Weaving Ourselves Whole

Weaving Ourselves Whole: A Guide for Forming a Transformational Expressive Arts Circle is the inspiring story of an expressive arts circle that has met for over twelve years. Weaving their collective insights and experiences of conscious creativity with the colorful threads of imagination, artful expression, and friendship, the authors demonstrate how expressive arts and co-creating via their creative spirit circle process has the potential to lead to personal and spiritual growth.

Expressive arts circles speak to the wonder and transformational power of creative awakening and tap into our collective potential as we attempt to meet life’s challenges. Creativity circles speak across cultures and help heal our world through personal and collective transformation. By changing ourselves, we change our world.

This remarkable book is a treasure full of creative tools and inspirational resources. Weaving Ourselves Whole serves and guides professionals in the fields of expressive arts, education, mental health, and coaching, as well as students, artists, individuals, and groups who have a desire to cultivate creativity and support social transformation. Ultimately, Weaving Ourselves Whole sparks imagination and invites us on a collective adventure to live to our fullest potential.

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The Weaving Ourselves Whole (WOW) experience is the tipping point of an expanded approach to human potential. The tools offered in this book invite and empower the reader to understand and embrace the “medicine” of creativity that is universally available in our own pocket! Weaving, looming, and braiding individual strands to stitch storylines together are the ingredients that lead to personal, team, community, and social transformation through the WOW creative process. While encouraging a deep dive into the exploration of the subconscious, the examples of this expressive arts approach fuel and awaken the imagination, which is said to be the most valued skill for our future economy. Greater wholeness and the power to make a difference in this ever-changing world is the opportunity and the invitation of Weaving Ourselves Whole. 

Gloria Chance, PhD Founder/The Mousai Group, Peak Performance Psychologist, Creativity Architect, Saybrook University Board Member


This book speaks to me deeply, connecting me to the essence of person-centered expressive arts. It weaved me into the lived wisdom of the authors on the use of arts for inspiration, healing, and wellness. Each sentence is an inviting thread of imaginative connection to clarity and compassion. As an expressive arts therapist, social worker, and educator, I am amazed by the rich trove of creative activities, engaging guidance, and heartfelt compassion in this book. Each of us needs to offer a space for this wonderful book. I imagine that the WOW seeds are spreading around the globe and planting in our heart fields.

Fiona Chang,  PhD, Founding President of the Expressive Arts Therapy Association of Hong Kong, Vice-President of Art in Hospital, Founder and faculty of Person-Centered Expressive Arts Training Program (HKU and CUHK)


I am in awe and inspired after reading Weaving Ourselves Whole! The work of the coauthors based on their creative and transformative experiences is a gift to the field of psychology and to anyone with a desire to explore expressive arts. This book is a guide on how to develop and facilitate a group process devoted to creativity and is sure to help move expressive arts forward into 2023 and beyond. Seeing the photos of the author’s creative explorations and the stories behind them are one of my favorite parts.

Kristen Clute, PhD, LMFT, LPCC, Expressive Arts Practitioner/Researcher


Weaving Ourselves Whole (WOW) is a magnificent work that brings expressive arts to life. The quality of writing is superb. A loving, thoughtful, compelling engagement of the authors with their readers infuses each page. Creativity and guidance to live creatively is given a central place. What comes through is the confidence and faith that you can do this—create a transformational expressive arts circle. WOW will be your steadfast, gently wise companion as you travel that journey. There is a short sentence I find myself saying again and again. This sentence reminds me of the way I want to live my life with others, by saying: “Tell me the story of your artwork.” Weaving Ourselves Whole offers this profound invitation, this invitation and welcome. Both are so needed by the world right now.

John Fox, Founder, The Institute for Poetic Medicine, Author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making


This groundbreaking book, Weaving Ourselves Whole, is a guide for individual and group exploration into the vast potential of our creative expression. The authors interweave extensive professional knowledge and personal experiences to demonstrate that expressive arts and working together in a circle, when woven together, can lead to greater wholeness. This book awakens creativity and invites us on a collective journey to become more fully human.

Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, Cognitive Scientist, Humanistic Psychologist, Author, The Psychology Podcast, Professor at Columbia University, Founder/Director of the Center for Human Potential


Weaving Ourselves Whole draws you in right from the beginning. “Fear is a companion of change. And heroism is not the absence of fear, but rather the courage to act despite feelings of fear” (p. 26). Already the introduction is a WOW. The authors address a most burning must of our time, namely to move away from the egocentric view. Nowadays crisis, conflicts, and suffering are too large to be dealt with on an individual level. The authors claim that we can cultivate a collective mind and a circle that is holding each one of us. Adaptation and transformation need creative emergence. The expressive arts and the notion of an inner circle assist to move the spiral of the creative energy force and to access a greater energy outside of us. A circle is about interconnectedness, a mutual holding together in the circle process of relational, creative tension. This approach validates that we need both: individual and community growth.  Weaving Ourselves Whole speaks to areas in education, clinical areas, spirituality, social change, and personal transformation.

Margo Fuchs Knill, PhD, Professor, Psychotherapist, Expressive Arts Professional, Poet. Dean of the Division Arts, Health and Society at European Graduate School. Co-author Poetry in Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience through Poetic Writing


The authors of Weaving Ourselves Whole have charted an exciting new dimension for those interested in the nature and application of creativity. They have expanded the person-centered approach of expressive arts into new dimensions, basing their experiences of a dozen years of work and a few hundred projects. Their readers will enjoy the results of the transformations they have wrought and may well experience transformations themselves as they delve into the book’s fascinating chapters.

Stanley Krippner, PhD, Psychologist, Researcher, Author, Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies


Weaving Ourselves Whole is itself a work of art, with all the essential strands for expressive arts circles woven together beautifully by its wise and humble authors. Based on the ancient archetypes of the weaver and the circle, WOW provides guiding principles and rich stories that will enable other groups to deepen their collective journey—tapping into wells of creativity that will nourish group members and the wider world. Highly recommended!

Bill Joiner, EdD, MBA, author of Leadership Agility, Founder/CEO of ChangeWise


We can walk through life on automatic pilot, using what neuroscientists term our “default mode network,” or we can choose to be fully alive, living a life of meaning and purpose. Many of us attempt this journey to greater wholeness alone, but soon find the daily grind drawing us back to a life of just surviving instead of thriving. All wisdom traditions teach us that community is essential to spiritual growth and transformation and Weaving Ourselves Whole provides a communal creative process that supports us in becoming people who can make a more positive impact in our families, work, and communities. In working with this profound book, you will feel that you are supported by loving hands and hearts of those who have gone before you. We each must do our own work, but we don’t have to do it alone.

Judi Neal, PhD, Executive Director, Global Consciousness Institute; Founder and CEO, Edgewalkers International
Author Edgewalkers: People and Organizations that Take Risks, Build Bridges and Break New GroundCreating Enlightened Organizations: Four Gateways to Spirit at Work; and the Handbook of Personal and Organizational Transformation


Ever think about the wall that keeps you from reaching your paradise? This book, Weaving Ourselves Whole, just might be the map and inspiration you need to climb over to the other side. While sharing powerful examples of transformation of those involved in their life-changing circle of creativity and growth, the co-authors show you the way.

Anin Utigaard, MFT, REAT, Co-founder of the International Expressive Arts Therapists Association

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Copyright: 2023
Pages:
ISBN (Hardcover): 978-1-955737-23-4
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-955737-24-1
ISBN (Ebook): 978-1-955737-25-8

Weaving Ourselves Whole will be available in ebook format at:

Apple iBooks

Amazon Kindle

Barnes & Noble Nook

Gratitude
Foreword
Introduction

Chapter 1 Person-Centered Expressive Arts and Circle Work
Chapter 2 An Invitation to the Creative Spirit Circle Process
Chapter 3 Crossing the Threshold: Working Together
Chapter 4 Weaving a Personal Vision for Creative Living
Chapter 5 Envisioning Your Creative Spirit Circle
Chapter 6 Finding Your Center
Chapter 7 Self and the Sacred Circle
Chapter 8 Mindfulness and the Artful Journey
Chapter 9 Dreams and Individuation
Chapter 10 Air: Breathing Creative Spirit into Life
Chapter 11 Wonderment: Awakening the Magical Child
Chapter 12 The Wisdom of the Body
Chapter 13 Sacred Portals and Inner Knowing
Chapter 14 Honoring Our Ancestors
Chapter 15 The Art of Transition
Chapter 16 Conscious Closure: The Art of Circling

Appendices
References
Index
Author Biographies

Pam Caraffa, PhD
I joined our Creative Spirit Circle to expand personal growth within a creative community. Our expressive arts practices nurture my way of being in the world and enrich my life. Professionally, I have been a university professor, consultant, executive coach, and Corporate VP of organizational and leadership development to guide personal, cultural, and organizational transformation. I have offered innovative seminars to institutions such as the Center for Creative Leadership, Chief Learning Officer Global Symposium, the International Coaching Federation, IMD Business School, and Cornell and Washington Universities. Supporting nonprofit leadership is a passion and I’ve served on several boards, most recently the Keyway Center for Diversion & Reentry and Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children. I am currently focused on family & friends, Board work, photography, physical fitness, travel, and continual growth. Email: pwcara@sbcglobal.net.

Holly Carson, MA, LPC, LCSW
My search for a creative and spiritual community of women led me to the Creative Spirit Circle. My greatest learning as a participant in this experience has been that every creative endeavor is a new adventure, a sacred path, full of lessons in the art of being. I have led thousands of clients on their healing journey as a psychotherapist for over forty-three years through my private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. I am a licensed professional counselor, licensed clinical social worker, and certified life coach, and received my MA in Counseling Psychology at Lesley University in Boston. My therapy practice is currently focused on work with women across the life spectrum. My life’s work has exemplified the power of art and creative expression to heal and transform our brokenness and awaken us to our true self.
Website: http://hollycarsoncounseling.com.

Terri Goslin-Jones, PhD, REACE
I joined the Creative Spirit Circle with a desire to be engaged in a creative community committed to evolving consciousness using person-centered expressive arts. The immersion in this circle process nourishes my entire “way of being”. In my professional life, I serve as Psychology/Creativity Studies faculty at Saybrook University and previously worked as a VP of Human Resources and Organizational Development Consultant. My reason for teaching and serving as an advisor for doctoral research is to support life-long learners in a quest to create change in their life and in their part of the world. Creativity is at the heart of my work. I am an expressive arts practitioner, a poet, mindfulness facilitator and lead poetry circles as a graduate of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. My creative passions include family life, expressive arts, gardening, a love for life-long learning, physical fitness, spirituality, and international travel.
Website: www.terrigoslin-jones.com. Email: tgoslin-jones@saybrook.edu.

Ginger Reinert, MA
I joined the Creative Spirit Circle to explore the connection between creativity and individuation. This group has enhanced my search for meaning and wholeness. Twelve years of engagement with creative spirit has provided me with invaluable personal insight and wisdom. The first half of my career was invested in the sales and management of million-dollar performance improvement programs at Meridian Enterprises. I traveled worldwide overseeing sales and incentive programs. Later as a professor at a local business college, I taught courses in psychology, sociology, communications, conflict management, diversity, leadership, motivation, and team building. I am on the board and volunteer as a docent at the Campbell House Museum. My interest now lies in preserving the historical heritage of the Gateway to the West. I also mentor young women struggling with the challenges of motherhood. I am an avid traveler, reader, and lifelong learner.

Kim McCallum MD, FAPA
I was eager to awaken and nurture creativity, imagining the Creative Spirit Circle would help shape the next chapter of my life. My experience has exceeded expectations. “I have been inspired by our topics… aging, soul, transitions, love. There is a special energy and calm that emerges from our process, allowing us each to grow in deeper ways than we would on our own. I am excited to share this process, which has been a joyful and central part of our lives for the past 12 years. A psychiatrist and psychotherapist, my career path was built on early interests in the mind body connection. A Neuroscience major, I received my MD from Yale, psychiatry training at UCLA and the STL Psychoanalytic Institute, and Child Psychiatry training at Washington University. Throughout my career I have been passionate about integrating mindfulness practice into psychiatric care, especially the treatment of eating disorders.
Email: kimberli.mccallum@icloud.com

Nancy Williger, PhD, MSW
When the opportunity came to join a small creativity circle focusing on spiritual development through an expressive arts process, I was eager to join. The Creative Spirit Circle has added a new and unexpected dimension of creativity to my life for which I am grateful. Professionally I have a Master’s in Social Work and a PhD in Psychology. For most of my career, I have been in a private practice focused on helping people get divorced in a non-adversarial manner. For the last twenty years, I have helped to grow a charity, Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children. The organization sponsors children in Nepal to get an education and become self-sufficient. I am retired from clinical work, and currently work with non-profit organizations and teach mediation to lawyers and other mental health professionals. In my spare time, I enjoy creating with paint, polymer clay and beads in my home studio and staying connected to friends.
Email: nawillgr@aol.com.

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