Cultivating Intimacy with Experience with Alice Nelson and Amy Finlay-Jones

Cultivating Intimacy with Experience

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simone Weil

The practices of mindfulness and creative writing are both deeply concerned with the idea of paying attention; of noticing the world around us, and the world within us, with a sustained and intensive focus. Both can be seen as contemplative practices though which we can inhabit our most essential selves and reap the deepest rewards of our humanity.

This workshop is designed to help participants access the transformative internal spaces that mindfulness practice and creative writing can lead us to, as well as expand their ability to truly notice and perceive the world around us, and to deepen and express their authentic voices.

Who is the Workshop for?

The workshop is open to all. No experience in writing, meditation or mindfulness practice is needed; just an openness to learning and sharing.

Workshop Structure and Inclusions

Taught in a small group format, with a maximum of 15 participants, the workshop will include a range of guided contemplative practices and writing exercises that will help us pay attention in new ways to our internal and external worlds and sharpen our ways of seeing, perceiving and articulating. Participants are encouraged to share their experiences with others, and to join in group discussions.

Participants are asked to arrive at 9am for a 9:30am start, and the workshop will conclude at 4pm. Lunch will be provided.

About the Facilitators

Alice Nelson is a novelist, essayist and critic. Her books have been published to critical and popular acclaim all over the world, and her short stories, essays and reviews have appeared in a range of international publications. Alice is also an experienced teacher of writing, and has worked on a wide range of collaborative community storytelling projects, as well as teaching at various universities, writing centres and community organisations.

Associate Professor Amy Finlay-Jones is a researcher, therapist, and contemplative practice facilitator who is dedicated to helping others cultivate more balanced, connected, and meaningful lives through compassion and mindfulness practice. She is a skilled group facilitator with over 10 years of experience delivering mindfulness- and compassion-based approaches in clinical, community, and organisational settings. Amy’s teaching draws on many years of personal practice, her passion for social justice and activism, as well as her lived experience of long-term chronic illness.  Amy is a Stanford University-certified Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) facilitator and a trained Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teacher.