Workshop: A long walk

Your inner life carries people who mean a lot to you. You can describe them, name what they mean to you, even articulate what you would lose without them. What you probably haven't seen is what your mind does with these people when there is no script, no audience, when you need to hold someone without the every-day context.

This workshop uses a designed writing exercise to surface the shape of how you carry the people you love, and what surfaces when there is no time to perform.

What happens in the two hours

An orientation. A brief introduction to what Imaginal Pattern Studies is, what it draws from, and what makes its design different from journaling, therapy, or creative writing. About fifteen minutes.

A designed exercise. You are given an experiential exercise that uses imagery, sound and an exercise to complete in writing, while the workshop holds the conditions for them. The prompt is straightforward. The conditions are deliberate. What you write is yours alone; it will not be shared with the group, read aloud, or seen by anyone else in the room.

The first lenses. After the exercise, you are introduced to the first tier of observational lenses used throughout the method. These four lenses read for what the psyche does on the page when it has to respond, regardless of topic. The session then walks through an anonymized example, not drawn from anyone in the workshop, so participants can see how the lenses operate without anyone needing to expose their own material.

What you leave with

• Your written reflection produced under designed conditions, available to return to whenever you choose.

• A digital worksheet covering the four movement-based observational lenses, for ongoing use on any imaginal material the mind produces: writing, daydreams, recurring scenarios, fantasies. Once these lenses are learned, they are portable. They do not require a facilitator to apply.

• A working understanding of Imaginal Pattern Studies, what the method does and how it works.

Who this is for

If you have done the reading and the inner work, and self-awareness has not produced the change it promised, this can be for you.

The workshop is also for people considering the cohort and wanting to know, before committing, whether the method's stance suits them.

It is not the right fit for someone seeking comfort, validation, or emotional processing. Imaginal Pattern Studies is an instrument for observation. It does not diagnose what surfaces, offer reassurance or directly interpret your reflections. What it offers is the discipline of seeing, and the structure to do so without depending on someone else.

If you are currently in active treatment for severe or acute mental health conditions, please consult your provider before participating.

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Imaginal Pattern Studies is a developing methodology that uses designed writing exercises to surface unconscious material and teaches participants to read it themselves. The workshop is one of two ways into the method. The cohort is the other. For the basis behind the workshops and cohorts, see the theoretical framework.