W10 Release and Receive

Week 10 Mindful Creations with Carolina Gonzalez Every term has a shape, and ours closes where it began, with the simple act of making together. For this final session we are joined by Carolina Gonzalez, a certified mindfulness and meditation teacher from the Northern Beaches who weaves meditation, ritual and creative practice into one gentle, unhurried arc. Across the weeks we have explored creativity through the hand, the body, the voice and sound. This evening we gather those threads and turn them toward something quieter: the practice of letting go, and of making room for what wants to come next. We begin with a guided meditation to settle the body and meet whatever is present with kindness, no part of you needing to be anywhere other than where it is. From there, we each write down what we are ready to release, and offer it to a shared water ritual at the centre of our circle. There is something old and true in this, the way naming a thing and letting it go in the company of others carries a weight that doing it alone never quite does. With that space opened, a second meditation guides us toward what is quietly calling us in, and we bring it to life on paper, with colour, words and image, letting the hand be led by the heart rather than the plan. This is the whole term distilled into a single evening. What we release, we release together. What we reach toward, we reach toward in company. The circle itself is the point, the quiet proof of what this term has been circling all along: that we were never doing this alone, that coming back to ourselves and coming back to each other were always the same movement. Something settles in a room like this. Something opens. You do not need to have meditated before, and you do not need to think of yourself as artistic in any way. You just need to be willing to arrive as you are and let your hand be guided by your heart. Come and close the term the way it began, making together, and discovering what becomes possible when we let go in good company. BYO YOGA MAT AND CUSHION A note on prices and sustainability of the program Our commitment is to make this program accessible to everyone in our community regardless of an individual's financial situation. However we don't want payments to be a barrier to participation in the program, if you are in financial hardship please reach out to Mowana and arrangements can be made. We also strongly believe that our facilitators who dedicate their lives to their crafts should be fairly compensated for their services. If you can afford more than the minimum ticket price, your generosity will contribute to the program's ongoing sustainability.