Day Two, Day of the Ducks and Flexibility

After we finished our morning yoga we nested into the cabin to focus on the writing aspect of Journaling. This exercise was a process to show that everyone CAN write and maybe, just having some inspiring words to work from could give us a little spurt of imagination. This was to take 40 minutes, but us creatives, well, we took two hours. Everyone was SO into it that I just couldn't stop the flow. I have to admit this exercise was so potent for my spirit that, when we each went to read our stories twice thru (with no comments, just listening), I was so near sobbing that I had to pass it on to have someone else read mine the second time. WOW - powerful stuff this writing! Jean's comment went:

'Cut-up-writing' took us double the time-couldn't you tell we all were loving it! I went about cutting out the text with having an idea of what my story would be. But as I started to paste them down, the process took over and I found the
story taking on a theme of its own. Creative writing? Yes!

Well, since we were now an hour and twenty minutes behind on our plan, we had to become flexible. Jean's exercises and demos became compressed and combined. But everyone was so open minded and agreeable off we went for Jean's process:

Our 'Contour Drawing and Intuition' exercise took us down to the tree roots by the shore. As we sat waiting for the bell to tell us when to draw and when to close our eyes in meditation, I felt that this was "the most important thing in the universe", as we caressed each contour with our pencil, we were really SEEING. Then, we painted our sketch, while trusting in the process, we felt the shapes and the rhythms. Telling ourselves that there are no rules, no preconceptions, and no mistakes.

I loved doing this exercise outdoors right mixed up in nature. As you can see the local duck population came down to see if we were offering any food. But even when we offered none, they stayed around with sweet antics for us to observe. This process was a favorite one for many participants, including me. But check out the amazing results.

We return to the cabin for the late afternoon and several Meditation Exercises. I'm especially fascinated with results from our Mandala work. These amazing women so got into expressing the visual and reading the textual translations, garnered mainly from a wonderful book I might recommend to everyone, "Animal Speaks" by Ted Andrews. I had to re-do my Mandala over once I got home just feeling I'd so humiliated and misrepresented the hawk world. I mean, really, it looks like a parrot with a bad beak day! So you see now how I REALLY saw my vision when I had a reference to work from. Apologies Hawk World!

Jean felt, "Mandala and Buddhist Meditations-we need these insightful exercises to focus our imagination."

All in all a very productive and fascinating day. I'm continuing to be amazed at the juicy visions and feeling we are to express and the potential for filling up journals with our beautiful energies. I am just reinforced with the health and stimulation journaling is and will continue to be for me, and hopefully anyone who whats to join me in this fascinating pursuit.