(collage by Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith)
Do I have to attend specific dates or creative sessions to benefit?
Our weekly creative sessions and drop-ins flow with the ever-changing seasons. You can participate any time or pick back-up any time. There are no sections, chapters or courses to complete. The benefits of the creative sessions are cumulative. This creative work is simply about cultivating a daily practice and integrating creative expression into everyday life.
What supplies do I need to participate?
Suggested Materials
You’ll want something to make marks with and a surface to work on.
This could be:
- a notebook, journal, or drawing paper
- markers, pens, charcoal, pastels, or paint
- any colors that call to you
Ultimately, you can work with whatever you have on hand.
How can I best utilize a session?
The sessions will first help you down-regulate your nervous system and support you to get into your Creative HEART Space. Once you enter this nourishing field you can work in any creative medium you desire. Participants are doing everything from doodling to writing screenplays. The world is your oyster!
What is the benefit of breathing and meditating before working creatively?
Breathing and meditating with the natural world allows us to step out of unhealthy bias and construct and into our Creative HEART Space, the source of pure potential.
How often should I participate in the sessions?
Just like physical exercise, this work is cumulative in its benefits. Please come as often as needed to support your your creative practice. There are up to eight live sessions a month as well as the opportunity to access recorded sessions. Trust what feels in alignment for you.
Do I need to know how to draw to participate?
You do NOT need to know how to draw to participate. In fact, Creative School for Integration challenges how drawing is defined by "traditional" western canons of observation, art and skill. Embodied Mark Making is a foundational creative practice. Before we formed letters, symbols, or images, we made marks — with our hands, in the earth, in the sand, on paper. These instinctive expressions are still alive within us and connect us to all forms of expression.
Is it possible to receive artistic instruction from the Creative Guides?
Our 90-minute Private Integration sessions are a great opportunity to explore individualized artistic instruction with a Creative Guide.
What is Embodied Mark-Making & Journaling?
Embodied Mark Making & Journaling is a foundational creative practice. Before we formed letters, symbols, or images, we made marks — with our hands, in the earth, in the sand, on paper. These instinctive expressions are still alive within us and connect us to all forms of expression. This practice invites you to reconnect with that natural, embodied way of creating where the body receives and responds to creative impulse, and expression arises through simple, intuitive, embodied mark making. Through guided meditation and creative exploration, you will be invited to listen, feel, and allow what is moving within you to take form. For some the expression takes the shape of both mark making and journaling.
Can I participate asynchronously if the live sessions do not fit with my schedule?
Our monthly membership provide access to our recorded sessions which you can engage as your schedule permits. Everyone participates in their own way.
What are recommendations to engage fully with session recordings?
We first recommend that you silence the ringer on your phone and turn off your computer browsers. Make any other adjustments needed to mitigate distraction. Have your creative supplies at the ready just as if you were participating live. You simply need to respond to the prompts and TRUST the creativity that is moving through you. It is important to participate fully in the opening and closing of the sessions as this energetically allows the creativity portal to be fully accessible to you as well as being closed down with completeness and gratitude at the end of the session.
Am I being asked to give up critical thinking to get into my Creative HEART Space?
We are not looking to forgo or erase any parts of ourselves. Instead, we are looking to bring harmony to our spirit and physical selves which basically means accessing and being inspired by the depths of nourishment inherently within us. This will inform our critical thinking and the action we take in the world—making integrated harmony the norm.
What is holding Creative Tension of the Opposites?
When we consciously hold the Creative Tension of Opposites such as anger/happiness; anxious/excited; night/day; deprived/nourished; matter/spirit; stay/go; time/no time; sun/moon — you get the idea — we are HOLDING BOTH as denoted by Marion Woodman, mythopoeic author & dream psychologist. This basically means we are welcoming of ourselves as is, an energetically neutral place allowing compassion for our human lives.
What if angst, anger, fear, shame, agitation, etc. are present for me during a session?
When we slow down enough to HOLD BOTH we access PURE POTENTIAL. By giving ourselves permission to feel angst, anger, fear, shame, agitation, etc. we stop bypassing or trying to erase parts of ourselves. As we feel our feelings we ask them to be informed by our Creative HEART Space and then be patient to see what is revealed. It takes courage to slow down enough in our busy world to explore these aspects of ourselves and tune in how to pair them with compassion. Embodied Mark Making & Journaling provides a safe haven for the most confusing and darkest of feelings. We each possess the power to transmute challenging human experiences within our Creative HEART Space instead of judging ourselves or projecting on someone else in a hurtful way.
What is included in the Creative School for Integration Library?
The Creative School for Integration Library contains recordings of live creative sessions. It also includes research links and resources that support the philosophies and scientific data that inspire our school and sessions. The library is only available via our monthly membership options.
Why work with recordings of creative sessions?
- Some participants work with the session recordings asynchronously because their personal, work or school schedule does not align with the timing of the live sessions.
- Some participants like to revisit sessions to support their practice in-between the live creative sessions.
- Some participants want to begin privately before joining the live group.
Is it beneficial to attend sessions with similar themes?
Subtle and broad shifts are always underway and each session is unique. Additionally, attending sessions with similar themes provides the opportunity to discover more just beyond the edges and just below the surface. Some participants bring their "work-in-progress" to several sessions to see what else they will discover. Some participants start fresh every time. Ultimately, this work is cumulative and ALWAYS designed to support your creative practice.
Given the creative sessions flow with the seasons of the Chinese five phases of the Wu Xing, is it okay to work with a creative session recorded during a different season?
Yes, you can work with any creative session recording at anytime you are inspired to so do. The Chinese five phases of the Wu Xing also correspond to the twenty-four hour day; the directions of east, south, center, west and north; as well as the changing seasons; spring, summer, late summer, autumn and winter. PLUS your proximity to the equator will also affect how you are experiencing a season.
This website has a great body clock diagram of the correspondence of the phases (and organs) to the time of day.
At a glance:
Wood/Liver/Gallbladder is approx. 11pm to 3am.
Metal/Lung/Large Intestine is approx. 3am. to 7am.
Earth/Stomach/Spleen is approx. 7am. to 11a.m
Fire/Heart/Small Intestine is approx. 11am. to 3pm.
Water/Bladder/Kidney is approx. 3pm to 7pm.
Fire/Pericardium/Triple Burner is approx. 7pm to 11pm.
And this website notes the “Cosmological" directions of Wu Xing.
At a glance:
South for Fire
North for Water
East for Wood
West for Metal
Earth in the Centre
There are also color, taste, planet, zodiac sign, etc. associations.
When working with session recordings tune in what feels supportive to you. Ultimately, practicing whenever you can is the most potent medicine!
What if my only option to participate in live sessions is with my young child nearby?
We certainly remember the days of raising a family and know that sometimes the only way to participate in life is to have your little one tucked under your arm. We have several parents and guardians of young children who desire to be in the communal field of the live sessions and share circles. Because the sessions are designed for 18-year old and older we simply ask that you use your discretion of what is appropriate for your child and to please turn your Zoom video off if there is a visual distraction out of respect to those down-regulating their nervous systems.