Sense Writing with Madelyn Kent

Writing can be a forum for imagination, a thread of connection, a powerful tool for healing... and it can also become such a weighty effort that the pleasure and play of writing get lost in the pursuit. Even as we are encouraged to be “brave” in the writing process — to dig into the difficult places — it can feel confusing and painful to push so hard when what we really want is inspiration and insight. Where does that leave us? We want to understand our experiences, but we find gaps and fragments. If we keep digging, sometimes the digging becomes the only story we feel. We long to connect with our softness, but we get stuck in the hard place, no matter how hard we chisel. Our efforts feel impossibly far from creative play.In this workshop, we'll explore the nervous system's innate learning processes to re-discover curiosity as a way to seek missing narratives and integrate sharp fragments. The connections between the nervous system and creativity itself can teach us how to trust our inquisitive, pre-verbal instincts — so that our untold stories can finally emerge (without going for the pickaxe).About MadelynMadelyn Kent is a New York-based playwright and director whose Sense Writing program has reached more than a thousand students all over the world — from award-winning filmmakers and journalists to people who have never written before — helping them find trust and joy in their creativity and build the resilient writing practice they’ve always wanted. A Practitioner in Feldenkrais Somatic Education and a pioneer in physical approaches to creativity, Madelyn developed Sense Writing because she believes the techniques she used to build a sustainable artistic path should be shared, not hidden away. Madelyn has taught Sense Writing at Kripalu Retreat, New York’s Open Center, and as faculty at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts.www.sensewriting.org