Embodied Creativity: A 4-Week Creative Journey

Mindfulness, inspiration & self-exploration through singing, movement, drumming, and collective ritual. No experience necessary in any of the modalities we will be exploring! This journey is intuitive and aimed at presence, creativity and connection with your somatic experience. Let's set aside production and perfection, and fully inhabit our vessels! Comfortable attire is encouraged for you to freely move, dance, and lie down in.

Session teaser: April 4th @ 10:00am at Irvington Presbyterian Church
Free to attend! Registration opens March 5th.

Sessions

Week One

Somatic singing: Re-discovering your voice

Many things can separate us from our voice - trauma, self-doubt, illness, daily pressures of life under capitalism - and reconnecting to the sound and feeling of your singular instrument can be powerful. In these workshops, we tune into the sensations and experiences of our body and practice mindful focus, with the voice as our object. We'll connect specific movements with sounds to awaken our vessels, and engage in vocalizing together, for a luscious soundscape that allows us to notice where sound, texture, temperature and color live in the body.

Week Two

Embodied Movement: Reclaiming the Freedom to Move

Embodied dance refers to dance that emphasizes the connection between the body, mind, and emotional experience. It is not merely about physical movement; rather, it is an expressive modality approach that recognizes the body as a means for expression and communication. In this session, you will be led through prompts that gently challenge you to tune in to how your body wants to move, and what it wants to convey. Movements can be adapted to all mobility needs, and no dance experience is needed!

Week Three

Meditative drumming: Rhythm as grounding and release

Tune into the rhythms of your vessel and the planet, and explore and expand upon them with group drumming! We will learn a few basic skills, and then settle in for a mindful experience of the sound and vibration of our instruments. Hand drums and other rhythm-makers are provided!

Week Four

Community ritual: Integrating our creative practices!

During this session we will reflect on our experiences and uncoverings, and explore the ways that curiosity and wonder can transform the mundane into the marvellous, the small into the sacred. Our group will forage natural materials outdoors, and create a beautiful collective altar. We will incorporate song, drumming and movement into the experience.

Creator/Facilitator:
Aviv Avenatti, LCSW; LISW-S

Aviv Avenatti is a non-binary, neurodivergent psychotherapist, song leader, contemplative practice facilitator and ritual artist based in Indianapolis. Aviv is an ardent lover of ritual and embodied creative practices, and they facilitate workshops at conferences, retreats and community gatherings. They are called to create the lush containers for expressive, mindful exploration and play, so that participants might have liberatory experiences with singing, movement, sound and ritual. Aviv views embodied creative expression as a tool for collective healing, resilience-building, solidarity and liberation.

Aviv is the owner of Heartland Healing, an LGBTQ-centered psychotherapy group practice, as well as a non-profit wellness fund to support queer and trans folks in accessing mental healthcare. They run a monthly singing circle in Indianapolis, and provide both public and private sound immersion, vocal meditation and community ritual experiences. They craft unique, experiential workshops and experiences tailored to specific populations, life milestones and events, and seasons of the year. They also provide professional training to clinicians and other helpers on a wide breadth of topics including embodiment and body liberation, healing from religious harm, burnout prevention, and the use of expressive modalities in clinical work.

Aviv completed their undergraduate training in Music Therapy, and obtained a Master's of Social Work & Community Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. They are a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Supervisor. They are a certified Contemplative Practice Leader with the Center for Mindfulness Based Wellness & Pedagogy, and completed training in song leading and somatic singing with various organizations and practitioners. Aviv is certified in Sound Healing & Meditation by the Meditate School of Mindfulness & Sound, and completed therapeutic drumming facilitation training. They are currently enrolled in the Morning Altars Teacher Certification program. Aviv is a lover of distance-hiking, animal-snuggling, queer literature, tree climbing, and they are an earth-based Jewitch.