Following is a presentation of the seminars offered by Allen and Victoire in 2007 :

Wisdom of the Body in the East and in the West

In these two days of study with Allen PITTMAN  and Victoire SLAKEY we will explore various martial and therapeutic systems.

The goal of the workshop is to open and broaden for the participants, whatever their physical practices may be, perspectives between the physical, psychological and philosophical aspects of the body arts. Individual human development will be paralleled with the evolution of martial arts, religions, traditional therapies and physical arts and this will facilitate reframing our personal practices into larger contexts.

Movements and exercises coming from a wide array of systems will be explored. (martial arts, yogas, traditional dances, shamanism etc..)

The Amazon Dance

The Amazon Dance is a choreography involving two people. We use the dance to discover- in ourselves- the critical elements which exist in any Relationship. There are three main variables we look at; community orientation, love or partner orientation, and the relationship between victim and predator.  

The movements are relational and therefore can be varied for a varied response in the partner. They were conceived by Allen Pittman after thirty years of study of martial arts, ten years of teaching children between the ages of 7 and 18 as well as a thorough study of the history of the Amazons. Allen has worked as both a teacher and a bodyguard. 

The Dance is a special training or Rite of Passage for woman of all ages to learn physical and psychological boundaries through the tactics required to fight and escape a man or attacker larger than themselves. The Dance is extremely helpful to teach children how to defend themselves and can also be taught therapeutically to people who have been traumatized and who need to recover health in their survival reflexes.

Because of the statistics of sexual abuse and the confusion often promoted among young women about their identity and the mythical conflict between beauty and strength, Allen hopes to train a team of women teachers or mentors who can then pass this dance with it's meanings, to needful students around the world.

The Amazon Dance is a system of self-defense created by Allen for women or for anyone who is in a vulnerable position in respect to a larger and stronger attacker. People who have a background in martial arts will also benefit from this teaching because Allen has distilled from his 30 years of practice the essential movements needed to insure survival in a critical combat situation. The movements are stripped of their encultured limitations and therefore reduced to the most essential and efficient tactical responses. Observation, strategy and the intelligent use of energy is the leitmotif of this system of self defense. 

In addition to the martial aspect, there is the psychology in relation to the themes of survival, death, and the limits and assets of both the human body and the human psyche. Movements oriented towards health and healing will therefore also be discussed and correspond to the therapeutic side of the warrior or of the bodyguard.

The Amazon Dance is the 7th level of a curriculum called "The Wisdom of the Body" which is a complete psychological and physical training system created by Allen Pittman and Victoire Slakey as a way to train people in modern times in how to be body conscious, present and able to respond to the peculiar demands of modern life.      

The tradition of Caucasoid Yoga is traceable to the many tribes of horseman living in the Caucasoid Mountain Range. Those cultures are now largely destroyed by war.

 In the early 1900's men came into Europe and America who taught this tradition and its related techniques. These men include Count Stefan Colonna Walewski, whose method we present in the seminar. The other men are Ottoman Hanish (from the Kun Lun mountain range), George Gurdjieff (Armenia) and Peter ("Benza") Deunov (Bulgaria). All of these men come from an ancient tradition which was scattered around the Black Sea. 

History indicates that these methods came with the migrations from Northern Persia in ancient times (as early as 1180 b.c.) and are therefore related to the Scythian nomadic cultures which then passed them on into the Celtic cultures. There is evidence these techniques date back to Ancient Egypt. 

These techniques differ from Hatha Yoga of the Indian tradition. They include exercises which are usually taught separately in the Indian traditions. These are subtle techniques that are compatible with any authentic esoteric teaching.

 

In The Tradition there are seven major techniques. These seven are the root of all others within the system. They represent a seven note scale of human ability. They use breath and visualization and are oriented initially to the position of the sun. There are no postural contortions in the system. All the techniques are done sitting or standing. They are beneficial to all ages though the breath holding techniques will be more difficult for smokers and people with respiratory difficulties. They can modify the techniques as needed.  

 Before we do the Caucasoid Yoga we will warm up with some movements from the Wisdom of the Body System.  These movements are specifically designed to warm up all the muscle sets in the body systematically and bring the emotions into balance. This will enable us to go into the Caucasoid Yoga with a fully warmed up system and attenuated mind. 

At the end of each session we will relax and review what we did that day. Students are encouraged to bring a notebook and take notes.   

Chiron Meets King Arthur

A Round Table of Healers

The Wounded Healer, a Renewal time for Healers and Caretakers 

As many of you know "caretakers" rarely have time to care for themselves. Because this is particularly true of those in the healing professions, "Chiron Meets King Arthur" has been designed as a getaway for those in the healing position who need to do some healing and resting themselves and who wish to meet other caretakers in order to enhance their outlooks and practices through reciprocal sharing and discussions.

The weekend is designed to "recharge" the batteries of therapists, healers and caretakers who work hard and are exposed to the many traumas of their clients and their wards. The schedule is relaxed comprising therapeutic exercise and other useful practices. 

What the weekend will hold

The mornings will begin with light organic breakfast and at midmorning we will go through the movements of the "Wisdom of the Body" which  emphasize overall mobility in the skeleton and muscle fiberin orrder to achieve maximum muscle awareness for maximum relaxation. After this we look at how to optimize rest and look at "Pratyahara" or the phenomenon of "condensation of attention" to recharge parts of our body, particularly the solar plexus for emotional charging. We will also look at "energy retention" and the use of our eyes and how to conserve that energy.

After lunch, in the afternoon, we look at the regions of the body which healers tend to overuse : mainly hands, feet and heart and do the techniques with and without a partner on how to restore these regions and release trauma and fatigue. Special attention will be directed toward the hands and forearms as well as the upper back. We will also look at traditional protocols for preparing the hands for healing and specific ways to prepare ourselves for the psychic "fall out" of clients or that "sticky feeling" therapists sometimes get when working with those who seem to be full of negativity. 

In the evenings after dinner will be our round table discussions. The purpose of these is sharing our experiences in healing and what we have "found out" about healing in our lives and the lives of others. We will discuss "The Mission of The Wound" and perhaps some of the ancient Greek tales about healers and healing; the myth of Achilles and others. Healers don't often have time or energy to discuss what they encounter and there are a lot of stories and biographies we can learn from. These stories not only assist our practices they also enhance our own life.    

The Facilitators

Allen Pittman and his partner Victoire Slakey will welcome you to a beautiful location in the verdant countryside, a large home with a swimming pool, a sauna and an orchard. Meals will be organic. Allen is a highly skilled teacher with more than thirty years exprience in Yoga and Internal Martial Arts. He is also trained as a naturopath and physical therapist and fascinated by the history of medecin and religions. Victoire who also translates for Allen,  is trained in NLP, Voice Dialogue, Sophrology. She has been practicing Tai Chi Chuan since 1986. Allen and Victoire have created an unique physical pedagogy called « Wisdom of the Body ». This system traces human development through its psycho-physical and relational stages.

They cultivate a  wide scope and appreciation of the specificities of specialized systems which opens up the narrow views that often entrench specific disciplines. This facilitates the understanding, integration and sharing of different disciplines. People who already have (a) practice(s), whatever they may be, will find their understanding and knowledge of them deepened.

From Plato to Patanjali

A Shamans' History of Yoga

In this workshop we will look at Plato's Cave tale and the oldest text used for Hatha Yoga; Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.  We will also go over the correspondences in the East and West of animals totems or symbols which are assigned to parts of the body (like "The  heart beats like a running stag" or is "like a thundercloud over the sun).

Some scholars have called Philosophy, "Plato's Footnotes" and his classic tale of the man in the cave is the foundation stone for philosophy in the West. 

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are the earliest written source of Yogic teaching. In these texts the art and science of harnessing one's faculties is explained. 

In the workshop we will parallel the basic elements of the two texts; one from the West and one from the East, by specifically looking at exercises which deal with light (the sun-for energy and hope),  shadow (your own-to cure fear of death and prevent accidents), water (a mirror-to see past lives or "where we have been" in our head and heart) and fire (a candle-so we can learn focus and concentration).   

We will also look at the Shamans perspective which was present with both Plato and Patanjali. This includes which part of the human body are sympathetic to which animal.  Our animal assignments come from two specific traditions; that of Indian Yoga and that of Norweigan "Stave" or Rune Lore (which also includes it's own yoga techniques). 

The role of muscle contraction and muscle release to enhance perceptive accuracy, enhance relaxation, concentration and instinct will be studied. On the classical Yoga side-we will look at the four major body positions mentioned by Patanjali. These will then be cross reference with various techniques mentioned above.

The intent of the workshop is to create in the participant a new realization through experience of how the mind and the body direct one another and how each can be organized through correct concentration coming from the above tools.  This workshop is useful for anyone interested in Yoga, Shamanism, history of science, self healing and the psychology of symbolism.  

CHIARO-SCURO

The Psychology of Light and Shadow

In this workshop we shall explore the symbolism and meaning of shadow and light in human psychology. We will study the workings of our own psychology and how we express it physically.

This is a practical workshop for people interested in the exploration of their psyche and in personal development.

We will engage various practices in order to respectfully explore our own conscience in depth so as to develop, nourish and strengthen it. 

Instincts, archetypes and the stages of human development will be adressed

We will use Voice Dialogue and  Wisdom of the Body with the Enneagramme, Jungian  and Integral Psychologies and other techniques linked to yoga and shamanism.

This workshop is an opportunity for people who have already done a certain amount of integrative work to advance in their evolution and self-awareness. Although this is not group therapy there will be therapeutic benefits.

 

1^st day : Creating Safe Space, Voice Dialogue and Enneagramme : The Danse of the 9 types ( The Perfectionist, The Altruist, The Doer, The Romantic, The Observer, The Loyalist, The Epicurian, The Chief and The Ambassador)

Identification and integration of disowned energies, the « 3,2,1 »  exercise.

2^nd day : Wisdom of the Body, Instinctive and Archetypal Energies, Integrative Yoga Nidra 

"Timing Over Toughness"

The Tactical Combat Retreat with Allen Pittman

In this workshop rather than learn a variety of techniques we will concentrate on high repetitions (aiming for 300 repetitions each) with a variety of partners--- of five techniques from the Amazon Dance and the Five Fists of Hsing I. The purpose of the workshop is to develop fighting and self defense skill as quickly and safely as possible. The emphasis is on touch and timing and movement skills as opposed to conditioning or "toughing it out".  

 The "Amazon Dance" was created by Allen to teach smaller people, particularly women- how to defend themselves against larger attackers. The emphasis is on escape, strangulation and the leg pick up (the preliminary to the toe-hold of wrestling).The Amazon techniques cross- reference basic mammal reflex drills which humans already have in themselves---and which revolve around trying to kill someone through strangulation and escape underneath the arm of a taller opponent. Some movements are derived from Ba-gua, the Chinese art of the bodyguard and much is derived from studies of the Scythian culture and the anthropology of the Amazons (Sarmatian tombs have been unearthed proving their existence.) 

  The "Five Fists of Hsing I" are the techniques from China designed for military usage by the infantry. They give clear basic skills for a weapon or empty hand frontal assault. Allen is the lineage carrier for two schools of Chinese Martial Arts and has spent thirty years researching and training in them. He has permission from both schools and their masters to teach them. He is the only living representative to hold the two schools simultaneously; one of Chang Chuen-feng of the school of Hopei Hsing-I and the other of Chen Pan-ling, whose family carries the old curriculum of the Chinese Boxing Association in Taiwan. Allen has also studied wrestling in the old Celtic style and researched much related combat. 

All techniques will require a partner and will be taught "hands on". Skills in martial forms are not a prerequisite but will be useful. This seminar is not a competition. It is to develop skills. Their will be special meditations to program the body and mind to accept these techniques and use them readily and to help us recuperate from our training so we do not get to tired.  If we have time we will also visit some of the sacred standing stones in the area as they are related to the Scythian culture who are also known as the "Proto-Celts".

These techniques are part of The Wisdom of the Body School which is a curriculum designed by Allen Pittman and Victoria Slakey to meet the needs of people in modern times for physical and psychological integration.