THE POWER OF STORY WORKSHOP
TO HEAL AND TRANSFORM

View upcoming workshop calendar

How do we put together the pieces of the past? How can we rewrite our life story? Our lives may be less determined by our past traumas than by the way in which we remember them. Healing and transformation depend first on listening to the body’s story without words, then visualizing and rewriting one’s own new life story. Join award-winning playwright and screenwriter Catherine Ann Jones ("Touched by an Angel") in this unique exploration into the power of story to heal and transform.

Here’s what former participants have said:

"A spiritual experience as well as practical. Thank you!"
– Gard J., Boulder City, NV

"Truly extraordinary! There definitely was a magic working in that room. You have an uncanny ability to bring out from each whatever is essential and healing. You are a beacon!"
– Trudy Z., Salinas, CA

The weekend was a real gift. Catherine has a wonderful way of combining the practical with the spiritual, which is just what I 'd been looking for in a seminar. The size of the group, the setting, lunch together made for an intimate event. Not only did I leave having learned some useful new techniques, I also left feeling centered, focused, and validated.
– Jo Ann, Half Moon Bay, CA

The workshop has a sense of wholeness that Catherine possesses. Wonderful to experience an enlightened person who has triumphed over herself and is able to teach what she was born to do and do it well. In a way, she is giving all of us the gift of acceptance.
– Mike B., Thousand Oaks, CA

"The world is made up of stories, not atoms."
­ Muriel Ruykeyser

In the beginning was story. The caveman rushed back to his tribe and excitedly acted out his encounter with some Paleolithic beast. It was the most natural thing in the world to tell his story. It was nothing less than an extension of himself, connecting him to the tribe. To communicate is to be. This was his story and forever after he would be remembered by this story. Every story has a sacred dimension not because of gods but because a man or woman’s sense of self and her world is created through them. These stories orient the life of a people through time, establishing the reality of their world. Thus meaning and purpose are given to people's lives. Without story, we do not exist. The power of story is how we discover who we are.



Catherine ANN JONES has played major roles in over fifty productions on and off-Broadway, as well as television (Great Performances, etc.) and film. Disappointed by the lack of good roles for women, she wrote a play about Virginia Woolf (On the Edge) which won a National Endowment for the Arts Award. Ten of her plays, including Calamity Jane (both play and musical) and The Women of Cedar Creek, have won several awards and are produced both in and out of New York. Her films include The Christmas Wife (Jason Robards & Julie Harris), Unlikely Angel (Dolly Parton), Angel Passing (Hume Cronyn & Teresa Wright) which played at Sundance and went on to garner fifteen awards here and abroad, and the popular TV series, Touched by an Angel. A Fulbright Scholar to India, she has taught writing at The New School University, University of Southern California, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Esalen Institute. Ms. Jones lives in Ojai, California, leads The Way of Story workshops throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The Power of Story Workshop (launched at Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA):

For workshops in your area: Contact wayofstory@juno.com