When I consider working with a new creative journey client, I search myself for an image of the relationship. This image, if it arises, helps me to answer the question, “Can I help this person? Can I support this person?” The image is a choreography. It is a way I will relate to them. I usually draw the image so it is easier to remember - it is something to go back to throughout the process. It is a way to recenter the process if I get lost.
The image has been a side hug walking. It has been a person lying down and me supporting the back of their skull. The image has been me standing behind them, supporting their lower arm in my lower arm. The image has been a face, cradled in my hands, evaporating into butterflies. This is the way I open my subconscious mind to my working practice. I don’t question it or ask it to make sense to me. But once it is out, I can ask myself, “What does that mean?” If there is a lot of distance between me and the other person, I can see that maybe the person doesn’t yet trust me and it is best to connect while respecting some distance. If there is a friendly connection in the image, I might imagine that the journey will be full of ease. If there is a closeness, I imagine that there may be a path to intimacy.
This process is so connected to who I am and how I create. It helps me to ground my practice in the liminal space between the conscious and subconscious mind. It makes the practice personal to me. There is a vision at work. The traveler feels this and let’s go.