Chicago Therapy Collective’s 13-Week Healing & Wellness Series is a weekly space for trans, non-binary and queer community members to tune inwards, explore a variety of healing modalities, and build community. Two classes will be held every Saturday at Cheetah Gym in Andersonville starting March 2nd and ending May 25th. All classes will be facilitated by our team of talented trans, non-binary, and queer teachers. See Saturday March 16th classes below. A full class schedule and teacher roster will be available soon.
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SATURDAY MARCH 16TH CLASSES
- 2pm-3:15pm: Somatic Embodiment with Adi
- 3:30pm-4:45pm: Sound Healing with Mirza
*Sign up for one or both classes. You must reserve your spot. Capacity is capped at 15 students for each class.
Program Vision:
Our intention for this Healing and Wellness Series is to offer our community curated healing and wellness practices across various modalities that collectively nurture us amid the tumultuous times we find ourselves in. Our goal is to disrupt the status quo of stress, isolation, and limited resources for accessible, inclusive health, wellness, and care by providing a wealth of sorely needed offerings. Through the series, we will strive to create an immersive multisensory experience that rebuilds connections between the mind, body, and soul, and bridges between one another.
SOMATIC EMBODIMENT
Embodiment Class: Deepening in the neck + shoulders
This class will focus on building the skill of staying connected to the body and becoming an intentional observer of it. We’ll start with some stretching exercises before we move into different postures to explore the energy that might be living or stuck in the neck + shoulders.
Adi Barreto
Adi Barreto (they/he) is a 2nd generation Mexican and Puerto Rican, queer, trans, and non-binary embodiment practitioner, facilitator, body worker, and dancer.
Adi is a part of a matriarchal lineage of healers that use breath work, natural elements, and ancestral practices to help us connect back to our bodies and one another. This offering was made to help share the knowledge and integrate practices with folks who are curious about embodiment, who might not be able to afford 1-1 sessions, and who want to build a healing community here in Chicago.
SOUND HEALING
3:30-4:45 PM
The process in which a practitioner uses sound and music to improve the mental, emotional and physical health of the listener/receiver. Sound healing offers an accessible way to engage with one’s own well-being without language. The healing process is based on the belief that dysregulation or disease in the body is a result of our natural resonance being out of tune or off balance, whether due to stress, illness or environmental factors. Sound healing significantly lessens tension, fatigue, anger and depression through working with frequencies, energies and vibrations. The experience can be either stand-alone or combined with other therapeutic work like breathwork, movement, writing, visualization and more. There are many styles, formats, and lengths to sound therapy sessions which are based on the individualized needs, preferences, and goals.
Mirza Shams
Mirza is a non-binary Egyptian-Levantine healthcare practitioner and multidisciplinary sound artist. As a healer, they incorporate social, mental and emotional justice through mindfulness and the cultural intersectionalities of sound, music and mental-health work, in order to support people in discovering their true-self and embarking on their healing journeys. Mirza has an M.D. in General Medicine from Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. They see themselves as a conduit for divine sound, healing, wisdom, love and kindness in the world. As an immigrant, neurodivergent, queer and trans individual, Mirza is deeply committed to the importance of hope, vulnerability and rewriting the narratives of self knowledge for survivors of harm. Their approach to healing is informed by their education, creative practices, spirituality and cultures.