Buddhist Psychology Series: Creativity and Connections (CPD Event)

Creativity thrives on connection. It is the spark which emerges when different people and different cultures come together. It is the interaction between different presences – our meetings with wind, water, the animal and plant worlds, rocks. It flows from our immersion in the elements – the salt sea, the grass of a meadow or the heat of a summer afternoon. It is in the sounds of insects and the flight of starlings. As we open up to our surroundings, we invite our creative energy to thrive, unlocked from our fear driven rigidities. Other-Centred working invites us to encounter the world in fresh ways and though these encounters to stimulate our imaginative capacity. It also invites shifts of perspective so that we use that imagination to enter different viewpoints and see the world through other imagined eyes. So, we may feel the embrace of the earth on roots, or the crumbling colouration of chalk on slate.

In this workshop we will explore ways in which an Other-Centred perspective can liberate creative possibilities, using a variety of stimuli and methods. This may take the form of visual arts, written word and poetry, or movement and voice. Participants are invited to have to hand whatever art materials they have available, but there will be no pressure to respond in any particular medium or to show outcomes unless you wish to.

• Creativity as interfaces of ideas
• Flow and continuity
• Others as inspiration; observation, mimicry and embodiment
• Experimentation and empathy for the materials

MORE ABOUT THE BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY SERIES IN 2024-2025

This year, in our Buddhist psychology series, Caroline Brazier will be offering a series of thematic workshops exploring different ways in which Buddhist ideas can inform therapeutic work in general and ecotherapy in particular. In these workshops, she will use these specific themes to examine the Buddhist understanding of mind and human process, but she will also look at practical ways in which these fundamental principles can inform therapeutic work out of doors. The workshops will offer a combination of theory and practical activities. They can be taken individually as stand-alone sessions, but to get a better understanding of the core theory of Buddhist psychology it is recommended that you try to attend the full series.

Whilst attending this series of workshops you may like to use the themes which we will be exploring as a basis for journalling. With each session, there will therefore be some reflection questions and activity suggestions.

Although this event is part of the Ten Directions training course for ecotherapy practitioners, anybody can book and take part in this public online event. If you are interested, please do buy a ticket!

We kindly ask that participants switch their cameras on to participate in this series (unless, of course, you have technical issues.)

About Caroline Brazier

Author of seven books on Buddhism and psychotherapy and many papers and articles, Caroline holds an MPhil in counselling, diplomas in counselling and groupwork and a supervision certificate. She is a BACP Accredited psychotherapist. Caroline originally trained as a teacher and has worked extensively in education, health and with women's groups. She has been a teacher and is an ordained Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest (Japanese Pure Land Buddhism). In the past she has taken a special interest in eating disorders and more recently in ecotherapy. Caroline has three adult children. She is the author of Ecotherapy in Practice (Routledge 2017)