W O R K S H O P S

MORNING WORKSHOPS

1. "And the Trees Shall Clap their Hands – stories of the earth", with ANNIE BLAMPIED (UK)

What is the story that the Earth has to tell us today? Our own healing and awakening is not separate from the Earth's renewal, for the landscape of our soul is mirrored throughout her kingdoms. We shall explore ways of uniting with the living presence of the Earth as well as summoning a Council of all Beings and listening into the silence.

      ANNIE BLAMPIED is an ordained Interfaith Minister and spiritual counsellor. She is also a teacher and consultant in holistic and Waldorf education and was the founding teacher of Moray Steiner School at Findhorn. She travels widely giving workshops on spiritual practice, children and angels, trees and elemental beings.

2. "Healing Words in Hospitals – stories during illness and recovery", with BERIT GODAGER (Norway).

For the last five years Berit has worked with children in hospitals and taught storytelling to doctors and nurses. She is currently telling stories to and with children suffering from cancer and spinal injuries. In the workshop she will share her experiences and offer opportunities to try different storymaking techniques.

      BERIT GODAGER has been a curative teacher in Waldorf education, a storyteller and a puppetplayer for many years. She currently tells stories with courageous sensitivity in gardens and in hospitals with children.

3. "The Power of Myth and Working with Youth", with MARIT JERSTAD (Norway).

How can we awaken in young people the awareness of the living roots that wondertales and myths have in their lives, and help them experience the great inspiration and courage for life they offer? Through experiential exercises and time for conversation, learn to help young people tell myths and fairytales and their own stories to others.

      MARIT JERSTAD has a long background of teaching and telling stories. She is the author of a book on storytelling in Norwegian. In 1995 she started the first storytelling training in Höjskolen in Oslo. Working with children and youth, she is a puppet player and has researched myths and fairytales for many years.

4. "Stories of God – journey to the Well of Paradise", with MATS REHNMAN and HENRIK LARSSON (Sweden).

All religions and cultures have stories of how everything began, the tasks of mankind and the mysteries of life and death. They show us pathways to the Well of Life and the Gate of Paradise and bring us to the edge, where we stand wordlessly before the Sacred. This week we will examine some of these great stories which have been carried from generation to generation, and look for the light they shed on our times and in our own lives.

      MATS REHNMAN is an artist, author and storyteller. He has been telling stories from around the world for many years on stage, in schools, librairies and at festivals. He is the Artistic Director of FABULA International Storytelling Festival Stockholm and one of three inaugurators of World Storytelling Day, 21st of March.

      HENRIK LARSSON is a priest and storyteller. He has been working with myths and fairytales as a way of deepening experience with young people and adults in schools and churches. He currently works as a priest at Ersta-Sköndal Högskola, Stockholm.

5. "Journey to the Inner Storyteller – the power of the spontaneous tale", with ALEXANDER MACKENZIE (Ireland/UK).

We all have a story that longs to be told. This "trapped" story is true North on the compass of our emotional well-being. In this week we will explore the spontaneous and biographical unfolding story that seeks to be told. In this week we will explore the spontaneous and biographical unfolding story that seeks to be told. When we feel listened to, our inner story speaks the language of the heart and tells us what we may become. Having the opportunity to speak out such an inner story in pictures can be a sacrament.

      ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, an Irish storyteller based in the UK, travels widely with his inspiring workshops. He discovered storytelling when running a children's home for emotionally disturbed children. He is the founding director of Unicorn School of Storytelling (1995) and a co-founder of the business consultancy, Parable, working with improvisational storytelling in corporate environments.

6. "Heroes, Dragons and a Crock of Gold – the quest for meaning in worklife", with INGER LISE OELRICH (Denmark/Sweden).

Finding the true thread of our story in worklife can transform routine, stress and drudgery into an enlightening experience, rich with possibilities. Whether navigating corporate environments or striving to create meeaningful work out of small means, holding to our deeper goals demands perseverance, clarity and courage. Through playful and inspiring storytelling exercises we will explore our personal call to work and where this leads us.

      INGER LISE OELRICH (Denmark/Sweden) is a theatre director, storyteller, poet and teacher who has lived in many countries. She has worked with creativity and storytelling in adult education for the past 25 years. Besides a love of telling stories, her work at present is pioneering storytelling in business life and developing storytelling as a healing art in Scandinavia.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

7. "Storyteller as Steward: telling tales for social work and public health", with ALLISON COX (USA).

Effective in promoting health, strengthening families, building community and protecting the environment, storytelling is an important tool for social change. Through exercises, examples and stories, learn practical, tried and true pathways to violence prevention, substance abuse intervention, community development, and health education. With a multicultural perspective, discussions will include working with parents and infants, youth at risk, women's issues and elders.

      ALLISON COX has worked with storytelling as a mental health therapist, social worker and health promotion specialist for the past 22 years. She is coeditor and contributing author of "The Healing Heart" books on how to use storytelling to encourage caring families and build healthy communities. She has also been editor of the Healing Story Alliance's journal in the USA. She presents concerts and workshops internationally that encourage life, hope and laughter.

8. "Pearl of Great Price – discovering the path of the spirit through myth", with DUNCAN MACKINTOSH (South Africa/UK).

Step with both feet into the gnostic myth "The Hymn of the Soul", The subject of this ancient Persian myth is the soul´s journey from its divine origins into forgetfulness and sleep in the world of form and personality, before its awakening and recovery of its true divine nature. Discover the resonance of this profoundly archetypal story in each of our lives and in the challenges humanity faces now.

      DUNCAN MACKINTOSH has been researching the dynamic mystery of human spirituality and presence for many years. Born in South Africa, he teaches widely and at Emerson College, UK. As an actor and storyteller, he is co-founder of the Rose Theatre Co. He gives storytelling performances worldwide emphasizing the works of the Sufi mystics such as Rumi, to help unfold the mystery of who we truly are.

9. "The Physiology of Story – the art of storytelling in resonance with the human body", with NANCY MELLON (USA) and ASHLEY RAMSDEN (UK).

Through storytelling exercises, discover delightful and powerful ways to communicate directly with the human body. Journey into the secret patterning of heart, liver, lungs and our other major organs, to resonate with their creative tasks. Learn how to recognize their character, plot and language. You will discover picture language and storytelling techniques that stimulate creative expression and organ health.

      NANCY MELLON has taught and practiced storytelling as a healing art for many years in the USA and Europe. The author of "Storytelling and the Art of Imagination" and "Storytelling with Children", she is writing a new book about the resonance between stories and the whole human body.

      ASHLEY RAMSDEN is founding director of the international School of Storytelling at Emerson College in Sussex, UK, the longest running centre of its kind in Europe. Ashley has performed on all five continents with his acclaimed one-man shows and enlivening workshops. He is also one of the directors of Storytelling in Organisations, a consultancy that has worked widely in the business sector.

10. "The Way of the Heart – helping children and families develop courage", with ELISABETH MÖLLER-HANSEN and BENTE KLERKE (Denmark).

Stories that give us courage to walk a path of the heart, whether fairytales and legends or those we create, offer helpful images for the soul to counter the desolation of our time. If our children are not to stiffen through grownup anxieties and stress and "overinformation", we must strengthen the heart forces within them and also within ourselves. In this workshop you will learn to find the images that help us to believe in the transforming power of love.

      Dr. ELISABETH MÖLLER-HANSEN specializes in pediatrics and travels widely to give enlightening workshops and support to Waldorf Schools. An anthroposophical physician, she completed her medical training in Denmark and also worked with Weleda Pharmacy in Switzerland.

      BENTE KLERKE is a storyteller, voice therapist and Waldorf teacher with a background in theatre. She has given workshops for the past 20 years in which creative process and stories take a central place. She is currently researching the healing power of storytelling.

11. "Soothing the Sea and Melting the Stone – a journey towards healing female/male relationships", with MARY SUE SIEGEL (USA/Holland) and FRANS KOENIGS (Holland).

Working with the joy and pain of relationships, we will learn to enliven "the same old story" we tell ourselves about the other gender. Participants will sit in the "fire of now" and create healing stories that nourish everyone's longing for wholeness. Discover how to make something alive and magical out of the stuck and frozen aspects of your biography and mine, and welcome the new impulses that can awaken through storytelling.

      MARY SUE SIEGEL, a blending of five nationalities, was born on the banks of the mighty Missouri River on the prairie of the great plains of North America. Currently living in Holland, she practices body-oriented unitive psychotherapy and has a passion for transformational storytelling, focusing on identity and the great mysteries of life.

      FRANS KOENIGS was born in Holland 1951. He is a graphic designer and professional storyteller, who is continually fascinated by the deeper meaning of stories and their healing power. Whether performing in theatres, at parties, in schools, or working with elders, he looks for the thriving inner spark.

12. "Pathway to the Stars – the zodiac as a healing force", with ELIZA DE BERNAL OLIVEIRA TREADGOLD (Brazil/Spain) and PETER TREADGOLD (UK).

This workshop will bring together the constellations of the zodiac and storytelling. These star patterns live within us, continually challenging us to express our inner life. Representing moral forces, they inspire us to realize more fully our individual stories, and to use our abilities to serve the needs of our time. Art, movement and storytelling will awaken will and vision and new comprehension of life processes.

      ELIZA BERNAL DE OLIVEIRA TREADGOLD is a mother, teacher, storyteller, art therapist and counsellor. Born in Brazil, she has pioneered prevention and healing movements for families, individuals, schools and institutions. She is a co-founder with her husband, Peter Treadgold, of the School of Storytelling as a Healing Art in Madrid.

      PETER TREADGOLD was born in England and is a physicist, programmer, astrosopher and counsellor. His work has carried him to Germany, England, and Spain.

Besides workshops, presentations and performances, there were daily practice sessions with storytelling, including three groups with the theme "Creative Speech" led by Hélène Blomqvist (Sweden), Sigrid Ogland (Sweden) and Yvonne Dunderfelt (Finland).