Workshops at West Hartford United Methodist Church
(All workshops are open to the public)
 
Click on the title link below to register for one of our workshops.
 

TAI CHI is an ancient Chinese form of exercise that involves a series of movements performed in a slow, focused manner accompanied by deep breathing.  Each movement flows into the next, insuring that your body is in constant motion.  By focusing your internal energy, you can improve balance, concentration and flexibility.  Learning Tai Chi can help reduce stress and lead to long-lasting health benefits.

MARIVIC MAURY began as a practitioner of Kung Fu, but has been a Tai Chi instructor for over a decade.  She teaches the Yang style of Tai Chi, a gentle form which is well-suited for people of all physical levels, and is ideal for beginners (although those with more experience can reap benefits as well).  She looks forward to helping people find a greater sense of peace and balance in their lives!

PARENTING WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND is a course that shares the powerful tools of mindfulness, restorative discipline, and brain science with parents.  The strategies contained in the course will address the need for positive, restorative discipline to be used with children throughout their early years.  It will help parents to understand how their child’s brain develops, and demonstrate techniques parents can use to guide their children to greater emotional intelligence, self-control, and focus.  Use of these strategies increases cooperation and positive interaction between children, and among children and adults, and are relationship-altering as children grow and learn every day. 

NORMA NEUMANN-JOHNSON created the Breakthrough Training Institute (BTI) to assist parents, teachers, schools in developing emotional intelligence in children.  As the founder and leader of two ground-breaking magnet schools in Hartford, Connecticut, Neumann-Johnson began introducing mindfulness to her students and staff in 2006.  Her background includes several decades founding, designing, and being the principal of one of two “Global Schools for Students of Character.” Her school in Hartford achieved national recognition in 2015 when it was selected as the “Number 1 Magnet School” in the U.S. by Magnet Schools of America and “A National School to Learn From” by Teach for America.    Ms Neumann-Johnson consulted with, did staff training in, and launched the Tracey Elementary Magnet School in Norwalk, CT, which, with her guidance, became a Character Education themed school in 2016 & 17. It was named a National School of Character in 2019 by Character.org, the Washington D.C. non-profit. Her study and training show how the environment provided by parents and teachers alters the brain.  Ms. Neumann-Johnson is certified as a Mindfulness Instructor by Mindful Schools (MS) in Emeryville, CA.   
 

PLAYWRITING: FUNDAMENTALS OF STORY-TELLING FOR THE STAGE will introduce students to the major components of writing for the stage, including Dramatic Action, character and play structure.  Exercises designed to familiarize students with the tools available to the playwright – and to connect each student with the wellspring of his or her own creativity – will be assigned each week. Students will draft a short play under the guidance of the instructor.  Readings of exercises and works-in-progress will take place in each class period.  In addition to reading each other’s work, members of the class will also serve as the first test audience for their colleagues.  

WILLIAM C. KOVACSIK holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University.  He was on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon’s world-renowned theatre conservatory from 1994-2001. Most recently, he served as chair of the Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University’s Tisch Asia graduate program in Singapore.  Thirty-one of Mr. Kovacsik’s plays have been seen throughout the United States, the UK, Canada and Asia. He wrote The Masrayana, which received praise from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, and went on to win the Joseph Jefferson Citation Award for Best New Play in Chicago, 2005-2006. His play Morisot Reclining was staged by the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company in the spring of 2009, and was nominated for a Henry Award for Best New Play by the Colorado Theatre Guild and an Ovation Award by the Denver Post.  He has had plays published by Playscripts, Inc. (Scales of Justice),  the Next Stage Press (Morisot Reclining), and Pint-Sized Plays (Bottle For a Special Occasion).

Sunday Worship Service

Every Sunday at 10 a.m.

Holy Week Services

Palm Sunday April 2 – 10:00 am

Maundy Thursday April 6 – 7:00 pm

Good Friday April 7 – 7:00 pm

Easter April 9 – 6:15 am and 10:00 am

Compline at West Hartford United Methodist Church

Join us for a contemplative prayer service

the first Sunday of every month from 7:30 – 8:00 p.m.

West Hartford United Methodist Church is located at

 1358 New Britain Avenue, West Hartford, CT

Contact us at WHUMC1959@gmail.com