Liminal land-sea mandalas – I’m applying arts psychotherapy and sand-tray techniques to a specific creative project to develop new ideas. Found objects, natural materials, sand and sea-water, all become part of this piece, as they externalise what’s going on hidden inside the creative unconscious. Connecting to the senses, to nature, inside and out, this is a mysterious, profound process, full of synchronicity. It’s like a working within a giant sand tray, a much larger version that the one we so often use in arts psychotherapy.

I made this land-sand-mandala deliberately close to the sea-shore… l’m fascinated by thresholds, the liminal spaces in between, where land meets sea. Mandalas, their transitionary nature makes them feel precious… just like life. Half an hour later all the separate elements of this mandala were carried away by the incoming tide of the sea, leaving no trace.

I’m trying out new ideas for monthly women’s groups, one based on arts and mindfulness, and the other on creative writing. As women, our bodies are determined by monthly cycles… until we are not as we pass through menopause. Something about the ebb and flow of our bodies, cycles and time. In the Studio, I’m interesting in creating dedicated spaces for female creativity and archetypal reflections, to connect to deep inner nature.

And whenever I design retreats and workshops, I feel it’s important to try out ideas on myself first, as creative experiments, to see how they work!