Environmental anxiety: Creative and Embodied Workshop

It’s common for people to have very strong feelings about climate change. The reality is frightening. People feel anxious, distressed, helpless, pessimistic, guilty, angry and stressed, amongst other feelings. When anxiety strikes, it not only consumes the mind, it also takes a hold of the body.

How people respond to these feelings and body sensations is very important. People can react in many unhelpful ways – e.g., by trying to minimise the threat, distract themselves and blame others, or by becoming helpless and resigned to the disaster. A more useful response is to anticipate, identify and manage these feelings so that we can properly accept the reality of climate change and not avoid it. Psychologists call this a skill of emotional self-regulation and it’s an important part of climate adaptation and coping.

Learning to cope with the feelings we have about climate change ensures that:

We don’t try to avoid the problem in order to avoid the feelings
We don’t become overwhelmed by these feelings or burn-out
We can keep functioning well in our everyday lives.

This is a weekend workshop to explore the environmental anxiety of the participants through a series of somatic-artisitic exercises.

WHO?
Catarina Brazão is a somatic educator, workshop and retreat facilitator and an avid nature lover. She holds a degree in social work in the field of mental health and draws upon years of study and practice in transpersonal psychology, gender studies and somatic work. Catarina’s path is guided by her profound commitment to change and growth, a quality she uses also when working with others. Her work offers a space for true lasting transformation where everyone feels safe, respected and seen. With over ten years of experience working on one-on-one sessions and groups, and inspired by the practice of a variety of somatic and spiritual disciplines, she teaches an exclusive approach tailored to each person or group she works with. Today she offers fully immersive workshops, courses and programmes that support people in discovering their uniqueness and authenticity.

Markus Pesonen is a composer, musician, multimedia artist and creative entrepreneur. He is creating sonic experiences in various contexts, investigating the impact of sound in people and the environment as well as teaching from his discoveries. He composes and creates with several music groups and works together with dance, theatre, performance art and film. Collaboration with health and social care professionals has led Markus to develop Sound Journeys that use his field recordings from nature together with original music to create immersive soundscapes with educational and therapeutic potential. Markus holds a masters degree in music and a composer diploma from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, but his insatiable curiosity has taken him to explore and research far across disciplines.

WHEN?
Starts at 8 p.m. on September 27th 2019. Finishes at 2 p.m. on September 29th 2019.

WHERE?
The course takes place in Olo centre, located by Europes 4th biggest lake "Saimaa" full of beautiful nature and wildlife and only 5 minutes away from the Kolovesi Nature park.