Poet to Poet workshop REPLAY: The Practice of Mindfulness and Its Impact on Poetry with Cath Drake

We're delighted to welcome Cath Drake for our second Poet to Poet Workshop! Part of our By Poets, For Poets programme, created in direct response to the needs of women poets in the UK.

These workshops are facilitated by leading poets from within the Women Poets' Network, equipping women poets with the tools they need to take their poetry to the next level. The Women Poets' Network is run by the Rebecca Swift Foundation.

About the workshop: 

The Practice of Mindfulness and Its Impact on Poetry
How might mindfulness impact our poetry practice? It could mean you write in a different way from a deeper place. It might been you write more spacious, authentic, more positive or shorter poems. Experiment with how periods of led mindfulness might enhance your writing or vary your approach, and how you might bring it into your writing practice generally. We also look at successful poems that have mindfulness at their core and examine their approach and form taken.

Mindfulness also has many benefits. It helps to deepen awareness, senses, detail, experience, feeling, empathy and a sense of inner knowing or truth. Not only has mindfulness been shown to enhance creativity, but also to reduce stress and boost happiness, memory and concentration.

About the workshop facilitator

Australian Cath Drake is based in London. She was an award-winning environmental journalist and writer in Australia for a decade (and an environmental science graduate and tutor). Her poetry collection, The Shaking City (Seren Books), longlisted in the international Laurel Prize, highly commended in the UK Forward Prize, followed Sleeping with Rivers, Poetry Book Society Choice and winner of the Seren/Mslexia prize. Other prizes include twice second place in the Ginkgo ecopoetry prize. She has been published widely in anthologies and literary journals internationally. 

Cath is also a mindfulness teacher having practiced mindfulness and meditation for over 30 years. She is an active member of the London Buddhist Centre and trained with Breathworks mindfulness teacher training. She hosts The Verandah, quality online poetry events for UK & Australian writers, over 80 events a year.

🎟️Cost

Free for Women Poets' Network members 
Not a member yet? Join here from just £15 per year.

Pay What You Decide for non-members
Thanks to Arts Council England, we are able to offer subsidised tickets for non-members. We invite you to choose the tier that you can comfortably afford:

• Getting by: For those on a tight budget - £8
• Getting on: For those with a little more financial flexibility - £10
• Getting ahead: For those with greater financial security - £12