City Lit Community Day - Mental Wealth Festival 2019
Join us at City Lit in Covent Garden on Saturday 12 October for day of wellbeing-themed workshops and tasters.
As well as workshops listed below you can visit the newly refurbished City Lit Gallery, view the Calligraphy Centenary book, listen to the City Lit Percussion Orchestra and pop up piano performances from music students and relax in the Cafe.
10:30-11:30 Books Beyond Words Book Club - bookings >
Experience a Beyond Words Book Club and explore the power of reading picture stories together.
10:30-11:30 Writing for Wellbeing Workshop bookings >
An interactive workshop with writer and psychotherapist Karen Dempsey, exploring the power of creative writing to heal. There will be an opportunity to share your writing with the group.
10:30-11:30 The Acting Room bookings >
An introduction to acting for anyone who has ever suffered from anxiety or depression, requires contact adjustments or wants to develop acting skills in a relaxed atmosphere with Tutor Dan Skili.
10:30-11:30 Walking Book Group - literature, nature and well-being bookings >
This 'walking book group' will offer an opportunity to explore literature, nature and well-being as part of a community of readers. We will explore poetry and short extracts from other literature through walking - and being still - amongst the beautiful trees of Lincoln's Inn Fields. (Copies of all texts will be provided; no advance reading is required.)Please wear suitable clothing and footwear.
10:30-12:00 Drawing and Mindfulness- the art of seeing bookings >
An opportunity to explore the relationship between mindfulness and drawing from objects gathered from the natural world, in terms of beauty, clarity of mind and appreciation of the world around us. Suitable for all levels of experience.
12:00-13:00 Books Beyond Words Book Club bookings >
Experience a Beyond Words Book Club and explore the power of reading picture stories together.
12:00-13:00 Self-Care and Staying Well Workshop bookings >
Self-care skills for a better work-life balance. Learn how to care better for yourself, sleep well,and live a happier healthier life. Are you tired or wired - always on the go? Do emails, texts, social media, work and other daily demands give you a feeling of being 'on' all the time? Does fear of missing out (FOMO), sound familiar? Step outside the daily grind for a moment, and learn some simple self-care practices that you can integrate into your busy life.
12:00-13:00 Stress Busting Workshop bookings >
Re-discover your inner calm - try out some relaxation techniques to allow your mind and body to rest and re-energise. Find and practise some gentle techniques to lower your stress level and improve your sense of well being.
13:30-14:30 Vedic Chanting bookings >
Vedic chanting as a means of concentration, meditation, improving mindfulness and memory.
13:30-14:30 To Set the Darkness Echoing: Art, Creativity & Mental Health bookings >
Taking it's title from Seamus Heaney, who wrote in his poem Personal Helicon 'I rhyme to see myself/to set the darkness echoing', this session by cultural theorist, creative practitioner and educator Ian Tucknott explores the relationship between creativity and mental health. Drawing on art history & contemporary, his experience of teaching and developing artists, and his own creative work, Ian will discuss how essential creative engagement is - for our mental health, self-development and our individual and collective happiness.
13:30-14:30 Communicate with Confidence bookings >
In this fun practical session, you will learn how to use body language and verbal delivery to enhance your impact and presence. You may identify personal habits that hold you back from achieving your full potential. By practising assertive posture and gesture, combined with vocal energy, you will begin to develop effective communication skills that include sensitive listening and a positive outlook.
13:30-14:30 Writing Back to Happiness bookings >
Reframing and renewing your life story through autobiographical writing. A hands on writing workshop looking at adventurous and refreshing ways to present and re-present your life story. Through writing activities and examining trends in contemporary autobiography and memoir, this workshop will reveal autobiographical writing's power to redefine and celebrate lived experience.It's your life, so write it your way!
13:30-14:30 Philosophy & Mental Health: Odysseus’ Madness bookings >
There is an episode in Homer's Odyssey where King Menelaus is rounding men up to go and fight in Troy and he sends a scout to go and get Odysseus. When the scout gets to Odysseus’s palace he sees Odysseus is talking gibberish and plowing his filed with salt instead of seeds. The scout is not sure if Odysseus is mad or not. If he is mad he cannot conscript him to fight in the war. How can the scout determine if Odysseus is mad? This lively and discursive course will engage you in debate and philosophical reflection around questions of 'madness', using Odysseus' story to question how we perceive and understand mental health. No experience of philosophy necessary to join this workshop.
13:30-14:30 Maths for Mental Health bookings >
Maths to benefit your mental health led by tutor Pauline Fasoli.
13:30-15:00 Drawing and mindfulness - the art of feeling bookings >
An opportunity to explore ways of expressing 'feeling' in drawing, taking inspiration from a variety of artists drawings. A playful session which involves an exploration of drawing materials and ways of drawing. Suitable for all levels of experience.
15:00-16:00 Politics of Mental Health: Aristotle and the Good Life bookings >
"Is political life necessary to be content? What part does politics play in mental health? Are humans 'political animals'? While ancient philosophers grappled with questions that have echoed throughout the ages, their approach to mental health is significantly different from modern approaches. In this session, City Lit's Ben Chwistek will explore some of the ways that Aristotle approached questions relating to politics and the good life. Through discussions of 'eudaimonia', virtue, and life as a political animal, Dr Chwistek will bring some ancient perspectives on modern problems."
15:00-16:00 BSL Taster bookings >
Learn some basic signs to communicate with deaf people effectively.
15:00-16:00 Overcoming Performance Anxiety bookings >
Learn how to use mindfulness techniques such as awareness of breath, body and thoughts to improve your practice, listen more effectively and deal with performance anxiety.
15:00-16:00 Everyone Can Sing! bookings >
Learn to sing in the folk style and build a repertoire of songs. Explore singing for health and well-being, as well as vocal technique in this highly practical workshop. We will learn and explore a variety of genres, from ballads to ceremonial songs, in a variety of singing styles and from different traditions around the world.
15:00-16:00 Journalling for Wellbeing bookings >
Writing journals to aid your wellbeing, led by tutor Helen Cox.
15:00-16:30 Film Screening: When I Stutter bookings >
When I Stutter is a deeply moving film in which the viewer is privileged to hear the personal stories of a range of adults who stammer/stutter. The film is a powerful portrayal of the potentially isolating experience of living with a stammer (aka stutter) and the liberating effect of knowing ‘you are not alone’. Discussion and Q & A to follow film led by Specialist Speech and Language Therapist Cathinka Guldberg.
15:00-16:30 Friendship Bracelet Making bookings >
Learn to make vibrant friendship bracelets with colourful cords, whether you used to make them or are complete beginners. Friendship bands have been exchanged for millenia to honour the bond between significant relationships. All essential materials will be provided with demonstrations and handouts.
16:00-17:30 Drawing and Mindfulness - the art of being bookings >An opportunity to explore how mindfulness and collective drawing can lead to a more enriched experience of the present moment, connection to yourself and others and a greater sense of well-being, Suitable for all levels of experience.
16:30-17:30 Ancient Egyptian Magical Spells to heal the body and mind bookings >
The ancient Egyptians left us a treasure trove of magical and medical texts, which they used interchangeably for healing the body and mind. Where treatments of the body (surgical or medical) were ineffective, they used 'magic' for healing - writing, performing and even ingesting spells. In this session, we will write our own magical spells, and perform them (with props - provided!) to heal ourselves or our loved ones.
16:30-17:30 Philosophy & Mental Health: Nostalgia & 'Aching for Home' bookings >
The word nostalgia comes from a compound of two greek words: nóstos, meaning “homecoming”, and álgos, meaning “ache”. To be nostalgic means to be homesick. This lively and discursive workshop explores the idea of 'nostalgia' as a particular kind of mental illness. Drawing on ideas from philosophy and historical examples of how nostalgia has been understood and treated, you'll questions how 'aching for home' and its relationship to work and masculinity.
16:30-17:30 Stress Busting Workshop bookings >
Re-discover your inner calm - try out some relaxation techniques to allow your mind and body to rest and re-energise. Find and practise some gentle techniques to lower your stress level and improve your sense of well being.