Expressive Arts Workshop Materials

Jennifer Freeman

MULTI-MODAL NARRATIVE/EXPRESSIVE PLAY

Meditate

Guided relaxation. Be centered, contact inner wisdom/ resourcefulness. Find a still/ empty space. Allow an externalized problem to present itself.

NB: It is OK if during the process, the problem changes or mutates. Best to just trust the process and find out what you can learn from this.It is optional to share with a partner at points throughout.

Journal

Option 1: Consider these questions and take a few brief notes:How does this problem oppress you and limit your experience of yourself; relationships; actions and choices? How did the problem, like a weed, take hold in your life? What is the soil it grew in? (E.g. social /cultural–gender, class, race, socio-economic–messages and practices). How would you prefer things to be?

Option 2: Have the problem write/tell a brief description of you, or tell your story from its point of view. E.g.: This is the way I (the problem) see Jack/Jackie. This is what I get him to be and do. This is what I keep her from doing. Here’s what I need from him/her to keep me going. My main underpinnings are (social ideas /ideologies and practices; other habits, problems or ways of thinking e.g. perfectionism supported by insecurity). Let me tell you if there are times I am friend to him/her and when I am foe.

Draw

Draw the influence or effects of the problem on your life.

Suggestions:

• Your own inspiration.
• A symbolic drawing.
• A map of the problem’s influence.
• A cartoon series showing different areas of effect.
• An intuitive drawing using your non-dominant hand and showing the influence of the problem in shapes and colors.

Movement

Relax and play. Walk around in an everyday way. Now let the problem influence your walking. What happens when the problem is in charge? Notice your posture and breathing. Develop into a movement. What sounds emerge? Develop a transitional movement that loosens the grip of the problem. Explore pathways out of the problem into a preferred state. Expand into a movement of liberation.

Draw

Your preferred relationship with the problem– relatively free or empowered.

Journal

1. Jot down some notes Think of a time when you were able to have a better relationship with the problem, when you felt empowered or were free of it. Does the movement remind you of this? What relationship do you prefer to have with the problem that you have experienced before, or would like to experience more of? What becomes possible when you hold this image of yourself?

2. Now describe yourself as a loving friend might from the “alternative knowledge” or empowered point of view (rather than the problem’s point of view). Try to incorporate past, present and future into your story.

Relax & visualize

• How do you imagine your life as you continue to embrace this direction in a week, or in a few years. What possibilities open up for you?
• Receive an eidetic image or symbol of this preferred relationship and healing and thank your inner guidance.
• Share with your partner or reflect in journal: What was meaningful to you in this exercise?
• What possibilities do you sense for yourself in your work?