Floating the River
A Somatic Practice Group from Topaz Healing
Through this drop-in monthly group, we will practice tending to our somatic experience. Our group provides an intentional and supportive space for exploring the experience of our felt senses, inviting an opportunity to connect with your body, emotions, and community.
The Details
When: 2024 Dates TBD
Location:
In-person - Trolley Healing Hub located at 515 S. 700 E. Suite 2D SLC, UT
Investment: Sliding Scale, $25 - $45 (per session)
Who: Adults with a desire to tap into their somatic experience while joining in community with others.This practice is open to anyone in the community. Current, former and non-client folks are all welcome to sign up. Feel free to bring your friends or family to participate with you.
In-person class will be limited to 10 people.
The Structure
We will set the canyon walls - the norms that help the container to feel safe.
We ‘clear the space,’ a term from a modality called ‘focusing’ where we will practice setting aside thoughts/ideas that may serve as a distraction from embodiment.
We will enter the river, the embodied practice where you will be invited to pay attention to your felt sense, tracking thoughts, images, memories, sensations, and movements.
We will map the landscape, taking time to externalize the felt experience by way of drawing, writing, or imagining.
We will connect on the vessel, utilizing an optional opportunity to vocalize reflections and insights from practice.
We will then arrive back on land, engaging in a grounding practice with the intention of supporting the nervous system as it transitions to the next part of your day.
Meet the Facilitator
I’m Caroline Pegram, LCSW, Founder of Topaz Healing. We are a somatic and trauma therapy collective humbly practicing on Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute lands known as Salt Lake City, Utah.
I am a white, able-bodied, person, leaning on collective and internal liberation approaches to find healing. I have learned from intersectional feminists, environmentalist + abolitionist activists, and queer theorists and embrace the perspectives offered by these mentors.
I am passionate about group work and the healing power it holds. With a deep understanding of somatic practices, I skillfully facilitate sessions, providing an intentional and nurturing environment for connection to ourselves and others.
Somatic Lineages:
Neuro-affective Touch – Aline LaPierre
Focusing - The International Focusing Institute Building on the Work of Eugene T. Gendlin
Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (300 hours) – Center for Trauma and Embodiment in Brookline, MA, with David Emerson
Trauma and Release Exercise (TRE) – Yoga Calm Portland, OR
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute
Somatic Experiencing - PESI, 50 hours with Peter Levine
Foundations in Embodied Ancestral Inquiry - Marika Heinrichs, Stevie Joy Leigh, Wildbody Somatics, Weaver and Rose Somatics
Community Based Yoga Teacher Training (250 hours) – Asheville Community Yoga
Ground Works - Ecological Field Study 32 hours
What Holds Up the Canyon Walls
We will assume positive intent from those who are in the community with us.
We will refrain from offering unsolicited touch, tissues, or feedback.
We will practice knowing that we can both care and be activated by each other, as we often serve as mirrors for one another.
We will be intentional about the time and space we take up, knowing that this is a community space with a need to share the air.
Every part of the practice is an invitation, not a requirement. Saying no to what we do not want or need in the moment is a potent form of medicine for many of us.
We will honor our biological cues and needs and take breaks as needed.
This practice is more experience-centered than content-focused, your context and story are important to me and we only have so much time for verbal processing.
Privacy is not guaranteed in this space, but it is deeply valued. We are conscious of how privacy keeps this practice feeling accessible and do not share parts of group that are not ours to share.
We honor that this is a practice of repetition, a deepening - we are not reaching for a particular landing place or arriving at a hierarchical destination.
As stated from my mentor Marika Heinrichs of Wildbody Somatics: “Capitalism teaches us to value novelty over consistency; practice grows and becomes embodied with repetition. Each cycle reveals something new, another layer. We trust in embodied practice, in cycles and rhythms and honouring the time required for change and transformation.”
Experiences from Clients
