There are a range of workshops available that will appeal to different people. If you scroll down you will see individual descriptions.

All workshops share the following:

• Care and encouragement to ensure this a kind and interested environment. We will enter into a simple group agreement to supports us in this.

• Led brief mindful moments, tuning into ourselves so that we can write from an embodied place.

• They are designed to invite us into more expansive spaces within and I encourage a receptivity to honour all we connect to in self and others.

• Spelling, grammar or producing completed pieces are less important than individual voices and that which you are connecting to.

• The focus is on process rather than an end result and so writing prompts include a reflective element.

• There are opportunities to share the writing or the experience of writing. This is always only an invitation, often perceived as a valuable part of the session and with no obligation to do so. 

• I am inspired by and find joy in many things - the arts, nature, poetry, philosophy, faith and science – and will be drawing on these for material.

• I hold an expansive view of creativity. Some people may write exquisitely in the session and others might move into exquisitely creative ways of being in relationship later on as a result of letting words tumble out in a session.

What people can expect to get out of coming to a session?

Common to all workshops is the opportunity to raise awareness, which can release us from limiting ways of being and enable more authenticity

The workshops offer the opportunity:

                        to encounter our own edge of awareness via creativity

                        of safe spaces to explore our vulnerability

                        to support growth and of potential healing

                        to let yourself off from the ‘shoulds’

to see where & how thoughts and feelings are unfolding right now

to move into shared connection and a sense of community

People who have attended often find something unexpected and joyful in the surprise of discovery

People experience the joy of creativity

Although the focus is not on creating a finished piece, that’s not to say you can’t go home with a poem!

What will attendees be doing?

Attendees will be moving between listening, writing, reflecting and speaking. This may be for a warm up, a poem, an image, a video clip, a quote.

You will have the chance to read out or speak to the whole group and in smaller groups and to listen to others who are choosing to share. There is a rhythm within the session, a kind of oscillation between the listening, writing, reflecting and speaking that deepens the reflective process, helping you make sense of something you were perhaps only peripherally aware of and to begin to integrate it.

I will have devised a theme, gathered in material, designed the prompts and will be sharing these with you along the way.  The shortest amount of time you will write for is about 2 minutes, the longest about 10 minutes.

You will also be invited into moments of embodied awareness, guided into listening to sounds around you or focussing on the breath or doing small movements as a way of quieting the mind, settling and writing from there.

What types of workshop are there?

Tasters:        No specific theme is usually named here beyond the one that is always present in these workshops - a tuning into who we are right now, which can lead us to noticing what has been on the edge of awareness.  I will introduce writing prompts and use story or images or poems as ways in.  Suitable for anyone who finds pleasure in writing spontaneously, gathering ideas for future writing projects and tuning in.  These often hold a positive element, may include themes such as renewal, growth, letting go, cycles, seasons, kindness, courage.

Reflective Practice / CWTP:        Aimed at those with an active reflective practice and a willingness to go deeper. Foluke Taylor talks of ‘maybe a safe space but maybe a brave space’. Here you can allow the doorways of awareness to swing open, to reveal their gems and thread into the broader tapestry of who you are. These sessions are suitable for those in reflective practice.  Participants will value reflective awareness whether this arrives via professional training or a therapeutic process or via contemplative spiritual practice.   This supports each individual and in turn supports the temporary community that is forming, supports us to move into the sometimes vulnerable terrain. We can hopefully benefit from the awareness and wisdom in the group.

Contemplative - Faith Infused - Spiritual path:

These workshops are for those with a tender interest in the mysterious and other-worldly.  Material and prompts used to support these will be often be drawn from Buddhist teachings but also other faiths and whilst acknowledging the origins, the invitations to engage will generally be presented in a non-denominational style in order to welcome all interested in exploring spiritual paths. Small moments of meditation, awareness practice, connecting in the present moment, will be evident.

Collaborative:

I’ve been working with a Yoga colleague; plans to collaborate with other art forms and colleagues are in process

Bespoke:

I work within charities and training institutes. I’m open to your enquiry to request a theme and deliver in house.