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| Below is a description of a workshop that I can teach en route to local groups. If you would like to book a workshop, please contact me. These workshops are fund raising tools, any donations would be a appreciated. |
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How do we passionately engage in the saving of our seas? |
How do we find a place inside where the brutal slaughter of sharks solely for their fins is simply no longer acceptable, and we feel strongly enough about the fragility of the sea to actually refuse to eat seafood that was caught via long-lines, or drag netting, or trolling, because it hurts us in our souls to be a passive participant in such a wasteful and cruel way to harvest our food?
In my workshops, I engage people in an emotional awakening to the depth of the sea in ourselves, in psycho spiritual and ecological ways.
I have been a dance therapist for over 25 years and due to a medical disaster 2 years ago, - a massive thrombosis occurred while awaiting surgery for a torn meniscus! - I found swimming in the ocean to be the only therapy that gave relief from constant pain.
From a medical perspective, nothing can be done for me.
Choosing to turn a curse into a blessing and asset, I have come to place my life in the hands of the Sea, my personal therapist and healer, as well as my most profound sanctuary.
While I have also been an environmental activist for more than 25 years,and been an active member of many environmental groups in Canada, this has deepened even more since I came to realize how extremely fragile life actually is when I had my close encounter with death.
At this point I decided to devote the rest of my life to the preservation , celebration and protection of the Sea, my Mother and healer.
Through movement work, breath and chants, Indigenous practices like purification with sage, creative dance, Eco dance therapy, danced meditations and African-Caribbean dance traditions, I lead people into a felt experience of their body, the bodies of others in motion, and the body of the earth and sea.
I use music from around the world, primarily African-based as well as music from the sea, to help induce relaxed and energized states of mind.
We work sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs, and sometimes in a circle, as well as other formations.
No workshop is fixed, because I work with the interests and energies of the participants present, and adapt my work to the needs of each group.
It is my great delight to have the privilege to offer this work as part of my Costa Rican swim migration in support of marine sanctuaries!
I also hope to learn much about Costa Rican marine biology and ecological persectives.
May participants open to their most compassionate side through my workshops and feel inspired to actively engage in protection of their precious marine world!
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El objectivo de mis talleres es conectar a la gente con su mismo, a los demas en estos talleres, y muy directamente con la naturaleza, especialmente el mar y sus inhabitantes y su ecosistemas. |
Para hacer posible este conectar y reconectar, uso disciplinas como la ecologia profunda, danza terapia, respiracion, meditation-en-movimiento y danza creativa. Cuando posible, los talleres se encuentran en lugares naturales, sea en el mar en una bahia tranquila, sea en un jardin, sea en una selva, pero tambien en un gimnasio o alberca. Los talleres son muy interactivas; las actividades se hacen a solas, en parejas , grupos pequenos o en circulo, alterando con cada actividad. A veces cantamos con las ballenas y lloramos con los lobos. Yo he trabajado en Africa y Haiti y uso a veces musica y movimientos de estos paises, tambien uso musica internacional folklorico, musica meditativa con sonidos del mar y rios, y musica latina. Hay risa y llanto en mis talleres, como en movimiento se encuentra tambien mucha emocion. Combino sabeduria de los Indigenos con algunas informaciones scientificos, danzas ritmicas con movimiento tranquilo y contemplativo. Cada taller es diferente; cada grupo tiene su ritmo particular, y de esto sale mi trabajo. Desde mas que 30 anos, he evolucionado mis talleres y les dio en paises como Brazil, Ghana, Togo, Mexico, Peru, y Canada para solamente mencionar algunos. Redescubrimos el sanctuario que es nuestro cuerpo, y al mismo tiempo el cuerpo de la tierra y del mar, del aire y del fuego. Sentimos, espero, en mis talleres, que toda vida es sagrada y necesita nuestra proteccion . Mi esperanza es inspirar a la gente de cuidar mucho mas para toda vida selvage, y designar marinos sanctarios , especialmente para tortugas, tiburones, delphines y ballenas, con todos los seres que comparten sus espacios en mar y tierra! |
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Sonia posted an announcement to the cause NO AL ALETEO EN COSTA RICA ("shark finning"). ----------------
Costa Rica Leads Call at UN to Increase Shark Protection
Published on Mar 7, 2009 - 9:31:25 AM
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By: Humane Society International
ROME (March 6, 2009) - HSI experts participated in a meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Committee on Fisheries this week where Costa Rica led the call for a global "fins-attached" shark conservation strategy. Joined by 10 other Latin American countries, Costa Rica formally requested a U.N. workshop to address the barbaric and wasteful practice of shark finning.
Each year, around the world, tens of millions of sharks are hauled up on deck, where their fins and tails are sliced off and the (often still-living) sharks are then thrown back overboard to die a lingering and painful death. The reason for this shameful waste is the demand for shark fin soup. The effect has been the devastation of shark populations worldwide. Some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent in the past 20 years. Some may never recover.
"Costa Rica has got it right", says Patricia Forkan, president of Humane Society International, which has worked extensively on the issue of shark finning. "The Costa Rican proposal promotes the idea that sharks should be landed with fins partially or wholly attached to the carcasses, a practice that is required by law in Costa Rica and is the most simple and sure way to prevent shark finning."
The FAO was the first multilateral body to address the problem of shark finning. However, the agreement that suggests a prohibition on finning is voluntary and open to interpretation, with the result that the FAO has achieved little in the way of shark protection to date. Sharks are in serious trouble. Strong finning bans combined with limits or bans on shark fishing must be implemented fully around the world to curb the rapid decline of shark populations.
Facts:
* Recent studies in the Northwest Atlantic have shown steep declines in shark populations, particularly among highly migratory species. Since 1986, hammerheads have declined by 89 percent, thresher sharks by 80 percent, white sharks by 79 percent and tiger sharks by 65 percent. All recorded shark species in the region, with one exception, have declined by more than 50 percent in the past eight to 15 years. It is highly likely that similar results will be seen across the world's oceans.
* Reported global trade in shark fins increased from 3,011 metric tons in 1980 to 11,732 metric tons in 2000. Much of the trade is unreported because many fins do not pass through normal landing channels and because most of the fin trade is conducted in cash to avoid tax and duties.
* Research in Hong Kong found that dried fins sold for as much as $744 per kilogram in 2002. In 2003 dried shark fins in China retailed for $200-300 (per kilogram. In "producer" countries such as Costa Rica and Colombia, fishers make $12-17 per kilogram for their fins.
* Shark fin soup can cost up to $150 per serving in Hong Kong, but there are worrying signs of a new market opening up for lower-quality fins, allowing millions more people to buy products such as shark fin sushi, shark fin cookies, shark fin cat food and canned shark fin soup.
* Shark fin consists of collagen fiber and has no taste. Flavor is added to the soup by the addition of chicken or fish stock.
* Unlike other fish, sharks take many years to mature, they have long gestation periods and they give birth to live young-or they lay eggs-in very small numbers. In some cases of severe overfishing, recovery of the stock, if possible at all, will take decades. The "boom and bust" pattern of shark fisheries has been repeated all over the world wherever sharks have been targeted. |
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Constancia de la charla
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Mediante la presente, hago constar que la señora Renate Herberger, estuvo presente en la Estacion Guardacostas de Quepos desarrollando una charla en relacion a todo el trabajo y el programa que ella está elaborando.
Dicho programa trata sobre la concientizacion acerca de la destrucción masima que se genera al usar artes de pesca "tipo arrastre" para la captura de camarones, así mismo, la charla trató sobre el equilibrio que puede existir entre el hombre con todos los recursos marinos costeros de nuestros mares y océanos.
Dicha charla, fue enriquecedora y de mucho interés para los funcionarios que participamos de ella. El mencionado programa tuvo mucho impacto en algunos de nuestros funcionarios, ya que el método utilizado por la señora Herberger para la creación de la conciencia en lo descrito anteriormente, es muy poco común (a través de la natacion) en especial porque se desplaza nadando largas distancias (20 millas naúticas aproximadamente) en un día.
Todos los miebros que participaron en la citada charla, de forma muy personal, esperan que la señora Herberger tenga muchos éxitos en su programa, donde los que resultarán triunfadores van a ser los recursos marinos costeros. Agradeciendo a la señora Renate Herberger, por la charla que desarrolló en la Estacion Guardacostas de Quepos, se suscribe; Atentamente: Walter Vargas Jiménez |
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