I participated in Karen's first Courageous Writer's Academy a little over two years ago with the goal of learning some practical somatic techniques that would help me to improve my focus in my writing practice and gain greater skill with editing my own writing. I would not say that I have implemented the ideas that Karen shared with us during the course systematically, but I was very present in the work while we were engaged with it, and I regularly and very organically find myself integrating the bi-lateral stimulation exercises that she taught us into my writing practice. I took the toolbox that she helped us to build in and have been pulling resources from it when I need to calm/balance my nervous system and regain focus.
While reflecting on a big life decision I made this past year I came across some notes that I had taken around an image that Karen had shared with us. The purpose of the image was to help us hold steady in the present moment of our lives no matter what was happening around us, or even in our own minds. She encouraged us to visualize our breaths as anchors rooting us within the gardens of our own lives. Initially the breath seemed like an odd tool to turn to for anchoring, but I closed my eyes and drew a breath from deep in the earth up through my body from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head, and then released it back into the earth again in what I imagined to be a cycle of mutual energy exchange. All it took was a few inhalations and exhalations for my entire nervous system to calm down. I opened my eyes a few minutes later feeling grounded and clear-headed, and in awe of the supportive power of my own breath.
We are not always immediately conscious of how the work we have done has helped us progress toward our larger goals. I am now more than two years out from the work I did in Karen's Courageous Writer's Academy. The first draft of my novel will be complete in April 2024. From the intuitive ways that I notice myself utilising them, I can now say with absolute certainty that the somatic exercises in my toolbox have contributed to my reaching this point with my novel. This tells me that the lessons that Karen shared with me about editing my own writing will also be invaluable to successfully progressing through the many drafts that lie between where I stand now and getting my novel published. I am grateful to know Karen and to be a member of the community of courageous writers she nurtures every day through her work. If you are considering joining her academy, I highly recommend you take the plunge. Your future self will thank you.
