A Six Week Creative Container focused on the body as artistic guide + art as a medium to communicate with the body
Integrating somatic awareness with watercolor art practice to discover the creative voice of the body
Six Weeks :: Tuesdays :: 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST / 8pm EEST
June 18, 25 + July 2, 16, 23 +30
After receiving my degree in The Expressive Arts + Body Awareness as Tools for Healing and Wellness, I immersed in a year-long residential Holistic Health Practitioner program with a focus on bodywork. Up in the remote mountains of Northern California twenty years ago, I entered a year of deep healing and embodiment like I had never experienced before. The constant companion that my journal and watercolors provided was an invaluable assistant in integrating the journey I set out upon.
I filled several journals during that year, with art and poetry connected to the experience I was having in my body. As I was receiving bodywork nearly every day, inevitably some old memories surfaced related to sexual trauma I experienced as a teenager. My journal was a place for me to alchemize what was coming up, a witness, a refuge.
During this year, my style of Embodied Painting was born. I learned how to translate what was happening in my body and emotions into therapeutic paintings that helped me to see and understand myself with greater clarity. I learned that my body had a voice and could speak through color and water. Since then, I have been practicing this technique and weaving it into some of my classes.
Embodied Painting is a six-week container to open up the invitation of painting from, and with, our bodies. Each class, I will guide the group in somatic exercises to connect with the body, followed by guided painting journeys to express what was found within. Lets see what happens when we invite a deep listening to our bodies and welcome the Soma as a creative muse.
Sometimes I will play the drum while we paint, and sometimes we will paint in silence with some guidance from me. Other times, I may create a special music playlist to accompany our painting journey.
It is not necessary to have any painting experience for this class; a watercolor set, brush, and watercolor paper is all you need! The water, your body, and the color will guide you. We will also be incorporating some creative, embodied writing into our time together.
An invitation that this container provides is to attune to your body in new ways for a few weeks. We will be centering our explorations in a journal (ideally one that has some nice paper for watercolors but is also appealing to write on). For me, a journal has been a constant companion since I was 14, always having it with me to record notes, observations and reflections. The invitation here is to utilize the journal as co-regulating force in place of potential habitual screen time usage. What happens when we tune to our bodies, listening and being with them, and then perhaps create art or write based on that instead of turn to the screen? We shall see!
A part of this class is an optional 1-on-1 somatic session with me, where we will explore what is coming up for you in the class in a private Zoom session together. This may be related to connecting with your body, your relationship with art, or anything else relevant that surfaces for the session. I am in the very beginning of my Somatic Experiencing Practitioner training, and am so excited to weave this work in with my intuitive guidance and art teaching. My hope with these sessions is to give each participant a place to go deeper into their experience of the class with tailored support with me. (When you register, I will reach out within 24 hours to book this session, ideally doing it sometime in the beginning/middle of the six weeks).
This class is for you if:
*You want to immerse in daily creative practice
*You want to connect/reconnect with watercolors or other art materials
*You want to be a part of a collective field of inspiration
*You want to explore the expressive arts and connect with your creative essence
*You want to invite more Embodiment into your life
*You want to connect with your inner child, the Ancient Child, curiosity, play and expression
*You want to deepen your connection to your body and learn how to hear its voice and translate its song into color and form
*You would like to transition from screen time into more awareness time with your body and a journal/art/writing