Claim your creative sensory walking practice with TEDx Speaker and nature lover Amy Oestreicher for an interactive online workshop series
Since COVID struck, walking has been incredibly important, especially to get off of our digital screens and out of our zoom boxes. We need to feel our body not mediated through technology, reminding ourselves where we are, the bodies we're in, and the moment we have right now.
Join multidisciplinary artist,TEDx Speaker, PTSD Specialist, nature-lover and teaching artist Amy Oestreicher, for a series of six online workshops to claim your own walking practice for connection, discovery, resilience, and play.
"We all know that walking is good for your health, but why is it a vital tool for finding ourselves and connection? Can we feel less alone, even as we walk a path on our own?
Definitely! In this series, I'll introduce you to fun, creative prompts, using your 'superhero five senses' to experience walking as your go-to guide and a never-ending source of joy, play, resilience, and discovery. You'll experience the world like you never had before and find that the biggest gifts are right under our noses - and feet."
Six Prompts will be posted online here and in the Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/walk2d... every Friday starting on August 14th.
Six optional, participatory zoom workshops will be held on Sundays at 4pm starting August 23rd.
Walking can be art, a meditation, pilgrimage, or simply as a means to get from one place to another. Walks can be guided by intuition, by boredom, by maps, by sound, touch, smell, or simply by chance. During the time of the pandemic, many have found solace in regular neighborhood walks. This workshop will explore the many strategies by which we can use art of walking.
Walking has played a huge role in my own recovery from trauma, rediscovery of myself, and reintegrating into the world around me. Walking helped me find a place again in life, and continues to guide my body, mind, spirit, and the person I can continue to create with every step I take," Oestreicher shares. "I can't wait to share with others how walking can really open up our eyes and hearts - it's so much more than a 'walking is good exercise' mentality for me. Walking has really fueled my resilience, creativity, self-development, and continues to inspire me."
Oestreicher feels especially now, claiming a walking practice is more important than ever. "I'm excited that the internet makes it possible for anyone to participate. I want to reach people in every kind of environment, community, and living situation right now. You'd be surprised how easy it can be to claim any kind of walking process for yourself no matter where you are, and how it can really change your life." Oestreicher's memoir, "My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful," shares her discoveries in walking, and was recently honored for 2nd place Best Autobiography for the CT Press Club Awards.
If you'd like to register for the zoom workshops, have questions, concerns or would like to learn more, e-mail Amy at lovemydetour@gmail.com. To see the prompts posted, visit https://www.amyoes.com/walk or join the Facebook Group.