Why this Workshop?

When I think of sharing this creative process there is much that comes to mind. It is a workshop that has continue to come forward over the past 13 years since I put it together for the first time. 

I believe it continues to come forward as it is so powerful for those of us that have participated in it.

It initially came forward as a result of my mother’s transitioning.  What I realized in that grief was a number of things:

• Grief is relevant and like any other emotion it passes through. I wanted to feel every part of it – the pain, the sorrow and the joy that thoughts of her brought and still brings.

• The emotion of grief is so often connected to a loss, and that opens the door WIDE open.

• Loss -  the obvious one is loss of a loved one in their passing from this worldly form, yet it is also loss as in divorce or separation for any reason.  It is the loss of an identity, things such as: I was a stay-at-home mom, now I am an empty-nester; I was a smoker – and now I am not; I was in the work field and now I am retired. 

• Grief might come in the form of loss of innocence - I believed something that was not true.  I had a dream that was blown apart….

• It goes on and on.  All of these and so many more reasons – bring up grief. 

If this is so normal, why would we want to spend time on a workshop to go into it?  Like many emotions – grief (and others) can get stuck in the body system.  It is healthy to let emotions flow through.  Most commonly this doesn’t just happen with the flick of wrist – or snap of the finger -  emotion be gone!  With the creative process we allow the emotion, put it in/on the canvas, feel what we feel and that helps the emotions to move through. 

In this workshop we also acknowledge other emotions that also accompany grief -  anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance…  One thing we DON’T do in this workshop is dig into all the pain.  We allow what comes up (including pain) and go from there.

Yes, it is a creative process.  Do you have to be able to paint?  No – no experience is needed.  What we find is that through the creative process we access internal information in a different way than talking through it.  I am not down playing talk therapy – they both have their time and relevancy.  The creative process often leaves us with an artifact that says I did the work. 

I hope you will join us. Feel free to contact me if additional information is needed. Uma Joy