Make Meaning: Writing-for-Healing Workshop Series with Breathwork and Meditation

Moving from Loss to Found: In this Make Meaning workshop series, Alexandra Vassilaros and Eric Pettigrew will intentionally create a communal experience that is boundaried and compassionate. Crisis can knock us right off our feet and fill us with resistance, fear, and stress. In this writing workshop, participants will explore the alchemy of grief and learn how we can use it to initiate growth, self-compassion, and emotional progress. During the workshop, we simply write, read and listen to one another. There is no criticism, interruption, or commentary from participants. Writing prompts are provided as creative catalysts to engage our inner voice and identify our innate capacity for curiosity, wisdom, and resilience. Deep listening is a useful aspect of this work, allowing us to listen from a deep receptive place within ourselves. It is a practice that cultivates clarity and connection. This process offers primary tools for continuing emotional health and balance. Absolutely no writing experience is necessary to participate. Throughout the series, participants will learn to make meaning…

• By exploring the extraordinary details of their lives on paper in a safe and respectful environment.
• By learning the skill of deep listening.
• By experiencing how a writing practice can become a stabilizing ritual in their lives.
• By bringing awareness to obstacles that compound grief, stress, and fear.
• By practicing how to suspend judgment long enough to create space around thoughts or experiences that make us feel isolated or stuck.
• By practicing awareness of the breath, participants will learn tools to calm their nervous system, decrease stress, and ground themselves in the present.
• Through brief grounding meditations, participants will practice deepening connectivity and presence.

Alexandra Vassilaros

In 2016, one year after the passing of her husband of 23 years, Alexandra pivoted from writing for the theatre and founded the Make Meaning Workshop. Her work as a playwright is extensive. She was a co-finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2004 for the play Omnium Gatherum. She has led workshops for many notable organizations, including NYC’s The Bowery Mission, New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, ARTYARD, The Brooklyn VA, Harlem Wellness Center, and Revival. Alexandra continues to work with hundreds of women and men facing the challenges that loss, crisis, and grief inevitably bring. She is a widow and the mother of 3 wonderful young men.

Eric Pettigrew

Originally from Canada, Eric Pettigrew began his career as a professional dancer and continues to pursue his passion for movement and healing through massage, yoga, meditation, and homeopathy. Eric founded Holistic Life Works where he is an established Homeopath serving the East End and New York City. He is a dedicated teacher and practitioner of yoga for nearly 25 years and currently participates in the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program which brings holistic healing techniques to hospitals and rehab Institutions on the East End. He has also led classes for Yoga for Cancer (Y4C) for over a decade. Eric’s diverse experiences and knowledge energize his commitment to holistic healing and wellness.