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You’re a soulful human, who loves to get into your body and find your groove,
                        especially with others who dance their prayers.

You know when you connect with the raw, unapologetic nature of who you are,
                        it liberates you from trying to be someone you’re not.

But your wild aliveness has not always been welcome -
                        often pushed down, fenced in, or hidden away by a world that fears it.

You sense something more wants to express through you,
but find yourself holding back, without fully understanding why.

You’re willing to explore your tender, powerful and unknown edges,
even when it stretches you beyond who you know yourself to be.

Whether you love poetry, or find it hard to connect with,
you’re open to having another experience -
a poem moving you as deeply as music does.

So that you enter a space where you know in your bones:
‘This is who I am. This is what’s true for me.’

From here, you can inhabit your own skin more fully,
allowing your fierce and gentle presence to express,
without shame or apology.

We get it. 

Meet Laila Wodtke Nissen + Ríonach Aiken

Hi, I'm Laila.

I kept everything inside, locked tight inside my own shell. Dancing melted my inhibitions and set my soul in motion, opening me to love, joy and confident expression.

I’m passionate about supporting all people to live life with zest and power. As a psychotherapist, body therapist, and 5 Rhythms® dance teacher, I help those recovering from cancer, abuse and mental health challenges, as well as many others.

So we can become kinder to ourselves, moving through life with more ease and freedom to be who we are.

(more about Laila)

 Hi, I’m Ríonach (pronounced rhee-on-ock).

I was forged by bone-deep shyness. Poetry opened me to my soul essence and melted the visibility blocks that kept me in hiding.

Working deeply with the right poem at the right time rewires your brain, rewrites your old stories and helps you speak your larger self into being.

Now, as a poetry alchemist and soulful visibility guide, I help people see themselves clearly, and share their wisdom, gifts and voice in potent ways.

My childhood was spent running free in the wilds of Ireland. I love wind and waves, sea-washed pebbles and make ink and art from wild plants.

Why are we doing this? 

We’ve both danced 5Rhythms® for decades, and supported each other’s work for years. 

We understand the tremendous power of embodied art (dance + poetry) to open your heart, plug you into your soul, and express your deep self more fully. 

And we know how to allow the energy of a group to unfold, trusting the greater wisdom that’s guiding us. No pushing, just melting, in deeply human ways. 

There is a wild edge to this exploration that's more than the sum of its parts, as this unique gathering emerges into being.

This workshop is an invitation to move with a poem. 

To invite your shy, untamed self to reveal their presence, through the maps of the 5Rhythms and the wild words of embodied poetry. 

To become a listening heart, holding space for yourself and others, to unfold, step by step, into what’s true for you.

In this workshop, you’ll be supported to:

  • Find and work with a poem that stretches you into your wild aliveness.
  • Reconnect your movement to your soulful voice, so you can express more freely in conversations that matter.
  • Listen to the wisdom of your body’s knowing, so you can hear and trust its guidance more clearly in your life.
  • Let your wild edges be seen and valued, so you can see your truest self more clearly.

Together, we'll create a container where you can …

  • Get out of your head and drop into presence, with yourself and those around you, so you can take up more space and feel less exposed.
  • Allow your fierce and tender edges to be seen, so you can remember who you were before the world told you who you could be.
  • Melt frozen parts, so you can generate your own safety from the inside out, moment by moment. 
  • Activate your fierceness, so you can speak the truth that's in your heart.

Your wildness is not all roars of rage 
or dancing with abandon,
though they too are welcome.

It’s the You that’s too vast for words.
Your soft animal body. 
Your song from depth.
Your grief cry. 

It's your dance with wind.
Your kinship with tree, bird, stone or cat.
Knowing you come from ocean, rock + star.

It's your No. Your Yes.
Your not-knowing.
Your creative urges.
The mystery in your dreams.

We will guide you step by step to reconnect with your wild presence ...

DANCE THE 5RHYTHMS®

The 5Rhythms (Flowing – Staccato - Chaos - Lyrical - Stillness®) move through our inner landscapes. Letting your body listen to your heart, becoming more aware of what you need to thrive in your everyday life.

“Free the body
Express the heart 
Empty the mind
Awaken the soul 
Embody spirit"

– Gabrielle Roth

WORK WITH A COMPANION POEM

Before the workshop, you'll receive Rionach’s e-book, Poems for Remembering your Wild Edges. This has 50 potent poems chosen especially to support your process in this workshop.

Choose a poem infused with the vibrational medicine you need at this time. You're also welcome to bring a poem, quote, song lyrics from any source, including in your own language or words you’ve written yourself. Trust what calls you.

During the workshop, you will experience a simple, but potent process of embodying your poem. This goes deep fast and gently rewires your system on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels.

EXPRESS YOUR WILD ALIVENESS

Part of the workshop includes an invitation to speak and move some or all of your poem to the group, guided and supported every step of the way.

Rise into the wild edges your poem invites you into - inhabiting it through your voice, body and energy system. Owning both your powerful self and your vulnerable self - knowing that all parts of you are welcome.

BE SEEN AS YOU ARE

Experience the transformative magic of meeting others with real presence to open a space of soul-to-soul connection. Together we create a new culture where our natural essence and innate brilliance is witnessed and celebrated.

Our wounds of being seen were formed in relationship with others and are healed in relationship with others.


*** No previous experience is needed - with dance or poetry. Everyone is welcome. ***

*** This work can be adapted for those whose bodies don’t move the same as other bodies, due to health, fitness, pain, disability, etc. Let us know your specific support needs and any questions. ***

This work expands your capacity to:

  • See your natural essence more clearly, so you know in your bones the unique medicine you bring.
  • Feel more at home in your own skin, knowing who you are and how you want to express.
  • Stretch into your fierce edges, your clear yes and no, so you can ask for what you really need.
  • Express yourself with greater ease and less anxiety about what other people think. 

HOW IT WORKS

2-DAY IN-PERSON WORKSHOP - Saturday + Sunday 1-2 November 2025

BONUS: Friday October 31 - optional evening class

The Friday class is open to all, an extended version of Laila’s weekly class. We will introduce the 5Rhythms and moving with a poem. It's a nice way to warm up, before our main group begins on Saturday morning.

Venue: Move n' Act Theatre School, Grønnegade 93E, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark.

  • Friday 18.30 – 21.30
  • Saturday 10.00 – 17.30
  • Sunday 10.00 – 16.30
  • Bring your own lunch - we can eat together at the venue.
  • We can share details of local accommodation and travel options, if needed.


PRICE: 2995 Danish Kroner / 405 Euro.
EARLY BIRD PRICE: 2495 kr. / 340 Euro (until 30 September 2025)
Friday evening only 250 kr.

TO REGISTER: Contact Laila on [email protected].
Payment via bank transfer in Danish Kroner, or via PayPal in Euros, is preferred.

YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING ...

Why poetry? 

Brain scans show that poetry actually rewires your brain. Scientists discovered that the rich language and imagery of poetry acts like rocket-fuel for the brain, firing up new neural pathways. It activates parts of the brain linked to language, memory and emotion, helping us to rewrite old stories. 

Poetry uses the language of the senses and the language of the soul, plugging you into your deepest knowing and grounding that into your body.

Poetry is not for me 

I get it. Lots of people feel this way. Mostly down to how we were taught poetry at school. I've never heard anyone say: 'Music is not for me.' Just like songs, there'll be some poems that speak to you, and some that don't.

Here's what others have found:

"I had no inkling that poetry would ever work for me. I'd never in my life read a poem that touched me. When I received the poems from Ríonach, I was completely blown away. I was immediately hooked on poetry, which I didn’t see coming."

~ Lucienne van der Linde ~ 

"I was never into poetry, but this work with Rionach was a revelation. The poem I worked with acted on very deep levels. Affirmations never worked for me, but the right line of the poem comes to me at the right time, like a mantra."

~ Valerie Collins ~

"I hadn’t used poetry before, so I was a bit sceptical. There’s something very special about it. My poem is such a gift to have. It gives me a fast drop-in point to go deep when I’m rushing around. It talks to all parts of me together, out through the cosmos."

~ Joan Buckley ~

"My poem helped me to feel my own energy and begin to love and honour myself, which has been my hardest life lesson. I feel a deeper presence of my soul that's constantly flowing through me. I'm grateful to be walking my talk - it's rippling out to so many people."

~ Simeon Bridge ~

"I had no idea poems could rewire our brain and emotional landscape with such grace and determination. It gave me the confidence to engage with the world in a different way. I’m okay to show up in all my different facets. I feel so calm and sure about myself and have a real sense of being me."

~ Fra Panella ~

"Working with my poem was powerful and felt incredibly sacred. It brought me a deep intuitive sensing, beneath the mental to more feeling, discovering and knowing. The process released blocks within me that kept me stuck for years, but it felt like such a safe space."

~ Judith Salentijn ~