in 2020 when the pandemic started, I decided to offer the first four months of my Qigong Instructor Training for free - in hopes that having a course of integrative arts training at home could help people feel more like they were in a sacred temple, rather than "locked down". In hopes too that we could somehow transmute some of the heavy "energy" we all seemed to be navigating both personally and collectively.
As we begin the third round in 2022, it gives me a feeling of truly beginning to do the work in envisioned for 'Templestyle' - to bring the sense of a sacred community to people all over the world, and to make widely available the ancient techniques by which to evoke that sacred temple from within!
This year, we're doing things a little differently. I wanted to widen the circle so that even people who didn't want to do the specific Qigong trainings in that course could still benefit from having the "space" held for them around whatever transformational and integrative practices they're working on right now. The principles are the same, whether you're beginning a qigong practice, deepening your yoga, doing "morning pages" or a gratitude journal, or any other growthful endeavor!
In order to "Widen the Circle," I'm envisioning a few "Tiers" of engagement
1. "Just the Crucible" - This is for folks who just want to engage in the space-holding and community aspect, and are bringing whatever integrative or transformative practices they're working on! This could be yoga, dance, my level two qigong instructors, anything really!
2. "Just the Practice Sessions" - these individuals want to engage in a journey of learning Qigong, but don't want to watch all the long instructional vids included in the Alchemical Immersion 108 course. They'll just do the "practice along" videos as many times per week or month as they'd like, or maybe come to some of the live classes.
3. "The Whole Enchilada" - this is the classic Alchemical Immersion 108 course participant, who commits to training for three sessions per week, of about 20 mins per session, watches the info videos, takes the quizzes etc. This is the version required if you'd like to go on to become certified as an instructor later.
We could probably do a number of other "tiers", like "I'm really serious!" where you' practice every day or even twice per day. Or the "choose your own adventure" where you sorta just mix and match however you like. The main point is all are welcome!
To facilitate such open enrollment, aside from just the Self-Paced Alchemical Immersion 108 archive, I plan to run communication through existing channels including my Newsletter (hit the 'subscribe' button above), Blog, Instagram, Templestyle Facebook Group (and page), and Youtube, (maybe even Tiktok?!).
Through these channels I'll facilitate a series of "21 Day Challenges" - one for each section of the Alchemical Immersion! Students can take part from beginning to end, like we did back in 2020, or they can jump in to any of those "challenges" at any time and enjoy.
In addition to that online guidance, myself and my TA, Mikyo will be holding a number of live-classes each month (dates posted shortly!). These consist of two Thursday evening check-ins where we go over general questions about your practice, and progress with your alchemical practices, and two Saturday classes where we'll practice that month's material.
So please make sure you're signed up for my newsletter (and if you should be, but don't see it each week, check your spam folder and "mark important"!). Link up with those social media avenues, sign up for the self-paced course, and I'll see you starting TOMORROW (Sat 4/16/22) to begin this year's Alchemical Immersion 108!
