FALL 2025
online OFFERINGs
SPECIAL EVENTS
MONTHLY (4th Friday)
WOMEN’S GROUP: DEEP FEMININE CIRCLES
AUGUST 2025
WILD WISE BONES
SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2025
REIMAGINING INANNA’S DESCENT:
Move beyond perfectionism and ignite the power of your intuition
OCTOBER 2025
ALTARES:
A Ritual of Remembrance through Embodied Creativity
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2025
RECLAIMING STILLNESS:
Artful Ways for Navigating Uncertainty and Embodying Radical Presence
PRESENTING AT THE FOLLOWING CONFERENCES:
OCTOBER 3-19 – Egypt (Online)
Mythic Life Presenting at the Expressive Arts Egypt Festival 2025: Honoring the Roots, Blossoming into the Future.
JUNE 20-22, 2025 – Meet us at Endicott College, Beverly, MA
Mythic Life Presenting at the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association’s 16th International Conference.
AUGUST 8-10, 2025, Southwestern College & New Earth Institute.
Mythic Life Presenting at the Transformation and Healing Conference. The theme this year is Creativity & Embodiment: Ancient, Alternative, and Emerging Pathways.
online woskhop series
REIMAGINING INANNA'S DESCENT
Move Beyond Perfectionism and
Ignite the Power of your Intuition
This fall, embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, where you'll learn to trust your intuition, embrace your deepest truth, and let go of the burden of perfectionism.
Have you ever felt, deep down, that there is a part of you that you have ignored to make other people happy? Have you ever felt like you’ve compromised or hidden a part of you in order to fit in? Do you feel there is something crucial missing in your life despite having much to be grateful for? You are not alone. Many women, including myself, have felt this way.
In today’s world, the term ‘goddess’ is often associated with a polished, perfect image. It’s easy to get lost in the whirlwind of societal expectations and the constant pressure to improve ourselves. We’re bombarded with the latest trends – podcasts, diets, workouts, therapies, and more. While these resources can be beneficial, they can also lead us astray when our intuition isn’t our guiding compass. This is where perfectionism, a less obvious but potent addiction, comes into play. Perfectionism is the face of the goddess that has been commodified. It muffles our intuition and distracts us from what truly matters in our lives. Perfectionism continues luring women to their ruin, that is why it is crucial to trust your intuition.
Let the story of Inanna’s Descent work its magic through your imaginal body. Open yourself up to the wisdom and gifts this ancient tale has to offer.
This workshop aims to set in motion three critical assets in self-empowerment:
- Clarity: Understand what you truly want and need.
- Courage: Speak your mind, face life challenges and difficult truths, do the things that are right for you even though others think you are out of your mind, and take actions that are necessary, even if they seem daunting.
- Trust: Believe in yourself to make better decisions, stop compromising, and choose what truly nourishes you.
Dates:
Seven Tuesdays
September 30*
October 7, 14, 21, 28
November 4, 11*
*First and Last Session are 2.5hrs long
Time:
9am – 11am PT
10am – 12pm MT
12pm – 2pm ET
5pm – 7pm BST**
6pm – 8pm CEST**
**Please check here where Daylight Savings enter in effect in your area as it may affect the session on November 28th.
Registration:
$575 USD value.
Super Early Bird $375 by August 23rd -and for re-takers
Early bird $425 by September 7th
Or
Venmo: @Maria-DiazdeLeon-2
Payment Plans Available upon request. No refunds, credit can be used for future offerings within a year.
This workshop is designed for anyone who has ever felt the burden of perfectionism and struggled to feel worthy and happy. If this resonates with you, then you are ready to learn how to trust your intuition, reclaim your deepest truth, and let go of perfectionism.
And what better way to do it than in a creative, supportive, and compassionate environment?
It's time to rewrite your narrative and start feeling like the goddess you truly are. Inspire others by embracing your divine self!
Trusting your intuition isn’t about taking blind risks. Imagine having a psychic spine that’s both strong and flexible, capable of facing any situation life throws at you. It is the spine that connects your thoughts, feelings and hunches. Trusting your intuition is about being open to learning, ready to let go of old ways, and seeing vulnerability as a stepping stone to courage and strength.
Inanna, the ancient Sumerian goddess, Queen of Heaven and Earth, felt the call to descend to the underworld. She left everything behind, faced death, came back to life, and returned transformed, as the Queen of the Underworld. Her story resonates deeply with me, illuminating a path back to my own rhythms, dreams, and body. It inspired me to let go of what was holding me back, even though it was emotionally painful and scary. What I gained was feeling more fully myself, empowered, and courageous.
This is what the goddess Inanna inspired and modeled for me. In return, I promised her that I will devote my work to support other women in finding their own untapped potential and unsung voice in their body and birth themselves into their true selves. I advocate for women’s own silenced and suppressed voices; and hold a container so a deep listening can occur.
But do not take my word from it, let the story of Inanna’s Descent work through your imaginal body and let yourself receive the gifts and wisdom that this story has for you.
I have developed an original mythosomatic theoretical framework to reimagine Inanna’s story through a multimodal expressive arts approach that includes somatic movement, metaphor, dance, storytelling, drawing, poetry, creative writing, ritual, and aesthetic witnessing. And the best part of it is that no experience with the arts is necessary.
What is included?
- Seven weekly live sessions.
- Access to the recording of the guided portion of each session. Available until December 31, 2025. This allows the opportunity to revisit or ‘make-up’ for a session you miss.
- Weekly follow up email with resources and creative activities to support you in your process.
- Group size is capped at 12 in order to offer a more personalized experience and support between live sessions.
- Optional: two individual sessions at a discounted price between October and December 15th, 2025. (Discounted price: $115USD, regular prices $175).
“Marialuisa holds you tenderly and empathically as you explore the physical, emotional and spiritual depths of your heart. She leaves you with a lasting legacy.”
Kate Craik
“Her gentle focused presence, attentive listening and heartfelt aesthetic responses created a safe and trusting space despite the limitations of an online connection. I would highly recommend Marialuisa’s work for anyone looking to deepen and enliven their connection to themselves, their bodies and life itself.”
Katy Menell
Facilitator: Marialuisa Diaz de Leon, MA, REAT, MSME/T.
Therapist, movement specialist, mythologist, educator, researcher, and performer born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Marialuisa’s professional experience in somatic movement, dance, and psychology spans over twenty-five years and includes work in education, private practice, and community intervention. Marialuisa is the creator of Mythic Life: Embodying Wisdom, Beauty and Courage (mythiclife.net) where she brings her expertise on facilitating meaningful and transformational experiences to women from all over the globe. She has developed a mythosomatic theoretical framework; a forward thinking integration of myth, arts, somatic movement and archetypal psychology which informs her philosophy of practice.
Marialuisa is an adjunct faculty at Southwestern College and Associate Teacher at Tamalpa Institute. She served as Program Director and core faculty at Tamalpa Institute in California and continues to supervise advanced students’ fieldwork projects. Marialuisa is a registered Master Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator from ISMETA. She gained organizational embodied leadership experience while serving nine years on the ISMETA Board of Directors, the last three as Board President. She is also a registered Expressive Arts Therapist through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).
ALTARES
A Ritual of Remembrance through Embodied Creativity
Step into a sacred space of remembrance and celebration with this embodied ritual, ALTARES. This unique gathering invites you to honor the life and memory of a loved one—be it a cherished person, a beloved pet, or even someone you never met but wish to appreciate. Through the gentle power of embodied creativity, we will come together to create meaningful Life/Art offerings that pay tribute to those who have touched our hearts.
Inspired by the rich Mexican tradition of Dia de Muertos, ALTARES weaves together somatic movement, gesture, dance, drawing, and the writing of calaveritas (short, poetic tributes). Each activity is designed to help you connect with the imprint your loved one has left on your life, express gratitude, and to celebrate the qualities and memories that will always keep them close.
Marialuisa was born in Mexico and, as a young girl, she used to accompany her abuelita to the cemetery to take part in creating altars for Dia de Muertos each year. This tradition is rooted in prehispanic indigenous traditions that survived the conquista. According to this ancient tradition, the veil that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead thins out at this time each year allowing the spirits to leave Mictlán (the otherworld) and join their living family and friends. The ofrendas placed in personalized altars such as the ‘day of the dead bread’ and the smell of the marigold flowers used to decorate them help orient spirits so they can find their families and loved ones who are waiting for them to celebrate and remember the loving memories that connect them.
We hope you consider joining as no art experience is necessary.
Date: October 31
Time: 10am – 12pm PDT
Price: $50
Please note:
This workshop is a gentle, heartfelt, and uplifting ritual inspired by the imagery and spirit of Mexican altares. While it may offer creative support for those navigating grief, our focus is on honoring, remembering, and celebrating the lives of those who have crossed over. If you have any questions about this, please contact Marialuisa at mythiclifecenter@gmail.com before signing up.
A safe space to share the ways you embody the archetypal energies of the feminine in your mythic journeys and life cycles.
The circle will have an opening and a short guided somatic movement practice with a central theme or question for the day. Following that, the space will be open for speaking and listening from the heart. Aesthetic interventions and responses are offered from witnesses. As we close the circle we harvest the learnings, insights, questions that each participant has identified.
Space limited to 12 participants per session. Application required.
Fourth Friday of the month.
Time: 12pm ET – 2pm ET – Other time zones please look here.
Stillness is where creativity and solutions are found.
– Meister Eckhart
Rondas lunares de mujeres creativas
Cultivando y fortaleciendo la sabiduría femenina a través del movimiento somático, la mitología, arquetipos y las artes expresivas.
En estas rondas mensuales cultivamos un círculo íntimo, seguro y poderoso de co-creación para situarnos en el momento en que estamos viviendo a nivel personal e identificar retos, oportunidades y recursos para seguir avanzando en nuestro caminar.
Cada Ronda se abre con una práctica guiada de movimiento somático alineada con la fase lunar de ese día y que nos introduce al tema central de la sesión. El espacio se abre para hablar y escuchar profundamente con y desde el corazón. Atestiguamiento compasivo, acuerpado y libre de crítica nos permite ofrecer un reflejo y sostener la sabiduría que nace en cada una.
Dirigido a toda mujer hispanohablante que tenga experiencia en escucha profunda y respetuosa.
Cupo limitado a 12 participantes para lograr una mayor conexión y atención a los procesos personales.
Hora:
7pm – 9pm CDMX – Colombia
5pm – 7pm California
Busca tu hora local aquí: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
Let difficulty transform you. And it will. In my experience we just need help in learning how not to run away.
– Pema Chödron
CARRYING TRUST
AFTER MISCARRIAGE
AN 8-WEEK SOMATIC AND EXPRESSIVE ARTS HEALING PATH FOR WOMEN
Two days after having had a miscarriage I barely felt my pelvic area. I was teaching my weekly Somatic Dance class and when I tried to do some movements like rolling the hips, I could not do them. It was as if my uterus, bladder, cervix were all hardened making a fist. I was scared, disappointed, angry, and sad. I decided to let my body lead the way of my next steps, I needed to come to terms that I was pregnant and then I wasn’t. It sounds simple, but it was complex: something in me was alive and then something in me was dead.
For many women, miscarriage is a wounding experience of loss for which they need adequate support to heal. Healing from miscarriage entails a grieving process often accompanied with symptoms of PTSD, including numbness, hypersensitivity, or pain often localized in the pelvic area. Health care professionals and family members usually downplay the effects that miscarriage has on women and overlook the emotional pain. Women are left to their own to deal with a sense of mistrust, guilt, and shame over their body. How does somatic movement and expressive arts support women in healing after having a miscarriage and regain trust and vitality in their body?
Pelvis is associated with the cycles of birth/death/rebirth. With miscarriage, the pelvis goes from being a fertile womb to a cold tomb. A frozen pelvis is experienced as lack of sensitivity, mobility, hypersensitivity, or pain. I desinged this 8-week program to support women in completing and integrating the grieving experience of miscarriage and reclaim trust and joy in their body.
Throughout the program I will hold space for you, support you, guide you and offer you effective tools so you can:
- Encounter and express your grief, and the variety of feelings that you are experiencing.
- Identify parts of your body that have gone numb or are hypersensitive, and recover sensation and mobility.
- Guide you safely into creative ways to express your story.
- Create your own healing ritual(s).
Pre-requisite:
Please schedule a 20min conversation to determine if this program is right for you.
Contact me for more information, availability and fees: mythiclifecenter@gmail.com
SOMA’S MYTHIC PATHWAYS SERIES
Pelvic Wisdom Series: Embodying the Cycles of Life and Death
How are ancient myths rooted in particular body experiences? How does somatic movement help us become aware of our shared humanity? And how can myth be used in somatic movement practices as a tool to better develop this awareness?
Ancient myths sprang from the body experience. Myth and somatic movement are two ends of a spectrum and metaphors are the vehicle to travel between the two. Both, somatic movement and myth are modalities of the imagination –for image is not just visual but it is also a felt sensation. From an archetypal psychology perspective, somatic movement is a myth making and soul tending practice. Somatic and expressive movement takes us across into the phenomenology of myth and leads us to an embodied understanding of our life as a unique and living expression of a larger myth.
