Contemplative Tending: Soji in Creative Practice

In this workshop, we explore how a shift in mindset can bring fresh energy and perspective to all facets of creative practice. 

Our next session will be on Sunday, February 25, 10 – 12:30 PT. 

This workshop is inspired by Soji, the Zen practice of temple cleaning. 

What is Soji?

In a Zen Center, Soji is a period of mindful work, often following zazen: sweeping the walkway, raking leaves, shaking out zendo cushions. In Soji, you enter a task for a set period of time, attending to it as fully as possible.

In our workshop we’ll cultivate this quality of immersive and attentive care in relation to creative practice. 

A creative practice has its own ongoing activities and tasks that support and make the work possible. We will give attention to whatever may benefit from care in your practice, especially to those tasks that can sometimes feel in the way of creative work. The framework of soji can allow us to enter a task that might feel otherwise difficult, offering a held space that can feel grounding and restorative. It can also provide a fresh entry point to an activity that merely feels neutral or one to which you’ve never given particular attention. 

A guiding principle is to bring consciousness to matters of process, and to find camaraderie and support in sharing our process with others, in working within a shared context. 

This is not a productivity workshop, though you may find yourself completing activities you’ve long wished to complete, or even finding pleasure in things you may otherwise have avoided. This is also not a space that valorizes a vaunted standard of tidiness, though you may notice yourself feeling drawn to sort through a desk drawer. This is not a space-clearing workshop, though you may find yourself feeling more clarity in your space.  

The workshop is simply a 2.5 hour opportunity to engage, with others, in a simple practice of dedicating a fixed amount of time to an activity, or multiple activities with care and attention. 

The idea for this workshop originated in noticing how restorative and grounding it felt to be part of soji sessions at the San Francisco Zen Center, and at the Village Zendo in NYC. I saw how when a group turned their attention each to a task, the whole space became lighter and more articulated within the brief window the soji session presented. And I noticed how time seemed to stretch in these sessions when I didn’t have to figure out what to do next, or debate about whether it was a worthy thing to do. I simply entered the task for a specific amount of time–polishing an alter, prepping vegetables, etc. And I thought about how often in my own writing practice I sequester certain activities as outside what I want to dedicate time to. I thought, what if I just approach these activities more neutrally, and give them specific periods of time and then allow myself to set them down. 

I found that in opening the circle of what I was including in my writing practice, it all felt more integrated. And thus the idea for this workshop came into being. A space where we can discuss and move toward things that usually are not the subject of art or writing workshops. And often right next to something ostensibly simple – changing a printer cartridge, our ideas about scarcity or worthiness are humming along, somehow protracting something that takes only a few minutes. 

Whatever “creative practice,” means to you, this workshop will provide ways to relate to all facets of it with a refreshed sense of engagement and curiosity. The workshop cultivates an ethos of respect and care for participants’ risks and offerings. All are welcome.