Blog

The Embodied Soul!
The gift of an embodied soul is connecting to something beyond ourselves, to sense deep meaning in life, and to be with all that is around and in us (the natural world, others, and presence of self). Working with embodied soul allows us to:
-Tap into Lifeforce/Source/God energy
-Enliven
-Navigate via our internal compass as we make life choices
-Cultivate authenticity, creativity, and intuition
-Dance with mystery and uncertainty
All classes over the next several months will be moving with SPIRIT and SOUL. Come checkout a SOUL MOVES class and the Sweet Surrender MINI RETREAT Turn-of-the-Year.

The Therapeutic Power of Music
Most of us have been there, either at a concert, or listening to the radio in the car, and a song comes on that, WOW, feels like it was written for you, cuts to the core, moves you in some remarkable way. Music is powerful. Around the globe and for ions music has been part of human culture. We use music to celebrate, regulate, express, dance, and to be moved.
Research supports that music has many benefits. At Coriander Living Collective, we use biolateral and bilateral music while doing BRAINSPOTTING and EMDR. These special types of music enhance right-left brain communication, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s a great tool, I often teach clients about to regulate and calm their nervous systems outside of sessions as well.

The Neuroscience of Being Human and How Open Floor Practice Can Help!
Open Floor International practice allows us to learn how to be in our bodies and in relationships well. Open Floor International teaches principles that are core to being human. Open Floor International practice increases attunement with self and others, awareness, neural pathways, thought/emotion circuits, mindfulness, and empathy. It provides a safe container to work with our nervous systems and those of others. It encourages shifting out of our stress response system and into our social engagement system. It creates opportunity for challenge and comfort, both of which are needed for human growth.
Intrigued? Ready to give Open Floor a try? Come join Open Floor International Teacher-in-Training, Cori Hildebrandt, MA, LPC WI, LPCC MN for a 3-Part Open Floor Series starting October 8th, 2023. Come join us and workout your system from the top of your brain to the bottoms of your feet!

The 4-Doorways to the Mind
Open Floor defines an Embodied Mind as “open to the vast landscape of knowledge, intuition and imagination, while remaining connected to body and heart.” Open Floor teaches 4 Doorways to Embodied Mind to support us in making sense of the different aspects of mind: 1. Thinking Mind, 2. Psycho-Emotional Mind, 3. Creative Mind, and 4. Big Mind.
Come explore your Embodied Mind, join Open Floor Teacher-in-Training, Cori Hildebrandt, MA, LPC WI, LPCC MN at an Open Floor workshop or class! Registration now open!

Do You Know When to Reach Out? And When to Pull Back?
Think about little babies, how they cuddle and contract into tight snuggly balls, and how they cry out and expand their bodies when they need something. Or as they learn to venture out and reach for objects and people around them. How a dysregulated child might hide or lash out with hitting. Or how an adult in conflict might avoid or be aggressive. These are all examples of the Open Floor International Core Movement Resource of EXPAND AND CONTRACT. We are constantly opening and closing and extending and pulling back to center.

Do You Live Your Life with Potency and Direction?
In life, we must be able to move, think, and feel with focus and direction. Turn right, not left. Come here, not there. Run, don’t crawl. Being able to move with intention and energy serves us well in life. This is the Open Floor International Core Movement Resource of VECTOR. Come hone your sense of VECTOR:
• Open Floor Conscious Dance 101 3-Part Series starting Sunday, October 8th, 2023 at 8:30-9:30am at Inspiring Actions in River Falls, WI!

Are You Able to RELEASE Tension, Emotions, and Thoughts with Ease?
RELEASE is one of Open Floor’s Core Movement Resources. Release is about being able to release “tension, emotion, thought and the entire body to the will of life force…”
Come practice your ability to RELEASE through meditation and conscious movement with Open Floor! What you practice on the dance floor builds awareness and skills for navigating life off the dance floor.
• Moving Meditation & You-Pick Blooms! Saturday, August 12th, 2023 from 10am-12n at Two Bees & A Bud Flower Farm in New Richmond, WI!
• Open Floor Conscious Dance 101 3-Part Series starting Sunday, October 8th, 2023 at 8:30-9:30am at Inspiring Actions in River Falls, WI!

What Is an Embodied Mind?
The mindful movement and conscious dance practice of Open Floor International is an embodiment practice. Embodiment is about inhabiting our full selves. I just returned from an Intensive 9-Day Training on “Embodied Mind” in Northern Washington! The Open Floor Classes, I will be offering through October 2023 will focus on exploring an “Embodied Mind.”

Come Find Your Center: Where Do You End and Others Begin? Where Do You Go When You Move Away from Pain?
I am honored to be hosting a special one evening workshop with Healing Roots Wellness Center, The Center Will Hold on Friday, May 5th, 2023. Come explore your sense of center and find and feel your edges using the mindful movement, conscious dance practice of Open Floor International. What we practice on the dance floor cultivates awareness and insight that informs how we move through life off the dance floor.

Release Stress with Open Floor Moving Meditation
Stress is a common occurrence for many of us! Stress really is part of life. The problem with stress is when it is chronic, overwhelming, or when we don’t have good stress management tools.
The mindfulness, resource-based movement practice of Open Floor International is one of the best ways, I know to release stress and allow the body to self-regulate. Stress typically comes with muscle tension and physical body symptoms, so it makes sense to move your body to release stress, right?!

Come Retreat, Recharge, and Welcome in 2023 with Intention! Ditch the Resolutions! HELLO ANNUAL REVIEW AND MINI RETREAT!
The Release 2022, Hello 2023 Mini Retreat includes guided experiential exercises to process and release 2022 and dream and systematically plan for 2023. We’ll move, meditate, create, connect with others, self-reflect, share a nutritious lunch, and take home an Annual Review Workbook.
Defining: Health, Trauma, & Healing
Hello! Recently, Coriander Living Collective made website updates adding Stephanie Larson, MSW, MN LICSW, WI LCSW to our practice, adding language on Health, Trauma, & Healing, and a page on EMDR & Brainspotting. Take a look!

What Are You Moving Away from as 2022 Ends and Towards as 2023 Begins?
In life, we are constantly moving towards somethings, and away from other things. It could be people, places, feelings, or thoughts. Being aware of what we move towards and what we move away from demonstrates our preferences, habits, fears, desires, and boundaries. The more awareness you have about how and what you move towards and away from, and why, the better able you are to be an intentional choicemaker. We always have the power of choice.

Common Sense and Emotional Embodiment
Embodiment is a form of mindfulness. Mindfulness is about cultivating a deep sense of awareness and understanding of ‘Who am I?’ The better you understand your inner emotional landscape, the more authentically you can show up in the world. And with all the challenges facing our world, we need creative solutions brought by authentic people. How can I sense you? If I can’t sense me?

How to Be Steady in an Unsteady World? FIND YOUR CENTER!
According to Open Floor International, signs finding your center might be a growth edge for you might include:
• Feeling clumsy, unstable
• Getting easily overwhelmed, doubts self
• Confused, lacks focus, short attention span
• Feels hollow, lacks meaning or purpose
• Needy and not accountable in relationships
Come play with finding your center at Open Floor Dance 101 & Moving Meditation on Sunday, November 6th, 2022!

BEYOND TALK THERAPY: You Don’t Have to Talk About “It” to Heal “It!” + Welcome to Open Floor 101!
Coriander Living Collective offers three types of intervention that are able to access the lower brainstem, middle emotional brain, and body to metabolize stress and trauma responses: 1) Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), 2) Brainspotting, and 3) Open Floor resource based-mindful movement classes and workshops.
This Fall, I have two OPEN FLOOR DANCE/MOVING MEDITATION Series scheduled. These are beginner courses for those new to mindful movement and dance. Look, come move, heal, and claim wholeness!

Our 4 Relational Hungers
As human beings, we are relational beings. Relationships are intertwined with our survival. Relationships meet our needs for belonging, security, and significance. We’re in relationship not just with people, but with ourselves, nature, spirit, ancestry, creativity, and ideas.
The mindful movement and conscious dance practice of Open Floor International identifies Four Relational Hungers.
• SOLITUDE: left alone, self, turn inward
• CONNECTION: excited/nourished by partner, intimacy
• BELONGING: part of group, union, welcomed
• SPIRIT: part of flow, be held by something beyond
The 4 Dimensions of Embodiment
The mindful movement and conscious dance practice of Open Floor International is an embodiment practice. Embodiment is about inhabiting our full selves. Being at home in our bodies. Our ability to connect with what it means to be human and to be moving through life.
Open Floor teaches and identifies 4 Dimensions of Embodiment: physical, emotional, mind, and soul.

The Open Floor Movement Cycle
One of the anchors of Open Floor practice is the Movement Cycle which includes:
1. Open Attention: We open both our inner and outer awareness, arrive for practice, and welcome whatever is noticed.
2. Enter with an Embodied Anchor: We enter our bodies and sensation.
3. Explore: Here we deepen and broaden our awareness, expand, and experiment with guided and self-directed inquiries.
4. Settle: And to end, we slow down, integrate, and allow our nervous systems to encode new pathways.

GROUND/GROUNDING/GROUNDED
Without ground where do you stand? Come connect to what’s below you and in you, build safety, and sense support. Practice GROUNDING through meditation and movement with Open Floor! Two opportunities coming up this summer:
• Open Floor 101 3-Part Series starting Thursday, June 30th, 2022 at 9:30am at Inspiring Actions in River Falls, WI!
• Open Floor Moving Meditation & Wine Spritzer Social at Forestville Vines Winery, Sunday, August 14th, 2022!