Workshop Descriptions | Teachers College Columbia University

Laughter yoga is a joy based stress relief program that cultivates childlike playfulness in groups. Participants will learn about the practices and benefits of laughter yoga and explore their inner child. The workshop will predominantly be experiential with 15-20 minutes of laughter yoga practice with relaxation and reflection at the end.

Facilitator: April Frazier

This workshop will offer an overview of the body’s response to stress, the short and long term effects of stress on the body, as well as energetic theory that connects mind and body. Evidence-based research utilizing self-compassion as a treatment for stress will be presented.  In addition experiential exercises that support the embodiment of the concept of self-compassion will be offered by connecting mind and body energetically through breathing, mindfulness, and visualization techniques.  Participants will gain knowledge on a holistic approach to the management of stress, including resources about mindful self-compassion, breathing techniques and opportunity for experiential learning.

Facilitator: Susan Reardon

The purpose of this workshop is to show participants how physical activity can be utilized as a doorway to uncovering a deeper spiritual consciousness. Participants will discover how to apply empirically supported mindfulness and meditative practices to enhance their physical performance, mental proficiency and also, the ability to transfer the information and techniques into other areas of their lives.

Facilitator: Matthew Evans

The average person has 50,000 thoughts a day. It’s been estimated that 70% of those thoughts are negative. Studies have shown that negative self-talk leads to higher stress levels, anxiety, low self-esteem and decreased physical health.  LOVE 365: Self-Love From the Inside, Out is a research-based, experiential program designed to explore our negative self-talk, rumination and limiting beliefs and offer practical tools to cultivate self-love. With spirituality as the foundation, this workshop blends mind-body awareness, group sharing and cognitive behavioral techniques as a means for dis-identifying with negative self-talk and embarking on a journey toward self-compassion, self-understanding and self-love.

Facilitators: Suza Scalora & Giuliana Cortese

Creativity is typically not encouraged in the traditional Foreign Language Learning (FLL) classroom. Rather than being seen as part of the learning process, creativity is often pushed aside in order to focus on the development and drilling of concrete and measurable skills: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation. This workshop posits the radical notion that the FLL classroom provides an ideal landscape for creative growth and self-development. Our workshop offers practical demonstrations of creative writing and embodiment exercises that develop greater self-expression. Once challenged creatively, students can engage more fully, naturally, and spontaneously in the language learning process. Pushing the boundaries of the FLL classroom leads to a higher improvement of individual language skills. It also allows both teachers and students to benefit from a more positive, productive, and collaborative learning environment in which students feel safe to push their own boundaries, too.

Facilitator: Erika Nelson

Maintaining the Posture day-by day, moment-to-moment, unexpected, uninvited emotions show up in our homes, our schools and the workplace, hijacking us away from the present moment.  Research has provided the information and practices that support a healthy balance.  Susan Mordecai and Claudia Polzer will offer experiential practices using body awareness, dialogue, creativity, poetry and prose as we explore what it means to maintain the posture for a happier life.

Facilitator: Susan Mordecai

This workshop is dedicated to teaching the art of improvisational performance to educators, healers and parents. It will provide techniques for engaging young people’s imagination, innate humor and intuitive intelligence through improv games and activities. Improvisational performance is an incredible tool for helping to improve student self-esteem, creativity and overall enthusiasm toward learning. This workshop is a hands on experience. So get ready to have fun, play and maybe discover something about yourself along the way!

Facilitator: Katie Cassis

This 90-minute yoga flow (vinyasa) class will explore the philosophical underpinnings behind yoga—The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali—and their connections to Western psychology. Unlike most forms of exercise, yoga is not purely a physical practice; yogic philosophy is designed to cultivate psychological insight, emotional connectedness, mind-body awareness, and spiritual unity. This class will examine the theories behind yoga and their relationship to physical and emotional health (15 minutes lecture, 75 minutes physical practice).

Facilitator: Jennifer Drapkin

This workshop is about embracing the challenges of parenting. No one has the manual. In each moment, you and your child write the curriculum. Do you want to write it while half-asleep or fully awakened? Dr. Shefali Tsabary, author of The Conscious Parent, would tell you that engaged presence is the essential ingredient for conscious parenting. Conscious parenting allows you to know what’s required in the moment and helps to foster an authentic connection with your child. Conscious parenting is an opportunity to grow along with your child on the journey of life.

What would parenting look like if you experienced less stress and anxiety, had more control over your emotions, and had the space for reflection before taking action? What would parenting feel like if you had compassion for yourself and your child instead of feeling like you constantly have to improve yourself and fix your child? In this class you will discover how challenges in parenting can be used as lessons for your own spiritual development. Using mindfulness techniques, you can embark on the sacred journey of parenthood with the tools necessary for success.

In this workshop you will learn breathing exercises that will help you manage daily stressors of parenting. You will learn practices that support compassion for yourself and your child. You will learn how habitual and conditioned thinking impacts your parenting decisions and behaviors. These mindfulness practices will allow you to parent from your spiritual center enriching your parenting experience throughout your lifetime.

Facilitators: Jan Fielder & Jeanette Sandor

Compassion and presence are two human capacities that virtually all the world's religious wisdom traditions deem important to cultivate. In this experiential workshop, you will try out various practices and learn principles, supported by contemporary science, that enhance the growth and embodiment of these qualities. 

Facilitators: Clayton McClintock & Jan Fielder

Please join us in an intimate circle gathering “storytelling style,” exploring the meaning of community building and connection through the practice of Council. “Council is a practice of open heartfelt expression and attentive empathic listening.”

Practiced around the world in many organizations, communities, prisons and educational settings, including more than 50 public and private Los Angeles-area schools, Council is a practice that supports team building, conflict resolution, culture shifting, and intercultural understanding.

Council work can impact every facet of your life and be practiced in the smallest of communities (i.e. your interaction with a person at the grocery store) to larger, complex communities. In this Council-based experience, you will be reminded of the importance of how you show up in your personal and professional lives. We invite you to join us in this practice of moving from head to heart!

Facilitators: Carrie Shumway, Jennifer Gatto, Sarah Sherman 

Regardless of who we are and where we come from, we can all remember a time when we have been self-critical towards our shortcomings and perceived inadequacies. In this workshop, we will explore how we can use Mindful Self-Compassion practices and some Buddhist teachings on suffering to nurture ourselves with kindness, and meet our struggles with friendliness, equanimity and compassion.

Facilitator: Natalie Chua Yi Ling

As an offering of the earth, clay is a medium which invites and contains our untold stories. In this experiential workshop, we will venture into our inner wisdom through playful meditation with clay. 

Facilitator: Zahra Komeylian

This  workshop is for everyone longing to experience their creative self in action.  Put on your silly shoes and move to the music as you help shape an interactive art installation using found objects. Come share your child self with like-hearted others and explore creative process without fear or judgment. No rhythm or experience required!

Facilitators: Claudia Polzer, Maria Ryan, Nomi Beesen