The Art of Awe and Wonder: Rehearsing Resilience

16 of us arrived to the Sanctuary, full of anticipation, and perhaps some trepidation too - what does a workshop around resilience, awe, wonder, movement, and the arts look like? It looks like this: gathering into circle, imagining into awe, free form drawing, movement of feet, legs and body to ground ourselves in this place, sharing words, images, feelings and thoughts in pairs and in the larger group, aesthetic feedback, moving together (flocking), an outdoors quiet walk, and finally, a coming together for a final "small-p performance", or sharing, with theme and movement in groups of three or four for the larger circle.

I heard laughter, and lots of it. I saw talking, sighing, breathing, listening and silence. I felt fingers in mine. I sensed hands on hearts, a smile in the eyes, a nod of recognition - I see you/you see me. We waved scarves and banged drums, shook rattles and called out with our voices, making a village of music. We played for four hours with awe and wonder - drawing, moving, dancing, talking, sharing and singing.
We created community in circle.
Resilience lives in community.
We arrived alone, and we left together. 
 

A very big Thank you to movement and expressive arts facilitators Marta Mulholland and Ruth Yeo-Peterman for their wonderful workshop,  The Art of Awe and Wonder: Rehearsing Resilience.