I am so excited to announce that our first grandbaby girl will be born in May!

That is when I will be heading for Costa Rica to support my daughter and son in law in her birth and to help mom, dad and baby “reposition” their lives as they form a new family.

Because of this happy news I have had to rethink my yearly goals! Now, my goal is to become a grama and then complete my book about creativity based on the “Image Quest Group” before the new family moves back to San Diego in January.  My other goal is to create abundant art to fill a one woman show at the Ink Spot’s gallery in mid September. I hope you can come to the reception and I hope you will be inspired by my new book! I will keep you posted throughout my writing/art-making sabbatical.

Our “Monthly Women’s Group”, “Seasonal Labyrinth Walks” and “Client Studio Day” will continue as scheduled. However, there is a trade off. Sadly, what will be given up is the Fall “Image Quest Group”, “Artist’s Way Group” and the traditional Fall “Bodywriting Retreat”.

“Bodywriting Retreat”

However!    You still have an opportunity to participate in the April 23-26 Bodywriting Retreat for Women…and there is more good news!

Over the years Bodywriting has transformed into a fabulous 4 day/three night retreat. It now begins on Thursday at 5:30pm and ends on Sunday at 5:30pm. Of course, the price has gone up accordingly, but, if you are interested in participating I will be happy to give you $55 off of the total amount. Also, remember that past Bodywriters always get $50 off! So, that would be $105 OFF for past Bodywriters!

Take advantage of this one time offer!

Click the Bodywriting Retreat link in the menu on the left to learn more

NEW! Facilitator Trainings

All groups and retreats will  resume February, 2010 along with an all  NEW “Art Making Group Facilitator Training” which is a pre requisite to the all NEW “Bodywriting Retreat for Women Facilitator Training”. Yes! I am ready to pass Bodywriting on so that it can reach even more women around the world.  If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please contact me now so that you are one of the first to learn about the details!  More to come…

Have a wonderful spring and I invite you to our Free Summer Labyrith Walk on June 28. You JUST HAVE to experience the amazing volunteer native trees that have grown up to ten feet tall along the labyrinth path!  They offer shade and rich green life to the already sacred space.  Remember to RSVP.

Please email or call me with any questions you might have at 619-857-8820/ pamelunderwood@aol.com

Spring Blessings to you and yours,

Pamela

At the end of World War I, a young French mother packed all she owned, including a crock full of long-handled oil paint brushes in a steamer trunk. She was starting a new life in America with her infant and husband, who was an
American sailor. Sadly, the young mother became ill and perished on the journey. She never made it to
America, but her small family and the crock full of paint brushes did.

That baby girl was my Aunt Lillian and the young woman’s husband was my grandfather. Years later, when I became an artist, my aunt entrusted me with these heirlooms for safekeeping. For decades those brushes had held the essence of my aunt’s mother and her story; they served as a bookmark in time. It could be said that “things” hold the loved one themselves- their smell, their touch, and in the case of my brushes, wood blessed with the marks of a teething infant. In my home the antique brushes were displayed in a place of honor.

In 1998 our family’s Poway home suffered a devastating interior fire that destroyed two-thirds of it and much of the “stuff ” we had acquired as part of our lives. When a home is lost in a fire, the survivors often hear from well-meaning
friends, “oh well, it was just stuff.” But often the “stuff ” we hold onto is the keeper of someone’s life story.

In a larger way, the home itself holds the lives of its people and its character takes on the patterns of the inhabitants. And over time, we naturally develop relationships with our homes.

Our first fire was difficult, but there was no question that we would rebuild. Four years later, in the 2003 Cedar Wildfires, the same home was burned to the ground and this time the fire took everything, including the heirloom oil paint brushes.

I was bitter. We had been through devastation by fire once already. In good faith, we had picked ourselves up and rebuilt. To have our house burn down a second time was against the odds. I felt double crossed by Mother Nature. We
lost beloved pets and our newly rebuilt home. Selfishly, I was most bitter about having to rewrite my master’s thesis on Expressive Arts Therapy. Yes, I had “back up” discs. They had been in the house right next to my laptop.

This time my husband and I weighed the emotional and financial consequences of rebuilding. We waded through the confusion and inconsistencies of our insurance company, the Fire Department and the City of Poway. Each organization’s “policy” seemed to alter daily in the midst of such a widespread calamity. In 2005, we finally moved into our new home. It was bittersweet at best, but we were back.

Then a year and a half later, the dreaded reverse 911 call came with orders of mandatory evacuation; the Witch Creek Fire was approaching. Luckily, we found our home had been spared this time. As the firemen labored to contain the fires, I felt a deep compassion and empathy for what I knew the survivors of the 2007 Wildfires would have to face in the year to come.

Within a week after our evacuation, art therapist Kat Kirby, artist Jane LaFazio, and I knew we wanted to do something to help the women who lost their homes in these fires. We developed a free “Women’s Fire Survivor Support Group,” using expressive arts as the portal for healing the emotional trauma that is held in the body.

In this kind of situation, traditional therapy can fall short. The expressive arts such as drumming, painting, movement, sand tray therapy, collage, and poetry are especially effective in giving form and expression to the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that trauma holds. When given shape through the arts, these feelings can then be seen outside of the body and therefore, become more approachable.

While feeling deeply displaced, it is crucial for fire survivors to find a neutral zone in which to feel safe. Through art-making, they step over the threshold of harsh every-day reality into creativity and play. When the art-making is complete, the group reflects on what happened. They find that their initial feelings, often full of restrictions and road blocks, have opened to new possibilities, options or insight.

This free “Women’s Fire Survivor Group” has been a safe place to create a network with others who are going through the same grief and loss; it is a place that gives space and time for participants to realize and voice their true feelings,
which have often been set aside or unacknowledged as they stay strong for their families or face the insurance companies.

In the gentle but powerful ways of expressive arts, these amazing women have been able to slowly re-member their lives and find resources that are helpful. The healing found in walking through grief in a conscious way is life-changing. In doing so, trust in Mother Nature is mended. Old oak trees, loved gardens, wildlife, and pets that perished are mourned. Through time, meaningful “stuff ” like handmade Christmas ornaments, baby pictures, wedding albums, Grandmother’s rocker, family recipes or even a crock of heirloom paint brushes are acknowledged and released; only then can a new life fully begin.

The last eight-week series of the free “Women’s Fire Survivor Group” will span the year anniversary of the 2007 Wildfires. For more information on free Seasonal Labyrinth Walks, expressive arts groups or retreats, please contact Pamela Underwood MA, BFA, Expressive Arts Therapist, Educator and Consultant at bodywriting@aol.com or 619.857.8820 or visit www.pamelaunderwood.com

Example Private Session:

Jean arrives at her session with several pressing issues, but identifies her concerns about her divorce as most present for her. Once this focus is identified Jean is asked to switch from “thinking about” the issue to noticing any body sensations that are activated while sharing this issue.  This might be a tingle, a pain, tightness or a warmth.  If the strongest sensation were expressed in a movement, what would that be?  Sharp or smooth? Fast or slow?  It is in her neck and it is very tight.

Jean begins moving from her neck with tight jerky motions.  She is encouraged to let the movement expand, or contract, see if it wants to travel through space while up high or down low. What other parts of her body are activated when the jerky tightness is expressed?  Is there a sound it would make?

A slow constricted howl emerges from Jean’s gut as her whole body is in movement.  After this exploration is exhausted I ask Jean to close her eyes and notice, “If the sensation you feel most strongly now were a color or shape, ask it what color or shape it be.”  Jean chooses a muddy red and paints a jagged shape.  Then she asks what wants to happen next?  What wants to happen next is the only concern Jean has in this moment. She continues adding paint, repeating shapes and giving the painted image a voice with a harsh drum beat.  When Jean is at a stopping point, she is encouraged to journal, speaking from the voice of the painting.

Once more Jean turns her focus to what is happening in her body, noticing that the sensation in her thoat has now released.  And the color is a white glow. In reflection Jean writes about what happened in her session from beginning to end, and then together, we see how that experience might ”speak to” or inform the original concerns surrounding her divorce.  In closing we notice how she was feeling when she came in and how she is feeling now.  We name resources that she will take with her such as insights she had, sounds and colors that were helpful and the need to know only, what wants to happen next.