What a Difference Sunshine Makes!

October was an unusually gloomy month in Minnesota.  Yesterday, we finally had some sunshine again and the sky was magnificent.  I can’t believe what a positive effect a beautiful sky and clear light have on my spirit and energy level!

Where Does Your Creative Path Lead?

A new round of classes will begin next week on Tuesday Nov. 3 at Monkey Bridge Arts.  I hope your creative path will be leading you over to Monkey Bridge Arts!

• Colored Pencil – Color Relationships
  • Tuesdays, 9:30AM – 12:30PM
  • Nov. 3 – Dec. 22 (No class Nov.10)
  • Cost: $160 (7 Weeks)

• Drawing – Portraits – Profiles & 3/4 View
  • Wednesdays, 9:30AM – 12:30PM
  • Nov. 4 – Dec. 23 (No class Nov. 11)
  • Cost: $160 (7 weeks)

• Embodied Imagination Circle
  • Fridays, 3:00 PM – 5:30 PM
  • Nov. 13 – Dec. 18 (No class Nov. 27)
  • Cost: $125 (5 weeks)

Creative Mentoring & Embodied Imagination Sessions
I currently have 2 openings for creative mentoring and/or embodied imagination clients.  If you are interested in doing one-on-one work with me, please call 952-412-4786 to set up an appointment.

Upcoming Dream Presentations at Abbott’s Institute for Health & Healing

• Pain and Dreaming
• Tuesday Nov. 10

• Dreaming for Creativity & Health
• Monday Nov. 30

For more information and registration: 952-412-4786 or e-mail me at SheilaAsato@comcast.net

The Dreams of Hans Christian Andersen

Patricia Garfield

Dream Salon

The Dreams of Hans Christian Andersen

In this month’s dream salon, I will be showing a video of Patricia Garfield speaking about The Dreams of Hans Christian Andersen.  His dreams have striking parallels with universal dream themes, as well as many personal connections with his own life. Learn more about this remarkable man and how he incorporated his dream material into his tales in a way that was not only creative but also healing.  If you weren’t able to see her in person at the 2004 IASD conference in Denmark, this is a good chance to hear her wonderful presentation once again.

Patricia Garfield, Ph.D., a leading dream expert with a doctorate in clinical psychology, has written nine books on dreams and cofounded the Association for the Study of Dreams (President 1998-99). Her Creative Dreaming, a best-seller in print since 1974, appears in fourteen languages. Her work for teens, The Dream Book, won two prestigious awards.

When and Where

Date: Friday September 25, 2009

Place: Monkey Bridge Arts

Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Cost: Free, donations accepted

RSVP: E-mail Sheila Asato or telephone 952-412-4786

Filling the Creative Well – Walking and Art

六十余州名所図絵　甲斐　さるはし

Monkey Bridge from the series Famous Places in Sixty-odd Provinces of Japan

Nothing replenishes my creative spirit more than a good walk.  The older I get, the more I find walking is essential not only to my physical health, but also to my creative process.  I learn so much from watching how nature moves from one season into the next with such grace and beauty.  There is no better teacher of color than nature herself.  As I watch her move from the intense greens and blues of summer into the golden yellows, browns and brilliant reds, I am awestruck.

Taking a daily walk is also an incredible source of pleasure for me, as it has been for many artists before me.  One of the things I love about Japan is the tradition of sketching and writing poetry while walking through the countryside.  This woodblock is an example from of one of my favorite Japanese artists -Utagawa Hiroshige.

This year in particular, the imminent arrival of fall with it’s shorter days reminds to me to slow down and savor the fruits of the harvest as I enter the next stage of my life.  Having just finished menopause, I am now looking forward to beginning a review of the creative work I have done so far. Through this process, I hope to have a better idea of where my creative work wants to go in the next half of my life.

While I was in Japan this past spring, I noticed so many books about walking and sketching or writing poetry.  With the most rapidly aging population on earth, as well as the longest life span, I think that the Japanese are on to something here.  As we age, taking time to connect with nature on a regular basis by walking while expressing ourselves in art and poetry seems to be a wonderful way to connect more deeply with ourselves while replenishing the creative well within.

The Joy of Bubbles

This past week, as my son and I have been out walking by the light of the full moon, I have been amazed by how much the same terrain is transformed when bathed in mo0nlight.  Walking together has become a special time for us.  While we are out, he loves to recite his favorite cartoon dialogues for me, blow bubbles and dance in the streets with our dog.  As the mother of a child on the autistic spectrum, I have often found it difficult to share the kind of interactions that are more common for other families, like a conversation with eye contact.  To be honest, this used to make me feel very sad and left out.  Last night, however, as I watched his beautiful bubbles floating in the moonlight and listened to him joyfully hum bars from his favorite cartoon, I was filled with such gratitude.  Our lives may be atypical, but they are also filled with so much beauty and joy, if I only remember to slow down and savor this walk through life.

2009 Pedometer Challenge – 88 Temples in Japan

Stone Figures - Kamakura

Please join me for a virtual pilgrimage to the temples of Shikoku, Japan. All you need is a pedometer and a good imagination!

Click on this link to learn more about the 2009 Fall Walking Challenge to 88 Temples. Once you get to the website, download the spread sheet to record your daily walks. It will automatically calculate how far you have gone each day on your virtual pilgrimage.

As you record the number of steps you walk each day, be sure to check out the photos of the temples that you would have visited along the way if you were actually walking in Japan.   Remember that Japan is a mountainous country, so don’t forget to throw a few hills into your daily walk to help yourself imagine you are really walking in Japan!

Fall Session Starts September 8

A new round of classes will begin on Sept. 8 at Monkey Bridge.  I will be offering the following classes at Monkey Bridge this fall.  To register call 952-412-4786 or e-mail me at SheilaAsato@comcast.net

___________________________________________________________________

Colored Pencil – Focus on Color Harmony

• Tuesdays, 9:30AM – 12:30PM
• Sept. 8 – Oct. 27
• Cost: $180

Drawing – Introduction to Portraits

• Wednesdays, 9:30AM – 12:30PM
• Sept. 9 – Oct. 28
• Cost: $180

Embodied Dreamwork Circle

• Wednesdays, 1:30PM – 4:00PM
• Sept. 9 – Oct. 28
• Cost: $150

Design Basics for Photographers – 2 Day Intensive Workshop

• Thursday Oct. 15 & Friday Oct. 16
• 10 AM – 4:00 PM
• Cost: $110 for two days

___________________________________________________________________

Creative Mentoring & Embodied Imagination Sessions

I currently have 3 openings for creative mentoring and/or embodied imagination clients.  If interested in doing one-on-one work with your dreams or creative development, contact me for more information.

___________________________________________________________________

Upcoming Dream Presentations at Abbott’s Institute for Health & Healing

Embodied Imagination

• Thursday Oct. 22

Pain and Dreaming

• Tuesday Nov. 10

Dreaming for Creativity & Health

• Monday Nov. 30

Embodied Intelligence in Dreaming, Memory, and Creative Imagination

A Lecture and Workshop with Robert Bosnak, PsyA

I am pleased to announce that I will be co-hosting a lecture and workshop with Robert Bosnak in MN this fall together with the MN Jung Association. I hope to see many of you there.  Sheila

Robert Bosnak

Lecture

Date: Friday, October 2, 2009

Time:  7:30 to 9:30 PM
Location:   Northwestern Auditorium, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN
Cost:  MJA Members $15; Non-Members $20

Workshop

Date:  Saturday, October 3, 2009
Time:  9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Location:   Stub Hall Lounge, Luther Seminary, St Paul, MN
Cost: MJA Members $75; Non-Members $90

Registration:  Send a check to the Minnesota Jung Association, PO Box 14726, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Please include your name, address, phone number and e-mail address with your registration.  Space is limited, so be sure to register early to guarantee a space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lecture and Workshop Description

Embodied Intelligence in Dreaming, Memory, and Creative Imagination
A Lecture & Workshop with Robert Bosnak
October 2-3, 2009
St. Paul, Minnesota

Building on his recent book Embodiment: Creative Imagination in Medicine, Art and Travel, Robert Bosnak will explore the ways in which images in dreams and flashback memories present themselves as quasi-physical environments in which we unexpectedly find ourselves. These dreamed environments and their inhabitants behave in an apparently intelligent fashion.

The craft of embodied imagination is to create an interaction between waking intelligence and the embodied intelligences encountering us in the creative imagination of dreaming, memory, and art. Using the innovative techniques developed by the practitioners of embodied imagination, participants will be given demonstrations of the work and practical exercises to learn for themselves.

A presentation of theory ranging from phenomenology, alchemy, neuroscience of memory, and complexity theory to the works of C.G. Jung, Henry Corbin, and sense memory techniques in theater, will be woven in throughout.

Participants will learn to use the hypnagogic state of consciousness to facilitate flashbacks giving direct access to dreaming and memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert Bosnak Biography

Robert Bosnak, PsyA, is a Jungian psychoanalyst who left his native Holland in 1971to study in Zurich at the C.G. Jung Institute.Robert trains therapists, actors and other artists worldwide in the embodied imagination method he developed, which is based on the work of Jung, Hillman, Corbin, and Stanislavski.

In 2006 the International Society for Embodied Imagination was founded in Guangzhou, China. It now governs training programs in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Sydney, and Online.

Robert’s methods have been used as a rehearsal technique by many theater companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. In 1977 he co-founded cyberdreamwork.com, the first interactive site for real-time voice and video work with imagery.

He co-organized, with Pacifica Graduate Institute, the 2007 conference on Imagination and Medicine, which was aimed towards the establishment of an integrative medical healing sanctuary in Santa Barbara. Proceedings from the conference were recently published by Spring Journal Books as Imagination & Medicine: The Future of Healing in an Age of Neuroscience. His latest book, Embodiment: Creative Imagination in Medicine, Art and Travel was published by Routledge in 2007.  He is the past-president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Wet and Wild Watercolor Workshop

There’s nothing like making art to bridge cultures.  Last week I had the opportunity to host a workshop at my studio on experimental approaches to watercolor.  It was a resounding success.  I had students in from Japan, Shanghai, Rochester, MN and the Twin Cities with art being the common language.  Here are some photos from our three days together.  This coming week I’ll be hosting another workshop on design fundamentals for photographers.

Cool Font – A Typeface for Drivers

I came across a very fun new font made by driving a car. Check it out at here.  If you like the font and would like to download it, go to the original site which is in Dutch.  Just click on the gray button that says: Download het IQ font.

Enjoy!

July Dream Salon – Reports From The Cutting Edge of Dreams

Pain and Dreaming Panelists

Once a month I host a dream salon, which is open to the public. There is no charge, just make a donation if you can.  If you are free, please come join us. Be sure to RSVP so I have enough chairs on hand for everyone.

Several folks from Minnesota joined me for the recent IASD conference, which was great fun. In the dream salon this month, we will share our experiences and what we learned at the conference. I also picked up a few recordings of key presentations and videos that I’d love to share with you.

Date: Friday July 17, 2009

Time: 7 PM – 9 PM

Topic: Reports From the Cutting Edge of Dreams

Presenters: Sheila Asato and local IASD members who attended the conference

RSVP: SheilaAsato@comcast.net or 952-412-4786

Where: Monkey Bridge Arts

The next IASD dream gathering will be an online Psiber Dream Conference from September 27 – October 10. The theme is Magical Mystical Dreams of Transformation. Be sure to check it out.