beginners and advanced alike. This workshop facilitates creativity in all areas of life.
LOCATION: Waterfront Playhouse & Conservatory, 2020 Fourth St, Berkeley, CA
WORKSHOP : March 30, 1-6 pm ($45) (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Please contact Suraya (surayasusana@yahoo.com), or Nicki (nkoethnermft@yahoo.com), 510-779-2842
Do you have a story that you'd like to share with the world?
Want to feel more confident and vulnerable sharing yourself with others? Want to express a story that wants to be expressed? Come and join us this saturday for a fun and deep exploratory workshop. Release stuck voices. Find more confidence and spontaneity.
In this performance workshop, we hold that our stories are gifts, and we as storytellers are bringers of sacred gifts to the world. When we share stories from our soul, we create medicine not only for ourselves, but for those who witness us. We will journey into the art of accessing material for possible solo pieces from our life experiences, building skills of storytelling, acting, voice and movement. With the guidance, support and coaching of the facilitators, each participant will uncover, write, refine and perform a story based on their own life story, their imagination, or both.
Come take a journey into your soul and invoke the medicine that is released when you share your story. For beginners and advanced alike. This workshop facilitates creativity in all areas of life.
LOCATION: Waterfront Playhouse & Conservatory, 2020 Fourth St, Berkeley, CA
WORKSHOP : March 30, 1-6 pm ($45) (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Please contact Suraya (surayasusana@yahoo.com), or Nicki (nkoethnermft@yahoo.com), 510-779-2842
Discover, Connect, and Awaken your Animal Spirit
through Sacred Drumming and Mask Making
Saturday November 4, 2012 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Terra's Temple, 654 Oakland Ave, Oakland, CA
$125 (sliding scale available)
RSVP is required (Space is limited)
call 510-779-2842 nkoethnermft@yahoo.com
Have you been seeking?
Wanting a deeper sense of belonging, meaning and purpose?
Have you been restless, anxious or depressed?
Or simply felt the calling to be more fully alive-not just functioning and paying the bills?
Now is the time to go deeper and answer the calling!
Change is a golden opportunity and can also bring forth painful emotions. The universe is going through many shifts causing people to reevaluate their lives. Staying grounded and centered in these times is not an easy task . Many people are feeling stressed, stretched and overwhelmed. In order to make the choices of your true self rather than the ego, it is important to have guidance and places where you can connect with your soul.
Join us in for a shamanic journey to receive your animal totem guidance through sacred drumming and deepening it with mask-making, sharing, movement and writing. Please bring drums and rattles if you have them, a journal, and water. A few drums and rattles will be available. No prior drumming or mask-making experience is required. Art materials are provided and you are invited to bring additional ones for the decoration of the mask.
MEETING YOUR ANIMAL GUIDE- A sacred space is created as we journey to the otherworld to meet and receive messages from your Animal Spirit Guides. Animals are here to teach humans. They have many powerful lessons to give. They remind us that we are only a small part of creation; that each part of creation has a place; that each creature has its own skill and wisdom.
Making masks is an ancient tradition practiced in many indigenous cultures. Masks invite us to enter an altered state of consciousness and invite universal energies to be expressed through us, allowing new or split-part of ourselves to be embodied. Rather than wearing masks, we can hide behind, we are creating images of what we want to become. The masks become allies of our journey through life, helping us to embody our true selves and infuse our animal guides with powerful vibration.
Owlsnake is the Founder and Director of Esoterica Shamanic Center. She is a Shaman/Medicine Woman (Lineage), Esoteric Coach, Interfaith Minister, Reiki Master and Certified Rape Crisis Counselor. She specializes in working with individuals who are healing from traumatic events such as physical/mental/emotional abuse, or just for someone who has lost themselves. She utilizes a holistic “Mind, Body & Spirit” approach in her work. She works with individuals and groups. Find out more at www.esotericashamanic.com.
Nicki Koethner, MA, MFT is the founder of Express-Explore-Expand. She is licensed Expressive Arts Psychotherapist, Multimedia-artist, and a mystic who guides people through transitions and transforming trauma into empowerment. She has a private practice in Oakland for individuals, couples, children and families in English and German and facilitates rituals and ceremonies. She also specializes in Expressive Arts consulting. Find out more at www.express-explore-expand.com.
Engaging in the creative process is meditation and action combined, touching the mystery of life and highlighting your encounter within it. It serves as reflection of being fully in your life, true to each moment and responsive to what is emerging within you. It is about the process of being alive and being truly yourself. Nicki Koethner
MASK WORKSHOP 2011
|
Mask Workshop December 2010
|
|
|
|
|
Mask Workshop 2010
Participant looking at the mask of her face after it dried on her face. People often enter a meditative, contemplative state when plaster is applied to their face. Working on mask
|
Partner work - soulful connection
 Meditation in Connection. Working with a partner by applying plaster on partner's face is an intimate process of creating an attentive intentional connection in service to another.  Decorating Mask-
A new image is created. Curiosity;
What wants to emerge?   Here it is - an alter ego- an energy speaking to me! 
Incubation phase- release and preparation for the new to emerge
 She is here and she speaks to me. |
"Fall Play" Workshop 2010
|
  dancing- moving -inner impulses responding to the sounds, elements in time and space and other people |
 |
 a day of fall rejuvenation - we all felt less stressed and reminded what our priorities are |
"Spring Play" 2009 co-facilitated with Delfina Piretti
People responding to
and embodying drawings after poetry, and movement to deepen the process of connection to their questions, current challenges and emerging selves  a collage of images to connect to collective creation process |
"SPRING PLAY"
setting the space- creating intentions - the snake as a symbol of letting go and being born anew
music-making and image-making
 |
