Spotlight on Creative Expression
ITP is one of the few accredited institutions in the world that offers a broad range of Masters and Ph.D. level courses in various fields related to Transpersonal Psychology. The coursework of the Institute is divided among six areas of holistic learning including creative expression. All students are required to explore the applications of creative expression to transpersonal psychology during their first year in their respective program.
The following is a list of creative expression courses which have been offered in the past at ITP. Courses are offered based upon the interests of the current student body and faculty availability. Please consult the appropriate academic-year course schedule for each program of interest for classes offered at this time.
Self Exploration Through the Expressive Arts
This is a core class in creative expression. At the end of this class, students should have a working familiarity with the use of a variety of media. Students will explore the relationship between creativity and self-exploration and develop an understanding of symbol as messenger between inner and outer awareness. Through in-class and homework assignments, student will gain an experiential understanding of the use of the creative arts to explore life themes and issues, with a goal of developing increased self-acceptance about one’s capacity for creative experiences and expression. As each student will have the opportunity to share projects with fellow classmates, each will expand her/his awareness of the power of group reception of individual creative experience and expression through the arts, as well as gain an experiential understanding of the power, spontaneity, and dynamics of group creative expression.
Creative Expression: Transpersonal Play
What do the Dalai Lama, a polar bear, and the evolution of life all have in common? They are all masters of play. While the field of psychology recognizes the essential role of play in the healthy development of an individual, it has offered very little toward understanding play in a transpersonal context, or suggesting practices that liberate the full capacity for play in adults.
This experiential course explores the essential nature and power of play as it manifests within the body, psyche, and spirit. A wide range of play forms are utilized to unleash and deepen students' inherent spontaneous play while also revealing the obstacles to play. The course provides the opportunity to become aware of and engage the obstacles to play as playmates offering the possibility for everything to be included in play, and for play to become a spiritual practice.
Widening our understanding of play and playmates, the course explores the depth and extent of the dynamics of play as a force in personal and cultural transformation. A conceptual appreciation for the evolutionary significance of play is combined with extensive playtime and reflection. Students will study play through exploring the relationship between bodily awareness, imagination, and the experience of Self.
Evolving Perspectives on the Expressive Arts
This course emphasizes the interface among theoretical, personal, and professional perspectives. It may be taken as a component of Creative Expression supervision for a clinical and/or creative expression practicum placement. By the conclusion of this course students are able to demonstrate through discussion, application, and presentation understanding of and praxis in three areas: Personal expressive arts practice; professional expressive arts practice; and selected theory regarding expressive arts practice are core outcomes of the course.
Creative Body, Creative Spirit: Tai Chi, Yoga, Writing, and Art
Tai chi and yoga teach us the wisdom of the ancestors, inner awareness, and harmony of body, mind, and spirit. The practices also tap into and release creative energies. Subtle movement and mixed media—including writing, drawing and painting—are utilized to transform these energies into a personal visual language of symbols and images. Journal and creative writing put discoveries into words.
Faces of the soul: Integrating Mask Making, Art, Writing, and Chi Gung
The gentle breath of Chi Gung is one’s guide in discovering the mystery and wisdom of the inner body and spirit. Instinctive, expansive journaling and art then transform the spirit of the psyche into mixed media drawings & paintings, masks/totems.
Faces of the Soul: Chi Gung and Your Totem Mask
The focus of this course is on whole body awareness, self exploration, and creative expression through Chi Gung, guided imagery, journal writing, and mask making. Students will learn techniques of accessing, moving, and sharing energy and apply each to the process of making a plaster gauze mold of a partner's face, as well as using mixed media art and writing techniques to render creative expressions of the terrain of the inner being and masks/totems from their own facial molds.
Advanced Creative Expression Forms in the Field: Space, Word and Image
The goals of this class are (1) to explore a student’s unique aesthetic of beauty through creating short poetry forms and visual works on paper; 2) to develop an appreciation of the influence of fields, spaces, and environments on one’s verbal and visual creativity; (3) to expand one’s own aesthetic to present experiences in verbal and visual forms that echo that aesthetic; (4) to develop one’s capacity to receive constructive feedback; (5) to present formal responses to environments, spaces, and fields through a combination of short poetic forms and minimalist visual expressions suitable for inclusion in a group show.
Students are expected to be self-motivating, to work with one’s inner personal psychological material independently of the course, to be an independent creator, and to give and receive constructive criticism. Students are also expected to submit one of many short poems and visual works for a group show. Emphasis is on the finest product each student can create as well as on conscious, nonjudgmental engagement with one’s creativity.
Advanced Creative Expression: Integrating Expressive Arts into Practice
This course is designed to provide students with a familiarity of how to use creative expression in a variety of settings; an understanding of the basic history and theory of expressive arts therapy; an understanding of the transpersonal in creative expression and expressive arts therapy; and an understanding of the role of creative expression in spiritual guidance and spiritual practice. In addition, it is a goal of the course to provide increased confidence in students’ abilities as guides for others in the use of creative expression. Students are expected to develop a familiarity with a variety of research methods appropriate for creative expression,
InterPlay: Creativity, Art, and Wisdom of Every Body
InterPlay is an incremental, creative way to recover the dance, song, and story of one’s life and that of community. Emphasis is on insight, ease of expression, and spirit. Very accessible methods of creative development being used internationally in centers of spirituality, therapy, spiritual direction, health care, and education introduce a way to rediscover the wisdom of the body and reintegrate body, spirit, heart, and intellect. Students will learn practices that energize, feel right for oneself, and have implications for a body centered life. Play, breathe, and be affirmed. Written reflections use the art of letter writing.
Creative Expression Intensive: Authentic Movement & the Soundbody
This course provides an in-depth journey into the practice of Authentic Movement & the Soundbody. This is an inner-directed movement and sounding practice based on the discipline of authentic movement. This practice, along with drawing, sculpting, and writing will be used to access deeply felt experience—critical experience for the creative expression of that which is most essential for one’s journey.
Mind/Body Integration: Movement
This course will be a personal and collective experiential journey through the moving body, exploring the mind-body-spirit connection and some educational/therapeutic techniques and uses of movement. Each class will involve movement exploration, possibly occasional drawing, writing, or vocalizing as well, with time for discussion. Students will work alone, in pairs, small groups, and as a whole, having experiences as movers/dancers and witnesses. Homework will include some movement explorations, and keeping a journal in which to record experiences and responses. There may be occasional reading, which the instructor will provide, to supplement the experiential material.
Mind/Body Integration: Continuum Movement
This experiential course introduces students to the practice, theories, and methods of working with the fluid nature of the human organism. Students will learn the practice of Continuum Movement which includes the precise use of breath, sound, and movement to access more fluidity in the body. The focus is to explore intrinsic micromovements and the expression of them to increase understanding of one’s own movements and the movements of others. The ability to track one’s intrinsic movements enables the mover to become actually aware of inner sensations and emotions beyond habitual patterns. This practice will enhance tracking skills in seeing subtle shifts of sensate states in others. This is especially important in the therapeutic interaction to understand the emotional and physiological changes that occur in the processing phase for the client. Continuum Movement has been used in the healing process of spinal cord injuries, chronic pain, and trauma with much success.
Seminar in Poetry Therapy: The Reclamation of Deep Language
Poetic language—language that comes from the heart—has the potential, the natural ability in fact, to circulate everywhere. The nuance of metaphor becomes a revived capillary that relieves numbness and returns feeling to one's life. For therapist and client, whether it occurs one-to-one or in a group, poetry provides a way to explore that numbness or feeling in a sensitive and creative response to life as it unfolds. Such interaction is positively enhanced by poetry and poem-making.
A poem and poem-making—and consequently, this class—is a good “laboratory,” or “field of study” for the transpersonal. Drawing from a splendid range of sources, we will work individually and as a group; experimenting with poem-making as a catalyst for healing and growth. Students will learn: to use the poetic elements of metaphor, sound, rhythm, linebreaks, imagery and symbol to give voice to our sorrows, our joys, our wonderings and our witness to what we experience in the world and within ourselves. Students will experiment with how breathing, stillness and empathic listening serve to deepen the act of writing and making direct contact with experience.
Transpersonal Approaches to Acting
Through acting activities which are spiritual, psychological, and arts oriented, students will learn both how to approach acting from written dramatic texts as well as exploring the transformation process that occurs when consciously entering the imaginal realm.
In this course, students will learn the elements of acting. Students will improvise, act scenes, perform exercises, and give showings from dramatic literature or self-written scripts. The power of the acting process itself, coupled with the tools we will use of spiritual practices and drama therapy, allow increased contact with the authentic Self. For example, some acting warm-ups will include playing the character of our innocent and free Child self and other archetypes, dream and shadow figures.
The acting process will encourage lessening of inhibitions and gaining freedom of expression as students discover more of their unique and spontaneous body, voice, emotions, and intuition.
The class time is predominantly experiential with circle time devoted to processing and refining understanding through group discussion. Acting and the accompanying spiritual/psychological/arts are not accessible through reading literature. However, the literature listed will support intellectual understanding and analysis of drama as a tool for personal and spiritual growth. There will be occasional memorizing text and rehearsal time required outside of class.
Person-Centered Expressive Arts for Therapists and Healers
Using the expressive arts to enhance and deepen psychotherapy is a natural evolution. We are coming to understand the need to engage in processes that integrate all aspects of self: the body, mind, emotions and spirit. We awaken creativity by engaging in creativity. The Creative Connection© process as developed by Natalie Rogers, interweaves all of the expressive arts—movement, sound, art, writing and guided imagery—to tap into the deep wellspring of creativity that is within each person.
This self-exploration can only be accomplished in a safe and trusting, person-centered environment. The person-centered approach as developed by Natalie's father, Carl Rogers, emphasizes qualities of empathy, openness, honesty, and congruence as the fundamental basis for the therapeutic relationship and creating safety in a group. Incorporating the expressive arts adds a powerful and effective way to help clients identify and be in touch with their feelings. Unconscious material often surfaces which gives the client the opportunity for fresh insights.
Experiential Immersion: Journaling Innerwork
Students will create and/or deepen their own journaling practice and begin to learn the value of journaling for clients. Students will practice different methods and intentions of journaling. There will be space for readings of journal entries when appropriate. Guidance will be given in timing, discretion, boundaries, inner sensing, and other factors that enter into personal decisions regarding reading aloud. Although improved writing skills are not objectives of this course, they are often a by-product, as are other creative skills. Students will receive ongoing instruction in and opportunities for developing and/or deepening mindfulness, compassion, discernment, and appreciation of differences.
In this course, students will gain experience in traversing their own inner selves via journaling. Students will have the opportunity to deepen their inner awareness and take this new inner knowing into their lives and work.
