Collegiate Times

Conscious Living at Virginia Tech will be offering a three-day workshop for students, faculty and community members who were deeply affected by April 16.

Leaders of the workshop, called "Fortitude and Strength: A Community Embracing Authentic Emotions," said it will be a non-conventional, personal and interactive environment that aims to help people understand the emotions they are feeling instead of fearing or hiding behind them.

Theresa Gabriel, a sophomore interdisciplinary psychology and business leadership major, and Brian Smyth, a sophomore biology and humanities, science, and the environment double major, have led the effort to organize this powerful event, which will take place in Squires from April 11 to April 13.

Gabriel said that after having her own personal experience at a "life-changing," eight-day workshop with relationship expert Kathlyn Hendricks, she decided that Hendricks' healing methods could be very useful for Tech students.

"We're trying to provide a safe place to express emotion in a fun, non-intrusive environment," Hendricks said. "It'll be a holistic, full-body workshop."

Gabriel said one of the things she learned from Hendricks was that people's jaws clench when they are mad, their chests feel heavy when they're sad, and it feels like butterflies in their stomachs when they're feeling fearful.

"It's very simple, but once you start to think about these emotions, it is very helpful," Gabriel said.

Hendricks has been helping people for almost 40 years. She has taught relationship-building workshops in Germany, Japan, France, Switzerland, Canada and all over the United States. Hendricks has been on "Oprah," CNN and "48 Hours," speaking on how people can merge their energies to move in a common direction that benefits everyone.

"We've been working on these processes for over 30 years, so I am confident that I can make a difference," Hendricks said. "I wanted to contribute in a way that would have a ripple effect and help the Virginia Tech community regain wholeness and move forward."

Hendricks, along with 11 of her apprentices, will be available to assist students, answer questions and mostly just provide a lot of support. Her workshops are come-as-you-are; everyone is totally welcome in whatever state they find themselves. People only learn new things when they are in a relaxed state, so the goal of the workshop is to get them to that tranquil level.

"Because of the way Dr. Hendricks works, people coming in will get what they need out of it, which will be vastly different for each person," Smyth said. "Everyone has different emotions regarding April 16, and because her work is very versatile, I think it will be very helpful."

The non-conventional healing methods that Hendricks uses are simple: when people talk about what happened, they are using a small part of their brain, but if they incorporate breathing, movement and interaction with other people, they then utilize the whole brain.

"Some people don't know what to do with feelings that they're having. If someone is expecting fear, then he will close out happiness," said Hendricks. "The value of these communication activities is to allow people to take concepts and experiences they've had and expand on them."

The therapeutic method helps people learn new ways of reacting, thinking and rewiring themselves to be more effective and creative, Hendricks said.

"I really am convinced that people have their own resources to help themselves, and I just act as a collaborator with people toward their goals," Hendricks said.

The three-day sessions will build on themselves, so participants are expected to attend all sessions.

Registration is required for the event to protect its integrity and the people involved, along with their privacy. This is a precaution to keep media and random spectators out of the event. The registration form can be found at consciousliving.org.vt.edu and the deadline to sign up is today at 2 p.m.

The workshop is currently expecting about 55 people, and there is still room for another 20 or 30 people.