Creativity Courses - Artist's Way

Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way, so significantly shaped my own creative path that, together with my partner Jaroslava Vatay, we decided to run courses based on this book, but including our own methods for developing intuition, gaining inspiration and overcoming old blocks. Jaroslava is an amazing body-and-mind therapist with much experience in running various transformational courses and rituals. I chip in my bit of knowledge about the creative process. The entire story is here: Our Own Path to the Artist's Way.

We operate courses in both Czech and English, structured as 3-month runs of 13 sessions, plus a closing party where participants can both celebrate the completion of their journey and present the results of their creative endeavors. We get together once week for 2-hour group sessions that are partly devoted to sharing the experience, gain motivation from others and partly for various practical activities and tasks. It's not about what you say, it's about what you do and a safe group-environment encourages people to open up and step outside their box.

Arts Versus Creativity

For me, there is a fundamental difference between arts and creativity. Art is something you may do for your own pleasure, as a hobby or a profession. Creativity is a state of mind, a natural way to function, solve problems, respond to others and have fun in life. Not everyone needs to be a famous artist, but everyone can be creative - at least sometimes, at least when and wherever a creative approach is needed. We don't tell people what to create, we make them look around for inspiration, motivation, sources of energy and excitement in order to be able to be creative – whenever and however they want.

Not Just for Artists

This is why the course works equally well for visual artists, businessmen, musicians, office workers, dancers, actors, house wives, writers or film makers. And it works especially well for those who are not artists (yet), but look for a way to be more happy and productive in life. There are countless ways to be creative and they all make our lives richer and more fun. They also make us better people.

After more than two decades of my personal experience, second-hand observation of my countless creative friends and the unique chance to watch the transformations of our course participants, I’ve come to understand and respect the direct connection between creativity and our spiritual side.

If an artist (of any vocation and skill level) is blocked, it's invariably for personal reasons. These are very often reasons locked in the back of our minds by others - parents, teachers, colleagues, critics, bosses, spouses ... people who often mean well, but somehow manage to blow out the flickering light of hope. These may be fears, lack of discipline, money, self-esteem... the root is always personal and thus the work on the remedy must also be personal. There's just no other way.

The skills necessary to produce art (or to simply be creative) regularly dip into the spiritual realm. To the outside "reasonable" world they may make no sense. Inspiration comes from odd sources, often connecting seemingly meaningless occurrences and symbols into an "aha moment.” Intuition, or simply an inner "sense for what will work" is another right-brain skill where words tend to fail us - we just know.

For some reason, many people assume these skills cannot be developed, that it's something you either have or don’t. Additionally, art (and all other) schools tend to focus on discipline and the technical, rather than the creativity, precisely because it is so personal. But in fact, much like meditation or any other skills, creative thinking can be learned and that's what we do.

Getting through the Mud

But creative recovery doesn't come easy. We need to first dig into some of the old solid and personal mud, stir it around a bit before a fresh stream carries it away and the water becomes clearer. The three months of the course are, naturally, only the beginning of a lifetime process of further development and maintaining new healthy habits that keep the creative juices flowing.

I admire how much work and dedication our participants put into it. It's an honor to witness their transformation and a true challenge to be their guide through that mud. Helping to change people's lives is by far the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I thank Jaroslava for making it happen, Martin for keeping us both grounded and our participants for their trust and dedication. You guys are amazing! Keep on creating!

More at: www.artistsway.cz