This is Tim and I wanted share some thoughts about our upcoming Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program and one of our core philosophies: love!
“I’m going back in!” She said defiantly as she took a deep breath, pursed her lip, and wiped away the tear that was rolling down here cheek.
Then she launched herself back at her painting with bright red paint all over her hands in a flurry of intensity and flailing arms as if she was fighting for her life.
This was the fourth time she had stepped back in and each time she stayed in a little longer. Each time that she moved back into the painting her intensity grew but so did her resolve and her ability to hold herself in the intense emotions that arose as she wrestled with herself. She began to trust herself a little more and a little more. She began to realize that she could be engaged with this story from her past and it wouldn’t destroy her.
And with each step towards the painting her aliveness grew, first wails of pain and fear, then growing rage and anger, and eventually laughter and a deep sigh of relief. It was over.
Through all of this I sat on stool a few feet back and off to the side. When she needed to she would come stand beside me, stare at her painting, and tell me what was happening inside. I listened to what arose from her and received the truths that came fast and furious. I held her gaze and occasionally placed a supportive hand on her back. I named what I saw in her and made a space for her feelings so she could see they were real and her needs were justified. I gently invited even more when I could feel her holding back. And I supported the life force in her that knew what she needed to do.
I was profoundly moved by her struggle, her courage, her terror, her anguish and the part of her that just wouldn’t give up. I was in awe of her total commitment to lover herself in this way and I felt a deep compassion well up inside of me.
Love and Facilitation
Love is one of the core principles of our work as Wild Heart Expressive Arts facilitators. I don’t mean the romanticized, larger than life, movie screen, ride off into the sunset love. And I don’t mean the co-dependent, overly involved, taking too much responsibility for someone else’s life kind of love either. I mean the love we embody as facilitators to meet our students with compassionate acceptance.
Compassionate acceptance is the practice and is the act of meeting and receiving someone exactly where they are in their own experience. It is being open and curious about this other living being in front of us and honoring the journey that they are on regardless of where that leads them. It is knowing and trusting that they carry the wisdom and power to grow, transform, and heal inside of themselves. It is about seeing them as a whole being not a problem to be fixed or a suffering to be ended. It comes with a deep respect for the courage it takes to live this life.
And this is the real gift that we have as facilitators: to help our students learn how to love themselves as fully and honestly as they can by being present to them and accepting them as they are. When we hold them in all of their experience they learn that who they are and what they feel is valid. When we invite all of them to be present in their bodies then they can feel at home. Through actively loving them with compassionate acceptance they learn they are not alone and that they matter.
Love and The Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program
Learning how to do this for someone else may sound like a daunting task but the truth is we all of have this capacity already inside of us. We are all wired to love from the get go. Its part of who we are. Learning to become a healer is really about learning how to channel our innate ability to connect, witness, support, hold, challenge, and love in a way that is respectful of other’s experience and encourages aliveness and vitality. And you can do this too!
Developing your capacity for love and and that practice of total acceptance is a core aspect the Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program.
We do this by first helping you experience the ability to love yourself through your relationship to your own creative process. Then we invite you to develop your empathy and compassion for others through a series of exercises and explorations within the group.
The impact of this is transformative and will provide you with the basic skills and orientation to support others on their healing path.
So come join us for our next offering of the Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program Online. Stop by one of our webinars or sign up for a Teacher Training interview where we can answer your questions and you can get to know us.
For more info on the upcoming teacher training program and to sign up for the upcoming webinar, click on the image below.
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