Make a difference
in your life.

Imagine that
everything in you is natural.

Maybe they've told you that you should "love yourself" more.

Easier said than done, right? They didn't tell you how. They also weren't the ones who found it hard to face the world yet again in the morning, or the ones who felt deficient, or unworthy, or afraid of being too much, or not enough.

You are the person you spend the most time with: your closest life-long relationship. And yet, so many of us, deep down, think something like: "Me, being authentically myself, is not acceptable." Do you recognize this in yourself? How does it impact your life?

We doubt ourselves, we ruminate and worry, we act in ways we don't want and then regret it, or we tuck away aspects of ourselves so thoroughly that we may even forget where we hid them. We're unsatisfied, and something in our life energy grows dim.

This course is for you if you have even a little hope that it's possible to be a true friend to all of who you are. And if you're interested in discovering what that might mean! Maybe "loving yourself" seems like some far-away ideal. But choosing to become a friend... that's definitely learnable. And there are actual steps towards it. Many small moments of compassionate presence, repeated over a period of time, catalyze lasting change in how you relate to yourself. They expand and deepen what's possible. As you claim yourself more fully, your connections with others also inevitably begin to shift.

Here's the thing: we're not going to aim to change any painful voices in ourselves, or make them feel better. Instead, we will shift who we are being in relationship to them. Through group exercises, present-moment attending in pairs, meditative attunements, inquiry, and at-home assignments, we will practice the foundations of a process of empathic inner listening. We will turn towards each person's world with an attitude of curiosity and relaxed openness, being not just a witness, but an engaged warm presence. This tends to reveal bodily felt or emotional experiences that call for attention. By genuinely being in relationship with them from the wholeness of ourselves, something new, and often surprising, begins to emerge.

By the end of the course,
- you will see who you are, from a different vantage point, and feel more confident in your authentic self
- you will have a set of tools to anchor yourself in a state of balance and mature capacity
- you will experience more kindness on a daily basis
- you will have a greater tolerance for uncertainty
- you will begin to know how to be a safe haven for yourself
- you will feel less alone

Sign up by clicking Enroll Now at the top of this page.

Course Description

Time commitment:

Mondays, February 15 - April 5, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Pacific

2 hours of class + about 1 hour of home assignments per week

The home assignments part is essential. It includes individual practices and meeting with other students in pairs. Please plan on scheduling time for it.

You sign up for and commit to the whole course. These are not drop-in classes. Each next class builds on the previous one. If you have to miss, please plan not to miss more than one class, and please review the material you missed, before the following week.


Venue: online (Zoom)

Please have a working webcam, microphone and speakers, as well as a reliable internet connection (cell phone is often not enough).


Schedule:

Week 1: Pause and Safety
Laying the foundations for discerning a state of safety and what supports it.

Week 2: Your Biggest Self
Noticing the different aspects of ourselves we call "I", partial and whole perspectives.

Week 3: Sensing Freshly
Accessing current information in the body, describing without judgment.

Week 4: Making Contact
Cultivating presence, recognizing the need to attend, being willing to connect with what's here.

Week 5: Getting Its World
Developing deeper relationship with what's here, getting to know it better, seeing its wisdom.

Week 6: Being With What Is
Exploring the range of what is felt, sensing and symbolizing, allowing change on its own terms.

Week 7: The Unclear Edge
Staying with what's yet unknown, but implicitly present.

Week 8: Integration
Reviewing and relating to what has come, both in session and during this course, looking ahead.


Disclaimer: This course is not a substitute for care by a licensed mental health professional. If you have needs that would best be attended to in a clinical setting, please seek out additional appropriate support systems. If you are currently in an acute psychological crisis, this group format is unfortunately not designed to adequately support that. For any questions, please contact the host.

Pricing

The cost of this course depends on you. 

When deciding about your payment, please ask yourself:

  • What value does this work have for me and my life?
  • What is an amount that will have me feel committed to show up?
  • How much disposable income do I have?


As a guideline, I suggest a $125 contribution. 

Be the one who determines what the right amount is for you. 

If you currently have difficulty providing for some of your basic needs, pay less. The minimum amount to register is $1.

If your income is above average - or if at some point you realize that this course has been great for you in ways you never expected, and want to give more, I will happily accept a higher amount.

The main thing is: if you feel that it's important for you to be a part of this, please come.

Your payment confirms your spot and your sincere intent to participate. Please send a payment by the day before the start of the course. Click Enroll Now at the top of this page to begin the process. You will create an account/log in and enroll for free. Once enrolled, you can send payment from the "Cost of this course" page.

Hosted by

Tate Sprite

Tate brings more freedom and connection into the world by inspiring people to be fully themselves in compassionate relationship with others - and providing an empowering environment in which this becomes possible. Tate has been facilitating Authentic Relating events and groups in the Portland, Oregon area and online since 2013. In creating their offerings and workshops, they draw on their trainings in The Art of Circling [relational and transformational practice], the Hakomi method [a mindful somatic therapeutic modality], Inner Relationship Focusing [practice of self-listening], as well as, and importantly, on their lived experience of being an unconventional, curious, engaged human who is driven to participate in personal and societal evolution.

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