Radical Aliveness: A Laboratory For Embodied And Authentic Relating

​“When you can engage the powerful feelings of others without needing to control or tame them, when you can learn to hold space where conflict and challenge are welcome because they serve as doorways to fresh insights, that’s radical aliveness.”

​-Ann Bradney

​What we are diving into:

​We will engage in a transformative group process facilitated by somatic therapist Shea Riester, LMSW, SEP, and Circling / Authentic Relating facilitator, Zettie Shapey.

​Weaving practices from Somatic Experiencing, Radical Aliveness, the Wheel of Consent, and Circling / Authentic Relating to experience:

• ​A felt sense of being deeply known and seen

• ​A laboratory to look at the stories we tell ourselves and how they dictate our daily behaviors

• ​A field of love and trust strong enough to hold your full truth

• ​​The courage to meet your edges, triggers and shadows in a safe container, and thus expand your window of possibility

• ​​The joy of contributing to each other’s growth and healing

• ​​A sense of feeling fully alive

• ​An atmosphere where healing, consensual, non-sexual touch is welcome

• ​​Fun, play, wildness, spontaneity

​​🪷 Facilitators Shea Riester, LMSW, SEP somatic therapist, mindfulness & communication teacher from Brooklyn, NY and Zettie Shapey, Authentic Relating facilitator, will lead the session. More info below:

​​🗓️ Nov. 18th

​6:45-9:30 pm (doors at 6:30)

​​The Process:

​What will this look like? The joy of this experiment is the picture cannot be fully painted until this unique group is together. For some frame of reference, it may feel like a cross between the present-moment aliveness of an authentic relating circle, the care and intention of a trauma-sensitive therapy group, and the growth-oriented, loving fierceness of a martial arts dojo.

​​You are welcome to register with a partner or friend, anyone you want to deepen your relationship with. The learning from this space can be multiplied if you attend with a dear person that you will practice and integrate these relational tools with. Of course, doing this work with people we don't know also has its own magic.

​​Every circle begins with a “drop-in” meditation and a deep check-in, and closes with a check-out. The “work” of the circle changes week to week, becoming more and more attuned to what’s alive in the group.

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  • ​We'll attempt to build trust within the group using ​Dyad and triad relational mindfulness practices

• ​​Learning shared frameworks:

  • ​​The Wheel of Consent

  • ​​Authentic Relating (aka Circling)

  • ​​Nervous system / trauma neurobiology from Somatic Experiencing (SE)

    • ​​Once sufficient trust has been built, our “agenda” will be responsive to the needs and desires alive of the group, rather than prepared in advance, as we bring previously learned tools into live practice together.

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        • ​​We will work with all levels of our human experience: the body, emotions, expression, movement, sensations, thoughts, beliefs, spirit, culture and systems

​​Your Facilitators:

​Shea Riester, LMSW, SEP

​​Shea (he/him) is a somatic therapist, mindfulness and communication teacher from Brooklyn, NY. His core training is in Somatic Experiencing trauma healing, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and 16 years of Buddhist meditation practice. Ordained in the Order of Interbeing of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2018, he is currently part of the Community Dharma Leader cohort through Spirit Rock. Shea is also a restorative justice practitioner and conflict mediator with the New York Peace Institute. He teaches meditation on Inward Bound retreats and co-founded the Contemplative Semester, a three-month Insight meditation program for young adults. He co-leads the weekly Brooklyn Insight Sangha at his home in Brooklyn, NY.

​Zettie Shapey

​Zettie (she/her) is an educator, nanny, and life-lover. She facilitates authentic relating circles, climate grief workshops, song circles, and grief rituals, has practiced peer counseling for 12 years, and is deeply committed to personal and collective freedom through presence, experimentation, and love. A midwestern white queer jew, Zettie loves wilderness, making things, bodywork, learning, and peaches.

​Words from a previous attendee:

​"I'm so grateful to have been a part of Radical Aliveness. My experience grew me in significant ways that I know are rippling out and making my life, and hopefully other lives, better." - Stephanie

​*Artwork by Portia Zvavahera