Working with Clay

I'm sitting out on my balcony (which is actually just the outdoor hallway) in Santa Barbara. The sun's just set, the moon perched above, this day giving way to night, this geeky gal with her laptop and head phones taking in the moment! Life is good. I feel so grateful.

Today in the training we explored with clay. Here is the activity we did. The quote is taken from Violet Oaklander's first book "Windows to our Children" and is pretty close to how our session was guided.

"Close your eyes and go into your space. Feel your clay with both hands for a few seconds. Take a couple of deep breaths. Now I would like you to make something with your clay, keeping your eyes closed. Just let your fingers move. See if the clay seems to want to go its own way. Or perhaps you want it to go your way. Make a form, a shape. If you have something in mind you want to make, do it with your eyes closed and see what happens. Or just move the clay around, let yourself be surprised. You will have only a few minutes to do this. When you're finished, open your eyes and look at what you've made you can add finishing touches, but don't change it. Look at it. Turn it and see it from different sides and angles" (Oaklander).

Many participants told stories of how they had no idea what they were going to make, just found themselves moved to make something known or unknown to them. This was true for me as well. After we made our creations, we got into pairs with one person sharing their work and the other playing the role of therapist. The processing work involves being what you made. I made a shell. So I began to talk as a shell. "I am a shell. I have grooves along the back of me and am smooth on the inside. I used to be a home to someone else and I have had many different homes of my own. I've lived in the ocean. I've lived on the shore. I've been in water and in the hot sun. I am solid and yet I am also fragile. I am able to be broken into many small pieces. etc." After relating to my object in the first person, the therapist then asks if there is anything about being a shell that fits for my own life... and we explore along that thread.

It's a powerful activity because the clay stimulates and is a direct link to many sense -- kinesthetic, temperature, tactile, smell, sight, hearing. It is grounding and comforting while also direct in bringing someone into the body. Clay can be a bridge between sensory experiences (kinesthetic, tactile, etc.) and the deeper sensing and experiencing of feelings, unconsciousness, etc. To me the power of this modality is in how it can bring to the surface unconscious material and circumvent the analytical mind, providing an opportunity for other parts of the self to express themselves.

Tomorrow's topic is aggression. What fun!

I've taken some pictures and will keep adding to this album as I take more.