Writing with Nature: Bringing the outside in

This month Bristol Wellbeing College launched our new co-designed and delivered workshop Writing with Nature: bringing the outside in. The one-off session was designed by college learner, Ally Schooler, who is also a member of our STAR Group.

The aim of workshop is not only to explore our personal relationship with our natural environment but also to demystify writing as an art of genius. If you have ever felt that you are “not good at writing” or “not a creative person”, or if you are feeling a little under-motivated or overwhelmed, this session is designed to help us rediscover and nurture our innate ability to express, communicate and connect through the medium of writing.

The main message of the session is that we are all artists, writers, and poets if we give ourselves permission to create. The process involves letting go of the judgement, criticism and narratives we have built up over a lifetime that hinder our natural drive to express. This is no more evident than when we work together: collaboration is an engine of creativity and one of the core values behind the work we do at the College. When we work together, we inspire and motivate one another, and the results are pleasantly surprising.

Here is a poem the first Writing with Nature group created together. I want to thank them for their support on this first session.

NATURE

November marks the end of autumn but also the start of winter

Always present, never ending – just being what it was created to be.

Tranquillity washes over me as I enter the forest; I have no problems here

Undergrowth underworld like dirt beneath my fingernails: writhing, scuttling, seething life beneath dying matter

Returning to a balanced state, reconnecting with my place in the world

Everything lasts its season and the seasons always change

We are running our next Writing with Nature session on 27 July 2021. You can register and book your place here.