Enable Play: create with clay

In this workshop, we will take some time to reconnect with the rhythms of your body. How have you been coping with * gestures broadly* all the things? It’s a really hard time for so many. Let's slow down and meet your body in this moment where it's at. It is very natural to feel times of overwhelm with the state of the world. If anxiety, checking out, and heightened depression symptoms feel like a lot right now, you are not alone.

Let’s check in with what’s there and tend to some of the sorrow, the confusion, the grief through gentle movement and playing with clay. What if we took out the pressure to create something deep or polished or perfect with clay, and rather just got to be curious and explore what it feels like to hold, mold and be curious with a ball of clay?

We will explore the theme of coping & holding space for ourselves through gentle somatic movements, group discussion, and the exploration with clay in our hands. Jotika will guide you through a process of exploring the textures, sensations, temperatures and feelings that come up when working with a piece of clay.

Overwhelm and panic disconnect us from our bodies. Let's slow down and reconnect to breath. Holding space for ourselves requires patience and gentleness to be with the array of feelings that come up, including the difficult feelings. Let's take some space out for yourselves to connect with your imagination and creativity through playing, connecting with your senses and playing with some clay!

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About the Faciltator:

Jotika (she/her) is a Queer, Disabled, femme. Her people come from Northern India by way of Indentureship to Fiji. She is a settler on the lands she lives on, the unceded, unsurrendered, stolen lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Indigenous people.

She is an artist, community organizer and Expressive Arts Therapist. Her arts practices (singing, writing, painting and movement) have helped her get through the most difficult times of her life. As an Expressive Arts Therapist, she supports folks 1-1 and in groups to (re)connect to their body using expressive arts (writing, music, visual art, movement, clay, theatre & more!). As an artist and performer, her work weaves together visual art, poetry, theatre and glitter, with care and complexity. She is a believer that the Expressive Arts can provide insights into deeper self-awareness of our bodies, and they can support us to remember and reconnect with what safety can feel like in times of panic. In her 1-1 work and workshops, Jotika holds space for folks to explore big feels with soft landings. She knows how the arts can help hold all that we carry, and that we weren’t meant to hold and cope with the weight of the world alone.

Connect with her @Jotikart and see more about her work www.jotikahealingarts.com

Entry by sliding scale, funds go toward keeping the space open, with a portion going toward The Sameer Project.

No one turned away due to a lack of funds; email aW5mbyB8IGVuYWJsaW5nYXJ0cyAhIGNvbQ== for accessible pricing.

✨Thanks to Future Arts for sponsoring our facilitators.

Also check out other Arts events in Vancouver, Theatre events in Vancouver, Workshops in Vancouver.