A creative process session is in it’s essence simply time set aside to explore your own creative process, and to turn away from the impulse to make work that is for public consumption (a finished product, a work to sell). While the premise is simple, it’s not so easy to make such a space for ourselves – we’re working against years or decades of habituated impulses within our art-making or writing. I’ve explored ways to help establish a supportive container to hold and protect the intention to set-aside time just to explore and care for our own creative experience. I’ve found a few things to be helpful, and I’ll share them here. One part is setting aside a relatively short period of time (around 45 minutes). Secondly, certain “rules” or suggestions that support one to stay connected more fully with the experience of creating itself, vs. “making something good”. Lastly, if possible it’s ideal to do this kind of session with others sharing the same intention. To support this, I regularly offer drop-in creative process sessions (see below). But you can also do these with a friend or two (zoom meetings work surprisingly well for this – it can allow you to easily work within the mediums you choose while affording connection and a way to debrief with others about how it went). There is some information for holding your own creative process sessions below.
The form and instructions that shape the creative process come from a few different sources. One, is trial and error within both my own creative life and my experience teaching creativity and meditation. The length and some of the instructions are related to instructions for buddhist wisdom meditation practice. Some of the suggestions and directions for the “rules” of creative process sessions come from my teachers. In particular my own capacity to work with my creative process was supported by my teacher Barbara Kaufman, who taught creative process retreats informed by her own teacher, Michele Cassou.
Group Creative Process Sessions led by Susy
A few times a year I offer a series of drop-in creative process sessions. These one-hour meetings are a supportive way to reconnect to your own creative process, or to explore new mediums and possibilities. Sometimes these sessions are offered within a creativity course (click here to view upcoming courses). Participants can work in any medium during the session (writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, music, movement etc.) If you are interested in being notified of the next series of group Creative Process sessions please use this form to be added to the list to be notified when these sessions are offered.
What’s a Creative Process Session ABOUT?
Here is a description of the experience of a group led Creative Process session – but you can also adapt the format to setting up a creative process session for yourself (see below)
These are some of the “rules” and suggestions to hold while working/playing in these sessions.
Setting up your own Creative Process Session
From my perspective, establishing a habit of holding a creative process session for yourself once or twice a week is one of the best ways you can care for your art making process, and it’s one of the best ways to address disconnection and writer’s block or art block. It’s not always easy to do (for lot’s of reasons, including feeing that the most important task at hand is to fix what is wrong with a given piece or project). But in time (and sometimes quite quickly) it may become apparent why such work is valuable. Not the least of which is the possibility of feeling more joy and freedom in connection to our own creative life.