Grief Pages: Moving Through Change and Loss with a Creative Notebook Practice // with Lisa Chu

In these facilitated exploration sessions, you will be guided and inspired to develop your own creative notebook practice specifically dedicated to processing emotions related to grief, change and loss. With the individual and collective changes and losses sustained throughout the past two years, we will explore how the making of expressive arts forms can support the integration of difficult life experiences and facilitate communicating both with and beyond words. We will see how self-compassion can extend to compassion for others, and how images can support the meaning we seek in stories and words.

In each session, a new mixed media art technique will be demonstrated as inspiration for your own spontaneous work using the materials you have gathered. Between sessions, you will be provided with written and visual inspiration drawn from other artists and creative prompts to start your own expressions. Finally, an important component of our time together will be the sharing of our work and/or our experience of making the work, where we will practice the art of witnessing ourselves and others in a supportive way.

This class will involve 4 live Zoom sessions (dates listed below) with active participation, along with sharing of work online between sessions via the online platform, Wet Ink. The bulk of our interactions and all instruction will occur “live” in our Zoom sessions, and the Wet Ink platform will be used to share impressions and visual work between sessions for those who wish to engage there.

Zoom sessions:

• Saturday, 1/15/22 at 9:00am PT (two hours)
  
• Wednesday, 1/26/22 at 5:00pm PT (75-90 minutes)
  
• Wednesday, 2/9/22 at 5:00pm PT (75-90 minutes)
  
• Saturday, 2/19/22 at 9:00am PT (two hours)

Please note: a basic materials list will be provided upon registration and we will be using these materials during our first class.

Week by Week

This class begins with a basic framework and intention, but is co-created in the living container of YOU, the participants in the class! Below are some general ideas of what and how we will be doing things, but the specific topics and emphasis will be generated by what is present in the “room” of our Zoom sessions, as well as what is shared in the Wet Ink platform. Zoom recordings will be made available for those not able to participate in the live sessions (highly encouraged but not mandatory).

Week 1: Connecting with First Impulse

Class portal opens Wednesday, January 12, 2021

**LIVE 2-hour introductory Zoom session: Saturday, January 15, 2022, at 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET**

We will get to know one another through some embodied activities using our voices, movement of our bodies, and activation of our non-verbal brain areas.

I will share a presentation with an overview of our creative notebook practice as well as some background on the subjects of moving through grief, change, and loss (including definitions of these words to explore together).

We will practice together to get our first taste of the expressive writing and mixed media visual art we will be combining and weaving together in our notebooks.

I will demonstrate visual art techniques as you play along in your own notebook.

We will end with inspiration, encouragement, and some creative prompts for writing and art making to complete in next week (includes poetry + suggested writing prompts + specific instructions for artmaking).

You are highly encouraged to participate LIVE in this Zoom session in order to receive the most benefit. If you cannot attend for an extenuating circumstance, this session will be recorded and be made available for viewing.

Week 2: Building the Cocoon

Sharing of work in Wet Ink platform.

Instructor will monitor Wet Ink comments and provide feedback.

More creative prompts/inspiration for next time (poetry, visual inspiration, writing prompts, art making prompts).

Week 3: Naming Losses, Practicing Trust

**Live 75-90 minute Zoom session: Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET**

Sharing of work, experiences in large group and breakout rooms.

Practice of different ways to listen and witness skillfully in grief, change, and loss.

Demonstration of mixed media art technique(s).

Discussion of prompts for the next two weeks (we will expand our own practice and make discoveries about how the techniques and materials work for us in our uniqueness).

Week 4: Holding and Being Held

Sharing of work in Wet Ink platform.

Instructor will monitor Wet Ink comments and provide feedback.

More creative prompts/inspiration from writers, poets, filmmakers, other artists.

Week 5: Patience, Presence, and Allowing

**Live 75-90 minute Zoom session: Wednesday, February 9, 2022, at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET**

Individual sharing of work and experiences in large group and breakout rooms.

Final demo of mixed media art techniques, including additional materials and techniques to expand your practice beyond this class.

Week 6: A Practice Emerges

**Final 2-hour closing Zoom session: Saturday, February 19, 2022, at 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET**

Group reflection on the experiences of the creative notebook practice itself, as well as the journey of moving through emotions related to grief, change, and loss.

Ideas for how to continue your practice and use it to support you in your journey through life.

Any other subjects that arose in the wet.ink discussions or during the previous Zoom sessions will also be incorporated.

Who Should Take This Class

Anyone who is processing life changes or losses, individual or collective, and would like to learn how to develop a personal practice using expressive writing plus mixed media visual art in a creative notebook as a way of supporting this process. Please note that this is not a substitute for professional grief support or therapy, but can be a very valuable complementary or supplementary practice for those going through either grief support or psychotherapy.

Format

This is an online class, hosted on the online teaching platform, Wet Ink, and via Zoom. The Wet Ink platform allows writers to log in on their own time to post comments and critiques directly to authors’ works. You can also view deadlines, track revisions, and watch video or listen to audio. At the end of the class, each student will receive an email that contains an archive of all their content and interactions. 

The day before class begins, you’ll receive an invitation to join Wet Ink. There are no browser requirements, and Wet Ink is mobile-friendly. If you have any questions about the technical requirements, please email tlan.coordinator@gmail.com.

Students should expect to spend 3 hours (minimum) per week perusing resources and readings, engaging in several writing/creation prompts, and briefly responding to peers’ work. From our interactions, we sustain a welcoming and inspiring community together.

About the Facilitator

Lisa Chu, MD, is a multidisciplinary artist and SoulBodyMind life coach. She enjoys encouraging people of all ages to recognize and explore their own creative potential, which Lisa herself has explored through research and practice at the intersection of expressive arts and healing for the past decade, and performing arts and teaching for the past three decades. She has written and performed a solo autobiographical theater show, performed live as both classical and improvisational violinist and pianist, exhibited her visual art in group and solo shows, and self-published illustrated books. Lisa earned an A.B. magna cum laude in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and an M.D. from University of Michigan Medical School. themusicwithinus.com