The Art Of Being

The Art of Being in Conversation

Conversations About Creativity and Mindfulness

We are all creative beings, but how often do you tap into your creativity? Do you often feel as though you have forgotten how to be creative? What would it look like to create with intention? 

In April and May of 2020, we created a short series on IGTV called The Art of Being in Quarantine. It was an effort to bring more creativity into our lives during the onset of the pandemic, as we contemplated what it means to be a human during difficult times. We found that by intentionally making space for creativity in our weeks, we were able to show up more fully in our lives. The prompts are intended to be playful and straightforward, 10-15 minute activities, for you to engage your creative being. 

We wanted to expand this beyond ourselves, so started the monthly series, The Art of Being in Conversation. These conversations are about creating with intention. Each month we will be talking to a featured guest about what it means to them to be creative. Every conversation will dive into that person’s story and creative process and will end with a prompt or activity that you, as the listener, can experiment with to tap into your own creative being. 

If you try out any of the prompts, please tag us on Instagram @artofbeingexperience or use the hashtag #TheArtOfBeingInConversation, so that we can see your creations!

 

Tara Rynders

 
 
photobyTodd_Roeth.jpg

In Conversation with Artist and Nurse, Tara Rynders

 

photo CREDIT: Todd Roeth

 

Tara Rynders has been a registered nurse for sixteen years and received her MFA in Dance in 2011 from The University of Colorado at Boulder. Rynders has a Bachelor's degree in Nursing, a Bachelor's degree in Spanish, and a Master's in Fine Arts in Dance specializing in Movement and Somatic Practices. Rynders is the founder and artistic director of The Clinic, an arts and play-based company that provides workshops, performance, and research around burnout and secondary traumatic stress in the hospital setting. She is also an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist offering group and one on one grief recovery workshops.

Tara believes that her work as a nurse and performer is symbiotically intertwined and not as different as one would think. Drawing from the intimacy and vulnerability found in her work as a registered nurse, Tara creates authentic connections through performance that allow guests to feel seen, heard, and inspired to create alongside her. Tara is both graceful and gracious in our conversation in that she embodies what she shares with others in her workshops and performances. Those around her truly feel her beautiful openness and acceptance, and we hope you experience this as you listen! 

 
“I think creativity is also telling the truth and being honest and a lot of times we are not accepted in that place of complete honesty of who we are and what we believe and what we are feeling and so we have to morph into what other people want us to be for survival as well.”
— TARA RYNDERS
 

In conversation…

  • Tara discusses that for her, creativity is survival and teaches us how we can reframe our struggles as a creative act. She explains that creativity is happening even as it gets shut down in us; on a cellular level, our bodies are creating, and we are still so incredibly creative even in those moments.

  • We also hear how she has experienced Covid as both a nurse and an artist. She shares some of the opportunities she created so that people could be together and in a community throughout it.

  • She explains compassion fatigue and how it shows up while also talking about how vital collective and community care is in these moments.

  • Additionally, we talk about the word “resiliency” and how it is the moments when we do not feel very resilient when we need care, love, and nourishment from others the most - instead of being told (and expecting ourselves) to gain more resilience.

  • Tara also shares the idea of holding joy alongside grief and suffering. She leads us through her creative prompt, modeling how to move our bodies and release emotions through that movement. Because we do not need to be ashamed of our wounds, we can instead see them as our creative superpower.

We think you’ll get a lot out of this interview…

 
“The question is not how can we hide our wounds so that we don’t have to be ashamed but how can we tell the truth about our wounds so that they can be put into the service of others and then we become wounded healers. So this idea that our wounds are actually super powers and that when we share them and when we tell the truth, that’s collective care…”
— TARA RYNDERS
 
 

WATCH THE VIDEO

music: Beach, musician: Jeff Kaale

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO

music: Beach, musician: Jeff Kaale

 
“...creativity is doing what you need to do to get by, as well becoming what you need to be to get through this moment. Also thinking about many times when I’m in those spaces, I’m like ‘I think this can be used later for something creative.’ And so a lot of my work comes from these more hardship struggle moments that I don’t feel creative, but I’m like, ‘This experience is in my back pocket, because I’m going to need to talk about this creatively in the future as well.’”
— TARA RYNDERS
 

THE CREATIVE PROMPT FROM TARA:

  1. Have a piece of paper/journal and a pen.

  2. To begin, you are going to start with, 'I remember when...' Just write that down on the top of your paper.

  3. Then halfway through your page, you can write 'After that I...'

  4. Now, take some time to free-write for as long as you like. For the first part, choose a story that comes to mind for you. It could be anything for the past year -- just any story that arises for you. Then, finding that place in the story where you want to start talking about how it affected you begin to respond to the 2nd part. What are the emotions that went along? For example, after that, I felt sad, I felt lonely, I felt exposed, whatever it may be, exhilarated, joyful, and then finish out the rest of your story in that way.

  5. Once you finish writing, go back through and circle five words or however many you'd like.

  6. After that, create gestures or movements for each word that you circled and then string them together, making a dance.

  7. Put on some music and move through your story in an embodied way.

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE: 

 
Angela CravenThe Art of Being in Conversation