More about Rest in Revelry ;

Here are some brush-strokes about this thing/community/experience :

Rest in Revelry emerged out of a need for co-regulation around creativity / loving company to usher us into the realm of experimentation. And a need to, through this gentle hand-holding, undo the sense of doing some of us have come to associate with creative practice - the shoulds about ‘showing up to the page’ despite utter fatigue; stress and disappointment re: unfinished projects; the havoc of internalized perfectionism; the tyrannical false binary of ‘artist vs non-artist’; complete confusion about the intersections of art and money. There’s a call to create, to be creative, to be shaken up and rearranged and satisfied by a process of inquisitive play and strange self expression… but/and it can be exhausting to even think about making this happen.

What if it happens of its own accord, and we let it?

Rest in Revelry is tender and devious. It is a place to “fuck the moves” (thank you Emilia of Pony Sweat Aerobics). A container in which we become intimate with the mystery of creative practice. Like co-napping, and lucid dreaming… with whatever materials are around (chewed up pencils, old wrapping paper, duct tape, the couch) as props in the dream. We slow down enough to ask and hear what wants and doesn’t want to happen. Which parts of us are mewing to be expressed, cared for? Who’s got to lie down, flop around, muck in the mud? How can we be as responsive to the moment as possible — do I need to break a plate(s)? Do I need to curl up in a blanket and sing a lullaby to my cat? Zero parameters on what creativity means. What stirs your curiosity, your delight, what thread can you follow, what pattern can you disrupt?

When we open the channel and ask “what wants to pour through,” a liberated future wants to pour through. It is said that Shabbat is one sixtieth of Olam haBa - the World to Come. Holly Smith (@sederplateproject) writes, “This temporary contact with a better world, a world in which all beings can flourish, restores me & allows me to re-enter linear time strengthened, emboldened, and with the energy of netzach (endurance/perseverance/victory).” On Shabbat, we release into / embolden the World to Come through subversive rest. In our workshop space, both creativity and rest defy definition… rest does not need to be quiet or still. Screaming and thrashing can be rest for the parts of us who keep it all tucked in tight. We invite our authentic rhythms, shapes, and sounds of the moment to reveal themselves. We turn to intuitive creative practice for rest from ‘normalcy,’ from needing to know, from right answers and finished products. From commodification, ableism, and disembodiment. From consumerism and its desperation, as the gaping mouth transforms into the expressive mouth. In short, from the wounding and patterning of white supremacy. The spell/prayer is that ‘fucking the moves’ together/autonomously, getting down with wonder and earnestness, and creatively cracking open will deepen our resilience and resourcefulness in co-building the next world.

The prompts are there to help us crack open, to “undo the latches” and “release being” (thank you, Anne Carson / Autobiography of Red). Rest in Revelry prompts are optional, take what you like and leave the rest, diving boards or trailheads. They are often influenced by my journey with ‘parts work’ or Internal Family Systems, through which I have contacted an abiding and ever-surprising source of rest and creativity. And each session’s prompts are inspired by a plant who says “me, this time.” We immerse ourselves in the energetic world of the plant, observing, listening, collaborating, and honoring our interconnected lives. By way of Rabbi Eli Herb: Meditation and prayer is called “sichah”. A plant or shrub is called “si’ach”. Thus, when the plants of the field begin to return to life and grow, they all yearn to be included in one's sichah, in meditation and prayer. Rebbe Nachman once exclaimed to a disciple: How wonderful it would be if everyone could hear the songs and praises of the grass! How beautiful it is to hear their song and to feel awe of God in their midst!*

*from The Tree That Stands Beyond Space, David Sears