How Retreats Replenish My Creative Spirit
Listen to this podcast episode here or read below and look at images from my wonderful creative retreat experience!
Today I want to share some reflections on the power of retreats to replenish the creative spirit because I just returned from an amazing five day creative retreat in Massachusetts that was just so restorative and inspiring and for me and for everyone involved. And so I have so many thoughts that have been swirling around in my journal and in my mind. The retreat that I just returned from was called “Books in the Woods” and it was a group of bookmakers organized by the artist, Ali Manning and her wonderful team. They run Vintage Page Designs and the Handmade Book Club.
This retreat was a group of women who came together at this amazing place called Snow Farm New England Craft in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. And it's an old farm that's been converted into an art center. And it's just beautiful. It's surrounded by woods and there's a pond on the property and lodging on the property, kind of dorm style. And we just spent five days together.
I taught my Buried Fabric Meditation Book class over two days to two different groups. It was so fun to share this process in person with people!
I gave everyone a special bundle of fabrics, threads and yarns I have gathered over the past few years which they made their book from. All they had to do was show up, they didn’t need to bring anything.
We sat together and I guided them through how to do slow meditative, intuitive stitching practices to bind the books together and start to infuse our energy into the fibers of the book, one stitch at a time.
We went around and gathered herbs and flowers including lavender, oregano and lilacs to play with incorporating the impermanent, wonderful experience of scent into the books. I showed them how to rub the herbs on the pages and create little pockets to tuck the herbs into. We also rubbed some of the fabric against these gorgeous giant stones and beautiful trees to connect with and welcome their energies into our books and play with and explore the theme of transformation, both within the books and within ourselves.
After plenty of slow time to stitch, chat, sit in silence and create together, I guided everyone down a path into the woods on the property where I showed them how to bury the books. When we entered the woods and stood under the canopy of trees, this feeling of quiet gently wrapped around me. I felt like I was being held by the trees and my mind quickly settled and I felt so peaceful.
I showed them how to mark the burial spot and encouraged them to pause before they let go of the book and gave it to the earth, reflecting on if there is something they are wanting to let go of and release right now within them or they could say a silent blessing or thank you if they wanted to. I shared how this part of the process of making these books feels like a handing over, a surrender and an invitation for the earth to respond to and collaborate with me and the book I created. There are many themes to reflect on that can bring this practice to a deep, personal place.
Some people left their book in the earth for a few hours, some over night and some decided to wait until they got home to bury it somewhere meaningful to them. I got to go on a scavenger hunt with some of the students to find a lost book and we found it together!
The last thing we did was infuse the books with campfire smoke to welcome in the clearing, transformational energies of fire, ash and smoke. One woman brought a bundle of sage and infused her book with it and offered it to me afterwards. I infused my book and then saged myself and some of the other women asked if I would sage them too, which was such a lovely experience. And another woman reached in and picked up some of the charred wood and used it as charcoal to rub on the pages of her book and then someone else tried it and someone else tried it…that’s one of the things I love most about teaching classes, the creative energy and ideas that emerge and spread between everyone so organically.
I felt so inspired as I watched someone dangle their book into the fire and burn the edges a little, so I tried it and loved the thrill, the nervousness and attention I needed to bring in order to not burn myself or the entire book and the connection to the fire I felt. I brought home the last pieces of the sage and stitched them into my book and infused a little palo santo into it at home as well.
The whole retreat experience, including making beautiful, soft books with our hands in community, creating with all natural materials that were made from around the world by different people, different hands, different hearts, connecting to the land where we were together, all in such a peaceful setting away from the noise of the world just felt incredible.
Creativity is such a natural connector.
I was reminded that we are communal creatures. We need each other and transformative magic happens in spaces that are created and held with love, intention, structure, encouragement to play and explore and freedom to express ourselves.
Links:
-Snow Farm New England Craft Program: https://www.snowfarm.org/
-Vintage Page Designs and The Handmade Book Club run by artist and bookmaker, Ali Manning: https://vintagepagedesigns.com/
-Deep Rooted Healing on-demand class I teach on how to make simple Fabric Meditation Books and bury and unearth them from the earth: www.deep-rooted-healing.com/classes.
-Get inspired by seeing a gallery of my buried fabric meditation books: