Poetic Medicine at the UCSF MERI Center
The UCSF MERI Center facilitates three different poetic medicine groups: Loss, Losing, & Loosening, Poetic Medicine for the Wounded Healer, and Food for Thought. Through these sessions we have created an amazing community that spans the globe. Take a peek:
- Food for Thought
- Loss, Losing, & Loosening
- Poetic Medicine for the Wounded Healer
- Poetic Medicine Anthologies
Food for Thought
Thursdays, 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM Pacific
Offered by Redwing Keyssar, RN, Author, Director of Patient and Caregiver Education at The MERI Center for Education in Palliative Care, UCSF/Mt Zion
In this one-hour “Poetry Café”, co-sponsored by the MERI Center for Education in Palliative Care and Art for Recovery, we will enter the realm of creativity through the art of “Poem-Making”
We will:
- Create a safe environment for each other-with a short guided meditation and music
- Listen to some poems read out loud and see how they make us feel
- Use some specific words or “prompts” to encourage our own “poem-making”
- Share our poetic explorations
In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to express our feelings and connect to our own creativity and community. Join us in using poetry writing as self-care & to explore our feelings, fears & hopes.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A WRITER!
“Poetry is simply speaking the truth. Each of us has a truth as unique as our own fingerprints”
~Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, from Intro to Poetic Medicine by John Fox
Making poems can:
- Surprise us
- Allow expression of feelings in creative ways
- Guide our own healing journey
Weekly Prompts on Google Drive
Poetic Medicine for the Wounded Healer
4th Thursday of the month, 12:00 - 1:00 pm
“The wounds are the places where light enters.” ~Rumi
Many of us, whether we identify as being in the “healing arts” or not, have wounds that we understand as the foundation of our own ability to heal and to have compassion for others. In these sessions we will open to whatever it is we consider our own “wounded places” and allow our poem-making to be part of our healing process.
“Everyone alive has suffered. It is the wisdom gained from our wounds and from our own experiences of suffering that makes us able to heal.”
~Rachel Naomi Remen
The psychologist Carl Jung coined the concept of The Wounded Healer. He took the insights of this Archetypal healing from Greek Mythology. Chiron, the wisest Centaur, was once inflicted with a severe physical wound. In his way to recovery, he found the goal of being a “Teacher of healing.” Many wise people have said, healing is not a process between the healer and the wounded. It’s a process of two equals. The teacher does heal the wounds, but the one who orchestrates it is the healer’s own experience of healing.
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Weekly Prompts on Google Drive
Loss, Losing, & Loosening
Tuesdsays, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific
Redwing Keyssar,RN, Author & Poet, will guide us in using poem-making to examine our grief and to find healing in our creativity.
This is an open group that will meet weekly. Come once, come every week; there is no commitment to join every week.
Each week we will:
- Use poem-making to explore your grief, whether you are grieving the loss of a loved one or struggling due to this global pandemic
- Find healing through poems
- Create a supportive & caring community
You DO NOT need to be a writer or a poet to join.
This group focuses on grief and healing. Loss, Losing & Loosening was coined by Eric Poche.
Loss
Loss is an irrevocable event.
Losing
Acknowledgement of the pain of the loss.
Loosening
Integration of the loss in one’s life.
Weekly Prompts on Google Drive
Poetic Medicine Anthologies
The Poems that Flow Through Us #1
The Poems that Flow Through Us #2
The Poems that Flow Through Us #3
The Poems that Flow Through Us #4
The Poems that Flow Through Us #5
The Poems that FlowThrough Us #6
If you would like hard copies of any of our anthologies, please make a donation of $25/copy and email us at [email protected] with your order and mailing address.