April 1, 2013 

HealingHeartPower Newsletter

Reclaiming the Power of the Heart
In This Issue
When Life Becomes Too hard
Community As Healer Workshops, Boys to Men New England
Join Our Mailing List!
About Linda
Me and Flora

Linda Marks, MSM, is pioneer in body psychotherapy who has developed, taught and practiced Emotional-Kinesthetic Psychotherapy (EKP) for more than two decades.

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 17-year-old son.

To find out more about Linda . . .



 HealingHeartPower Calendar
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Would you like to learn how to do Emotional Kinesthetic Psychotherapy(EKP)?   


If you would like to apprentice in EKP, you may want to consider participating in a half-day EKP workshop or be part of the Community As Healer group.   

 

To be scheduled

Community As Healer

workshop

Newton, MA 

1 - 4 pm

 

April 18

Defining Moments for Therapists:

Book Release

New York City

 

April 21, 2013

2nd Annual "Voices of Boys and Men" Benefit Concert for Boys to Men New England

Scullers Jazz Club

Boston, MA

 

May 21

Boston Jazz Singers Showcase at Ryles

Cambridge, MA

8 pm

 

If you would like to train in EKP, contact Linda

 

If you would like to sponsor a

Healing the Traumatized Heart workshop, a Willingness:  The Key to Successful Relationships workshop or a Community As Healer workshop,

contact LSMHEARTaol.com



 
Welcome

Creating events that integrate music, community and a good cause spark the flame of my passion.  I am grateful to have helped bring two amazing events together this past month, and am counting down to the 2nd Annual "Voices of Boys and Men Benefit Concert" for Boys to Men New England at Scullers Jazz Club on Sunday April 21, 2013.

 

This year's theme is "The Power of Voice," and we have wonderful adult and teen voices and performers to inspire you and get your feet tapping, as well as two amazing keynote speakers:  World renowned jazz singer Rebecca Parris and Williams College head football coach Aaron Kelton.  

 

Get your tickets now and buy tickets for kids from Boston Charter Schools to attend!  Read below for more information.

 

I will be singing again at Ryles at the Boston Jazz Singers Showcase on Tuesday, May 21 at 8 pm.

 

On April 18, a new book, Defining Moments for Therapists, edited by Serge Prengel and Lynn Somerstein, will hit the streets.  I am proud to be one of the authors of a chapter in the book.

  
The next  Community As Healer workshop will be scheduled in Newton, MA after the Benefit Concert is over.

All funds raised at these workshops are donated to organizations working to make the world a better place for kids.
 

This month, I am finding myself facing many dark shadows, as the pieces of both my inner and outer life present what can feel like an overwhelming set of challenges.  In graduate school, one of my professors commented, "When one part of your life is challenging, it is stressful.  When two parts of your life are challenging, it is high stress.  When three parts of your life are stressful, it is burn out."

In that context comes "When Life Becomes Too Hard."

  
To help raise the visibility of EKP, I have established a new HealingHeartPower meetup group.  To join our meetup group....

  

Your comments and feedback are always welcome!    

Heartfully,

Linda  

What is EKP?
EKP is Emotional-Kinesthetic Psychotherapy, a heart-centered, body-centered psychotherapy method Linda Marks developed and has taught and practiced for nearly twenty years. Working with the heart, touch with permission, the wisdom of the body and the intuitive guidance of the spirit, EKP creates a special sense of intimacy that deeply touches and transforms most all who participate.

Participants can be "client," witness or helper as an individual group member has a "turn" to do deeper heart-centered, body-centered psychospiritual work in the center. Since the electromagnetic field of the heart extends out 10 - 12 feet from our bodies, as we go deeper and open our hearts, we are all touched.

EKP helps restore our capacity as organs of perception. The skin is our largest organ, and a source of soul deep knowing, perception and expression. When our hearts and hands can work as one, we move beyond defenses safely and respectfully and find freedom, connection and expression.

 

Beige silk and pearls
Linda Marks, MSM

  

Emotional safety is the foundation of EKP.  When we are emotionally safe, we are more aware of feelings, sensations and deeper thoughts in our bodies and hearts.  You will have a chance to listen to and care for your heart as you help create and hold a safe healing space for everyone's heart.  Experience what we mean when we say that in EKP, "when anyone has a turn, everyone has a turn."

 

2nd Annual Benefit Concert for Boys to Men New England:  Accessing the Power of Your Voice
2013 Benefit Concert Flyer
This year's Benefit Concert for Boys to Men New England will take place on Sunday, April 21 from 5 - 7:30 pm at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston.

Our female keynote speaker and headliner is world renowned jazz singer Rebecca Parris.  Our male keynote speaker is Williams College head football coach, Aaron Kelton.  Both Rebecca and Aaron will speak to this year's theme, "Accessing the Power of Your Voice."

Our performers will include returning favorites (father and son duo, Jesse and Jack Gauthier, award winning teen barbershop group G20, and award winning adult barbershop group Sounds of Concord...) and some new and inspirational talents (including five piece family band, the Kid Jazz Band...).

Tickets are $75, available by sending a check payable to Boys to Men New England to BTMNE c/o Linda Marks, 3 Central Avenue, Newton, MA 02460.  Please include your name, e-mail and cell phone number with your check.

You can also support BTMNE by:

1.  Sponsoring a charter school student from Codman Academy, Brooks Academy or Prospect Hill Academy to attend the concert.  (Send in $75 payable to BTMNE and you will sponsor one student to attend).

2.  Making a donation of any amount to BTMNE.

3.  Taking out an ad in our program ($250 for a business card sized ad).
  
When Life Becomes Too Hard

                      

It has been a long time since my days of graduate school and organizational development classes with Ed Schein. It is interesting what I remember and what I forget.  One thing that stands out from Ed's classes was our study of stress and burn out.  When one thing in your life is challenging, that is stressful.   When two areas of your life are challenging, it is high stress.  But when three areas of your life are challenging, you move into the zone called "burn out."

 

There are indeed times when life just becomes TOO HARD.  Those of us in the "sandwich" generation can find ourselves in the middle of challenges of both our children as they move through their journey towards independence and our aging parents as they move through the last phases of their lives.  Add in instability in close relationships, work challenges, and without a strong foundation, inner and outer, the structure of ones own life can start to crack and crumble.

 

I have moved through times like this before.  And I do not enjoy finding myself in a time of this flavor right now.  At times like this dark shadows surface to be face, embraced and moved through.  Not what my heart would wish for.  There nonetheless.  And demanding attention like a boulder in the middle of the highway.  I say the "Serenity Prayer" daily as a mantra.  I take time to sit and breath through the pain, and try to balance my inner process with the requirements of my day.

 

I have to trust that God is giving me a new set of challenges to grow me into a better, deeper person, and that some light will have to be there are the end of the tunnel.  It is hard to write articles for a newsletter from a shadow-ridden place.  Our culture instills the expectation that when we share in public we must be positive and inspiring.  So, it can feel shameful to admit, "I don't feel very positive and inspired."  I try my best to uphold my responsibilities.  Sometimes I can keep moving.  Sometimes I just have to stop.

 

I have to trust that deeper roots will come from this period of time--both inner and outer.  And perhaps there is something of value to others of being honest and forthright.  I know all of us go through dark times sometimes.  Part of the human condition.

Workshops:  Community As Healer 

Community As Healer

To be scheduled in Newton

$50 suggested donation will go to Boys to Men New England, the Life Is Good Kids Foundation and other organizations committed to making the world better for children.

Be part of a healing village doing EKP (Emotional-Kinesthetic Psychotherapy) body-centered psychotherapy work in community and see what we mean in EKP when we say, "when anyone has a turn, everyone has a turn."  We will create a space of emotional safety, incorporating a heart meditation, facilitated dialogue, and watching body language and non-verbal cues for the person having a turn.

Learn about the roles of client, witness and helper in EKP as we create a safe container with our collective heart field in 20 minute turns.  No matter what role you play, our goal is for you to feel nourished and supported!

Linda Marks, MSM, is a body psychotherapy coach and mediator who has worked with individuals, couples, families and groups for 27 years in Newton, MA.  Helping people connect, feel heard and understood so they have healthier, happier relationships is at the heart of her work.   Linda is committed to creating a better world for children and serves as Board Co-Chair of Boys to Men New England, serves on the Board of Directors for Ben Speaks, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Flo Creed Jacobson Foundation.


Creating Better Lives for Kids:  Boys to Men, Flo Creed-Jacobson Foundation, BenSpeaks, Life Is Good Kids Foundation
One of my greatest commitments is to support organizations that work to make the world a better place for kids.  Four of the organizations I give time to are Boys to Men New England, the Flo Creed-Jacobson Foundation, BenSpeaks and the Life Is Good Kids Foundation.

In the months ahead, I will share more information about each of these important organizations and the transformational work they are doing.  All proceeds from my Community As Healer workshops are donated to these organizations or others like them.

Boys to Men offers adult-teen mentoring in community, helping teenage boys find their voices and grow into the men they want to be.  We offer a community group that meets regularly, and also help schools develop school-based programs.  Our 2nd Annual "Voices of Boys and Men" Benefit Concert will take place at Scullers Jazz Club on April 21, 2013. To learn more...

My first blog at www.heartspacecafe.com/blog will still be active, but it is built in forum software, which many people find more cumbersome to use than official "blog" software.

In an effort to cultivate more dialogue in more contemporarily relevant ways, my new blog at HealingHeartPower.blogspot.com is user friendly, and even something you can subscribe to.
Please let me know what you think of this new blog.

Heartfully,


Linda Marks


email: lsmheart@aol.com
phone: (617) 965-7846
web: www.HealingHeartPower.com