Category Archives: Events

The Inner Art of Breathing

The Inner Art of Breathing

A breathworkshop

Facilitated by Samvedam Randles, Dipl. Psych., LMHC and Astrid Rothmund Lewis, PT

Few of us utilize the full power of our breath!


Most of us leave our breathing patterns in the realm of the unconscious and have not learned to consciously use our breath to influence how we feel.

That can change in this one week end workshop, where you will explore how to engage your breathing to downregulate your nervous system or clear your emotional channels.

We offer a combination of intensive learning about the physiology of breath, body posture and movement and direct experiential immersion into breathwork.

This workshop is open to all who would like to learn how to use the breath for their benefit.

We also invite practitioners of the healing arts to learn how to help their clients use these tools.

The Benefits of Breathwork

Each Breathwork session is different.

Regular practice enhances health, promotes well-being, and brings a deeper connection with one’s Self.

The benefits of breathwork occur on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.

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  • Strengthens the relaxation response
  • Helps us manage stress and anxiety
  • Lowers high blood pressure
  • Allows the release of tension and expression of difficult unconscious feelings in a safe environment
  • Strengthens mindful awareness
  • Helps individuals become calm and centered
  • Anchors joy and positive feeling in the body
  • Is a gateway to a meditative state and the possibility of transcendent experiences
  • Is an effective tool for treating addictions

When: December 7th & 8th, 2024

9 am – 5 pm

Where: The Watertown Center for the Healing Arts

17 Spring Street

Watertown, MA 02472

Cost: $ 425.00

Empowered Relief®

Empowered Relief®

Train Your Brain Away from Pain
Facilitated by Astrid Rothmund Lewis, PT

One in three individuals in the United States is living with ongoing pain and medication is often the only tool provided to address this. This 2-hour workshop will offer proven methods for pain relief as well as better understanding of the mechanism of chronic pain.

The Empowered Relief® course was developed at Stanford university and its effectiveness was researched in 3 separate trials which show a reduction in pain intensity and interference. In addition, the course provides help with secondary issues such as sleep disturbances, depression, fatigue, and anxiety.

When: Saturday, November 23rd, 2024

10 am to 12 pm (2 hours)

Where: Zoom Workshop

Cost: $ 75.00

Our Spirit Journeys: The Backstory

Andes mountain scene - a spiritual retreat to Peru in April, 2020Since we announced our 2020 Spring Spirit Journey to Peru, some have asked how our Spirit Journeys fit into the larger context of our work with Constellations and Breathwork.  Here is how it all started. Many years ago when we were heavily focused on breathwork, we offered breathwork in a warm swimming pool here in the Boston area.  And we all discovered that being held in warm water while opening the body and heart is incredibly beautiful and powerful. As we dried off and shared our experiences, the idea of doing breathwork in a warm ocean was raised. Continue reading Our Spirit Journeys: The Backstory

Planting Flowers for 2019

cartoon showing animals planting flowers hopefully for 2019.
Source unknown.

At the Inner Arts Institute,  we spent 2018 “planting flowers” like the character in this cartoon. Our work expanded with an intensity that felt dizzying at times. What a joy!

In this New Year, I am so grateful for the incredible clients and collaborators who helped us plant seeds of peace and healing in our communities. I want to take a moment to acknowledge those who co-created with us. We can hardly wait to see what blossoms in 2019!

Connecting Family Constellation Work to Cultural Trauma

One of the brightest “flowers” we have been cultivating is deep training in how to help people integrate cultural trauma. First, I completed Part II of Thomas Huebl’s training in Collective Trauma Integration last spring. This profound journey brought personal growth, new friendships, and new tools for Family Constellation work; namely, a greater ability to hold space for the shadows of large-scale traumas such as war, famine, slavery, terrorism, and natural disasters…. and explore how these shadows reside in our culture and in each one of us.

Secondly, Thomas Huebl was also the keynote speaker at the 2018 North American Systemic Constellation conference, where Collective Trauma Integration is starting to be recognized as a natural evolution of Systemic Constellation work.

I had the privilege to introduce him to fellow North American “constellators” there, and also to lead a Collective Trauma Constellation workshop. Other members of the Inner Arts Institute team stepped into leadership roles at the conference, too. Comma Williams and I co-facilitated a Medicine Wheel Constellation, drawing upon the shamanic training that has influenced both of us deeply as practitioners. And Kimberly Clementi-Eadon introduced her work on Constellations with Adolescents.

It was a great joy  to share our work in the North American Constellation Community which has provided so much inspiration over the years. We hope that we planted seeds that will flower in the work of Constellation practitioners far and wide!

Collective Trauma as a Source of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

3 people on stage in a panel discussion
Samvedam, Christiana, and another speaker in panel discussion at ACEs conference in Bermuda.

An unexpected highlight of 2018 came when I was invited to present a talk on Collective Trauma Integration at a large conference on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Bermuda. Research has shown that ACEs play a huge role in physical and mental health struggles in adulthood. This understandings has inspired new efforts to recognize and address trauma occurring childhood.

In Bermuda, racial issues stemming from colonialism and slavery have brought tremendous pain that continues to impact new generations of Bermudians. My role was to share insight about how children can inherit Collective, or Cultural Traumas that impacted their families… and  to offer a model for healing such an enormous wound. The intensity between white and black people filled the space in our conversations.  Continue reading Planting Flowers for 2019