At the Poiesis Institute, we believe that thriving and wellbeing can come to each of us if we reimagine our lives as works of art. Having a conscious and active sense of the “art of life” leads to more joy, awareness, wisdom, humor, and flourishing.
All art – whether poems, literature, paintings, theater, or music – involves craft. Artworks need be consciously formed, fostered, honed, shaped, reshaped, imagined, and reimagined. They are ongoing projects that can create beauty and joy, contemplation and wisdom.
Our lives can be like this too.
A thriving “art of life” practice can be deeply nuanced and aided by the creativity and wisdom of others. Art, literature, music, philosophy, and spiritual learning are too often seen as hobbies or “add-ons,” if only we had the time. But we believe they can offer so much more. They are wellsprings for wellbeing and tools for an engaged and positive “art of life.”
Through our workshops, classes, and one-on-one sessions, we help our students craft and refine, imagine and reimagine, the artwork of their lives. We also provide opportunities to reflect deeply on art, music, literature, philosophy, cinema, and spiritual texts to help inspire and stimulate a flourishing “art of life” practice.
Our art of life sessions are not intended to be therapy, and people come as students not as patients. Our role is to facilitate and, as facilitators, we support, contemplate, and enhance personal experience and self-understanding. Though we have experience, we are not experts or “the ones who know.” Poiesis students use individual sessions, classes, and workshops to explore sensations and emotions, to investigate life situations and life patterns, to practice self-expression and communication, and to develop their individual and unique art of life.