Mindful Clay
This past week I went to a mindful clay workshop called Reclaiming Your Centre: Breath, Movement, Presence at the Gardiner Museum’s Community Clay Studio in Toronto, which I pre-registered for in November 2017! This workshop was highly anticipated by me as it was facilitated by a dear colleague and bright beacon in the Toronto art therapy community, Suzanne Thomson. As I have stated before, I believe self-care is an important part of everyone’s life but especially helping professionals. We need to be able to ground ourselves in our own creativity and expression if we are to sustain a healthy practice of supporting our vulnerable clients. Thus, I am doing my best to schedule workshops for myself so that I may refill my cup before the well dries out. What better way to ground one’s self than through clay-work? As Suzanne so beautifully pointed out we need to be malleable like clay which to me meant that we are able to adapt and grow with the ever-changing world around us, no matter the perils we face.
The workshop began with an opening to mindfulness through breathing. Suzanne then helped us connect to our rhythm through breathing and being aware of the clay we held in our hand, noticing with our senses, easing into forming the clay with a focus on breath, touch, clay and everything in between this space. We were invited to create with non attachment, focusing on the process so that whatever this clay-play needed to reveal to us could be unearthed.
It was a beautiful journey to sit with the clay, shaping, forming, playing with it’s density while worriless about outcome. Yet I could feel the tension rise to my neck, as often it does. Still, this awareness of body too had a lesson to convey of helping me stay present. Suzanne gently reminded us to find our feet on the ground and to breathe through out the workshop and as simple as that may sound, I appreciated the timeliness of these reminders. We were reminded to stay hydrated with pottery mugs of water for our drinking and large sponges to nourish our hands when clay left them cracked. Suzanne created a holding container for participants with her presence. The clay provided connection to other, to earth, to breathe. In all we made 7 clay pieces. Each clay creation was inspired by a sequential prompt, to connect us with our present state of being. Between each there was space to pause, reflect, let go and move on. Suzanne also introduced mindfulness practices using breath work, body movement and sound to help us connect further with our bodies and “clay body”. She graciously shared with us lessons learned from her experiences and the many teachers she has encountered including her past clay explorers she has worked with in the many years she has been working in the clay studio with trauma survivors. We ended with arranging each of our clay pieces in relation to one another to deepen the exploration.
After this experience I reflected on another clay encounter I had a few years ago when I attended a “Deep Clay” workshop facilitated by art therapist Lani Gerity at the Expressive Therapies Summit in New York City. Lani facilitated and guided us through clay-work based on her experiences as a former student of pioneer American art therapist Edith Kramer. Lani was filling in for art therapist Michelle Rhodes who was unable to be there. In this workshop I connected with clay in a new way, closing my eyes for the duration of the exercises and tuning into my somatic sensory system. Much like in Suzanne’s workshop I felt like I was really becoming acquainted with clay and its healing qualities. I kept 2 of the sculptures I made at that workshop, as if to affirm something the clay wanted to say to me. Finally I was able to let go of these pieces, (non fired) placing them in the garden this past fall, once again returning to the earth, messages heard.
Clay-work is deep, it’s grounding, it’s visceral. In Reclaiming Your Centre: Breath, Movement, Presence, I was ready to let go of the clay-works made, knowing that the experience would take hold of me, gently guiding me towards continued self-care.