These workshops will be recorded. Recordings will be available for 48 hours only. 

Spots available: 25 @ full price/5 @ 10 % discount. 5 @ 20% discount. 5 @ 40% discount. See my SLIDING EQUITY SCALE page for details and discount codes. Payment plans- 4 bi-weekly installments- available to all at check out. 

Somatic, soulful and nourishing community explorations through Archetypal Qigong, Primal Movement, Chinese 5-Element teachings and exploring ourselves through the map, mirror and medicine of nature’s cycles. As we continue to move through the Great Wheel of seasons and approach Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, these 2 offerings will nourish, prepare and tend to our transition into the energy of the Metal Element, the Lungs and Fall.

 Arguably the most difficult transition for Western people, we have become displaced from our trust in the cycles of decline, dissolution and letting go. The way we attend our time between Summer and Fall, in both inner and outer nature, will determine our Winter ahead- will it be filled with depression, isolation and loneliness, or will Winter have its chance to be the deep nourishment, incubation, and pulsing quiet that it holds and we need? Our transition from Summer to Fall traces our relationship through the topography of letting go, accountability to the past (near and distant), allowance of grief, discernment, turning inward, returning to the Earth, and gathering the courage for these brave walks.

Autumn is a time for letting go. Archetypally, it’s metallic expression is both the wing (Yin) and the sword (Yang). It is a time for drawing energy from the external toward the internal, from extremities to center. It is a powerful and long passage and it is the transitional season between Summer and Winter. Most of us do some version of a face-plant into Winter, straight from the overextension, busyness and exhaustion of Summer (which is not true Summer) and of our western culture, skipping over the exquisite beauty and necessity of Fall inside of ourselves-which is a willingness to let go, to honor all that has come to pass, begin our turn inward. It is in the cycle of Fall that we return from the adventures and expressions of the Spirit (Sumer) back toward the more inward homeplace of the Soul. This draw back toward center and Earth cultivates a profound and necessary discernment- the metallic archetype of the sword- that can cut away, cut through, separate this from that, remove excess, refine and clarify. And the more Yin expression of the wing- a sublime kind of beauty and capacity that traverses between worlds- that is the threshold place between inside and out.

In Chinese Medicine, this passage takes place in the organ system of the Lungs and Large Intestine- the Metal Element. When we do not tend the lungs and the Metal element before we go into Winter, the low wet clouds of fullness and grief set in and stagnate, thus creating a physical and psychological situation in which we literally incubate repression, suffocation and stagnation in our bodies and minds.

It is difficult to turn inward if we are terrified of what we might find there, or if we have no map or support to let the green leaves of our lives turn their most magnificent colors yet and fall back to the earth, to admit that all we have been given will be given back and that this cycle is necessary, and constantly asking for its due. We can spend a significant amount of energy resisting this, using most of our daily energy trying to keep nature’s cycles from cycling in us or thinking something is terribly wrong when we are being claimed by these intelligent rhythms. 

We are a part of a great wheel of cycles. When we return to harmony with these rhythms, our whole lives begin to true to the tune of a greater intelligence and coherence.

The stand-alone workshop on September 16th is a creative collaboration with Sarah Byrden and Liz Koch. The confluence of our two bodies of work creates a unique alchemy and synergy. You will leave this workshop with greater coherence, resilience, and sustenance.

The 5-week series with Sarah will be a deep dive and steady touchstone of nourishment and community during this transition into Fall. A weekly mini home-retreat, our time together will support your system in slowing down, beginning to turn inward, returning to earth and make the somatic and psychological transition into the rhythm of nature’s call- Autumn-which is a jewel not to be missed on its own, and also allows us to prepare the ground for the profound nourishment of Winter.

These workshops will offer tender and strong medicine of nourishment and preparation for Autumn, medicine for embracing the natural cycles that make us whole. 

I have come to learn that many people harbor a secret dread of Winter, and that dread can begin to tremble now…as Fall lands upon us. Though often a welcomed turn and relief, Autumn can also bring an impending fear of darkness, of seasonal depression, of the fallow field-an inability to turn inward in a nourishing way, in a culture that demands constant productivity at all costs.

One of the reasons Winter can be daunting for us is because we end up incubating suffocation rather than incubating the quiet, peace and stillness that is available to us and is central to our health and nourishment, both on a physical and soul level.

Autumn is a time for letting go. For drawing energy from the external to the internal. It is a powerful and long passage. Most of us do some version of a face-plant into Winter, straight from the overextension, busyness and exhaustion of Summer and of our western culture, skipping over the exquisite beauty and necessity of Fall inside of ourselves-which is a willingness to let go, to honor and grieve all that has come and gone, to begin our turn inward. It is difficult to turn inward if we are terrified of what we might find there, or if we have no map or support to truly let go, to let the leaves of our lives fall to the earth, to admit that all we have been given will be given back and that this part of the cycle is necessary, and constantly asking for its due. We can spend a whole life resisting this, using most of our daily energy trying to keep nature’s cycles from cycling in us.

Many people spend Winter trying to skip it altogether-simultaneously clinging to the Summer that has passed, while jumping ahead to a Spring that is not yet here, nor even possible without a true Winter. This creates anxiety, depression, a pervasive fear of stillness, an inability to rest or to pause and an exhaustion that can never seem to get its feet under itself. Winter is nature’s long and incubating pause. We all need a Winter. And before Winter, we need a Fall.

 These workshops are devoted spaces of the deep nourishment of what is moving in the cosmology of the northern hemisphere- which is the expression of turning inward, returning to earth, letting go, tucking the harvest of the year into our fat cheeks for the long and delicious Yin months ahead.

Please note : Sarah Byrden no longer operates under the designation of “MogaDao Teacher”, teaches in association with MogaDao, nor represents or endorses MogaDao as a name, tradition or entity in any way. She no longer endorses Zhenan Dao/ Zhenevere Sophia Dao as a teacher or guide.