Classes: 

Learn, Connect, Strengthen the Two Wings

"Sometimes people talk about how we need to do things to connect. And on the one hand that’s right, but on the other hand it understates what is. We are connected. What we need to do is to become aware of it, to live it, to express it."

~ john a. powell, director of the Othering & Belonging Institute

FEATURED CLASS

Returning to the Heart:

Cultivating Emotional Wisdom with R.A.I.N. during the High Holiday Season

Online on Zoom

5 Thursday sessions: Sept. 4, 11, 18, 25, from 8-9:15 pm ET

Registration deadline: August 27

$108 USD

Class description:

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change." Carl Rogers

Popularized by renowned meditation teacher and psychologist Dr. Tara Brach, the R.A.I.N. process for navigating powerful emotions–Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture–can noticeably improve and transform how we relate to ourselves and others, especially amidst all that is unfolding in the world today.

This four-week R.A.I.N. course emerges from Alison's own transformative experience with making the "U-turn," as Tara Brach puts it—returning to her inner life with curiosity, kindness, and a concrete skillset. Through R.A.I.N. in tandem with relevant Jewish wisdom, she has learned to see emotions as important messengers and make wiser decisions from a place of compassionate awareness rather than reactivity. She has also strengthened her capacity for teshuvah, meaning return, re-alignment, and re-connection with the heart’s compassion, wisdom, and direction.

Offered once a year during the Jewish High Holiday season, this course creates a unique opportunity to explore R.A.I.N. as a teshuvah practice that invites us home to ourselves and our rich emotional worlds. Just as preparation for the Days of Awe invites us into deep self-reflection and the courage to face what needs attention in our lives, R.A.I.N. offers us tools for meeting our emotions with the same loving awareness we bring to our most sacred practices.

The experiential class sessions will be a step-by-step journey through the four components of the R.A.I.N. process. Session 1 will hone in on strengthening our capacity to Recognize what we're feeling when we're feeling it, Session 2 will center on the Allowance process, and so forth. Each session will include:

  • Guided meditation and reflection rooted in both mindfulness and Jewish contemplative practice

  • Optional writing prompts for deeper exploration

  • Discussion and sharing in community

  • Jewish wisdom that illuminates R.A.I.N. and the journey of heart-centered teshuvah

This intimate online community creates a sacred container for exploring what it means to return to the heart—both our own hearts and the Source of heartful living. As we prepare for the new year, we practice receiving our emotions as teachers rather than obstacles, learning to respond rather than react, and discovering how emotional awareness becomes a gateway to greater compassion for ourselves and others.

No previous knowledge of meditation, R.A.I.N, or Judaism necessary: All that's required is your presence, interest, and curiosity! If you're already familiar with R.A.I.N., this will be a meaningful refresher and may offer new insights into how to apply this practice to your life and relationships.

"Often the moment when we most need to pause is exactly when it feels most intolerable to do so…Through the sacred art of pausing, we develop the capacity to stop hiding, to stop running away from our experience. We begin to trust in our natural intelligence, in our naturally wise heart, in our capacity to open to whatever arises." ~ Tara Brach

Additional details

  • You will receive a reminder email from Alison the day before each session.

  • All sessions will be recorded and the recording will be in your inbox within 48 hours.

  • As part of the detailed follow-up email Alison will send out after each session, you will receive audio recordings of 2-3 short guided RAIN meditations that you can use between sessions and beyond the course.

  • 2-4 weeks after the course ends, you’ll receive a note in your inbox with a gentle check-in and reminder of key practices.

Cost

  • The total cost for this class—four 75-minute group sessions on Zoom + recordings, audio meditations, and summary emails after each class—is $108 USD.

  • Each of us has different financial circumstances. If you want to participate and a reduced rate would allow you to do so, please contact Two Wings Mindfulness.

Questions? Please get in touch.

Interested in deepening your understanding of a specific mindfulness-related topic–and strengthening your practice of awareness and compassion along the way?

Taking a class gives you access to a community of people interested in the same topic, a teacher (Alison and/or one of her Two Wings teammates) who will act as a guide, content you can explore during and after each session, and loving accountability. 

There’s a class to show up to, rather than a self-paced course you need to muscle your way through on your own.

The Two Wings Mindfulness Newsletter provides up-to-date information on upcoming classes, both online and in person.

Two Wings Mindfulness classes run either on Zoom or in person in the Washington, D.C. area, on topics such as:

  • Another Way to Be: Cultivating Self-Compassion 

  • The Gentle Pen: Meditation & Writing for Self-Compassion

  • Singing in the Rain: The R.A.I.N. Process for Navigating Powerful Emotions

  • What do you mean?: An Introduction to Mindfulness–Based Communication for Connection (MBCC)

  • One Moment at a Time: An Introduction to Informal Mindfulness Practices

Kind Words

  • “Alison is talented and incredibly good at facilitating, engaging the group, sharing insights and materials in a personable way, and embodying the lessons she is introducing!”

    ~ class participant

  • "I really appreciate Alison's very careful and intentional use of language, along with her validating each person's experience as normal and her clear social justice orientation."

    ~ class participant

  • Alison, thank you so very much for your guidance and support, and for asking me what my intuition is telling me. I've grown a lot in these four weeks, thanks to you.

    ~ class participant

  • As a result of this course, being kind to myself is becoming more instinctive. With a proper pause, my mind will tend to be kind.

    ~ class participant

  • I really appreciated how organized yet relaxed Alison was in her leadership style. The class was thorough, thought out, structured and solid yet was offered with a warm fluidity that made it so human and inviting.

    ~ class participant

  • “Alison makes it easy to grasp the concepts and makes them relatable to my life. Since I work from home, it was a good way for me to pull myself away from overworking once a week and become teachable and present.”

    ~ class participant

  • “Your contribution to this field of mindful communication has your thoughtful, knowledgeable and insightful style. Your understanding of adult learning shows!”

    ~  class participant

  • The way the material was taught prior to our journaling time was really helpful. I had often struggled with knowing what/how to write when I tried in the past. This opened my eyes/heart to the many ways I can delve into a self-compassion journaling session.

    ~ class participant