What we do

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is vital to successful relationships. The first, critical step in EI is self-awareness and yet it can be more complicated that it seems.  For instance, are you able to name the multiple emotions you may be experiencing in any given moment?  Are your emotions so well-tuned that you can calibrate their potency? Do you respond to strong emotions with skill or do you suppress them until they finally erupt?   Keeping an emotional range of a well-managed medium can be exhausting and lead to states of overwhelm and shut down.

When we don’t allow ourselves the healthy expression of our full emotional range - the highs and the lows - we deny ourselves our full breadth of our aliveness. What if, by limiting your emotional experience, you were already in a quasi-state of confinement prior to the pandemic?  We understand and we say it’s time to break out.

At ImagiNation Playshops, our process of Emotional Scales playfully explores our emotional range and promotes expansion. In doing so, we detect our gaps, our discomforts, where we are self-limiting and where we have more freedom of expression.  As we play, we add language and connect again with our body wisdom.  As Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote in Nautilus Magazine earlier this year, “The idea that you can increase your emotional intelligence by broadening your emotion vocabulary is solid neuroscience.”

 This new self-awareness frees us to step into our fully autonomous, sovereign selves.  It also allows us to open up more cleanly and engage genuine connection with our partners, children, friends and clients.  We see it as a genuine shortcut to shared emotional understanding. We call our practice embodied mindfulness. It is on your feet, in your body, and out loud.

From Zoomshops that introduce you to our programs, custom tailored playshops that offer specific focus weekend retreats that allow us to deepen into the concepts as a community, and one on one coaching we are ready to help you break out of the old and expand what you have to offer the world.

Here’s what our clients say:

“Such a refreshing change from anything I had been doing. The workshop totally recalibrated my energy and I found the connections to the other participants exhilarating. It taught me a new Virtual Vibrancy for these new times!”

- Lucretia, President, from Oregon

“In these tense times, I appreciated learning about emotional intelligence - having a personal shorthand when I find myself emotionally triggered by colleagues or loved ones, to check in with the size of my reactions and detach mindfully for a second, to observe rather than respond habitually.”

- Barbara from NY

“A brilliant exploration. Understanding the levels of emotions gives you insight into where you’re not having self-compassion. Highly valuable exercises for all”

- Jackie CEO/Founder of Youniquelyfit San Francisco/ NYC

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“Three words: I loved it. Yes, I can still feel the strength of that kaleidoscope of emotions.”

- P, from NY

how we do it

Using our custom blend of mindfulness, theatre, conscious communication and spirit of play modalities, we will access some creative release, commit to conscious communication and connect with our wholeness through our playful intent.

embodied Improvisation

Using a broad array of theatre and mindfulness-based techniques, including meditation, breath, movement, improvisation and vocalization (warning: this might get loud), we explore the physical properties of our emotions, so we can cultivate our emotional intelligence. Our signature Emotional Scales release stuck feelings and broaden the depth and range of our felt experience. These tools open our hearts, soften our bodies and sharpen our intuition, so we can cultivate fresh ways to engage within ourselves and with others.

ensemble building

Competition is the hallmark of a team—within the team itself and against a competitor (whether corporate, sporting or in another endeavor). An ensemble is built for collaboration, to pursue excellence together. Members of an ensemble work to create the conditions for their individual and joint flourishing. We will explore exercises that foster our shared complicity. 

Conscious communication

From civil conversation at the societal level to conflict resolution in the workplace to difficult conversations in relationships, communication breakdowns cause us suffering. Yet, so many of our disconnections are caused by unrecognized differences in our elemental communication structures. Using our experiential work with emotional intelligence as a springboard, we will uncover these hidden structures in our own process and in others’. We can better communicate and create stronger connections in our community, workplace and home.  

spirit of play

We create our life with every choice we make. There is no way it should be. In the spirit of play, we embrace the unknown, take a stand for the life we want and declare what’s possible.