Write Your Demons.
A 6-week online course for creative transformation
Register here
“An amazing course, really inspiring and challenging in many ways!”
Paloma
This course is for anyone who wants some space to discover more about themselves. You don't need to be a writer, or have written before. We may find that we produce some powerful work, but sharing is always optional, and self-discovery is our primary aim.
There are demons in all of us. Whether it is a painful childhood we carry, or the daily toil of discrimination, financial difficulty, or physical pain, we all struggle and we all suffer. Add to this that life today is, for many of us, isolating, busy and riddled with uncertainty. The nature of our lives often denies us the space to make sense of our struggles. Perhaps we fear that they will take over; perhaps they seem too big to contain.
Often, it’s easier to push them away.
This is logical, sometimes necessary in order to go on. Only demons denied attention, gain a hold over us. Whether they are felt in a subtle sense of dissatisfaction with life, stuckness, anxiety, numbness, or limiting coping strategies, the demons we cannot face, control us. They drive our behaviour, thoughts, feelings, and dictate our self-view. Under their hold, we forget our own agency; in trying to protect ourselves from our inner demons, we also deny ourselves inner freedom.
In this course, I offer creative, written approaches for facing the demons within. Informed by my ongoing psychotherapy training, as well as my academic training as a sociologist, and my practice of writing nonfiction and fiction books, I will guide us through a carefully structured course for exploring our neglected emotions, experiences, or pain.
In this space, we will transform our demons into valuable teachers. Our painful parts, often hidden away out of shame and fear, contain unacknowledged resilience, thwarted desire, and unmet need. In turning to our difficulties, we discover unexpected possibilities for ourselves.
“A really inspiring, provocative and stimulating course.”
Ceri
In this 6-week online course, I offer creative writing as a tool for meeting ourselves fully. Drawing on different forms of writing, as well as social context and artistic inspiration, we will find new ways to come into relationship with our difficulties, to find relief, acceptance, and newfound clarity.
I take inspiration from Padmasambhava. This 8th Century Buddhist monk is known for pacifying the demons of Tibet. He didn’t slay them, but converted them, and turned them into guardians for the Buddha's teachings. The story reminds me that we don’t overcome our suffering by denying it, but by attending to it, understanding how it affects us, and accepting all parts of our experience, so that we can decide how to respond.
Once a source of fear, our demons then become the seeds of transformation.
“A most inspiring course. It had me buzzing with ideas, and at times welling up, but always sparking off novel ways of looking at my body and its interactions in the world.”
Sofia
Details
This course runs online for 6 weeks. Please register interest for prices and the upcoming dates.
I will offer you a supportive space and a series of writing-based tools, to allow you to face your pain or suffering on the page. I will help you identify and grow your awareness around the parts of yourself you may have neglected, been afraid of, ashamed of, or feel need extra support. We will find ways to be curious about them, to hear what they have to say, and to identify the needs and desires they contain.
In a safe and supported environment, we will find the courage to see ourselves clearly, support ourselves compassionately, and to risk the unknown of change. We will work in a small group, combining sharing with writing, always respecting people’s personal boundaries, and always with the option just to write, or listen.
I acknowledge the real challenges posed by our lives today, while offering ways in which we can nonetheless resource ourselves to enhance the quality of our lives. I offer sociological ways of contextualising our challenges, exploring how we internalise and suffer the consequences of social injustice. At the same time, we will mobilise writing to support ourselves, and to imagine new possibilities for our lives. Drawing on my knowledge as an author in fiction and nonfiction, I will offer a range of creative experiments that I have found to be helpful in my experience of being a person. From surrealist fiction, to factual writing, we will build a new repertoire of techniques that we can continue to turn to throughout our lives.
“Such an inspiring course. I have really enjoyed the last 6 weeks but it has also been hard and difficult at the same time as empowering and useful.”
Jordan