Well, that got weird: therapeutic writing for strange times!

‘Being whole will not mean that we are less strange, but that we turn and structure towards what is life-giving’—Krista Tippett

‘I think it’s just going to get weirder and weirder and weirder, and finally it’s going to be so weird that people are going to have to talk about how weird it is’—Terence McKenna

This therapeutic writing session is designed to be as fun and freeing as possible! We will embrace the wild, the wacky and the downright weird as passages through shame into a more integrated, uninhibited human experience. Instead of hiding the odd bits away, they will be invited to take centre stage as our most crafty and creative allies. The evening will include creative writing and meditation (suitable for beginners) to put us in touch with the beautiful strangeness of life and the potential it holds for authentic expression and genuine enjoyment. So, join me in this celebration of how quite frankly bizarre things can get, and how liberating this becomes when we meet the world and each other as the peculiar creatures we are!

As always, if you are coming to the event, you can send me a prompt and I will write you a personalised poem! But make it weird this time :)

Pens, A5 notebooks and vegan snacks will also be provided 💜

A little bit about me and my work:

My name is Leonie, and I am the founder of Write To The Centre, a therapeutic writing and meditation practice. I am also a poet and the author of In Bed with Melon Bread (2021) and This Time of Life is Meant for Savages (2023). Above all, my work is life- and world-embracing: compassionate poems with teeth, therapeutic writing sessions where borders are crossed into the quiet place beyond shame, and a shared meditation practice where we can level with each other and our minds as we learn to witness them. You can find me on Instagram @leoniearowland.

Here is a summary of my therapeutic writing methodology:

👽 Process over product. Rather than a means to an end, therapeutic writing is a process that happens in the writer and allows them to work through aspects of their life creatively. This also has creative benefits—the intention is not to make something perfect but to write intuitively and see what lives on the other side.

👽 What is alive in you? Therapeutic writing is the practice of asking what is urgent, intense or interesting for us right now. Sometimes, this might take us into the past to work through a current situation, but the intention is always to bring us more firmly and capably into the present.

👽 Write as the witness. It can be easy to conspire with the darkness or block it out with light, but therapeutic writing encourages us to address both in their proper ratios. This involves a detached, but curious and compassionate, witnessing of the content of our lives.

👽 Somatic awareness. When we write, our emotions and responses register in our bodies. Therapeutic writing encourages somatic awareness throughout the writing process so we can better understand how situations and creative practices affect us on a physiological level.

👽 Everything is welcome. Therapeutic writing takes an ‘everything is welcome’ approach to the content of the mind, in the view that our internal states arise naturally and are therefore neutral information. With this information at our fingertips, we might use it to make informed, intentional decisions.

👽 Inner wisdom. Therapeutic writing values what is true for us and encourages us to live and create from that place. We are the keepers of our own compass, and by articulating our experience in our own voice, we might better understand, integrate and share its wisdom.

👽 Meditation. By incorporating moments of pause into our writing practice, we might regulate our bodies, ground ourselves in the present, and learn the fluctuations of our minds. The intention is to become more receptive to reality, accepting of our nature, and able to access the answers we have been seeking.

You will never be required to share your writing. This practice is yours!