Writing workshops (2 or 3 hours, online)

In this half-day online writing retreat, we pay close attention to the physical practice of writing.
Most of us don’t think about writing as involving our bodies, beyond ergonomic desk arrangements and reminders to get up and walk or stretch. But to maximize creativity, expansive thought, clarity, communicative potential and heartfelt expression, it helps to realize that the way we habitually show up for our writing is practised in and through the body. Because of this we can support and influence our writing through subtle adjustments in how we carry ourselves and how we move.

Expect to be spending as much time off-screen as on-screen in this retreat, which invites you to explore four forms of movement and what they offer for your writing.

You’ll develop greater awareness of your strengths as a writer and will learn how to follow your body’s lead into a wider range of possibilities.

What to bring:

  • A writing project for which you’d like a new impulse. This can be an academic publication, public engagement-oriented writing, a blog post, a poem, short story, etc.
  • A pen and notebook, or some loose sheets of paper, for handwriting exercises and reflections.

It’s best if you have a quiet room to be in, with a bit of space to move around. If this is not possible, don’t worry: the exercises can be modified to suit your circumstances.

About the facilitator

Catelijne Coopmans (D.Phil. in Management Studies, University of Oxford, 2006) has been fascinated with the human side of academic work and career-building for a long time. Her experiences working full-time in various academic positions and (inter)disciplinary environments in the UK and Singapore, paved the way for a second career in life coaching and embodied facilitation, for which she started training in 2016. She now offers coaching and group workshops for academics online from her home in Spain. Her website is catelijnecoopmans.com