Healing Kintsugi Group Workshop

Kintsugi is a Japanese, 15th-century art form that restores broken ceramic pottery by lacing all of the cracks, chips and imperfections with gold. The perspective of this art is that these imperfections are not only beautiful but add value to the story of the piece. I fell in love with this art and philosophy and decided to create a workshop that would be an “experience” interacting with these very powerful themes.
We work with a bowl, that represents an aspect of yourself. We use a hammer to literally crack open the bowl. It is quite explosive and evocative. The hammer can be life itself. We sit with the brokenness and reflect on how we sit with our own broken pieces. This is really hard!! Then comes the glue to begin the mending process. Healing can be slow and sometimes we need help. The participants either help each other or I am there for assistance. Finally, we lace all of the chips and cracks with gold paint.
This final step is where the deep integration happens. We are able to recognize the journey we have been on and the wisdom, understanding and self-compassion that comes from being broken open. What amazes me every time I do these workshops is that no bowl ever looks the same at the end, and every person comes with their own unique story to tell through the work. I have the great pleasure to witness the unfolding of how it all comes back together…. usually in ways that are unexpected.