I went to my first InterPlay class last night. A few weeks ago at a networking event, I met a fun woman named Gretchen. Given my expressive arts coaching approach, she thought I’d appreciate InterPlay and invited me to check out a session with her.
I loved the studio the minute I walked in. It was warm, open and inviting and the people there were very welcoming. I felt right at home!
We did a series of individual, group and partner exercises involving movement, sound and play. One of the activities was allowing ourselves to “exform.” Interplay defines exformation as the opposite of information. Instead of taking in energy and data, it allows us to release excess energy. After “exforming” I sat back down with my dance witness Gretchen to debrief.
I talked about what it was like to move around freely (after having been sitting most of the day), to be inspired by what I was sensing and to let those sensations be explored and expressed.
I started to say “I feel…” searching to find the words to describe my experience.
I tried again to articulate it, “I feel…….”
Finally, Gretchen just said, “You FEEL!”
“Ah, yes, you’re right, Gretchen! I feel (period).”
As I sat along the wall, I could feel its cool, rough texture through the back of my t-shirt. My feet felt moist against the smoothness of the hardwood floor. My fingers tingled with energy. Dancing around and letting my body wisdom move me was very freeing and helped me be hyper aware of feeling! Fancy that.
I’m definitely coming back to InterPlay! By the way, their booklet explaining InterPlay’s eight body wisdom principles is a small handwritten accordion book (see picture above). Are these my kind of peeps, or what?!
We live in an old home with old pipes. Over the years our shower has slowly become less and less powerful. Brian ordered a new shower head made for low water pressure. When he went to switch the old one out, he was surprised to find gravel stuck in the old shower head. We have no idea how it got in there, but that sure explains why the water barely trickled out!
Anyway, he installed the new shower head and it works fabulously. The water is once again flowing freely! Ahhh!
This reminded me of that parable about the rocks and the jar. If you tried to add large rocks to a jar already filled with gravel it would be quite challenging to make it all fit. But if you started with the large rocks first and then poured the smaller rocks in to fill the gaps, everything would fit rather easily.
I feel like I’ve been playing catch up on lots of details and to-dos (a.k.a. little rocks or gravel) the past week since my back-to-back trips to Dallas and L.A. All that focus on the little things gradually stifled my creative flow. Today I attended to the big rocks first. I cleared space to do more big picture thinking and planning. I refrained from checking e-mail incessantly. I indulged in making some art. I opened up the windows and blinds in the office to let the sun and fresh air flood in. New ideas are already percolating.
What can you do today to clear out the “gravel” blocking your creative flow?
Today Kate and I participated in Kimberly Wilson’s Yoga and Creativity workshop. Through a blissful blend of journaling, visualization, asana, collage and meditation my inner teacher and inner muse came out to play. I loved being on the mat in a room full of yoga enthusiasts and women wanting to connect with their creativity. These are my kind of peeps!
During our discussion, a theme emerged around striking the balance of being inspired with lots of creative thoughts and being grounded enough so that we can implement them. I know with my vata kapha dosha, I can tend to get overwhelmed and flighty with my whirlwind of ideas or stuck and sluggish from that very same overwhelm. That’s when I need to fire up some pitta to get me in action! And I can use that right about now given the goals I have for the rest of the year.
For the workshop, I dusted off my yoga teacher training journal that I made with papyrus from my trip to Egypt and a copy of my lotus blossom painting. I realized that I had stopped regularly journaling about my practice sometime in 2007, yikes! I’ll definitely pick that back up again, even if it’s just short entries about what I’m noticing with my yoga. It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a year since my teacher training! It felt good to reconnect with that journey in a creative way again.
And that’s the Hip Tranquil Chick herself with me (and my new very asymmetrical haircut!). With all her entrepreneurial ventures and her lovely presence, Kimberly is truly an inspiration. What a treat to meet her in person!!
You can find us both as guest bloggers on the wishstudio blogzine!
by jenn on July 24, 2008
in Art, Food
Brian and I just had date night. We dined on delicious seafood at Anchor and Hope and had a great conversation. With all my recent travels, it was nice to finally have some uninterrupted quality time together! After dinner, we walked over to SFMOMA to see the incredible and wildly popular Frida Kahlo exhibit. It was amazing to see that many of her paintings all in one place. The intensity and vulnerability of her work is so powerful and moving.
It was a lovely evening and I’m looking forward to more date nights in the near future 
. Given that we’re both pretty busy, this was a great reminder about the importance of consciously making time together a priority.
On Thursday, the question of the day at Cafe Gratitude was, “What is luxurious about your life?” My answer… the fact that I have the freedom and flexibility to have a nice lunch in the middle of the day with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages. I had been so looking forward to seeing my friend and old Old Navy HR teammate Meredith and hearing the latest and greatest in her life! We had such a wonderful time reconnecting. She’s getting her masters in Expressive Arts Therapy so we also had a great conversation about using Expressive Arts in therapy and coaching.
While we were there, I looked a few tables over and thought that the woman there looked kinda familiar. I said to Meredith, “I think that woman wrote the book that’s in my purse right now!” I’m taking a workshop from Kimberly Wilson this Sunday in the city, so I’ve been reading her awesome book Hip Tranquil Chick. When we were done with lunch, I went to the bathroom and pulled out the book to check the headshot. I was pretty sure it was her and thought, oh what the hell, I’ll just go over to the table and ask! Turns out it was indeed Kimberly. She was really sweet and she recognized me from the wishstudio blogzine where we both have a guest column. I’m looking forward to her Yoga & Creativity workshop this weekend.
After lunch, I had a quarterly in-person check-in session with a long-standing coaching client. We did some cool work together using the Inside Team model with Expressive Arts. I’m excited to be incorporating these new tools into my practice and seeing the powerful impact it has.
I had a couple of hours before my SF Coaches board meeting, so I stopped off at Fillmore Street to hang out. Went to Paper Source and bought some new pens. Then moseyed on over to Bittersweet for a lovely cup of White Chocolate Dream (my absolute favorite is their Spicy! hot chocolate, but I knew if I had it that late in the day I’d be wired… yes, I’m that sensitive to caffeine!).
Finished the night off with a great BBQ and meeting on the deck of fellow board member Heidi’s Marina apartment.
Ahhh, I’m grateful for my luxuriously leisurely and synchronistic day in beautiful San Fran!
