Nurture Your Creativity with Compassion and Space
Beginning September 4, 2024
Do you yearn for a creative process that feels safe and inspiring?
Your creative nature needs space. You need space.
Space provides possibility, an opportunity to rest in your inspiration and ignite your creative momentum.
How do we find space, though, as creatives in the busyness of our world?
Sometimes, it’s less about finding space and more about allowing space and releasing the need for productivity and efficiency when it comes to creativity. What works in our day-to-day task-driven, productivity-centered world doesn’t work with creative endeavors.
Why? Because when we focus solely on productivity and the outcome of our art, we often lose the process.
We miss the journey.
But you already know that—at least in your heart—even if you haven’t said it out loud to anyone or yourself.
As a creative, you have a relationship—a history—with creativity, even if you haven’t given it space recently in your life. You know the feeling of creating. You know what it is like to feel the effervescence of flow when you are consumed with a burst of inspiration. You also know what it is like to yearn for that feeling as you go through the motions of a day devoid of the creative rush.
Do any of these sound familiar?
You don’t identify fully as creative, but you can feel the whisper of creation at your ear.
You have a “creative” or “creative adjacent” job where you create for others, but your voice and spark feel dry, parched, and neglected.
You have a stack of empty journals, the perfect pens, the most glorious art supplies, and a list of “if only I had these tools I would be able to create.”
You are the one who keeps everything together in this busy world, but in keeping everything together, you have completely given away your time and energy, and there is nothing left for the possibility of creativity.
You had an experience at some point in your life that showed you that being creative isn’t safe, so you distanced yourself from your creative nature.
Maybe stepping into your creativity feels scary and foreign after so much time away.
Most people will tell you that in order to be the creative you were meant to be you need to stretch outside your comfort zone. Stretch way beyond it. Stretch until you think you might break.
This is where the magic happens, right?
Nope.
We have a different approach. We want you to get comfortable being in your comfort zone. And this means a lot of practice in your process. Your comfort zone is your creation zone. This is where the magic happens and this is where you practice.
Often, what we need most to allow space for our creativity is to nurture it. How do we nurture our creativity, though, when this isn’t something we are taught?
Through compassionate practice.
We are creating a space for you—for all of us—to nurture our creative natures but also hold our creativity with compassion and safeness. When you feel safe enough, creativity blossoms—in your creative projects, yes, and also in how you approach life.
Changing our habits and patterns takes time, so we would like to give you the time to make a shift.
How about 40 days to allow your creativity to meet self-compassion and find some magic?
Introducing...
The Spacious Creative: Compassionate Practice and Process
The Spacious Creative: Compassionate Process and Practice is a unique 40-day group program created and facilitated by Cindy Ingram and Heather Doyle Fraser to nurture your creative spirit through compassion and safeness.
This program offers a safe environment where you can practice and grow your creativity with compassion. Through guided practices and interactive sessions, you’ll learn to hold your creative endeavors with gentleness and care. When you feel safe and supported, your creativity blossoms—not only in your projects but also in your approach to life.
Over 40 days, we will guide you through various creative modalities, encouraging growth and exploration all while in your comfort zone. Each week, we will focus on different aspects of the creative process, from exploration and curiosity to expression and sharing. Our 6 live Zoom sessions are designed to be interactive, engaging, and participatory, providing you with the tools and support you need to transform your creative journey.
Join us in The Spacious Creative and discover the power of nurturing your creativity with compassion and safeness.
Program Format
The Spacious Creative is a 40-day program with weekly Zoom sessions.
All times are listed in EASTERN time, please convert to your time zone!
40 days of spacious creativity, 6 live Zoom sessions (also recorded)
90-120 minute interactive, engaging, and participatory Zoom sessions, once per week on Wednesdays beginning September 4, 2024, 6pm ET/ 5pm CT/ 4pm MT/ 3pm PT
Creative practice between sessions
Creation in multiple creative modalities to encourage growth: creativity in one area begets creativity in another
Mighty Network community that holds session recordings, creative practice prompts, and a place to share and discuss your work between sessions
The Path of Our Spacious Creativity Looks Like…
Opening
Week 1: Safeness for Exploration
Allowing
Week 2: Curiosity & Observation
Week 3: Play
Releasing
Week 4: Expression
Embracing
Week 5: Embracing Self and Voice
Week 6: Sharing Self Expression
Meet Cindy
Cindy Ingram
"Art helps me get out of my head and into my body, into the present environment. It allows me to expand and recognize myself in a place that may have seemed forbidden, irresponsible, or unattainable."
— Cindy Ingram
Cindy Ingram is the author of Art Is About Being Whole: A Memoir. She is also an artist, poet, coach, educator, and entrepreneur. Connecting with works of art, creating safe spaces, and crafting innovative learning activities are her superpowers, and she has dedicated her life to bringing the magic of creativity and art connection to others.
Cindy is passionate about taking art out of dark, stuffy lecture halls and out of the pretentious gatekeeping of “fine art” and into the hearts, minds, and lives of everyone who wants to experience it. She loves to explore mixed media in collage, painting, and mosaic. As a coach, Cindy combines her art and teaching expertise with her obsession of philosophy, personal development, and coaching to create a unique take on both how to engage with art and how to use art as a tool for self discovery, clarity, and action.
A former art museum educator and art teacher with a B.A. in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Art Education from the University of North Texas, she has supported teachers and their students through her work as founder and CEO of Art Class Curator since 2014. Cindy is Certified Professional Coach through the International Coaching Federation.
Meet Heather
Heather Doyle Fraser
“I believe in the power of the VOICE. Your voice, my voice, and our collective voice.
I live and breathe what I do — coach, write, publish books, teach, sing, perform, create, nurture — I do all of these things with gusto because they are all a part of me.
I want to see your fullness and help you experience what it is like to be seen and heard; and then, I want you to share that VOICE with the world.”
— Heather Doyle Fraser
Heather is the founder of Compassionate Mind Collaborative (cmcollab.com) based in Columbus, Ohio. Heather is a publisher, coach, and author of multiple books including:
FREEDOM: How Teens Can Use Mindful Compassion to Thrive in a Chaotic World and Grow a Purpose-driven Life
and
40 Weeks: A Daily Journey of Inspiration and Abundance.
Heather utilizes compassionate mind training and polyvagal-informed coaching to help her clients share their message and their voice, whether they are developing and writing a book or embarking on a different type of writing or creative journey. With over 25 years in the publishing industry, Heather’s superpower is helping writers create a compassionate relationship with themselves and their work while also bringing out the strengths in their writing.
In addition to coaching, writing, and creating customized compassionate publishing solutions, one of Heather’s greatest joys in life is being able to sing and perform locally and regionally with the Ladies of Longford, a high-energy, all-women contemporary Celtic band.
What People Say About Working with Us
"Cindy is truly excellent at creating a safe space to share, explore, and feel heard. I was never worried that I was going to say the wrong thing or that I couldn’t say something that I wanted to say because of how it would be reacted to. That safe space allowed us to create deep bonds."
Jules Gardner
Peer Support Specialist
“Heather’s ComPASSIONATE Writer program not only provided tools for simplifying the writing process, but it also shifted my mindset about writing. Even though the program was online, her fun, passionate, and engaging style created an environment for personal growth and learning."
Janet Huehls, MS
"The Art Connection Circle was more meaningful than any college class I’ve taken, any professional development training, anything. There’s nothing else like this."
Bridget King
Art Teacher
"For me, the six weeks allowed a lot of the old wounds to surface in the strangest ways. It was like a decades-long release of so much that had been pent up inside of me. Heather held space for me with compassion, and she helped me to be more compassionate with myself."
Jill Keuth
Have questions?
Still have questions? Reach out to us at cindy@artandself.com or heather@cmcollab.com to get your questions answered.