Tag: Creativity

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Beth Lawrence, RYT500

Joint Freeing Series

There are points in our lives when we don’t have the time or energy to fit a yoga class into our schedule, though we know it would be beneficial. Beginning a shorter, personal practice a few days a week is one way to fit a little yoga into your everyday life.

 

The Joint Freeing Series is a great way to start such a practice because it can be easily learned, it can be modified to suit anyone’s needs and, once learned, it takes about 15 minutes to complete.

 

This one-time class will teach you how to do the Joint Freeing Series, promoted by Mukunda Stiles, founder of Structural Yoga Therapy. The series can help gain and maintain mobility, strength and flexibility in the joints. During this hour long class, we’ll go over the original movements of the series and some variations that will help you form a practice that you can do as often as you’d like.

Suggested Donation: $15

About Beth Lawrence

Beth Lawrence Gentle Yoga Chair Yoga Instructor Smith Center

Beth discovered yoga in early 2002 as a mother of six month old twins. She was looking to get back into shape after their birth. In yoga, she found far more than she anticipated- an age old practice designed to help people relieve stress- both mental and physical. After a few years of regular practice, she knew she wanted to share her positive experiences with others. She has been leading yoga classes in the DC area since 2007 after completing her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Nth Degree Yoga with Martha Rosen. In 2011, she went back to earn her RYT500. Her personal practice is inspired by Integral Yoga and Sivananda Yoga, both of which incorporate body and mind into the practice.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

Cooking with Soy

Join Chef Kara for an informative and interactive hour where we discuss all things soy. Soybeans are packed with nutrients that are highly beneficial when used as a plant-based complete protein.

 

Chef Kara will share the most recent studies and guidance regarding the use of soy products as part of a cancer-fighting diet to promote health. You will learn how soybeans are transformed into delicious culinary ingredients such as soy milk, tofu, tempeh, miso and shoyu (soy sauce).

 

Chef Kara will demonstrate helpful cooking tips & techniques for these products and share her favorite easy recipes to introduce and expand the use of delicious soy products in your kitchen.

Suggested Donation: $15

About Kara Garrett

Kara Garrett

Kara is a health-supportive chef based in Washington, DC. Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, she embraced the challenge of finding a balance between her foodie lifestyle and eating well with cancer. She has adopted a flexible diet plan that focuses on plant-based, sustainable whole foods, but does not restrict indulgences of things she loves. She is passionate about working with others to encourage healthier food choices that energize the body and the soul.

Kara graduated in August 2017 from the Chef Training Program at Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC and spent one month as the sous chef at The Ananda Ashram Yoga Society of New York in Monroe, NY. She is currently enrolled in the Developing Healthy Communities: Nutrition, Behavior, and Physical Activity graduate program at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

This program series is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Bobbie Marchand

Tools for Living Authentically with Cancer

In the midst of Cancer’s wake, what if you could:

  • Cultivate practices of self-care that align with your highest values that are nurturing and healing
  • Manage the feelings and energies of anxiety/fear/sadness/confusion/frustration that inevitably arise
  • Discover empowering ways to communicate with your circles of support and Medical Team
  • Know yourself in a deeper, more connected way that prepares you for the journey ahead and within

 

As a two-time Survivor and the Daughter of a four-time Survivor, Cancer has been a part of my life for decades. It is my hope in this series to share with you, ways we have coped, dealt and healed along the way. Every journey is deeply personal, these tools are universal; for everyone, to take and shape to fit your own unique circumstances. Registrants should bring with them:

  • A new, fresh journal that’s only for this work
  • Pen and pencil
  • Wear clothes that are comfortable

Tools for Living Authentically with Cancer will be offered as a 2-part program series to cancer patients/survivors at any point in their journey.

Program Series Dates:

  • Saturday, March 5th & 12th, 10:00-11:15am ET

Participants are expected to attend both sessions in the 2-part series.

Suggested Donation: $25/series

About Bobbie Marchand

In addition to being a two-time Breast Cancer Survivor (BRCA1+), she is a dedicated Mom, accomplished Yoga Instructor, avid Cook and Wellness Advocate. As a former Professional Dancer, Bobbie has always leaned into life through the lens of Movement and the Healing Arts; helping her make sense of the un-sensical, finding a sense of purpose in the many twists and turns experienced along the way. She is passionate about uncovering the ways in which Cancer can inform, rather than define our lives as patients; how such a disease has the potential to clear a path to live more fully, humbly and in deeper connection to ourselves and what we truly value in life.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Martina Sestakova

Insightful Collage Watercolor Workshop

Join art educator Martina Sestakova for a workshop, during which you get to create a unique collage. We will learn about basic watercolor techniques and explore ideas behind colors, shapes, and textures. As a result, we will create a deeply meaningful collage through a fun creative process.

No experience is needed: just your curious self!

 

Suggested Materials:

  • 2 sheets of watercolor paper (9″ x 12″)
  • Thin strips of watercolor paper (e.g., 9″ x 12″ cut up into strips that are .1″ x 12″, have about 15 strips on hand)
  • 1 cup for water
  • 1 watercolor paints (tray or tubes)
  • Glue stick (school glue)
  • 1 pencil or pen
  • Paper for notes

Suggested Donation: $10

About Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova (owner at RADOST) engages in textile design, painting, and art education. Martina creates scarves that invoke stories of life experiences. Her scarves have been featured on Voice of America and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). In her paintings on yupo, she communicates words through colors and shapes. Her artworks have been shown at the Adah Rose Gallery (MD) and Latela Curatorial (DC) and other art institutions. As an art educator, Martina offers workshops and brings creativity to the public and communities with limited access to the arts. Martina Sestakova resides in Kensington, MD.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Kathleen O’Toole

Writing through the Seasons : The Healing Power of Nature

Writing Through the Seasons

Celtic Spring: Welcoming the Light

Halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, the Celts celebrated Imbolc (February 2), the feast of lambing and the first day of spring. Though we may read in the groundhog’s shadow the prospect of more winter ahead, early February is a good time to notice the lengthening light and hints of spring and new life ahead. We’ll use our windows, memories and imaginations to write in that spirit.

Find a comfy chair or a window seat and bring writing material.

Kathleen O’Toole is a poet whose work with haiku and other short poetic forms is deeply rooted in attention to the natural world. These three workshops will guide participants through poetry forms and writing practices that invite us to explore the ways season changes bring special opportunities for healing and creativity. The ancient Celts celebrated cross-quarter days as moments of magic and openings to spirit and ritual; we’ll mark our own seasonal awareness.

Writing Through the Seasons: The Healing Power of Nature will be offered as a program series, spread over the seasons, beginning in Fall 2021.

Program Dates: 

  • Saturday, February 5th, 10:00-11:30am ET
  • Saturday, May 14th, 10:00-11:30am ET

Suggested Donation: $10/session or $25/series

About Kathleen O’Toole

Kathleen O'Toole

Takoma Park Poet Laureate Kathleen O’Toole is the author of 4 books of poetry (find her at https://kathleenotoolepoetry.com). She has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. As evident in her longer work, she often seeks inspiration and consolation in nature. For more than thirty years she has been writing haiku as a spiritual practice of attention, and to deepen her experience of the natural world.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Renee Sandell, PhD

Spring 1947 by Ben Shahn - Empathy and Healing Arts
Spring 1947 by Ben Shahn

“Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone.“
–Brene Brown

 

Join Renee for a timely, interactive healing arts “workout,” designed to strengthen your empathy and compassion as we also examine the virtue of love.

 

We will use her Balanced Way of Seeing® method to explore layers of meaning in in Ben Shahn’s painting Spring 1947. We will consider this work and its timely relevance to life and love during the Pandemic. Reflecting on past and present moments in our lives, we can rediscover sources of our own empathy needed to confront challenging relationships and issues in times ahead.

 

An Empathy Resource PDF will be emailed after the workshop.

 

Suggested Materials: 

  • White paper
  • Pencil
  • White drawing paper
  • Black sharpie marker

Suggested Donation: $15

About Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell’s art, teaching, and research focus on Visual Fitness 4 All: Engaging Creativity and Insight® for EVERYONE. Renee is founder/director of the expeditionary, museum-based SummerVision DC Program, which she designed and has delivered for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) for 10 years since 2010. Previously Professor of Art Education at George Mason University (2004-2014) and at Maryland Institute College of Art (1990-2003), she is co-author of two books on gender issues and has published numerous articles, book chapters and art curricula. Winner of the 2019 Lowenfeld Award, Sandell was recognized as 2015-2016 Distinguished Lecturer in Art Education at Miami University and 2013 NAEA National Art Educator. Renee has received numerous awards for her leadership and scholarship on her Form+Theme+Context (FTC)® and her Marking & Mapping®, an accessible form of visual meaning-making. Sandell’s Visual Fitness 4 All® for Engaging Creativity and Insight® workshops are designed to nurture envisioning skills for individuals within professional development programs, organizations, health spas, businesses, and other venues. She has been offering Art & Virtues workshops since early in the Pandemic. Renee’s Smithsonian Associates studio courses include: “Curating a Life: Art as Memoir,” Seeing More: Art, Virtues, and Our Lives, and Visual Journaling: Creativity Workshop.

Learn more about Renee’s teaching at www.visualfitness4all.com Renee’s artwork includes artistic installations of multi-media markings on paper, board, and silk, to explore the human condition in time, space, and place. To learn more about Renee’s artwork, visit her website www.reneesandellart.com

Visual Fitness 4 ALL

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Jodi Kanter

Stages of Healing

Join dramatherapy intern Jodi Kanter for an experience of devising a short performance from original stories, scenes, monologues and theater exercises. Working together, we will create a group performance of 15-20 minutes in length, to be shared with a small, invited audience over Zoom.

 

The purpose of the performance will be to articulate and transform our own stories of healing and loss into a new artistic expression. In the process, we’ll gain new insights for ourselves and offer something of value to friends, family members and / or caregivers.

Stages of Healing: Therapeutic Play-Making is a 4-part series limited to 4-8 participants. Participants are required to attend all sessions as part of the group experience.

Program Series Dates: 

  • Fridays, February 18th & 25th, 1:00-3:00pm
  • Friday, March 4th & 11th, 1:00-3:00pm

Suggested Donation: $10/session or $25/series

About Jodi Kanter

Jodi Kanter

Jodi has been involved in theater since she was ten years old. She grew up acting and studying performance in American theater’s “Second City,” Chicago Illinois.  She is currently a professor of theatre in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University, where she has been on faculty for nearly fifteen years. Her academic work in theater includes her book, Performing Loss: Strengthening Communities Through Theatre and Writing (2007). Jodi’s focus on performance as a tool for individual and social healing and change has led her to create workshops, events and productions in a wide variety of settings including hospitals, schools, and prisons. Most recently, she co-created a four-month diversity and inclusion program for members of DC’s fourteen Neighborhood Village associations using the methodology of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Jodi holds a PhD. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in dramatherapy at Lesley University.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Carla Stillwagon, Kiersten Gallagher and Erin Price, LICSW, OSW-C

The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times - Cancer Book Club

Welcome to “Read with Smith Center,” a community of book lovers diving in to current and relevant book material.

For our February and March sessions, we will be reading The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.

Read the description from bookshop.org: 

 

In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope?

Looking at the headlines–the worsening climate crisis, a global pandemic, loss of biodiversity, political upheaval–it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed.

 

In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous living naturalist, and Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of The Book of Joy, explore through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her Four Reasons for Hope: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.

 

Drawing on decades of work that has helped expand our understanding of what it means to be human and what we all need to do to help build a better world, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions, including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? What is the relationship between hope and action? Filled with moving and inspirational stories and photographs from Jane’s remarkable career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in the world today.

 

While discussing the experiences that shaped her discoveries and beliefs, Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope, from living through World War II to her years in Gombe to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. And for the first time, she shares her profound revelations about her next, and perhaps final, adventure.

 

We will discuss the book in two parts on February 1st, 2022 and March 1st, 2022. Register to receive the break-down of pages to have prepared for each session. Please join us for a lively discussion, no matter how much or little of the book you have read.

Get “The Book of Hope” here:

Read with Smith Center will meet Monthly on the 1st Tuesday from 12:00-1:00pm.

Upcoming Dates: 

  • February 1 – The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams, Pages 1-109 (I. What is Hope? and Reasons 1 & 2)
  • March 1 – The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams, Pages 111-234 (Reasons 3 & 4 and Conclusion)
  • April 5 (TBD)
  • May 3 (TBD)

Click here to choose Smith Center for Healing and the Arts as your charity of choice when you shop on Amazon Smile!

About Carla Stillwagon

Carla Stillwagon

Carla serves as the Cancer Support Program & Retreat Coordinator at Smith Center. During her time at the center, Carla has been inspired to further develop her commitment to the arts and their invaluable role in healing and community. She is excited to share her favorite pastime, reading, in this group and hopes to hear all about your favorite things to read!

About Kiersten Gallagher

Kiersten Gallagher

As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.

About Erin Price, LICSW, OSW-C

Erin Price

Erin serves as Smith Center’s Director of Young Adult and Psychosocial Support Programs. She is trained in Integrative Patient Navigation, a Project LEAD graduate, and holds a Masters in Social Work. A seven-year breast cancer survivor, Erin is passionate about providing support and community to other cancer survivors, especially young adults. She works with Smith Center’s DC Young Adult Cancer Community and is also actively involved in the cancer community through Young Survival Coalition, Critical Mass, the Georgetown Breast Cancer Advocates, National Breast Cancer Coalition, and the DC Cancer Action Partnership.

Please email Carla at carla@smithcenter.org for further information about the program.

with Jodi Kanter

Individual Dramatherapy Work

Individual Dramatherapy

Come explore a new Smith Center one-on-one offering where drama and a therapeutic approach to healing come together.

 

Drama therapy is the art of the possible. It can help us to rewrite old scripts for interacting with the people around us. It can allow us to take less developed parts of ourselves and transform them into robust roles in our own life-dramas. And it can provide concrete ways of imagining—and rehearsing—the future we want to make happen for ourselves.

 

In your initial session with Jodi, you will explore the roles you already play comfortably and identify those you’d most like to develop.

If after our initial session you would like to continue, sessions 2, 3, and 4 will consist of exercises that allow you to better understand and embody these less familiar parts of yourself.

 

Additionally, Jodi is available to offer a second set of four sessions, focused on working with more specific content from your own life story.

About Jodi Kanter

Jodi Kanter

Jodi has been involved in theater since she was ten years old. She grew up acting and studying performance in American theater’s “Second City,” Chicago Illinois.  She is currently a professor of theatre in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University, where she has been on faculty for nearly fifteen years. Her academic work in theater includes her book, Performing Loss: Strengthening Communities Through Theatre and Writing (2007). Jodi’s focus on performance as a tool for individual and social healing and change has led her to create workshops, events and productions in a wide variety of settings including hospitals, schools, and prisons. Most recently, she co-created a four-month diversity and inclusion program for members of DC’s fourteen Neighborhood Village associations using the methodology of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Jodi holds a PhD. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in dramatherapy at Lesley University. 

Please email instruction@knitwell.org to schedule an Individual Knitting Instruction appointment.

with Project Knitwell

Knitwell in the Cloud

During these stressful times, we need the wellness benefits of knitting now more than ever.

Project Knitwill invites you to join Knitwell in the Cloud, a new program offering private, one-on-one knitting lessons via Zoom. It’s a safe, effective way to knit and learn.

Who is this for?  Beginner knitters and those who already know how to knit but need help with a project.

How long are the sessions? 45-60 minutes. You will have up to 4 lessons with your instructor.

What equipment do I need to participate? A smartphone or tablet (iPad, etc.)  and the free Zoom app downloaded on the device you will use.

Do I need to get my own supplies?  No — Project Knitwell will provide you with what you need.

Knitwell in the Cloud is an ongoing program with rolling registration. Please email instruction@knitwell.org or call 703-249-9112 and mention that you heard about the program through Smith Center.

If you’re looking to meet up with other knitters, consider connecting with K2tog. K2tog events are not formal lessons, but rather are casual get-togethers where everyone brings their knitting projects and chats about different knitting-related topics. Anyone can register by emailing k2together@knitwell.org, even if they have never participated in a previous PK program.

About Project Knitwell

Project Knitwell

Project Knitwell offers knitting as a tool to promote wellness and help people cope with stressful situations at more than a dozen hospital and community settings.

All of Project Knitwell’s programming is provided by volunteers, and services and supplies are provided free of charge to the people we serve.

About the Project Knitwell Volunteers

About Ilene Gast

Ilene Gast

I have been knitting since childhood, learning when I received a knitting kit as a gift. Knitting allows me to combine color and texture, transforming long strings of yarn into aesthetically pleasing, functional items. I knit all manner of objects, but my favorites are wild colored socks and unusually shaped shawls.

Although finishing a knitted object is satisfying, it is secondary to the process of knitting. The rhythm of knitting is relaxing; it never fails to relieve stress. At the end of graduate school, I not only completed a degree, but also created a series of “dissertation sweaters.” Knitting also lets me take leave of myself. When I am knitting for someone else, which is often, I can virtually spend time with that person. Or, if I use yarn acquired in a special place, I am transported back in time and space. Add portability to these benefits—I can take it with me!

However, most of all, I enjoy sharing the art and craft of knitting with others. I am fortunate to have discovered Project Knitwell, an organization dedicated to bringing the benefits of knitting to people in stressful situations. I am doubly grateful to be part of the Schar ISC Artist in Residence program.