I need time (a hibernation ritual)

Modern life pushes us to 'keep going' year-round and 'show up', even when something else is needed. Seasonal movements determine the Earth's rhythms of rest, growth, bloom, and decay. Yet many of us have lost the ceremonies, practices and skills that once grounded us in these natural cycles. And while modern culture aims for an endless summer of productivity, our bodies know better. So, how might we recover these capacities together?

We will explore the possibilities of deep winter, and the potential of hibernation and rest. A space to digest, percolate, find warmth, cosiness and nourishment. And resource ourselves for what may burst through the soil in spring.

This ritual is non-denominational, drawing on somatic practice, meditation, various wisdom traditions, music, art and literature. All are welcome. 

Children welcome. There will be a kids’ space if needed at times throughout the ritual.

“It’s raining, and it's four o’clock in the morning. The wind rattles the locked doors of my terrace. But my body is warm. I should be feeling cold, but I’m warm and alive.”

   Clarice Lispector 

Amy has over twenty years experience in somatic practice and is a certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and Focusing Practitioner. Her private practice and group work are resourced by a long-term meditation practice and a background in the arts. 

Amy is a fifth generation Australian of primarily European descent. She lives and works between Wurundjeri and Wadawurrung Country with her partner and three children, and is a founding member of Coming to Life, a facilitation collective blending somatic practice, courageous dialogue, decolonising education, and nature connection. Alongside her work with Coming to Life, Amy has a private practice, offers workshops and facilitates community rituals.

Her trauma-informed approach seeks to meet the challenges of our time by tapping the resilience and wisdom of our embodied selves – as people, parents, partners, friends, and citizens. Amy is committed to working with heart, humour and discernment.

She loves the relational process of creating unique containers that support transformation. She is continually struck by the body’s capacity to feel and heal when provided with a sound container and attuned support. She honours the inherent dignity of all life and is guided by the conviction that each of us has the intelligence and capacity to feel, metabolise and respond to what is wanting or needing to emerge - in bodies and beyond. 

With enough support, each of us can recover our capacities to be like a tree whose roots find water and whose branches find the sun.