Embodying Spirit
En-Spiriting Body
This program is currently on hiatus, as we reorganize our embodied leadership trainings.
A Jewish Movement Leadership Training
Designed and Taught by Rabbi Diane Elliot and Guest Faculty
- Is movement your first language?
- Does your soul express itself most deeply and joyfully through dance and movement?
Join Embodying Spirit, En~spiriting Body – a training program in embodied Judaism and embodied Jewish leadership.
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’ll discover new freedom to dance your soul’s yearning and to move sacred text off the page. Together we open our bodies as channels for drawing Divine shefa (flow) into the world through movement meditations, hands-on exercises, and ecstatic dancing and we will support one another in connecting to G~d with our whole beings.
Awakening and expanding the experience of Divinity within your own physicality, this in-depth, innovative program 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, ecstatic dance, Body-Mind Centering®, qi gong, and sacred circle dance, as we practice moving prayer, Torah, and kabbalistic wisdom. Each retreat week culminates in an unforgettable embodied Shabbat (Sabbath) experience that celebrates and integrates the gifts of our time together.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROGRAM?
Rabbi Diane Elliot can be reached at diane.elliot@aleph.org.
You can also email the ALEPH office at stephanie@aleph.org
Faculty
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. For more information about Rabbi Diane, see www.whollypresent.org.
Guest Faculty
Guest faculty for Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body has included:
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 (Woman of Vision) and Miyaledet Ruchanit (Spiritual Midwife).
