First published in 1992, "The Artist's Way" is a self-help book designed to help individuals recover or discover their creative selves. The central premise of the book is that everyone is inherently creative, but that various life experiences, self-doubt, and external circumstances can block or inhibit the awareness of our built-in creativity. The book offers a 12-week program, structured as a course in self-discovery, aimed at breaking down these creative barriers, setting healthy boundaries and unlocking one's creative potential. "The Artist's Way" provides a structured and introspective approach to breaking through creative blocks, fostering self-discovery, and cultivating a more fulfilling and expressive creative life.

In 2020 I was working in a Social Arts project doing acting training, theater work and personality development with young adults in Berlin. The Covid-lockdowns challenged us to find ways to continue the work that we had been doing in a beautiful ballroom sized space, online. One of my colleagues suggested that we could take “The Artist's Way” as a sourcebook for working with our students. Since I had worked with the book more than 20 years ago in a class titled "Art and Healing" while I was studying at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, I unhesitatingly agreed to create an online format for the exercises contained in the book. Since we wanted more people in the group than we were initially working with, we opened the new online-format up for colleagues and friends. Once the initial first course was completed with positive feedback across the board, some of the participants were eager to keep working with the book, also inviting their circles of friends to join. Since May 2020 my courses have been continuously running. Sometimes two to three courses parallel, in English, in German and with some of Julia Cameron's other books as well.

The book works with Julia Cameron's inspirational essays, self-inquiry through questions, and tools like the Morning Pages, Artist Dates and Creative Affirmations. In addition to the tools of the book, in the online-course you have the chance to exchange with others about their experiences and findings. I have added small additional exercises that correspond to the addressed subjects of that week where I saw fit, and we also do small exercises that involve moving with the body.

Of course, you can read and work through the exercises in the book by yourself and that is also how the book is written. A lot of people have found the support of a group helpful since it encourages actually doing the exercises and tasks. The group format also enables sharing and witnessing the process of other creatives engaged in the work. Doing the work in community with others makes it more fun and helps to "keep the ball rolling".

In the course we meet for two hours every week for twelve weeks on the online-meeting platform zoom. Each week we will go through one chapter of the book. The weekly chapters will be read after the corresponding session, i.e. chapter one will be read after session-one. The last chapter of the book will be worked with after the last session of the book. This is intentional to segue into a self-sustained continuous practice.

The sessions usually start with a 5 min movement/dance warmup. They will contain exercises done in self-reflective writing that everyone does by themselves, short snippets of input from the book or other sources, and times where we exchange in the larger group or small breakout rooms. There is a 5 min break at about half time, i.e. after one hour. After the break will start with a movement-meditation, which means that we move our bodies while at the same time focusing on a certain idea or notion.

Yes, each week you are asked to read one chapter of the book and to do some exercises. You can always decide how much you engage. The more you engage, the more you will get out of it.

All time commitments are optional. You are doing this course for yourself. 🙂 You will ideally have 2h for the online meetings and time to read one chapter of the book each week. I recommend that you take at least 15-30 min to write your daily Morning Pages and about 30 min per week to do another exercise from the chapter. If you want to do a weekly Artist Date, Julia Cameron recommends you schedule 2h for that. You can have an optional exchange with another participant of the course for which a 30 min phone call or voice chat is recommended. If you're up for more, there are more exercises in each chapter than you will be able to get to, which again means that you can choose your level of engagement. None of this is required and you won't be tested for anything.

Aside from the zoom meetings all other activities are flexible and can be fitted into your schedule as you see fit.

The course is suitable for people with little or no creative practice who want to start exploring their creativity, or who are interested in a more creative life, as well as professional or experienced artists seeking to find new inspiration. People from a variety of professions have participated in my courses: fashion designers, graphic designers, writers, entrepreneurs, musicians, dancers, judges, social workers, illustrators, photographers, coaches, consultants, film directors, home makers, educators, actors, people in transitional phases, students, retirees, lawyers, body workers, painters, architects, product designers, potters, therapists, DJs, producers, goldsmiths, stage designers, journalists and scientists. You do not have to have an explicit creative profession or even a specific artistic field of interest in order to benefit from this course. You do need a bit of curiosity.

Some of the benefits of working through the course may include: Improved self-awareness and understanding of your own creative process, techniques for overcoming self-doubt and fear that may be holding you back creatively, and ideas for nurturing and expanding your creative side. Working through these exercises can help you develop a more regular creative practice, which can lead to increased confidence and skill in your chosen artistic medium. You can also gain a sense of a shared experience and support from others who are also working through the course.

The course is suitable for people with no background in art as well as people with more or even professional artistic experience.

You need to get a copy of Julia Cameron's book. You will need a notebook and a pen you like to write with.

You need a device that you can attend zoom-meetings with that has a working microphone and camera with the zoom software installed. This can be a desk- or laptop computer, a tablet or a smartphone. You also need to have internet connectivity during the time of our online meetings. You do not need to have a zoom-account. You need to have the technical skills to participate in zoom calls which means setting up your hardware and using the basic functionality of the software like turning your microphone and your camera on and off.

New courses are announced on this website and in my newsletter. Send me an email if you want to receive them.

Missing a session is no problem. We know how life goes. You will get a detailed description of the content and the exercises we worked with in the session usually within 24 h after each session via email. The sessions are not recorded.

Everything shared during the sessions or in the Fellow Dates should be treated confidentially. That means that you do not share anything that was exchanged with anyone else. Participating in the course requires you to accept this confidentiality agreement. If you feel like you absolutely need to share something you exchanged within the context of the course with a person you intimately trust, make sure that what you share is about your own(!) experience and cannot be linked to a certain person. If you break this confidentiality agreement, I reserve the right to end your participation in the course. In this case no refund will be granted for the course fee.

There are no “accredited” Artist’s Way teachers. Julia Cameron believes that creative recovery at its best is a nonhierarchical, peer-run, collective process. In her view facilitated groups are ok as they can serve as a bridge to peer-run "creative clusters". In my experience the online-course setting helps people stay "on track" while providing the opportunity for facilitated exchange. I see my courses as in line with the spirit that Julia Cameron describes in her "A Guide For Starting Creative Clusters" which you can find on her website or by searching for it online.

You can pay via bank transfer if you are in Europe or use PayPal if you are outside the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

You can take the first session of the course and then decide if you want to continue. If you choose not to take the course, your course fee will be refunded. If you have paid and registered for the course, you can cancel your participation any time before the second session with a full refund. If you need to or decide to drop out of the course any time after the second session, no refunds will be given.

You can pay the course fee in installment if that helps you. Also, individual arrangements regarding the price are possible depending on your personal financial situation.

Just send an email to "mail »at« tychopfaefflin »dot« de" to enroll in the course you are interested in.