sabuhallá: a healing workshopin Abene, Senegal

sabuhallá: a healing workshop in Abene, Senegal on the west coast of Africa
January 2007
Led by Gena Corea. With the participation of Caro Diallo, his Black Soofa dance
troupe, and traditional healer Awa Bodian Diedhiou.

The capacity to heal oneself and others is inherent in the human body. The sabuhallá workshop will awaken this capacity. With the help of African musicians and dancers, the workshop will also explore vibration and resonance in healing.

The workshop will include:

• Private healing sessions with Senegalese traditional healer Awa Bodian
  Diedhiou and with Gena Corea whose sessions, in addition to hands-on
  healing, include Experiential focusing with physical symptoms.
  
• A daily dance of thanksgiving celebrating what is already right and whole
  in our bodies and in our lives. This immune-strengthening dance is led by
  Senegalese choreographer Caro Diallo and joined by dancers and drummers from
  his Black Soofa dance company. In the field of gratitude and joy we create,
  the group will offer a healing presence to any members in need of it that
  day. By activating the fluid systems of the dancers and musicians, African
  dance may create a "larger body" with greater healing power than that of an
  individual. Further, as Alphone Tierou writes in African Dance Is Life,
  dancing allows the ailing person "to adopt a physical attitude of recovery,
  of well-being, of good health, because it is, above all, a manifestation of
  joy and a song of harmony. When one dances, all the body is in festival, all
  the cells burst with joy and love."
  
• The daily dance concludes with Kofluba, slow, gentle movement explorations
  to access the body's innate healing ability. African musicians accompany us,
  playing kora, flute and ballaphone.
  
• Instruction in Reiki, a healing art in which we move the universal life
  force (termed ki, chi, or prana, in various cultures) through us.
  Attunements in Reiki will be held on the beach at sunrise, sunset or under
  the moonlight.
  
• Various methods of holding a healing presence for others involving sound,
  breath, intention, attention, movement and deep listening.

Gena Corea, American author of books critiquing Western medical practices such as The Invisible Epidemic, The Mother Machine and The Hidden Malpractice, has trained in African dance since 1990, traveling to Senegal four times to further her training. African dance is in the “marinade” from which sabuhallá emerged. Corea explains:

sabuhallá is the essence of the healing techniques I’ve learned, all marinated over the years in my Being: Reiki (to Master level), Experiential Focusing (Certified Trainer), Continuum, Quantum Touch, Chi Lel, Healing from the Core, Cranial-Sacral Therapy and meditation practices. African dance is here too—an art I suspect has the capacity to serve as an attunement for healing.

Place Where Good Will Be Encountered

The workshop will take place in a comfortable camp in Abene, a small village in the Casamance region in the south of Senegal whose name means “place where good will be encountered.” Just a five-minute walk from a spectacular beach, guests sleep in attractive round huts. African cooks prepare delicious meals. Guests live in a safe and protected environment in the camp and can venture as much or as little as they like into village and city life, always with the accompaniment of Senegalese friends from the workshop.

See the Abene Camp photo gallery.

You may choose to arrive early—late December and throughout January—to participate in Caro Diallo’s African dance camp.You can also elect to vacation as long as you like after the workshop. You may enjoy lazy days at the beach, visits to villages, markets, mangrove swamps, bird-islands, concerts and festivals—or further contact with the traditional healers who participate in the sabuhallá workshop.

Register Early

Contact Gena Corea at 802-257-3099 or genovefa@sover.net.