SAFE SPACE

Two-month journey from Breaking Barriers to Self-Expression towards Growth and Empowerment through Visual Storytelling, Somatic Movement, and Socially Engaged Art

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Those who who struggle to express themselves

Those who feel misunderstood

Those who feel disconnected from their bodies

Eco-Friendly Design

CREATIVE AND HEALING PROCESSES FOR:

IF ANY OF THESE RESONATE WITH YOU, THIS PROGRAM MIGHT BE FOR YOU:

You find it challenging to express yourself whether it is creatively or through other means

You don't have time for self-care, and you feel overwhelmed by life

You struggle with sense of belonging and you often feel misunderstood

You feel rage towards personal and collective injustices, and you don't know how to express them

You think that your story doesn't matter, and you feel uncomfortable to assert your needs

You struggle to untangle yourself from social conditioning, and expectations, and you experience shame and guilt

You are scared of making big decisions

You feel exhausted and you are struggling to set boundaries

You silence yourself

You reject yourself

TO GROW THROUGH

UNCOMFORTABLE CHANGES

In a Safe Space we are encouraged to express what is not allowed to be expressed, to feel what is repressed or limited, to meet our deepest selves, to face our core wounds, to dig in the dirt, to face our inner darkness, to embrace disowned parts.

These processes can open up new ways of seeing ourselves, the meaning behind challenging life experiences, discovering whole new parts of ourselves, empowering ourselves, finding our core, greater insight into our being, pathways to deep core healing, more excitement, joy, hope and inspiration in our lives, giving ourselves permission to be in service of our own growth.

If we do not take ownership of our stories, if we continue to silence ourselves, if we continue to deny aspects of ourselves, we continually create feelings of disempowerment, which in turn does tremendous damage to our individual and collective wellbeing.

Telling a story about ourselves is perhaps one of the most intimate and personal things we can do. Through storytelling we can come to know who we are in unexpected ways.

WHAT KIND OF CREATIVE PROCESS IS THIS?

Creative process can profoundly shift boundaries between rational and irrational mind, it allows exploration of personal aesthetic and personal narratives without being set in rules and parameters related to conventional norms and paradigms.

It strives to use its full potential while often merging other art forms (painting, dance, movement, photography, collage, and many others). All of these open infinite space for self-exploration, creative freedom, playing with what is “unacceptable”, or “illogical” , or “un-understandable”, or “unclear” and focusing solely on inner journey, and deeply authentic expression of self. In addition to all of these, this is a type of creative process that allows spontaneity, and space where creatively everything is allowed.

Once we identify emotion and in which part of the body we feel that particular emotion, it becomes more tangible. Therefore, we can create more space for dialogue with that emotion, accepting, and releasing what needs to be released.

Here, we want to explore our own experiences, become an active subject, and deconstruct ourselves visually in an attempt to identify the processes by which we had been previously ‘put together’: presenting – or re-presenting - the previously unrepresentable, explore personal and social injustices, express them visually and somatically through body, and support deep and core healing.

TOPICS COVERED DURING THE PROGRAM

Personal storytelling: Writing (poem/fragments/diary/letter/novel/story)

Leading others, and being guided by others, building of trust

Somatic practice: Embodying ourselves, telling our stories with our bodies

Safe space, consent, and empowerment

Meditation, energy, healing, and ritual

Socially engaged art: definition, meaning, and practice

Self-expression and Creative Growth

Experimentation with creative tools

Stream of consciousness in writing

Translating personal narrative into creative language through visual storytelling

Empowerment through personal storytelling

Engaged art and experimental cinema for self-expression

Embodying emotions

Setting regular self-care routine and managing schedule

Taking ownership of our bodies

Shame, guilt, and forgiveness

Production work, and taking ownership of our stories

METHODS OF WORK

Online sessions once per week combined with activities that participants will be asked to complete between sessions. Participants will be also supported by an Online group, external materials and resources, practical exercises, and community.

Participants may prepare: journals/notebooks and pens, and photographs or other particular objects they have access to in their immediate environment

DURATION: 2 MONTHS

AUDIENCE: Above 18, open for all, people from diverse backgrounds, adolescents, social leaders, activists, NGO professionals, LGBTQ+, migrants, immigrants, refugees, mothers, single parents, artists, those who want to create something for the very first time, those who want to create, tell and share their stories, those who want to express what is not allowed to express, those who want to feel what is suppressed or restricted, those who want to meet their selves, to dig in the dirt, those who want to dismantle the old and conceive the new...

WHAT WILL YOU RECEIVE FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

Imagine that…

You find a ways of making meaning in CHALLENGING life experiences (such as losing loved ones, experiencing unhealthy relationships, single parenting, loneliness, job changes, burnout), working through uncomfortable FEELINGS, and unlocking the POWER of your own STORY which can lead you towards transformation, and finding INNER PEACE, RELIEF, and HOPE

You stop IGNORING your inner truth because you FEEL courageous in your body (the courage to define and assert your boundaries with others, the courage to recognize that you have the power to change your own personal narrative, the courage to be vulnerable), and PROUD of yourself as you bravely keep promises to yourself and start feeling more FREE and CONFIDENT

Instead of FEAR of facing adversity (not feeling able to speak up about something you feel is wrong, moving to another country, difficult relationship with a family member, difficult past experiences), you feel EMPOWERED to HANDLE those challenges while BOLDLY expressing your VALUES and what is important to you

You find ways to dismantle social CONDITIONING (gender roles, aging, prejudices in family, shame, guilt, taboos), and UNDERSTAND ways they can impact your life, and life choices so you can express your own TRUTH, stand up for YOURSELF, and feel FREE to make your own choices which support YOUR beliefs, attitudes, and values

Instead of feeling TENSION and STRESS in your body, you feel CONNECTED to your body and tension FREE (balanced breathing, sound sleep, strengthened immune system, relaxed muscles)