Dancing With the Shadow: Converse with the Side of Yourself that is Hardest to Hear with Jessi Thompson

The theme of this session is related to emerging from your inner cave and finding yourself outside in view of the stars.  That is exactly what we will do here.  In order to see the stars, first you must face the darkness.  In this session, we will provide a safe space for you to engage in dialogue, by starting with a Loving Kindness Meditation. 

 

From there, we will use some targeted journaling prompts to deeply engage our innermost selves and analyze how we each may be holding ourselves back in achieving our goals.  At this time, we won’t delve too deeply, out of respect for everyone’s privacy.  

 

If you have never done Shadow Work before, this session should provide everything you need to get started and it will show you the benefit of this type of work.  If you have done Shadow Work before, some of this is likely to be familiar, and it will still benefit you, because we will be focused specifically on your subconscious feelings around the goal you chose for this course. 

 

Afterwards, we will each do a painting to symbolize our goal.  The painting is carefully chosen to be easy and beautiful for people with no painting or drawing experience and is designed to capture the moment of emergence from your cave, when the world opens to you.

 

For journaling: materials for writing, such as a notebook and pen, or computer

 

For painting: Participants who come in person will be provided materials for the painting.

The materials list for zoom participants:

Option 1: printed stars
Print one of the attached images I will send you upon registration (or another starry sky of your choice) onto card stock to use as your canvas
A white acrylic paint pen
Pencil
Ruler
Scratch paper
Paper towels

Option 2:

Or I will teach you to paint a starry sky in class

A canvas (size of your choice, 9 x 12 is a nice size)
Acrylic paint: black, blue, white (teal or purple are also really nice additions, or you can use any other colors if you want your sky to be a little less conventional)
Artist brushes (you can use any, but if you buy brushes you only need to buy a 3/4” flat)
White acrylic paint pen
Pencil
Ruler
Scratch paper
Paper towels