Free Places: Training to deliver Coming to Our Senses

I’m excited to share a special opportunity with you! Thanks to a generous grant from the Arts Council of Wales, we are offering a limited number of free places on our exclusive trainer programme for the new "Coming to Our Senses" Creative Mindfulness course.

This comprehensive programme will equip you to deliver this innovative course and includes the following key components:

In-Person Training: A three-day immersive workshop titled "The Art of Looking at Ourselves," taking place from August 21st to 23rd at Grange Hospital, near Newport, South Wales.

Online Sessions: Eight weekly 90-minute online sessions designed to train you as a facilitator.

Hands-On Experience: Shadow me as I deliver a course, allowing you to gain practical insights.

Co-Facilitation: Co-deliver the course alongside another facilitator, with supervision from myself and Sarah Gregg.

For more details about the "Coming to Our Senses" course, please visit our page here.

If you're interested in this unique opportunity, you can register for "The Art of Looking at Ourselves" here.

Don’t miss out—these free spots are limited!

Return to Caerdroia

The Art of Looking at Ourselves

Join Us for a Transformative Experience!

Two decades ago, Theatr Cynefin collaborated with Golygfa Gwydyr to bring the enchanting Caerdroia Sensory Labyrinth Theatre (SLT) to life.

Art has the power to change consciousness, and through a new mindfulness curriculum, Coming to Our Senses, we can explore the use of natural spaces to enhance wellbeing, creating a profound connection between art, nature, and self-awareness. This three-day event will introduce the Coming to Our Senses mindfulness programme through unique insights from seasoned experts in SLT, and by discovering how natural spaces can be transformative for wellbeing and mindfulness.

This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of evolving creativity and mindfulness through connecting with nature. Secure your place and embark on a journey of self-discovery, artistic exploration, and nature-inspired wellbeing!

Booking will start soon. The course is aimed at adults who are engaged with mindfulness and/or arts wellbeing activities. Watch this space for further details.

We Are Alive

Theatr Cynefin delivered a ‘Connecting Matter, Energy and Meaning’ training hosted by NGO Sus Inima in Sibiu, Romania this April. The training was part of their SIPRI initiative, helping people sheltering from the war in Ukraine.

The site of the slt performance created is a 14th century Church and adjacent building, that is currently housing a school for Ukrainian children. We worked with facilitators and teachers to create a Labyrinth from which emerged Easter themes and the defiance and joy of being alive.

Coming to Our Senses

In spring 2023 Theatr Cynefin will be piloting a new and innovative mindfulness curriculum with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board staff. Called Coming to Our Senses, the 8 week course will utilise exercises developed to train Sensory Labyrinth Theatre performers in order to create an immersive learning experience.

We believe mindfulness can be taught effectively through powerful creative group processes such as the ones used in The Art of Looking at Ourselves. We have been trialling this approach over the last 4 years, most recently with Ukrainian teachers displaced by the war.

The course will also involve the Journaling for Flow methodology developed by Sarah Gregg so that participants can not only chart their progress through the course, but learn a way of starting and ending their day in a way that optimises access to flow states.

We are very grateful for the support of both Aneurin Bevan Health Board Trust for their…um, trust in partnering with us on the project and to Arts Council Wales, Fresh Arts and Health Fund for supporting the project.

Towards a Politics of Flow: Podcast with ImaginAction

This is a conversation between Cynefin director Iwan Brioc and Uri Noy-Meir from ImaginAction that took place earlier in the year. ImaginAction is a network of socially engaged practitioners in the arts and has many initiatives in which to get involved.

Iwan Brioc is Artistic Director of Theatr Cynefin and a consultant in applied theatre. He is best known for pioneering Sensory Labyrinth Theatre, an applied form of Enrique Vargas' Sensory Poetics and has been directing productions and training companies and artists internationally for 20 years.

Cortiqualia

Some years ago now Theatr Cynefin collaborated with Pontio and University Wales Bangor Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Guillaume Thierry to create with Psychology Students an immersive theatre performance called Cerebellium. The project ran for three years and was a transformative experience for many audience members.

Since then Guillaume and Iwan have had various conversations as to how to follow up on the findings of this performance experiment in light of new evidence in the field. Here’s a clip of a conversation that highlights perhaps the relevance and urgency of such a project.