"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –," wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins, "When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush..."

Of course the poets have always been in love with spring, when flowers bloom and warmth returns. In this workshop, we'll read, write, and talk about spring. We'll examine some techniques that poets use to vividly describe springtime sensations and implications, including E.E. Cummings, William Wordsworth, and Mary Oliver. We'll also experiment with writing about springtime in our own ways, with exercises designed to help us get deep into our sense memories and present-moment sensory awareness of seasonality.

Register with The Porch here.

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery. In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

Fee: $60

Register with The Porch here.

Autumn's a time of visual poetry: the leaves change their color, the trees change their form, and suddenly the poetics of change seem to be on the tips of everyone's tongues. In this workshop, we'll read, write, and talk about fall. We'll examine some techniques that poets use to vividly describe autumnal sensations and derive meaning, including Mary Oliver, John Keats, and Jane Hirshfield. We'll also experiment with writing about autumn in our own ways, with exercises designed to help us get deep into our sense memories and present-moment sensory awareness of seasonality.

Fee: $60

Register with The Porch here.

This summer, set your creative spirit ablaze with IGNITE!, our inaugural Writing Camp for Adults, to take place in the evenings on the week of June 17. You're welcome to attend all five sessions or opt for individual drop-in sessions as you prefer.

Whether you’re tangled in the web of writer’s block, seeking to establish a steady writing practice, or simply in search of a creative community, IGNITE! is your beacon. Each evening, Monday through Friday, immerse yourself in transformative sessions led by a diverse lineup of instructors, each bringing their own innovative and possibly intersecting approaches to the craft of writing. Our camp caters to enthusiasts of all genres, aiming to motivate, inspire, and perhaps most importantly, to move you from inertia to action. The grand finale? A celebratory open mic night in our cozy backyard setting, where participants, instructors, and community members alike gather to share and revel in the week's harvest of words—all over refreshing drinks and light fare.

• Friday, June 21, 6-8pm: Focus & Flow with Melissa Jean: Embrace mindfulness in your writing to foster focus, flow, and a deeper connection with your creative projects.

Register here. (Each session is $51 for Porch members/$60 for non-members.)

A naturalist is a student of the more-than-human world who is interested in closely observing and better-understanding the natural world around them. The capacity for accurate observation is built through the practice of particular ways of paying attention—a practice which also bears special relevance to the work of a writer. The skillset involved in the naturalist's practice of close observation can be useful for anyone who wants to practice writing more accurate and alive descriptions, particularly of the natural world.

In this workshop, which will be held mostly outdoors at Shelby Bottoms, we will practice sitting, looking, listening, and seeing the connections amongst our surroundings, using lenses drawn from the toolkits of naturalists and forest bathing practitioners. We will also do some creative writing exercises designed to help us translate these up-close ways of observing into fresh modes of written description.

Register with The Porch.

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery. In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

Register with The Porch.

A growing body of research tells us that a mindfulness practice makes people feel more creative--but why? What is it about the practical art of present-moment awareness that makes people feel more compassionately and creatively engaged with the world around them? And what are ways that writing itself can also support this engagement with the present moment? In this workshop, we will discuss how mindfulness practice and creative writing/journaling can interact with one another in the service of healing and self-expression. Through guided meditations and prompted writing exercises, we'll introduce a toolkit of skills and practices that participants can take with them and incorporate into their routines. 

Register with Mindful Nashville.

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery. In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

Location: The Porch house in Nashville

Fee: $54 for Porch members; $60 for non-members

Register with The Porch here.

A naturalist is a student of the more-than-human world who is interested in closely observing and better-understanding the natural world around them. The capacity for accurate observation is built through the practice of particular ways of paying attention--a practice which also bears special relevance to the work of a writer. The skillset involved in the naturalist's practice of close observation can be useful for anyone who wants to practice writing more accurate and alive descriptions, particularly of the natural world.

In this workshop, which will be held mostly outdoors at Shelby Bottoms, we will practice sitting, looking, listening, and seeing the connections amongst our surroundings, using lenses drawn from the toolkits of naturalists and forest bathing practitioners. We will also do some creative writing exercises designed to help us translate these up-close ways of observing into fresh modes of written description.

Location: Shelby Bottoms Nature Center

Fee: $54 for Porch members / $60 for non-members

Register with The Porch here.

Many people endure frequent unwanted visits from their "inner critic," which can generate bouts of imposter's syndrome and self-doubt and, for writers especially, creative blocks. What are some mindfulness tools that can help us to meet the arrival of the inner critic in a different way? In this workshop, we'll use mindfulness practices and writing exercises to develop a deeper understanding of how our inner critic speaks to us, and why. We'll discuss the concept of mindful self-compassion, and consider some ways that a grounding in mindfulness can help us move toward a sense of patient friendliness with ourselves and a deeper relationship with our own creative process.

Cost: $54 for Porch members / $60 for non-members.

Location: Virtual class via Zoom.

Register here.

During this free live stream with the Tennessee Environmental Council, we will discuss recent scientific findings on the positive impact of spending time in nature on human health. We will consider scientific, cultural, and poetic perspectives on natural systems to develop a paradigm of human wellness that emphasizes connection, belonging, care, awe, and deep relationality, in addition to individual physical health metrics. We’ll also look at some specific mind-body practices that can enhance well-being and a sense of connectedness to nature, focusing on nature-based mindfulness and Shinrin-Yoku (often translated as forest bathing).

Register for the webinar here.

Every Friday in May, these FREE weekly 30-minute nature-based mindfulness practice sessions will be designed to help you connect deeply with your senses, inner experience, and the world around you. The morning practice sessions will include nature poetry and guided meditations. All of the sessions will be held virtually, so you can attend from your own home, yard, or any outdoor place of your choosing. Feel free to attend every week, or just once!

Register here.

A naturalist is a student of the more-than-human world who is interested in closely observing and better understanding the natural world around them. The capacity for accurate observation is built through the practice of particular ways of paying attention--a practice which also bears special relevance to the work of a writer. The skillset involved in the naturalist's practice of close observation can be useful for anyone who wants to practice writing more accurate and alive descriptions, particularly of the natural world.

This class, a special collaboration between The Porch and Shelby Nature Center, will be held outdoors at Shelby Bottoms and in the Nature Center classroom. We will practice sitting, looking, listening, and seeing the connections amongst our surroundings, using lenses drawn from the toolkits of naturalists and forest bathing practitioners. We will also do some creative writing exercises designed to help us translate these up-close ways of observing into fresh modes of written description.

$68 for Porch members / $75 for non-members

Click here to register with The Porch.

To celebrate Earth Month in April, we will be offering a virtual nature-based mindfulness series every Monday morning. This four-week series will offer a supportive practice space to begin your week, designed to bring you into a deeper sense of connection with your own senses and the natural world around you. Sessions will be held virtually, so you can attend from your own home, yard, or any outdoor place of your choosing.

Dates: Monday 4/3, Monday 4/10, Monday 4/17, and Monday 4/24 from 8-9 am CST.

Suggested donation: $10 per session or $35 for the series (but please reach out to Melissa at breatheoutsidenashville@gmail.com if you would like to attend but the expense is prohibitive).

Click here to register for one session or the whole series.

This virtual presentation will discuss strategies for bringing contemplative nature-based practices into online classroom environments. On a personal level, these practices can contribute to the well-being, creativity, and sense of connectedness in students. Pedagogically, contemplative nature pedagogy can broaden our analysis in almost any discipline, deepening the scope of our theory. And in a political sense, making these links between technology, education, and the more-than-human world is a crucial piece of training environmentally-responsible global citizens.

Part of Lesley University’s Community of Scholars Day, a day of online presentations that are free and open to the public; click here to register.

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery.

In this in-person workshop held at The Porch headquarters in Nashville, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

$45 for Porch members / $50 for non-members

Register at: https://www.porchtn.org/class/create-and-calm-writing-as-a-mindfulness-practice-4

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery.

In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

Investment: $45 (Use code EARLYBIRD at checkout for 20% off through August 18!)

Note: This class is scheduled to take place in person at Porch HQ in Nashville. You must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate, and we will enroll a maximum of 10 participants.  Masks are not required at this time, though we will revisit this policy as needed.  Check our website and this listing for details before you attend class.

Register at: https://www.porchtn.org/class/create-and-calm-writing-as-a-mindfulness-practice-3

For human cultures all over the world, Nature has been the original Subject for poems, songs, and stories. However, modern classes in nature writing often focus on a canon of work produced by white male writers responding to waves of industrialization. In this workshop, we'll consider the implications of the way nature writing has so often been defined as a genre, and broaden and deepen our thinking about what nature writing is and can be. We'll read nature-based work created by writers from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds, and do some practices derived from the discipline of forest bathing to help us feel our way into the possibilities of our decolonial imaginations, supported by our relationship with the more-than-human world. Generative writing exercises--and practical suggestions for merging nature-connection practices with writing practices--will be included.

This class will be held via Zoom, with support from The Porch.

Investment: $75 (Use code EARLYBIRD at checkout for 20% off through August 18!)

Register at: https://www.porchtn.org/class/remembering-wild-decolonizing-nature-writing

“It didn’t take me long to learn that the discipline or practice of writing these essays occasioned a kind of delight radar. Or maybe it was more like the development of a delight muscle. Something that implies that the more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.” (Ross Gay, The Book of Delights)

In this class, we'll read and discuss the works of writers who engage unabashedly with their sense of delight in the natural world. We'll do some exercises designed to help us discover ways in which the more-than-human world offers us invitations into moments of delight and awe--and discuss how to develop a practice of accepting these invitations when they come. Then, we'll practice writing about these delights in fresh, original, and unapologetic ways.

$22 to Be inspired to Write Now! Register to receive your Zoom link for 7:00 pm EST/6:00 pm CST. All levels welcome: https://bewellbehere.org/events/2022/7/17/write-now

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional; writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery.

In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

‍Cost: $45 for members of The Porch / $50 for non-members

Register at: https://www.porchtn.org/class/create-and-calm-writing-as-a-mindfulness-practice-2

Note: This class is scheduled to take place in person at Porch HQ. You must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate, and we will enroll a maximum of 10 participants. Masks are not required at this time, though we will revisit this policy as needed. Check our website and this listing for details before you attend class.

Flowers have always been a favorite subject of poets, and it's no wonder--flowers are the epitome of impermanent beauty. Flowers have a mystical relationship to time and seasons, and their unpredictable brilliance shocks us into states of awe. In this online workshop, we will read poems about flowers and discuss what makes these poems feel fresh and surprising. Participants will bring at least one flower with them to the class, and we will do a mindfulness exercise with the flowers to bring us into a state of deeper noticing that can give rise to fresh, original writing about these timeless beauties.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Register with Be Well Be Here at: https://bewellbehere.org/events/2022/1/9/write-now-flowers

Writers and naturalists share many common elements of practice. Notably, practitioners of both disciplines practice paying close attention to their surroundings, and then describing them. In this workshop, we will consider how mindfulness techniques can help both writers and naturalists deepen their multi-sensory awareness through practices of embodied noticing, and by paying attention to the individuals and relational webs that surround us in every moment.

This workshop will be hosted by “Green Is the New Blue,” a project bringing together community teaching artists, MTSU professors, and naturalists, will guide participants in creatively connecting with each other, themselves, and the natural world. Led by artist and naturalist duos, workshops will be offered in movement and dance, writing, and visual art.

The two-hour workshops are free and open to the public. Find more information and register at: https://forms.gle/MLvt4y7dfCWbhSvf8

The relationship between mindfulness and creative writing is bi-directional: writing exercises can cultivate mindfulness and presence, and mindfulness techniques can be used to support a writing practice by developing helpful mental habits, overcoming writers’ block, encouraging creativity, and facilitating fruitful self-discovery.

In this workshop, we will learn some writing practices that can be used to bring ourselves into calmer, more centered, more mindful states of being. We will also experiment with different mindfulness practices that can increase creativity, focus, and flow, and we'll discover how courageously befriending ourselves and cultivating a state of present-moment awareness can transform our relationship to the writing process and to our own creative nature.

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Note: This class is scheduled to take place in-person at Porch HQ. You must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate, and we will enroll a maximum of 9 participants. Masks are not required at this time, though we will revisit this policy as needed. Check our website and this listing for details before you attend class.

‍Register for $50 ($45 for members of the Porch) here: https://www.porchtn.org/class/create-and-calm-writing-as-a-mindfulness-practice

With the Thanksgiving season approaching, we may be experiencing some complicated feelings about the historical context of the holiday and the ways in which we've been trained to believe that we discover our gratitude through compulsory public performances of it. In this half-day workshop, we'll create space to deconstruct and discuss our experiences with compulsory gratitude, and practice techniques for more fully experiencing the spontaneous, embodied, and relational aspects of mindful gratitude. We will engage with some teachings on appreciative joy that can help guide us into a state of increased openness to good emotional surprises, like awe and impromptu rejoicing.

Register online at https://wildheartmeditationcenter.org/events

This workshop will be hosted at the in-person programming at MTSU Writes on October 23; details about my specific talk are TBA, but registration for the conference, “Write to Heal,” is available at https://www.mtsu.edu/write/conference.php

Writing the More-than-Human: Mindfulness and Creative Healing in Nature

Human writers exist in a richly populated, interdependent world of other-than-human beings. Some writers, especially nature writers, engage head-on with this interdependence by writing directly about nature, but even in writing that appears fully committed to unraveling human dramas, the other-than-human may appear as a setting or a metaphor, a sunset or a housecat. But the embodied experience of writing in and about nature transcends all human genres; spending time connecting with the more-than-human world can be a source of deep beauty and personal creative healing. In this session, we will engage with other-than-human beings, learn mindfulness practices that can deepen our sensory and intuitive experiences of the natural world, and practice writing about the more-than-human in creative and affectionate ways.

A workshop at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens! Writers have long been inspired by nature and the other-than-human world. Spending time in nature can stoke our curiosity and creativity, and writing about what we see in nature can deepen our ability to be present and observant. The Porch instructor Melissa Jean, PhD, will guide participants in writing poetry while outdoors and engaged with nature. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with other-than-human beings, learn mindfulness practices to deepen their sensory and intuitive experiences of the natural world, and practice writing about nature in intimate and inventive ways. Participants are asked to bring their own notepad and writing utensils.

Non-members: $50

Members: $40

Register at https://cheekwood.org/learn/adult/