Doris Maranda

Doris Maranda
1937 – 2022
“an embodied soul”

“I am very grateful for my life, for my wonderful, supportive & loving family & friends & all the people I have encountered in my life. As well, I honour my body which has allowed me to experience all the life and challenges that have come my way both externally & internally. I leave this world with no regrets. And I offer to all the troubled beings in our world much peace and the ability to forgive and rejoice in the life we have been given, including honouring and treating with respect and gratitude all that Mother Earth has to offer us.”

Doris was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At 13, the challenge of polio to her body and sense of self started her on a quest about life and the nature of the body. She married Claude Dosdall and they moved to Vancouver where they had four children: Claude, Sherry, Del and Doug. The ‘70s brought a lot of change: the family took a 6-month van trip to Mexico & Guatemala, Claude and Doris separated, and Doris moved with the kids to Cortes Island, where she had attended workshops at Cold Mountain Institute (the future Hollyhock).

Doris went back to university and attained an MA in Humanistic Psychology. In 1989, the year after she moved to Bowen Island, where she taught somatic workshops, the challenge came in the form of post-polio syndrome. In her search for answers, she discovered Continuum. “I was an introvert but so passionate about Continuum. It brought me out of myself.”

After taking a 12-day workshop in California with Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper, founders of Continuum Movement, Doris became committed to teaching this somatic approach to movement in Vancouver. She became a certified somatic therapy practitioner and led workshops and did individual counseling before she retired and moved to Nanaimo in 2019.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2021, Doris came to acceptance surprisingly quickly, and as the illness progressed, began to shape her dying as creatively as she’d shaped her living. She passed away on Nov 20, 2022 surrounded by family and friends.

“My life has been a series of moments, each one a journey toward the end. Now is the time to let them all go.”

A celebration of life service is planned; details will be posted later here on dorismaranda.com. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to WAVAW.

If you’d like to share your own memories or photos of Doris you can do that on the Book of Memories.

As I was meditating one day last week, I found myself spontaneously moving through my torso in subtle micro motions that went on for some time & then these profound insights came to me about how I was leading my life.  For some time even before I retired in June 2018, I’ve been searching for ways to make the remaining years of my life meaningful, creative & building upon the spiritual which is so important to me.  For many years, after being immersed in raising my wonderful four children & deepening my sometimes tumultuous relationship with my husband, Claude Dosdall, I entered into my career with my Counselling practice & later with Continuum which has been a major part of my life for over 30 years, both for me personally & in teaching & sharing with others.

What came to me in this event, was that more & more I’ve been learning to accept the limitations created by my accelerated aging due to post polio syndrome, in the recent past it has actually been more like coping.  I’ve been occupying my time muchly reading novels & almost every night watching TV & Netflix! Yes I do my ™ meditation & Continuum practice every day but increasingly with less somatic awareness, then hoping that I would die soon.  I am now 84 so entering into the 85th year of my life, the age at which I was hoping to leave this earth plane!  

In the past month & a half, I’ve been sick with the flu 3 times!  I consider this a wake-up call that I need to change the way I am leading my life lately.  As well as the post-polio fatigue & lessening of my physical abilities to the extent that I am not able to walk very far without walking aids, digestive conditions, weakening of my eyes & hearing & deterioration of my shoulders due to the excess strain on them.  Yes I have what might be called challenges or as these insights came to me I could also see them as opportunities to deepen my commitment to my inner life & make use of the many resources that I have learned throughout my life.  Instead of looking for other means & processes to provide me with the meaning to live out the rest of my life, it really is already here, both within me & with the wonderful resources of my family & my dear friends & colleagues in my life.  

On a practical level, I need to change my habitual ways of doing things.  Habits are deadening!  Some years ago I worked with a Sufi like group, the teacher of which proposed many practices to break the habitual ways we do things which leave individuals on automatic. Just by consciously changing some of these habits in simple ways, one begins to wake up!   Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum, defined paralysis as doing the same things in the same way all the time.  The brain is a pattern addict so if you do something 2 or 3 times, it becomes a groove in your brain which is very handy when learning to ride a bike but not helpful in expanding ones consciousness or growing spiritually & emotionally.  So putting this insight into practice, the next day I found myself picking up a book, putting it down & starting to reread some of my writing from the past 2 years from writing classes I took online with my wonderful & talented writing teacher, Ingrid. Totally different experience!

There are so many ways in which I can spend my time in more meaningful ways as well as taking care of myself, resting when I need to.  Yes I have the intention to improve my health situation & proof that this is possible.  One of the other stimulatinations that contributed to these insights was listening to a podcast on Sounds True, Tami Simon with Dr, Shamini Jain, whose recent book Healing Ourselves, Biofield Science and the Future of Health, points to of our lack of connection to our inner healing capacity & how our medical field (which offers much as well) tends to entrain us to be totally dependent on an outer authority.  She refers to much research & cases where people have healed against impossible odds but also stresses that there is definitely a place for conventional medicine. My husband Claude’s book My God I Thought You’d Died (which I am rereading) also stresses this.  He spent many years healing from a debilitating brain tumour which was initially misdiagnosed 2 times & led him on a journey of discovery & founding the Hope Cancer Centre which worked with people with cancer, looking at lifestyle factors that contributed to their illness & incorporating them into their medical treatments.  

When I moved to Bowen Island in 1988, my intention was to start a Centre that did this as I have always felt that the medical profession & alternative therapies should work together.  I think that is beginning to happen more today but there’s still a long way to go.  Unfortunately, the next year I came down with what is now known as Post Polio Syndrome & wasn’t able to follow through on purchasing the property next to me on which I had intended to start this venture.  Also from my own life, I had an experience while at a teachers’ gathering on Vashon Island, of taking some gentle plant medicine tea & for hours walking all over the property in a way I hadn’t been able to do for years.  It didn’t last past that day but showed me that there are  possibilities for healing.  I was wise enough not to put myself down for that nor go into despair but remained curious & many times through the years have wondered why natural healing methods work for some & not others.  Now I believe I have some answers for that question.

As for now, I have a sense of an uplifting energy (still dealing with fatigue & other health issues but it feels so different) & a clarity about going forward that I haven’t experienced in a long time.  Yes I have an intention to heal (not cure) but it’s mostly about leading my life with more fullness, creativity & passion.  As Emilie said once, there is an A & a B to practicing Continuum.  The B is the amount of healing & creativity that are side effects to moving in this way but the A is just loving doing the practice which to me is like a prayer.  In this way, the side benefits follow.  

One of my intentions when I retired was to continue my writing & share my experiences on my website in a blog.  So here I am doing it.  I am immensely grateful for all the incredible people,  family, friends & colleagues & places I’ve visited in my life, especially my time in Greece & Bali.  And not to forget my companion, my pussy cat, Serena who kept me company during COVID & especially during those bouts of illness where I had to totally isolate.  I don’t know how I would have managed without her!  I am also grateful for my life on the prairies, in the beautiful city of Vancouver & now on Vancouver Island.  I bow with humility & love to it all.

As Parker J. Parmer expressed in his latest book (introduced to me by my friend, Robert Litman, “On the Brink of Everything, Grace, Gravity & Getting Old”:

This book is not about growing old gracefully. My life has been graced, but it certainly hasn’t been graceful—I’ve done more than my share of falling down, getting up & falling down again.  The falling down is due to missteps & gravity.  The getting up is due to grace, mediated by people to whom I owe great debts of gratitude. 

Doris Maranda, 

November 8, 2021

Greetings!    Since sending my initial message a few days ago about my retiriring & moving to Vancouver Island, I have been very touched by the amount of replies I have received from  you.  Please accept my apologies for not responding individually as it’s rather a crazy time right now.  The moving date is looming!  Just know how much I appreciate each & every one of your responses & wishes for a smooth & fluid move.  I will carry them in my heart as I make my way out of sorting, packing & ferrying to Vancouver Island.  Also  a most pleasant surprise – a number of you have moved to Vancouver Island & a few even in Nanaimo & Gabriola Island, a short ferry trip from Nanaimo.  So we may find ways to continue the Continuum!

It occurred to me also that in making this transition, I also want to acknowledge my community here in Vancouver.  I moved here with my husband, Claude & my two children at the time (2 more came later) in 1961.  We made our first home in North Vancouver & later moved to Richmond & then into Kitsilano on the Point with all 4 of our children.  While we were in Richmond, I went back to study at UBC, obtaining my Masters in Education & ending up for a few years teaching in the high school system.  We got involved in the Human Growth movement while in Kitsilano whch led to my leaving my marriage & entering the Cold Moutain sponsored Antioch progam.  That led to my counselling career, private practice & leading workshops.  

Following my move to Bowen Island where I lived for 15 years, things shifted as I contracted Post Polio & found the healing waters of Continuum.  Continuum offered me a way to integrate my journey physicaly, as well as emotionally & spiritually.  I will be ever grateful to Emilie Conrad & Susan Harper for expanding the horizons of possibility of being a human in this planet of ours.   I am gratefrul to all of you who have entered into this path with me & shared the deep & profound experiences this process has to offer. 

I will miss so much of my community here in Vancouver, especially the rest of my family, my sons, Del, his partner Terrie & my grandaughter Ella,  Doug & his partner Mark, my grandson Daniel & my granddaughter Nina..   Close to my heart is my women’s movement group which has been meeting & sharing for over 25 years.  There is a wonderful episolde on Ted Talks with Lilly Tomlin & Jane Fonda on Women’s friendahips that is heart warming & hilarious & speaks to the value of my women’s group in my heart & soul.   What would I have done without you!

Perhaps somewhere in my future, I hold the intent of writing a blog on my web site & maybe more dabbling into painting & photography.   I would love to bring more perspective into the process of aging, especially as a woman in our culture & especially dealing with the slowing down & lessening of physicaly capacities which have been such a challenge & struggle with me, enhanced by the Post Polio symptoms.  I will be 82 this June & thought if I was going to make this move I better do it while I still can!

For now, I wish you all much love & compassion, joy,  responnding to the challenges life has to offer, trusting yourself & connecting with beings that surround you,     Doris

Dear All:  The second phase of my retirement is to end my Coounselling career, the first phase being the ending of my teaching of Continuum in March 2016.     Another chapter in the Book of My Life is closing and the next chapter is begining.   I move to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island on May 11th- interestingly the day before Mother’s Day!   My daughter Sherry and I have bought a house in Central Nanaimo near Jingle Pot Pub and Westwood Lake!   My eldest son, Claude lives nearby in Nanoose Bay.   And I know some folks in Nanaimo & around, e.g. remember some of you, Mary Jo Fulmer who came with her baby to Emilie’s first retreat in this area on Gabriola Island at The Haven in 1993.   It’ll be interesting to explore this whole area some of which I’m already in love with, like Ladysmith, Cedar & Chemainus.  

I will no longer be sending out notices about Continuum events in Vancouver and area.   For those of you in Vancouver, be sure to get on Daphne Georghiou’s email list:  daphne@therapyofmotion.com to receive notices of her teaching.   For events in Seattle:    dorishmosler@gmail.com (for Susan Harper in Seattle) & Robert Litman:  robert@thebreathablebody.com.    There is a new organization of Continuum teachers that formed after Emilie’s passing, that is based on a consensus model:  check out the website; ContiuumTeachersAssociation.com,  for information about teachers, workshops & events around the world.

It has been my pleasure to hold space for this work that I love, both teaching Continuum and my Counselling practice.  I will miss it dearly and yet it feels like the right time to make this move.  I wish you all much curiosity, joy, love & inspiration on your journey to finding your true self & your place in our world. |I am honoured to have shared this journey with you.   I have been watching the series on Netflix entitled “One Strange Rock.”   Hosted by Will Smith, National Geographic & featuring astronauts who speak of their experience up in space, the photography is stunning!  It left me with a feeling of humility & amazement at being a part of this immense universe & how life has developed on our planet.  My sense is that if all people would take in what this incredibly beauttiful series illlustrates, there would be no wars.

With much love & fluid blissings,      Doris

—
If you do not want to receive any more newsletters, this link

To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visit this link
Forward a Message to Someone this linkpowered by phplist v 2.10.12, © tincan ltd

 My offerings this March will mark the end of my Continuum teaching career.  Upon much reflection, poignancy and some sadness, I have come to a decision, mainly for health reasons. that it is time.    I am hoping to see as many of you as are available and interested in the last two practice groups, on March 4th and 18th and/or in my workshop on Sunday, March 20th (information below).  Interesting that I choose the them of “Fresh Start,” before I had made this decision.  

My private psychotherapy and somatic counselling practice will continue so please contact me for one-on-one sessions. 

Of course, this does not mean the end of my practicing Continuum which I will do as long as i live and am able.  I hope to join with some of you who also love Continuum and practice together – I do so love the field we create together.   I also encourage you to form practice groups on your own; I will assist anyone who wants to set that up.  

In our community, Daphne Georghiou will be offering workshops and classes in Continuum, sometimes combined with her experience in other movement modalities.   She will let me know and I will send out messages to you about these events.    Also, Ingrid Rose (www.ingridrose.com) offers “writing from the body” classes In Vancouver combining Continuum and writing.  

Every now and then, I may feel inspired to write a blog entry on my web site which my wonderfully talented computer savy son, Doug, set up for me.  Emilie used to say, when one door closes, another opens so perhaps I will be inspired to write more homilie type pieces.  Or perhaps some other form of expression will replace the inspiration and passion and creativity that my teaching has given me. 

 

Following is a more detailed description of the workshop on March 20th:

 Fresh Start – Tuning into the Waves Within

Sunday March 20^th 2-6pm @ Yoga on 7^th (156 E 7^th)

Investment – $45-65 (sliding scale

During this spring time of the year, our biological rhythms are tuned into renewal, as we observe the plants sprouting fresh, new buds from the roots within the soil which have been composting during the dark of winter time.  It speaks to he abundance of nature, the inevitability of life renewing itself. It is also in the Christian tradition a time of Resurrection, of the dead coming to life in a new foirm.

Within the inner waves of our fluid system, we can tune into this rhythm. Emilie Conrad called this bio intelligence the bio-cosmic orbit, that ongoing constant of form dissolving (sometimes chaotically) in order for new form to emerge.

During this workshop, using the tools and processes of Continuum and expressive art therapies, we will observe and explore how we experience this within ourselves, how we enhance and support this process & how we inhibit it.

Come and joini Doris Maranda, who has been exploring in these waters for twenty-seven years, supporting, guiding, sharing and honouring the incredible potential of the human body, spirit and soul along with the struggles of realizing this in our lives.

No experience necessary just the willingness to explore.

 To ensure your space, please send a cheque to Doris Maranda @ 115-2033 Triumph St., Vancouver, BC V5L 4X3 or by email transfer.

Information:    doris@dorismaranda.com or 604-254-0147

Greetings of the Season as we approach the end of the darkest time of the year and greet the returning of the light!

Yes

It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon.  It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.

 It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out — no guarantees
in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.

 ~ William Stafford ~

 (The Way It Is)

 The “Yes” poem by William Stafford above speaks to what so many practices encourage us to “Be Here Now” (remember Ram Das’ book.) Truly that is important as so much of our attention is focused on the past. Deepak Chopra states that we have 10,000 thoughts a day (not sure who counted them), 97% of them are from the past. When we attend to ourselves in a sensory awareness, mindfulness way, we tune into what is happening here and now and allow the past to be the past and not influence what is in the present. Research studies show that when we attend in this way, we increase the resiliency in our brains and help to shape new pathways, especially in the empathic and sensory areas.

Recently, however, I have find myself reflecting on my personal past. Having visited my only brother who is very ill, I found myself perusing old photo albums, school yearbooks and thinking of those early years growing up in Saskatchewan. Yes, it is preferable to live in the present but also important to acknowledge that the present is built upon the past. That is the nature of evolutionary and embryological development. Our genes that we inherit, are dependant upon the environment in which we find ourselves in order to be manifest. In studying Bruce Lipton’s “Biology of Belief,” I understand that even our cells are activated by our perceptions, our beliefs which we learn from our environment as well. So, in a sense, we are what we attend to. Thus it is relevant to acknowledge and understand from whence we are in the moment. This is true not only of our minds, but also our nervous systems.

In the words of Emilie Conrad, the founder of Continuum, “The primary characteristic of any fluid system is the ability to keep transforming itself.” I remember Peter Levine stating that what was now a defence mechanism was once a resource. The artfulness of awareness is to be able to uncouple the past from the present so thatrather than being stuck in the past and responding to situations from than perspective, we acknowledge and honour what came before , and move on in a trans formative process..

Exciting news – we have another Continuum Movement teacher in Vancouver! Daphne Georghiou has recently moved here with her family from Los Angeles. Daphne comes to us with a wide range of skills and experiences. As well as being an authorized Continuum Movement teacher, she is a licensed Psychotherapist, a Marriage and Family therapist, Somatic Movement Therapist, and a Tamalpa-Halprin practitioner. Check out her website: www.TherapyofMotion.com. As soon as she gets settled in her new home and community, she will be updating her web site and offering therapeutic counselling and movement classes. Keep tuned.

With love and blessings, Doris

December 22^nd, 2016

Offerings for the Winter/Spring 2016 season:

Practice Group sessions will be held at 3192 E 3^rd Ave., on Fridays from 10:30 am-12:30pm: January 22^nd, February 5^th & 19^th and March 4^th & 18^th. By donation.

If interested, want more information and to be on the reminder list, please contact Janey @ janeycm@telus.net.

Sunday workshops will be held @ Yoga on 7^th, 156 E 7^th, from 2-6pm. Investment: sliding scale from $45-65 for each.

February 21^st – Be-Longing – through the tools and processes of Continuum, we will explore all the various ways in which we belong and the ways we disconnect, as well as the longings, desires and needs that arise.

March 20 – Fresh Start – Tuning into the Waves Within.

(More details to follow.)

NEWSLETTER FALL 2015

As our world shifts from our long, hot summer into the cooler shades of Autumn, reflections turn towards a “back to school” mode. So I contemplate plans for this coming season and ponder on the tone and meaning of Autumn. The following poem entitled “Autumn” by Monza Noff, enfolds the theme of “letting go” which is a challenge for most of us.

Urge me to drop every leaf I don’t need

Every task or habit I repeat past it’s season

Every sorrow I rehearse

Each unfulfilled hope I recall

Every person or possession to which I cling –

Until my branches are bare,

Until I hold fast to nothing

Tutor me through straining night winds,

In the passion of moan and pant,

The gift of letting go

At the moment of most abundance

In the way of falling apples, figs, maple leaves, pecans.

Show me the way of dying in glorious boldness –

Yellow, gold, orange, rust, red, burgundy.

This contrasts with and complements much of neuroplasticity research and experiences that are becoming prominent in the psychotherapy field and outlined in Norman Doidge’s books which I have been digesting over the last month or so, (“The Brain that Changes Itself” and “The Brain’s Way of Healing”). They speak to the untapped potential in all of us and how our brains tend to fall into habitual patterns. So the importance of letting go! There’s an illuminating video on You Tube about a man attempting to ride a bike that’s been altered so that the turning of the handlebars is opposite to a regular bike & even when he knew that, it took him 8 months to unlearn the pattern in his brain so that he could ride this different one. (His son who was about 8 only took a few weeks – the younger the brain, the more neoplastic it is.)

So we need to increase our paying attention rather than being on automatic most of the time, and as the poet says, letting go of “every leaf I don’t need.”

We welcome back Sam Berne this September with a free talk @ Banyen and a weekend workshop (details below). Although the Friday classes have been discontinued, I am offering a few weekend events (see below), practice groups and continuing my somatic counselling and psychotherapy practice. Even though I’m slowing down, I am still here. I recently heard news that a Continuum teacher from the Los Angeles area is moving to Vancouver so our community may be blessed with additional resources.

Wishing each and every one of you, the gift of a sensory awareness practice that brings you into the present moment and frees up some of the limitations that have been imposed on us through acculturation and family dynamics,

With love & blessings,          Doris            August 25, 2015

OFFERINGS FOR THIS SEASON:

September 23, 6:30-8pm: Dr. Sam Berne, Free talk & booksigning @ Banyen on “Vision and Neuroplasicity: transforming our personal, emotional & psychological maps.”

September 25-27: Dr, Sam Berne (www.drsamberne.com) – weekend workshop @ UBC Vancouver. To register & for more information, contact Saskia Soeterik, 604-926-7398 or saskias@telus.net

Continuum Practice Groups this fall @ 3192 E 3^rd, on Fridays from 10:30-12:30 on October 9 & 23, November 6 & 20 and December 11. If interested, contact Janey @ janeycm@telus,net to register & for more information. (Janey will be away for 2 weeks in September & may be out of email contact so if you don’t hear from her, just contact me.)

Saturday October 17 – 2-6 pm @ Yoga on 7^th, 156 E 7^th, Awakening Eros, a Continuum Mini-workshop, sourcing and exploring our deep erotic, sensual connection to ourselves and all that is around us. Did you know that 80% of the information sent to our brain comes from our senses? The true meaning of Eros is life enhancing, completing us and our connection to others, rather than the sexual aberrations as seen in our culture. Investment: sliding scale $45-65.

Sunday November 1 – 1-5pm @ Full Circle Studio, 1183 Odlum, Vancouver, Transitions as Creative Flux, a Continuum Mini-workshop. We truly are moving and changing all the time but often have difficulty in handling these transitions. Perhaps a different slant on these events both in the way we view them and having some tools with which to process them, can help to shift the clinging to the familiar, feeling stuck and assist in letting go and moving into a new phase. Investment – sliding scale from $45-65.

November 28, 6:30-9:30 pm & November 29, 10 am – 5 pm @ Inner Evolution Healing Centre, 3263 Heather St. . Deepening into Continuum, exploring stillness and space through movement and silence, finding and honouring your own organic wisdom. Investment: $150 & $125 underemployed & early discount by November 14.

For private appointments for my somatic counselling practice, I offer a ½ hour free phone consultations beforehand. Please contact me @ 604-254-0147 or doris@dorismaranda.com.

EXPLORE BOARD FOR SALE. If anyone is interested in purchasing my explore board, it includes a video with Emilie on the board, hand held weights and weights for wrists & ankles. I would give you some ideas about using the board which is a wonderful resource for strengthening with fluidity. I also have some body rolling balls for sale. Please contact me for more information.

Greetings as we transit smoothly and subtly into summer, into aspects of new life that have been seeded, blooming and expanding in the surround of ever more warmth and light. Time to resonate with that expansiveness in our own bodies and souls, and to let the worries and cares and productivity of our busy lives take a break – rest, relax and drink in the lusciousness of the season.

Summer plans extend to shifting our weekly Continuum classes to practice groups which will be held at a lovely studio @ 1392 E 3^rd Ave near Clark Dr. We have decided to keep to Fridays and the dates will be July 10 & 24, August 14 & 28 and September 18. Time will be from 10:30am to 12:30pm & admission will be by donation. If you do not have Continuum experience you are still welcome to come but just know that there will not be as much instruction as at the usual classes. If you are interested in attending some of the practice groups, please send me your name & email address & I will send out a group reminder before each of the above dates.

If you would like a longer, residential Continuum experience, check out the Hollyhock calendar for Continuum & Water, taught by Donnalea Van Vleet Goelz and will be held August 4-9 on Cortes Island. I will be attending, as well as Angela Thurston from Victoria, assisting Donnalea. For further information & registration, contact Hollyhock 1-800 933-6339 – http://hollyhock.ca/programinfo/continuum-water/

Dr Sam Berne will be returning here the last weekend in September 25-27 with Vision & Neuroplasticity: transforming physical, emotional & psychological maps. There will also be a talk and book signing at Banyen on Wednesday September 23 from 6:30-8:00

For more information & registration: Saskia Soeterik, saskias@telus.net
See flyer for details

Preview for this fall, it is time for me to begin to slow down my teaching career, although I will still continue my private somatic counselling practice. There will no longer be weekly Friday classes but I am checking into spaces and times for a monthly mini-workshop on a weekend. I would still be involved in a practice group if someone is willing to organize it. If you are interested, please get in touch with me.

This June marks my 27^th year with Continuum, my 35^th year as a Counsellor in private practice and workshop leader and the 78^th year of my life. It all feels auspicious and much has occurred in this last decade of my life , entering into a such a different phase, with more slowing down of the functional, productive, being out in the world as I have been previously. Some of this has been accelerated with the health issues of post polio and some has been the aspects of this latter time of my life, heading into home base, so to speak. I am finding it to be challenging, difficult at times but leading me into places not well known to me and still mysterious in many ways. Again, there is much to learn to arrive at a place of peace and contentment, yet still remain vital to the life force within and around me.

With warm, fluid love & blessings, Doris

June 6, 2015

As we merge our incredible spring with the flourishing of life all around us, we celebrate  World Water Day!    How appropriate to honour the water inside our bodies and on our planet which are in the same proportion. We are a microcosm of our world, reflecting down to our cells which are a microcosm of our bodies and also swim in water. The qualities of water – its immense power, resiliency, ability to cleanse and transform, it is our precious commodity from which all life begins and with which many cleansing rituals are composed.

Infants come into the world fluidly, spiralling out of their watery home. As we age, some of that water begins to leave us and we become less buoyant.  So let us honour our waters, both in us and in our world and as the poet speaks,

And water is never lonely,

it holds so many

It says, come close, you who want to swallow me;

although I am part of you.

Come near, I will shape myself around you

so soft, so calm

I will carry you

down to a world you never knew or dreamed.

I will gather you

into the hands of something stronger,

older, deeper.

From “Carry” by Linda Hogan, The Book of Medicines

May the fluid life force within you, flow abundantly and nourish the seeds sprouting within you, with love & blessings,     Doris

March 22, 2015

Offerings for the season:

1st Anniversary dive honouring Continuum’s founder, Emilie Conrad   – April 14th from 5-7pm @ Dharmalab Studio, 202-1814 Pandora.  www.dharmalab.com.    By donation.   Please register with Doris 604-254-0147 or doris@dorismaranda.com.

CONTINUUM MOVING MEDICINE classes begin on April 24 for 6 weeks (no class  May 15) until Friday June 5th, from 11 am – 2pm @ Yoga on 7th, 153 E 7th (between Main & Quebec – entrance on side off alley),     Investment $200, early discount by April 10th & underemployed $150.  To ensure your space, please send $50 deposit by cheque to Doris @ 115-2033 Triumph St., Vancouver V5L 4X3 or by email transfer.

Drop ins $30 (no drop ins after the first class on April 24^th unless you have Continuum experience.)

Moving Medicine Mini Workshop – Sunday April 19 – 1:15 – 4:15 @ the beautiful Maa Studio, 489 Dollarton Hwy, Deep Cove.  Investment: $35 (no one turned away for lack of funds).

A time to explore the fullness & depths of who, what and how we truly are as human beings. Helps us to relieve stress, tension, anxiety & mobility issues, to awaken & come more alive and to enhance creativity & healing.

(No experience necessary, only the willingness to explore.)

Please register with Maa Yoga studio for this workshop : www.maayogastudio.com (see flyer)

CONTINUUM IMMERSION WEEKEND – MAY 16 – 18 @ Oceanfront Haven on the Sunshine Coast, near Wilson Creek.  From midday Saturday until midday Monday on the Victoria Day weekend, we will gather together in this lovely house by the sea. (www.oceanfronthaven.com)

Through the resources and processes of Continuum Movement, we offer a shared time of moving, creating and being in the embrace of nature, silence and others who are called to deepen into a collective field of movement inquiry. There will be time for Continuum diving, sharing, creative pursuits, walking along the ocean, painting or writing with a long period of silence to follow your own impulse, discovering and honouring your own body wisdom. It will be an opportunity to rest and rejuvenate, tapping into those primary sources which Continuum enables us to access. (Continuum experience is required.)

We will bring our own food with some communal shared meals. We will carpool from Vancouver (two cars with ferry reservations on the long weekend.)

Limit: 6 participants. There are already a few interested so let me know soon. Please contact me with any questions re accomodations in the house, etc.

Investment: $250.00, early discount by April 16^th & underemployed $200.

Deposit $100 to hold your space: cheque to Doris Maranda, 115-2033 Triumph St., Vancouver BC V5L 4X3 or by email transfer.

OTHER CONTINUUM EVENTS IN VANCOUVER & NEARBY:

April 25th & 26th , 10:30am – 5pm, with Cherionna Menzam-Stills, Embryo, Earth & Cosmos. Resonance & Resilience wirh Continuum Movement, @ Salmonberry Room, Stanley Park Dining Pavilion, Vancouver. $165, ($115 before March 25th). Registration: Sid Hawkins rootedflight@gmail.com, 604.440-2769). More info & online registration: www.cherionna.com (see flyer)

Vision and Neuroplasticity:  transforming our physical, emotional and psychological maps  –September 25, 26, 27,  with Dr Sam Berne, behavioural optometrist, author, researcher and teacher.

the eyes carry both our history & our birthright for healing

Where: UBC, Vancouver, BC

When: Fri evening 6-8:30  Sat & Sun 9am-4:30pm

Fee & Registration: $375 (CAN) Early bird by Aug 5, $335.

Fri night only: $30

Registration & contact   Saskia Soeterik 604-926-7398  saskias@telus.net

www.drsamberne.com (see flyer)

December 25^th, 2014

Merry Christmas to all & to all many blessings & blissings for the year to come!

Such a gift to have this lovely, sunny day to myself to be quiet & reflect amidst the busyness of this time of year. And to take the time to write this letter, gathering together my ponderings and the many upcoming events for this Winter Spring season.

There is much to choose from, my weekly ongoing Moving Medicine classes, a mini-workshop in Deep Cove after Easter and most exciting, another Continuum Immersion retreat on the Victoria Day weekend on the Sunshine Coast. Ingrid Rose, Lana Maree & I are collaborating for a Soma Fest day on March 8^th, International Women’s Day, tastes of somatic approaches to enhance your tuning in and deepening processes. In addition, Sarah Pidutti will facilitate a workshop in January, Robert Litman (whom we hope will come to Vancouver to teach soon) offers a retreat day on Vashon Island and Cherionna returns in April (Details to follow & on my web site.)

Recently, I read an incredible book, called “The Book of Love” by Kathleen McGowan. What struck me so strongly with her recounting the story of the legacy passed down by the gospels of Mary Magdalene, who is emerging according to many sources as Jesus’ companion & partner, was the union of the male and female in the Divine. Many other cultures and religions, e.g., the Hindu recognize the multifaceted nature and union of these opposites. Our Western culture doesn’t seem to, and is much more inclined to emphasize the male aspect of the Heavenly Father & his Son. In that, I believe we are missing half of ourselves & our heritage.

Playing with the opposites is a rich and enthralling process in life and in Continuum. In my recent retreat day, Descent into Soul, we reflected on and explored the ascending movement of Spirit and the Light and the descending movement of the Soul and the Dark. Our culture much favours the light. We like to get high, don’t even like dark skin & tend to avoid the dark, finding it unpleasant and scary. (I speak here not just of the physical dark but also the darkness within, our shadow self.) Yet without the dark, how can we know the light? Each is important to the other, in fact, the light returns in the darkest time of the year which is now. Carl Jung states that a mature person is able to hold both sides of the opposites.

In this play of opposites, we also resonate with our biological selves. We are conceived from the union of the smallest, fastest cell in our body, the sperm and the largest, slowest cell in our body, the egg, to produce the emergence of something new. Scalar waves (1000s in most of our 10 trillion cells) are two electromagnetic waves of the same frequency but opposite to each other so when they meet, they cancel each other, not in an annihilation of magnetic fields but in a transformation of energy, reverting to a state of potentiality, the possibility of becoming something more.

So, we have ends and beginnings, the old and the new, masculine and feminine (we have both aspects in each of us, male & female). Our universe is full of opposites. which we need to grow and expand and become more of who we truly are. It is true that the nervous system needs a certain amount of stability but it also thrives on diversity. I love the yin/yang symbol of the dark containing the spot of the light and the light containing the spot of the dark. They interweave with each other, dancing and dialoguing. We need to embrace all parts of ourselves with curiosity and with love.

From “The Book of Love,”

We are the very people we have been waiting for, and we have always been. Fear and faith (and I would add love) cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Choose one.

With love and wishes for the year to come, may it be inspiring, nurturing and help us to connect to ourselves, other beings and our world, Doris

My offerings for this season – I would be delighted to have you join us:

CONTINUUM MOVING MEDICINE classes begin with a free introductory session on Friday, January 30th, from 11am – 2pm @ Yoga on 7th, 156 E 7th. Please register for this class with Doris either by phone 604-254-0147 or doris@dorismaranda.com.

Ongoing series follows for 8 weeks from February 6^th – March 27th. Investment $250, early discount by January 16th & underemployed $200. Send $50 deposit by cheque to Doris @ 115-2033 Triumph St., Vancouver V5L 4X3 or by email transfer.

Drop ins $30 (no drop ins after the first class on March 6th unless you have Continuum experience.)

SOMA FEST DAY – Sunday, March 8^th 10-5pm @ Inner Evolution Healing Centre, 3263 Heather St., Vancouver, (between W 16^th & 17^th) A series of mini-workshops. (More details to follow later.)

Body is our first home on the planet. More miraculous than the internet and its edgy spawn, we’re designed for a flow of creative exchange and exploration. Through sensation, emotion, feeling and thought, we dance our inner and outer worlds into being.

Come join us and taste your fluid movement through Continuum Movement with Doris, attunement and embodied awareness through Rizze Expressive Yoga with Lana Maree, and your authentic voice with writing from the body with Ingrid Rose.

Moving Medicine Mini Workshop – Sunday April 19 – 1:15 – 4:15 @ the beautiful Maa Studio, 489 Dollarton Hwy, Deep Cove. Sliding scale: $25-$55.

A time to explore the fullness & depths of who, what and how we truly are as human beings. Helps us to relieve stress, tension, anxiety & mobility issues, to awaken & come more alive and to enhance creativity & healing. (No experience necessary, only the willingness to explore.)

CONTINUUM IMMERSION WEEKEND – MAY 16 – 18 @ Oceanfront Haven on the Sunshine Coast. (www.oceanfronthaven.com). From midday Saturday until midday Monday on the Victoria Day weekend, we will gather together in this lovely house by the sea, which has accommodation for about 6 people, time for sharing, communal meals and Continuum diving with a long periods of silence to follow your own impulse, walk by the ocean, paint or write, rest and rejuvenate, tapping into those primary sources which Continuum enables us to access. More information to follow. (Continuum experience is required.)

OTHER CONTINUUM EVENTS IN VANCOUVER & NEARBY:

January 17rh & 18^th – 1-6 pm – Awakening into Fluid Presence, An Exploration of Continuum Movement, Investment $111 ($100 if registered by Jan10) @ an Intimate Home Studio in Kits. Facilitated by Sarah Pidutti, RCST, Biodynamic Cranial Sacral Therapist, Authorized Continuum Movement teacher & Birth Doula. www.birthintoContinuum.com.

For registration or information about the workshop:, contact Sarah: sarah.continuum@gmail.com or ph, 604,736.8841.

February 7^th, with Robert Litman, The Breath of Moving Life – a day of Continuum @ Tesoro de Luz, on Vashon Island, Seattle WA. Contact Robert: robert@thebreathablebody.com or 206-567-4029. www.thebreathablebody.com

April 25^th & 26^th , 10:30am – 5pm, with Cherionna Menzam-Stills, Embryo, Earth & Cosmos. Resonance & Resilience wirh Continuum Movement, @ Salmonberry Room, Stanley Park Dining Pavilion, Vancouver. $165, ($115 before March 25^th). Registration: Sid Hawkins rootedflight@gmail.com, 604.440-2769). More info & online registration: www.cherionna.com.