Contemplative Creativity Lab: Write Where You Are - An Intro to Writing Practice (Hybrid)
with Debra Dysart
Write Where You Are will give you a taste of what writing as practice is all about. We will use meditation as a portal to the present moment, to help us get below discursive thought to the place where mind is original and fresh.
We will engage in periods of timed writing sessions together. Playful and exploratory writing topics will be provided. There will be time allotted for compassionate listening as we share our writing in a supportive environment (without comment or feedback and always optional).
All are welcome! No previous experience in writing or meditation is required. Bring your curiosity along with a notebook or paper and a couple of fast moving pens. If physical circumstances prevent you from writing longhand, you may choose to write using your computer device.
“Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said, ’We must continue to open in the face of tremendous opposition. No one is encouraging us to open and still we must peel away the layers of the heart.’ It is the same with this way of practice writing: We must continue to trust in our own voice and process. Ultimately, if the process is good, the end will be good. You will get good writing.”
~ From Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, by Natalie Goldberg.
DEBRA DYSART has been a student and practitioner on the Shambhala Buddhist path ever since she found Pema Chödrön’s Wisdom of No Escape in a bookstore in 1997. She is a meditation teacher, a Shambhala Art teacher, and has served as Director of Education and Center Co-Director of Los Angeles Shambhala. Debra studied with Natalie Goldberg and has co-led contemplative writing practice classes and drop-in sessions at Shambhala Los Angeles. She also sings with the Verdi Chorus and serves on their board of directors.
Contemplative Creativity Lab is an extension of the Shambhala Art/ Dharma Art teachings. Shambhala Art celebrates art that springs from the meditative mind. A reminder to appreciate the uniqueness of everyday sensory experience, the art of everyday life, rather than over-planning or employing gimmicks. Seeing the simplicity and brilliance of "things as they are" provides the ground for genuine creativity, which is the expression of non-aggression and an awake heart and mind.
