Coming Back to Life: Creative Process & the Body

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A three-week spring-inspired package focused on somatic and creative revitalization.

As I work with creative folks on projects, in workshops and in my coaching practice, this is the theme: the powerful connection between our bodies and our creative process. And yet, how many of us were taught the complete opposite: that being a human being occurs from the neck up? How many of us are praised for having our bodies conform to societal norms or to the needs of our environment, rather than the other way around?  How many of us learn to listen to the wisdom of our bodies? Not in a slogan-y, superficial way, but really building a long-term practice of actually seeking guidance deep within ourselves.

For most of us, the world we’re in benefits from our disconnection to our bodies, so there is very little space to explore this integration or the coherence that might come from that interplay. So we talk about work/life balance like these are two separate things that can be isolated and balanced on a scale. Everything remains compartmentalized: Over here I am a parent, over there I do healthy-body-movement-things, over here I am a creative person, over there I am a responsible task-completion person. But the body is with us throughout and we can’t escape it.

And what if, rather than that being a nuisance, something to control and dominate, it’s an opening? An invitation? In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer describes how the land doesn’t just want us to love it, it actually yearns to love us back, for a real reciprocity. What if this is also true of our bodies? That they also long to be with us on the journey?

Trusting this body I’m in as a site of knowledge yields fruit. When we sit in our bodies and allow, we unlock things at a psycho-somatic level, which allows us to move through blocks, to access more authentic versions of ourselves and this gives permission for new mind body connections and neural pathways to develop. We may even embody and step into versions of ourselves we’ve been dreaming of.

A partnership begins to emerge between my body and mind, and alongside so many beautiful thinkers and scholars doing similar work, I’m excited to keep learning.

Laura Friedmann is a long time colleague and sister, a fellow mama, powerful filmmaker and embodied creator. She is training in the Art and Neuroscience of Trauma Informed Leadership with Dr. Nima Rahmany, creator of the Overview Method for healing attachment trauma. See more of her work here or here.

Building on our combined work with group facilitation, creative process, and embodied healing, we’re thrilled to finally offer a workshop we’ve been dreaming up for several months: one that invites us all to connect our bodies and the vitality of creative practice. 

This offering is for you, if you’re:

• Feeling like life is all work and no play
• Feeling called to have more creative space in your life
• Needing more connection with your body
• Struggling to hear the voice of clarity in yourself
• Looking for ways to create in community
• Creative-curious but don’t know where to start
• Feeling stuck or at a transitional point
• Needing a warm and nurturing space to escape the daily grind and deeply reflect

This package includes two powerful live workshops, with a mix of guided movement practices suited to those with a range of experience moving as well as supportive writing prompts and spaces for community and connection. 

In addition to this, we’re offering two creative co-working spaces between the two workshops, to create a warm and low-pressure container for those budding projects to blossom.

Workshop 1 - Sunday April 24th - 8-10pm 

Creative Coworking Space 1 - Monday April 25th - 8:30-9:30pm 

Creative Coworking Space 2 - Monday May 2nd - 8:30-9:30pm

Workshop 2 - Sunday May 8th - 8-10pm

All times are in Eastern Time Zone.

Cost:

We are offering this on a sliding scale to allow for accessibility. The scale below is intended to be a map, inviting each of us to consider our financial resources and look at our levels of privilege. It is a way to challenge the limitations of the capitalist society we live in and work towards economic justice. While you take these factors into consideration, please don’t stress about it. Pay what feels right.

Accessible Tier: 100$ (consider paying this if you are a student, are supporting children or other dependents, have significant debts, unstable housing or receive government assistance)

Regular Tier: 200$ (consider paying this if you have stable employment, are meeting your basic needs, own the home you live in, have access to some savings and/or family support and spend little time worrying about basic needs)