Please watch the instructional videos to see PIA in action.
Take time to sit quietly, breathe, watch your thoughts go by like waves on the ocean or clouds in the sky, notice your body sensations, listen to the sounds... and when you’re ready, follow the directions below.
Choose the media and surface you want to work with. Open to not knowing. Express whatever you are aware of right now, any place on the surface, include any expectations. If you enter a creative flow, follow it.
PIA could unfold as:
The process continues in this way until your session ends; whatever is present — birds, food cooking, whispering voices, a feeling, a cool breeze, a fantasy about a new job—gets expressed. If a creative flow emerges, follow its unfolding.
If you choose writing to open to not knowing and express this moment as it is, PIA might unfold like this:
Sometimes what emerges is a poem, a word, a line or just a syllable. Express how and where the words belong on the paper.
Letting your hands engage with the clay:
If you choose to create a structure of wood and other materials using a glue gun, you will need to sit near the materials you'll be using so that they are available. Working with wood and other three dimensional materials and a glue gun is slower: the glue takes time to adhere, and placement of objects may be slower. Using this media, you may be aware of much more than you are able to express, and that's fine. Just notice whatever is emerging, and continue to attend to your structure.
The instructions for PIA with music are the same as with any other media:
If PIA is being used in retreat, find a place to practice that is sensitive to other's silence. Some instruments have headsets so the musician can be in the same area as other PIA participants.
Bead work is slower—same directions:
Move all over the surface or one area. For example: A baby cries, select a bead color for the cry; if sadness occurs: sew the bead color of the sadness; if "this is stupid" judgment occurs sew the bead color of the judgment. If wanting to create a pattern occurs, sew the bead color for that thought(s). If you hit a creative flow follow it.
Please feel free to work with several modalities at the same time if that's appropriate for you. For example, use art + words, words + clay + movement, or music + movement….