Intuitive Creativity
Mondays/Thursdays 2-3:30pm EDT/11am-12:30pm PDT
August 10, 13, 17, 20 • Online via Zoom
Ages 13+
Living Life from the Heart
A Contemplative 2-week, 4-class Course for Ages 13+
Learning to tap into and explore intuitive creation allows us to use that intuitive wisdom in diverse situations across the palette of living. In this course, we’ll create using visuals, sound, movement, and storytelling; and mindfulness and contemplation will be our companions and guides throughout the process. No “talent” or experience required. This course is about fully embracing the process of creation rather than making any kind of finished product. We intend to reconnect with the fun, joy, and ease of creating and imagining that many of us knew as children.
Session 1: Visual Art – Intuitive Drawing
We’ll start the course by expanding our ideas about what makes a “good” drawing, and learn how to draw from an intuitive place. Without trying to make our finished product look good or look a certain way, we’ll let go of all expectations and immerse ourselves in the process of drawing. Many of us have ideas about our talent or skill with art that can sometimes be limiting beliefs about what we’re capable of. We’ll learn how to break out of these limiting beliefs and step into a creative self with limitless possibilities.
Session 2: Sound or Storytelling
Storytelling is found in every culture and community and serves many functions for community building and development. Age, gender, culture, etc. is transcended, everyone loves a good story. When we experience co-creation in storytelling it reveals visions of the individual and community that may lay dormant. In this session we will co-create stories, improvisationally, while also exploring sound and its dramatic function in the storytelling process. Let’s open our imagination and strengthen our connections, having fun and revealing Self.
Session 3: Movement
In this session we will explore group and individual movement in Contemplative form. Contemplative movement has multiple speeds, ranging from the very slow to the very fast. We will also have the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of how, even across digital media, movement can help strengthen community and Self, while creating beautiful Moving Art. This session is for all levels of physical ability as we each move intuitively in our own way, in response, to living life.
Session 4: Sharing Your Intuitive Story
In this session we’ll draw from the resources we’ve gathered in the past sessions to tell the story of our lives, and envision our futures. Through visuals, storytelling, and/or movement, we’ll feel into a new understanding of who we are and what we are capable of.
I am a guide revealing to others what they already possess. -Charisse Minerva
Teachers
Cara Lai
Cara Lai started meditating over ten years ago, and began sitting long retreats regularly in 2011. Most of her practice has been in the IMS/Spirit Rock tradition, although she has explored many other avenues of self-discovery. She seeks to find freedom through her own intuitive process, however that may vary from the ways we normally think about Buddhism, and to help others do the same. Nature, intuition, and the body are all integral to her teaching. She teaches for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education and works as a mindfulness-based psychotherapist, artist, and occasional wilderness guide. She has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Vermont; and in the past has worked in a therapeutic high school, an adoption agency, and various outdoor education settings. In 2020 she will complete the Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program. In her spare time she enjoys walking and watching plants grow.
Charisse Minerva
Charisse Minerva is a Community Builder, Educator, Contemplative and Performance Artist. She focuses on the three essential tools for this work: Culture, Creativity, and Contemplation. She has worked in corporate offices, counseling agencies, detention centers, with artistic groups, and athletes. She designed and directed a Mindfulness K-12 program for Friends School of VA Beach for 7 years and taught Mindfulness for five years as part of a College Success Skills course at Tidewater Community College. She has been working with iBme for several years as a Retreat teacher, Faculty member of the iBme Teacher Training course, and Board member. Minerva is a social activist. She places much of her focus on bringing Contemplative, Culture, and Creative practices to communities as a tool for healing and development and to reveal how these tools are already present in their lives. “I am a guide revealing to others what they already possess.”
Cost and Accessibility
The sliding scale for this 4-class Contemplative course is $40 – $150.
If your family earns $75,000 or more per year, then we request that you pay the full price. If your family earns less than $75,000/year, you may self-select an amount to pay. If you are in true economic hardship (e.g, recently lost job, health situation, etc.) we are offering the discounted rate of $40. If you cannot afford the discounted fee please email registrar@ibme.com and we’ll make it work for you. No teen will be turned away for lack of funds.
Application Deadline
August 10, 12pm ET/9am PT
Cost
$150 suggested tuition for families making over $75,000 a year • $40 – $150 sliding scale
Duration
90-minute sessions, 4 times
Ages
All ages 13+
Adults ages 26+ are encouraged to scale back participation to allow us to center on teen and young adult voices