Writing for the soul in Westchester & NYC

On Sunday, October 28, Mia and I held our second monthly expressive writing/ art journaling workshop of the fall season at Mia's studio in Hastings.

Our theme was "Transience and Impermanence." That day, I addressed that theme in my journal, noting that "It's a good reminder that what seems crucial today will fade in importance..."

To my way of thinking, this is both a good thing (this too shall pass) and also rather poignant. We live intensely day by day, with passion, joy, sorrow and anger...But emotions cool and diminish with time, like objects getting smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror of a car.  I see this more clearly as I get older and the road behind me stretches longer than the road ahead...

On another note, Mia and I were invited to give a six-hour workshop at the annual Expressive Therapies Summit in New York City earlier this month. WRITING FOR THE SOUL: AN INTRODUCTION TO ART JOURNALING was a hit with the expressive therapists in attendance. Our workshop was a sellout with a waiting list! And judging by the number of people who spoke with us afterward and asked to be put on our mailing list, I'd say everyone had a very good time..I know we certainly did.  

We look forward to seeing some of you at our December workshop in Hastings!

--Mia de Bethune, ATR-BC, LCAT and Nelly Edmondson Gupta, MA

Awakenings - A Turning Inward

Another year   

Today we began a new season of monthly expressive writing/ art journaling workshops. It has been a full year since my colleague Nelly and I started running these groups on a regular basis – So it seemed like a good time to start a blog as a way to keep our journaling community apprised of the entire goings-on.

Drawing on daily meditations from Pocketful of Miracles by Joan Borysenko, PH.D.

and using concepts rooted in Jung's philosophy of the unconscious, we began the fall season with an exploration of the word “Awakening.” This exploration took us inward rather than outward, as it might in the spring. But fall is the season of darkening, lengthening shadows, entering into dreamtime, the spirit world and our inner selves.  

Four enthusiastic journalers joined Nelly and me around the table in the studio -- three of them longtime participants and one new face. We began by contemplating awakenings in ourselves through meditation and deep breathing, and then dove into a translation of those sensations by creating individual mandalas. This was followed by a timed writing exercise.

Then we energized as a group by shouting out any and all awakening-related words that came to mind:  brightness, dark, polarities, fear, trust, letting go.... After that, we let it RRRRippppp! - With a magazine ripping frenzy, to produce a pictorial group collective unconscious, which we then used to create our own mixed-media dreamscapes or awakening landscapes in our art journals.

                                                                        --Mia de Bethune

JOURNALING PROMPTS

Continued work on the subject of “Awakening” this month could include an exploration of your own dreamscapes. What do you become awakened to through the subtle clues of your unconscious?  How is this awakening reflected in your daily life?  How does your shadow side show itself in your daily life? Are you awake to your shadow side?  Draw and write to your shadow side as a way to integrate it into your life.