Ruach Ha-Aretz and Wholly Present are pleased to announce
the first cohort of


A Spiritual Movement Leadership Training
with Rabbi Diane Elliot and Guest Faculty

Beginning in December, 2011!

In a deeply nurturing residential retreat setting, Rabbi Diane Elliot and her co-teachers will gently and joyfully guide you from the depths of your own body’s cells to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. You will discover new freedom to dance your soul’s yearning and to move sacred text off the page. Opening our bodies as channels for drawing Divine shefa (flow) into the world through movement meditations, hands-on exercises, and ecstatic dancing, we will support one another in connecting to G~d with our whole beings.

This exciting, innovative program, designed to awaken and expand the experience of Divinity within your own physicality, will also provide you with skills to become an “embodiment facilitator” in your home community, enriching your work as a healer, therapist, spiritual leader, or teacher. Among our tools will be Authentic Movement, improvisational dance, body niggun (song), Body-Mind Centering®, and sacred circle dance, as we express our own prayers and Torah of the body. Each retreat week will culminate in an unforgettable embodied Shabbat (Sabbath) experience, as we celebrate and integrate the gifts of our time together.

The retreats will take place among the majestic redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, at the beautiful Bosch Bahá'i Retreat and Conference Center. The comprehensive training will include these four six-day self-contained modules, each of which may also be taken individually, space permitting:
    • Embodying Prayer – December 5–11, 2011
         • Embodying Torah – May 7–13, 2012
             • Embodying Kabbalah – November 12–18, 2012
                 • The Sacred Dance – May 16–12, 2013

Our practice community will be limited to 16 students. In addition to the four retreats, the training program will provide participants with additional resources, support, and practice opportunities between modules, including individualized guidance sessions with Rabbi Diane and other faculty. Should the training not fill, spaces will be made available to those who wish to attend one or more modules individually. Whether you are most interested in growing your personal embodiment practice or in sharing the work with others (or both!), Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body will offer you a life-changing experience, one that will transform your spiritual practice and expand your leadership capacities in every realm.

Rabbi Diane Elliot, spiritual teacher, dancer and somatic therapist, inspires her students to become clearer channels for Divine Light through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish sacred text. Founder of Wholly Present, A Center for Embodied Spiritual Practice, she was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, in 2006, and before that worked for many years as an internationally known modern dance performer, choreographer, and a teacher of Body-Mind Centering®. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she served as spiritual leader of the Aquarian Minyan from 2007-2009 and now teaches locally and nationally through ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Ruach Ha-Aretz, and The Awakened Heart Project. Rabbi Diane also maintains a body-based spiritual direction practice, leads Jewish meditation retreats, and is the author of numerous articles, essays, and poems. Her wise, loving presence creates a safe space for those who wish to explore spirituality individually and in community. www.whollypresent.org.

To apply, and to learn about the lodging and fees, click here.

Guest faculty for Embodying Spirit, Enspiriting Body will include:

Simona Aronow has been in private practice for over 30 years as a Dance/Movement Therapist, body worker, movement educator and teacher. She integrates her traditional Jewish background with the direct experience of movement to foster personal connection and meaning. Simona has taught through the National Havurah Institute, Laban Institute of Movement, and Gesher Center for Spirituality Meditation and Healing on whose Board she has served. She has also supervised students through Goucher College and Antioch University, and currently practices in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her love for movement and somatic healing is inspiring.

Latifa Berry Kropf has been creating and leading sacred dance for 35 years. As a leader of her Renewal chavurah in Charlottesville, VA, Latifa enriches Shabbat and holy day services and celebrations with dance and weaves movement into life cycle events. She has published dance materials for both adults and  children, has had the privilege of sharing sacred dance with many communities, and has been honored with the title of Eshet Hazon, Woman of Vision.

Rabbi Ori Har DiGennaro, founder and co-director of Center For Spiritual Friendship, received ordination as Spiritual Director and as Rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. She provides spiritual direction for individuals, couples and groups, as well as leading Sage-ing® workshops. Rabbi Ori is a life-long student of yoga and dance as a spiritual path. As a co-leader of services at the Renewal Congregation, Pardes Levavot, in Boulder, Colorado, and at Rabbi Nadya Gross’s Wisdom School, she infuses Shabbat and Holy Day services with devotional dance using the entire body to access higher states of awareness. She is the author of God Speaks Here and Now; A Guide for Living. ori.har@center-for-spiritual-friendship.org

Julie Leavitt practices body-centered psychotherapy and spiritual direction in Newton, MA. She has taught Sacred Movement classes at Elat Chayyim and the Aleph Kallah and serves on the core faculty of the Lev Shomea spiritual direction program.  She has also taught Movement and Healing classes at Lesley University for the past 22 years. In 2004 Julie’s community, B’nai Or of Boston, honored her with the title Eshet Hazon: Miyaledet Ruchanit, Woman of Vision: Spiritual Midwife.

EMBODYING SPIRIT HOME PAGE | INFORMATION AND APPLICATION | RUACH HA'ARETZ HOME PAGE

Questons? Contact us at info@ruachhaaretz.com

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Ruach Ha'Aretz is a Project of
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal