Listening in the Dark
Online: Tuesdays November 17 – December 15
6 – 7.30pm Central European time
5 – 6.30pm UK time
9 – 10.30am Pacific time
A 5 week online course, supporting you through serious illness, crisis or overwhelm
If you’re in a healing crisis of some kind, this course is a reach-out to you.
Maybe you’re seriously ill.
Maybe you’re in recovery, where everyone thinks you’re ‘better’, but you feel shaken to the core and incredibly vulnerable.
Maybe you’re simply a human on earth in 2026, and overwhelmed by life to such an extent that it’s hard to function.
Listening in the Dark is a 5-week course designed with embodiment, enquiry and encouragement practices for when you’re on the edge. You’ll find resources to help you stay true to yourself when deep in the unknown, to be with the fear, grief and pain in ways that are beneficial for your nervous system, and to have the good company of others going through similar experiences.
Let me tell you a bit about where this course has come from. . . this picture was from early in 2025. . .
I am emerging from over two years of a cancer journey. Death came close. A tsunami of pain, fear and grief broke over me, shocking in its intensity and speed. In three weeks, I went from being fine to unable to walk. And that was just the beginning.
The dance and movement practices I’d used for my sanity, healing and awakening for 35 years were no longer suitable because I was too weak, in too much pain. So I adapted, taking the essence of everything I knew and making it work for the state I was in.
My definition of ‘dance’ expanded way further:
Often subtle. Mostly quiet. Long periods of complete stillness. Dedicated listening to my breath, and simply being present. Above all, a willingness to feel.
To lean into my fear, being with its disturbing darkness, sensing its direction, knowing that it’s not the whole truth but allowing myself to be touched, moved, informed.
To surrender to the grief — at losing my way of life and the capacity for ordinary pleasures like walking, cooking, sleeping soundly. Of potentially losing life altogether, losing everyone and everything I love.
Sometimes, when able and when needed, I used movement to help my body open to the intensity of experience I was going through, and give physical expression to all those feelings.
All the way along, I had a vivid sense that this illness was a gift, even if a terribly difficult one. It’s made me a better person, and I’ve learnt a lot. The resources I had from all the years of training in embodiment, dance and meditation were absolutely vital, and I leaned into them very heavily, day after day. This course is my way of sharing this with you.
The level of challenge we’re capable of facing as human beings is extraordinary, and these are extraordinary times, with radical amounts of pressure and stress upon most of us. On top of that more and more of us are dealing with chronic health issues, which can bring us to a breaking point psychologically.
Most movement-based embodiment practices involve fairly high-energy states, but when we’re in serious overwhelm already, that’s likely not what’s needed. Indeed, it may even be damaging, or simply impossible.
This course will be specifically tailored to those who need something different. You’ll be encouraged to stay within your window of tolerance, and stay true to your own embodied presence, however minimal, slow, wild or strange.
If you can’t stand or walk, you’re still welcome. If you need to spend each session huddled under a blanket, you can take part like that. If you’re able to move more freely, there will be the space for that too; it’s just that the pace of our time together will be pitched for the extreme vulnerability that goes along with being in crisis.
We will explore how to:
— Listen with your body, your breath, and your imagination.
— Use movement in very subtle, unusual ways to stay with yourself even when times are hard.
— Resource yourself with writing, drawing, simple rituals and embodied speaking.
— Trust your body to guide you through dark times, releasing stuck feelings and freeing up some space to breathe some new light through.
— Be with others in ways that drop down below nice, normal, social chat, and reach for real. To allow people in, and to know your boundaries.
These elements will be given in ways you can use in your daily life, beyond the course, to stay present and embodied through difficult circumstances — everything from in-depth meditations that need time set aside, to simple grounded practices designed to be integrated into everyday moments.
Sessions will be recorded, so if you can’t make it for any reason, you can follow along when you’re ready.
You will get access to music mixes for practice in your own time.
You’ll receive a free e-copy of my book Pathways Home, full of ideas and inspiration for home practice if you want to take some of the course material further.
It would be foolish to make promises for miraculous healing, but the intention is for this course to give you increased access your body’s natural tendency for wellness, aliveness and joy, even in the midst of a crisis.
To open to the gifts carried forth by the experience you’re having.
We’ll go there together. You’re not alone.
The time is ripe for an evolution of human consciousness, a kind of collective awakening if you will. In fact, I’d say it’s happening. Strongly. Like a collective birth, and that we’re all part of it. And births are usually messy, painful, and exhausting.
If you’re going through a healing crisis personally, the potential for growth is perhaps at its strongest.
I’m saying this to encourage you: it may be that there’s nothing ‘wrong’. I say that even — very gently, with utmost tenderness around the grief — if you know you’re in the dying process. You’re welcome here.
Through the shattering experience of cancer, I am more deeply myself, and far more available to give something to world. Maybe your healing crisis can be a transformational journey for you too. Maybe Listening in the Dark could be part of helping it to be so.
With all best wishes,
Adam
PS If even the discounted rate for this course it beyond your means and you want to be here, drop me a line to ask. I don’t want anyone to be excluded for financial reasons.
Course structure:
Session 1: Foundations — meeting each other, welcoming the tenderness of beginning, and establishing our group culture. Understanding the nature of a healing crisis. Beginning to practise listening.
Session 2: Kindness — movement and embodiment for humans in crisis, distress or pain. Compassion, gentleness and kindness as something we can practice, in response to what we’re listening to.
Session 3: Heartfelt — how to be with and go through fear, rage, grief and pain in ways that are healthy for a body that’s unable to ‘dance’, and to listen for the possibility of light in the dark.
Session 4: Connection — learning new ways to be with other humans through touch, sight, sound, and speaking that can work for us without overriding our pain, sensitivity or grief.
Session 5: Integration — bringing it all together, honouring the ending of our journey and understanding what will go with you into your next steps. Identifying the support you need.