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December 2006 
 HealingHeartPower Newsletter
 Reclaiming the Power of the Heart
In This Issue


Join our mailing list!

This high touch, low tech gal is moving into the 21st century with this new monthly e-newsletter, thanks to the help of John VanRyn and Trish Blain.

In each issue, I will be sharing some articles of interest to the HealingHeartPower community, as well as providing updates about groups, workshops and apprenticeship opportunities.

I also welcome your thoughts, ideas and questions for topics, resources and other materials you might want to share with our larger community. Just e-mail them to LSMHEART@aol.com, and I will incorporate your ideas, questions and resources in future issues of this newsletter.

I hope you enjoy this first issue, and please share it with your friends, colleagues and loved ones!

Heartfully, Linda

 Cultivating Connection:
 Separate Space and Relational Space

Feeling connected is central to love, intimacy and an experience of nourishing partnership. Maintaining a sense of connection to ones self is a prerequisite for sustaining connection with a partner. Understanding ones space needs is an essential part of connection--with both self and others.

A common struggle for many people I have counseled over the years is how to be in relationship and get the personal space they need. I have watched a couple argue over space needs without realizing that both partners are speaking different languages.

I have found that there are two kinds of space that need to be balanced for both partners and the partnership to feel vital and alive: separate space and relational space.

Separate space is alone time, cave time, reflective time on one's own. Most people need some time apart from a partner to meet their separate space needs. How much separate space time a person needs is a very individual matter.

Relational space is the kind of space one gets being with their partner "in relationship." Relational space feeds one's need for connection, for intimacy, for being with. Relational space can include engaging in mutually enjoyable activities or "just being."

When two people come together, it is common for one person to have higher relational space needs and the other to have higher separate space needs. When unrecognized and undiscussed, these differences lead to tension in the relationship and can be the source of conflict and struggle.

Becoming conscious of both our separate space needs and our relational space needs is essential to establish a rhythm of being in relationship.

From Healing the War Between the Genders by Linda Marks 


 The Heart Space Cafe Reinvents Itself:
 www.heartspacecafe.com

In 1990, when I purchased an old Victorian house, a handyman special, I had a vision of renovating this structure into both a living space and healing space.

My vision for the house included having monthly gatherings where those of us who lived there could open our doors to the larger community. The Heart Space Cafe began as a monthly gathering, where people could come together for good food, good conversation, and heart-centered healing.

I enjoyed hosting a gathering where people felt emotionally safe, welcome and able to speak and listen from the heart. However, over the years, as people's lives got busier, with increasing demands and decreasing personal time, this face to face forum became more work to sustain. In time, those of us who lived in the house realized we were burned out, so the gatherings stopped.

As I have reflected on how to connect with others and stay connected in this internet age, the idea of establishing a virtual Heart Space Cafe seemed like a natural evolution. While I have not explored the world of internet social networking too much, I can't help but notice the growth of this cultural phenomenon as I read the Wall St. Journal each day at the gym!

So, over the next few months, with the help of some far more technosavvy friends and colleagues, I will be designing and birthing the new Heart Space Cafe on www.heartspacecafe.com. For sure, blog and forum capability will be built into this new website to facilitate the exchange of ideas. And some of the questions I receive from people who have read my books, attended my workshops or simply found me on the internet can be answered more thoughtfully in a more public place.

I look forward to bringing you a meaningful, interactive forum through www.heartspacecafe.com, where through both speaking and listening, you can both enrich and express your heart!

Find out more.... 


 Upcoming Workshops and On-going Groups
 

Rowe Retreat 11/06 The first weekend in November, I had the great privilege of leading an Embracing the Power of the Heart retreat at the Rowe Camp and Conference Center in Rowe, MA. Deep, deep thanks to Doug Wilson, Prue Berry and team for maintaining an incredibly loving and nourishing venue for doing EKP!

If you would like to participate in an EKP retreat, I will be returning to Kripalu in Lenox, MA to lead a Healing the Traumatized Heart retreat March 16 - 18. This promises to be a meaningful and enriching weekend of healing.
For more information or to register, go to www.kripalu.org.


EKP opportunities in Newton include:
  • 1/21 Healing the Traumatized Heart Workshop
  • On-going Tuesday night EKP Body Psychotherapy Group
  • On-going Thursday night EKP Body Psychotherapy Group


For more information on the 1/21 workshop or the on-going EKP therapy groups, see www.healingheartpower.com.


Find out more.... 


 About Linda
 Body Psychotherapy and Coaching for Individuals, Couples and Groups

Linda Marks, MSM, is pioneer in body psychotherapy who has developed, taught and practiced Emotional-Kinesthetic Psychotherapy (EKP) for 22 years. Author of LIVING WITH VISION and HEALING THE WAR BETWEEN THE GENDERS, she co-founded the Massachusetts Association of Body Psychotherapists and Counseling Bodyworkers and is the founder of the Boston Area Sexuality and Spirituality Network. She holds degrees from Yale and MIT, and has a vital almost 11-year-old son.

To find out more about Linda.... 


You may also want to visit www.sexspirit.net to see the wonderful programs the Boston Area Sexuality and Spirituality Network has put together for 2007!

Heartfully,


Linda Marks
HealingHeartPower.com

phone: (617)965-7846