Wirtualne Grupy Narracyjne: Wtorek 7 lipca, 18:00 CET

Dziฤ™kujemy wszystkim, ktรณrzy wziฤ™li udziaล‚ w dzisiejszej grupie narracyjnej!

Wspรณlnie uwaลผnie wsล‚uchaliล›my siฤ™ w utwรณr Stephaneโ€™a Wrembela zatytuล‚owany โ€žNympheas (Lilie wodne), pochodzฤ…cy z pล‚yty โ€žThe Django Experiment Vโ€ โ€“ dostฤ™pny tutaj.

Inspiracja do kreatywnego pisania brzmiaล‚a: โ€žNapisz o czymล›, co chciaล‚byล›/abyล› usล‚yszeฤ‡ lub o czymล›, czego nie chciaล‚byล›/abyล› usล‚yszeฤ‡.โ€.

Dzisiejsza praca odbywaล‚a siฤ™ pod hasล‚em uwaลผnego sล‚uchania. Uczestnicy wskazywali na to, jak bardzo wyostrzyล‚a siฤ™ ich percepcja, zarรณwno na detale samego utworu, jak i na pobrzmienia dynamiki grupy. Wypowiedzi poszczegรณlnych osรณb, choฤ‡ o rรณลผnym zabarwieniu, odmiennej perspektywie czy sposobie odbioru, harmonizowaล‚y ze sobฤ…. Uczestnicy wsล‚uchiwali siฤ™ w odrฤ™bne od ich wล‚asnych interpretacje, komentowali i wplatali je w swoje sล‚owa. Pozostawali w dialogu nasuwajฤ…cym na myล›l odpowiadajฤ…ce na siebie instrumenty wykorzystywane w utworze. Wskazana zostaล‚a ponadto pewna trudnoล›ฤ‡, wynikajฤ…ca ze specyfiki tekstu muzycznego. Uczestnicy mรณwili o poczuciu braku odpowiednich narzฤ™dzi, czy teลผ niedysponowania adekwatnym jฤ™zykiem opisu.

Reakcje, czฤ™sto skrajnie odmienne, staล‚y siฤ™ przyczynฤ… wprowadzenia inspiracji otwartej na jeszcze szerszฤ… niลผ zazwyczaj gamฤ™ odpowiedzi. W drugiej poล‚owie spotkania panowaล‚ nieco odmienny nastrรณj, praca zdawaล‚a siฤ™ nieco spowalniaฤ‡, odpowiedzi pojawiaล‚y siฤ™ po chwilach przerwy. Pomimo niewielu treล›ci wypowiadanych wprost w sล‚owach, energia grupy byล‚a wciฤ…ลผ wysoka. Pod koniec pracy zaskakujฤ…cฤ… okazaล‚a siฤ™ potrzeba ciszy oraz gotowoล›ฤ‡ do jej grupowego doล›wiadczenia. Uczestnicy ochoczo zgodzili siฤ™ na chwilฤ™ wspรณlnego niemรณwienia. Byล‚a ona do tego stopnia satysfakcjonujฤ…ca, ลผe jej zakoล„czenie spotkaล‚o siฤ™ z niewielkim protestem, jednak umocowaล‚a ona poczucie wspรณlnoty oraz stworzyล‚a jeszcze bardziej przyjaznฤ… atmosferฤ™. Grupa spostrzegล‚a, ลผe pojawiajฤ…ce siฤ™ chwile ciszy byล‚y integralnฤ… czฤ™ล›ciฤ… dzisiejszego doล›wiadczenia. Uczestnicy powiฤ…zali tฤ™ perspektywฤ™ z charakterem utworu, na ktรณrego caล‚oล›ฤ‡ skล‚adaล‚y siฤ™ rรณwnieลผ chwile, w ktรณrych cichnie wiodฤ…ca melodia.

Jak moลผna byล‚o zauwaลผyฤ‡ brak ugruntowania w teorii muzyki w ลผaden sposรณb nie stanowiล‚ przeszkody do wyraลผenia swojej perspektywy interpretacyjnej. Uczestnicy dostrzegli melodyjnoล›ฤ‡ mowy, ktรณra staล‚a siฤ™ intersubiektywnym jฤ™zykiem dzisiejszego spotkania.

Zapraszamy do udziaล‚u w kolejnych sesjach, ktรณrych terminy podane sฤ… na polskiej podstronie Wirtualnych Grup Narracyjnych. Najbliลผsza grupa odbฤ™dzie siฤ™ 16 lipca (czwartek) o godzinie 18:00 โ€“ zarejestruj siฤ™ juลผ dziล›.

Wszelkie pytania oraz proล›by o organizacjฤ™ indywidualnych grup narracyjnych dla Waszych zespoล‚รณw moลผna przesyล‚aฤ‡ na adres: narrativemedicine@cumc.columbia.edu oraz humanistykamedyczna@cm.uj.edu.pl.

Do zobaczenia niebawem!

***

Thank you to everyone who began with us the work during this very unusual session.

Together we listened closely to Stephane Wrembelโ€™s โ€œNympheasโ€ from the album โ€œThe Django Experiment Vโ€โ€“ available here.

Our prompt for today was: โ€œWrite about something that you would like to hear or about something that you would rather not hear.โ€

Today’s work was a true experience of attentive listening. Participants pointed out how sharp their perception was, regarding both the details of the song itself and the dynamics of the group. The statements of individuals, even with different tones, perspectives, and methods of reception, harmonized with each other. Participants listened to interpretations separate from their own, commented, and weaved them into their words. They remained in a dialogue reminiscent of the corresponding instruments used in the song. A certain difficulty was also indicated, resulting from the specificity of the musical text. Participants talked about the sense of the lack of appropriate tools, or the lack of adequate description language.

Reactions, often extremely different, led to the introduction of the prompt open to an even wider range of responses than usual. In the second half of the meeting there was a slightly different mood. The work seemed to slow down a bit and answers appeared after moments of silence. Despite the few things were spoken directly in words, the group’s energy was still high. At the end of the work, the need for silence and readiness to experience it appeared surprisingly. The participants eagerly agreed to stay silent together for a while. It was so satisfying that ending the session was met with a little protest, but it strengthened the sense of community and created an even more friendly atmosphere. The group noticed that the moments of silence that were appearing during the work were an integral part of today’s experience. The participants associated this perspective with the character of the song, which also included moments in which the leading melody fades away.

As it could be seen, the lack of background in music theory was in no way an obstacle to expressing oneโ€™s own interpretation perspective. Participants noticed the melody of their speech, which became the intersubjective language of today’s meeting.

Please join us for our next session: Monday June 13th, 12pm EDT (in English), with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

If you have questions, or would like to schedule a personalized narrative medicine session for your organization or team, email us at narrativemedicine@cumc.columbia.edu.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!


Live Virtual Group Session: 12pm EDT July 8th 2020

Todayโ€™s session welcomed 31 participants from around the United States and around the world, but most of us were sharing the experience of muggy air and, in Bristol, UK, even heavy rain โ€“ย with the exception of Palo Alto, California, where sunshine abounded. Lucky Palo Alto!ย 

After our usual 10-second centering exercise, we read silently the poem โ€œMeeting the Light Completelyโ€ by Jane Hirshfield, and then two participants read it aloud. Although only 65 words long, the poem generated a wonderful variety of responses. One person remarked that she tends to rush through her first reading of a poem to try to get a sense of it, but her heart skipped at the line โ€œruin your heart.โ€ Others noticed the way the phrase โ€œthe chipped lip / of a blue-glazed cupโ€ tripped us up even after hearing it several times, especially compared to the smooth sounds of the opening stanza. We thought about how the poemโ€™s form might mirror the journey of a long relationship, with periods of calm and a machine-gun-like choppiness, though we had different instincts about when those periods might come. That choppiness and suspense would be further heightened with a slow reading that emphasized the line breaks, someone said. Another participant heard echoes of the human form in the cupโ€™s lip and the curtain, which could be a gown. The line about โ€œA table painted with rosesโ€ made us consider what we imagine in our heads — were they actually painted on the table, or was โ€œpaintedโ€ a metaphor for how a vase was decorating the space? What do we see? We also were reminded of works outside the text, like a declaration of love in the film Moonstruck where a character asks another to โ€œbe a fool with me.โ€ As for the title, we thought about โ€œlightโ€ in relation to truth, and noticed how โ€œmeetingโ€ added a sense of forward direction, while โ€œcompletelyโ€ led us to being at one with the world.ย ย ย 

Our writing prompt, โ€œWrite about what you found,โ€ generated vivid and varied responses that spanned the abstract/metaphorical (โ€œa path not takenโ€) to the specific and cinematic (a ring lost by its owner and found by its master, a la Lord of the Rings). Echoing the somewhat-staccato Hirshfield poem, writers experimented with narrative form, nuanced details, and โ€œbookendingโ€ sensorial imagery with reflective questions (โ€œCan one ever find what one loses?โ€). Writing in layers helped define particular spaces in new ways: a table was โ€œtrappedโ€ under a stack of books and papers; a rag picker discovered a locket in a dump. With an economy and energy of language, each writer/reader added a personal flourish to their 4-minute expression of what was found (or what was lost then found). One participant noted that as a group, we traveled this journey of reading and writing together.

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (โ€œLeave a Replyโ€), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if youโ€™re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Monday, July 13th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!


Meeting the Light Completely  
by Jane Hirshfield

Even the long-beloved
was once
an unrecognized stranger.

Just so,
the chipped lip
of a blue-glazed cup,
blown field
of a yellow curtain,
might also,
flooding and falling,
ruin your heart.

A table painted with roses.
An empty clothesline.

Each time,
the found world surprisesโ€”
that is its nature.

And then
what is said by all lovers:
"What fools we were, not to have seen."

Poem copyright ยฉ1994 by Jane Hirshfield, "Meeting the Light Completely,"
from Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, 
(Grayson Books, 2017).