Andrea + Laurie Wagner

When circles of women get together, they go deep.

And the last two weekends were no exception.

My dear friend (+ writing teacher) Laurie Wagner and I just held 2 weekend workshops in a row called Opening the Creative Channel. There were 18 of us each weekend telling stories, writing, painting, connecting. It was gorgeous + powerful.

After the first Saturday though, Laurie and I got a little worried. There were a lot of tears… more than we expected! And we wondered to each other-  Is this what they came for? Is it too intense? Are we too intense? 

But this is where we had to trust in our own creative process. It was such a great lesson to allow what was actually there be there and keep creating, keep trusting, knowing that there were no mistakes.

And then morning came and when we all gathered it was like a gorgeous storm had come and washed the streets clean. The air felt different and we all felt energized. Beautifully cleansing.

Most of the women in the room were parents of small children, and something occurred to me as I witnessed each woman drop down into themselves – there is so much unprocessed trauma in a mama’s life. There is so much we don’t get to grieve. There is so much we don’t get to feel. So when we have a chance to step away and drop down into ourselves, there is often a tender layer right there, just aching to be felt.

Just holding that was such an honor and a gift.

When Laurie and I came together to create these workshops, we realized we share something in common – we collect practices.

Practices that open us up.
Practices that allow us to hear the sound of our own music.
Practices that allow for whatever wants to come through, come through.

Writing practices, storytelling practices, gratitude practices, courage practices. They are all ways in. They are all ways to find your voice, your aliveness, your joy. They are all ways to wake up.

Some highlights from our weekends were:

1. Having the sweetest, easiest collaboration with Laurie.
2. Painting. Painting. Painting. Turns out painting makes me come alive more than anything else. (So easy to forget)
3. Meeting so many amazing women. Each unique + beautiful + tender + brave + real.
4. Our special guest, Alexandra Franzen who came by + did a mini workshop with us on how to write the best damn thank you note ever. The kind that makes you cry happy tears.
5. A fabulous photo walk with 18 women in Alameda. We were like the paparazzi.

We are already planning another retreat for 2014, so let me know if you are interested. We are dreaming of Taos + Hawaii. [email protected]

On our photo walk

Opening the Creative Channel, Weekend 2