Hello friends! This final post is to announce that we are no longer keeping a separate and distinct expressive arts therapy blog at this site. Rather, all of the blog content connected to Dancing Mindfulness, expressive arts therapy, trauma-informed interventions, and my work will be housed on the ICM site's Redefine Therapy Blog. You are free to check out our content on that site: https://www.instituteforcreativemindfulness.com/icm-blog-redefine-therapy/ -Jamie ..read more

The tree was big. The tree was huge. The tree was constant. The tree saw everything. The tree did not change. The people changed. The people suffered. The people ran. The people hid. The people moved away. The people returned. The people cried. The people laughed. The people shut down. The tree remained. The people cried. The people fought. The people sought escape. The tree remained. The people suffered. The people soothed. The tree was there for everything. Photograph by Jamie Marich ..read more

If you share yoga or conscious practices like Dancing Mindfulness in any way, please check out my new interview with Malika Rajan, an Indian yoga teacher and one of my dear friends. Malika is also a Dancing Mindfulnes facilitator! She offers numerous insights on adaptation, trauma-informing yoga, and cultural appropriation. Information appears about a fundraiser that Malika has organized for people in India at the end of the video. You can also read more about it at: www.malikarajan.com ..read more

Manigusto (n.): The resolve to enjoy life more; a combination of “manifesto,” a mission statement that comes from the same Latin root where we get both “a ship’s manifest, or list of inventory,” and “gusto,” now an English word with multiple meanings (also the same root as “a gust of wind”). In many Romance languages derived from Latin, “gusto” means “pleasure.” Deep dives in the ocean of life with People I love and cherish In this life I’ve been entrusted to Care for the ocean To help save it and to Rescue the people drowning in it Yet what is the sense in accepting This life vocation if I ..read more

I wanted to write you a think piece A cogent reflection on an issue of Great social import— What it’s like to be raised in the  Culture of conspiracy  Yet my brain is still a bit too scrambled To weave coherent sentences together Probably because phrases like “Deep state” and “high cabal” Were a regular part of my childhood diet Long before YouTube was even a thing But just as toxic voices coming Through the radio flooded my tender heart Sometime before my brain broke Beyond repair   I wanted to write you a think piece But my brain can no longer think straight Not like anything ..read more

Dr. Jamie was proud to interview one of her role models and "legends" of expressive arts therapy, Dr. Cathy Malchiodi on January 6, 2021. Listen as they chat about the expressive arts and the needed paradigm shifts within our field. To learn more about Dr. Malchiodi's work, go to: www.cathymalchiodi.com ..read more

Artwork credit: Debra Sowald ​“We need to be in dark soil to grow. There is no spotlight in the womb. Darkness is incubation.”   Not separate Darkness and light is whole in its contrast but             also one in its wholeness of the same… Darkness and light are a continuum All is required for life and growth Transformation from one to the other Both And The swirling, the deepening, the opening reconciled within The sun, the storm, the journey, the challenge Brought us together today Seeds push up through the black soil Evolving ev ..read more

Do you spit or do you swallow?  What! How dare you ask me that!    The question is relevant  Do you spit or do you swallow…  The shame.    Some women seem to have a natural gift  To spit it out, to reject it  Or they simply refused to be dicked around  In the first place    I am in awe of these women because for years  I swallowed and  Swallowed and  Swallowed    “Taking it like a woman” to   Keep the connection  To secure the attachment  To be a good girl    For the men I wanted ..read more

“The heart is an organ of fire.” ~Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient   The limbic brain, the seat of our emotions and learning as human beings, can be destroyed by unhealed trauma. Ancient Christian mystics, often called the desert fathers and desert mothers, referred to this brain as the heart brain. Our emotional world, governed by the limbic brain, can feel like a fire that is raging out of control. Some trauma survivors are affected oppositely—they become shut off to feeling altogether. Often we shut ourselves off from emotion by choice, afraid of what feeling them might do to us ..read more

Dear Friends      Do not fall back asleep Although the days are short And the night is long.      Do not fall back asleep If your heart still beats for humanity I beg you. Go find your kindling Reignite the flame within your heart.      Do not fall back asleep Remember 401 years of terror for Black Lives. Reaffirm your commitment to justice      Do not fall back asleep Remember we still can’t breathe - even though we find a way to keep smiling, laughing, drumming, crying, working, marching   ..read more