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Join this group cohort to explore the unique journey of the artist and awaken the muse.

This is a 4 month breath journey for artists, musicians and writers at The Mirror's log cabin in Topanga on the second Thursday each month. 

10:30am-1:30pm
*light snack served

March 12
April 9
May 14
June 11

Mirror Journey Work is an ever-evolving improvisational practice that weaves breath, sound, and the wisdom of the group into a living mirror, revealing who we are and how our gifts serve the greater fabric of existence.

Carly Jo Carson composes sound journeys that invoke healing, transformation, and remembrance — offering a pathway for people to awaken the heart, ignite creativity and purpose, and connect with the divine without any external substances. 

When we explore our life as a journey, experience is packaged in a unique way for each of us and delivered only when we least expect it—but its inescapability bonds us together when we share what is real. By tapping into ancient wellsprings of imagination, the breath brings forth meaningful symbols and visions that allow us to "connect the dots" and make meaning of experience.

This workshop will invite you to bring your ideas into reality,  to revisit ideas from the past in a new, more meaningful way, and to deep dive into the unconscious and see what wants or even needs to be expressed.  It will provide a structure for inquiry, accountability and encouragement from the group. Each session will build upon the previous, with prompts to bring you into a more active practice between sessions.

*option to pay via installments at checkout

Screenwriting from the Heart

A course by Jay Carson
with breathwork guided by Carly Jo Carson

Screenwriting is almost always taught as an intellectual exercise based on rules and formulas and rigid structures. It is as though if the writer puts their “inciting incident” on just the right page, the script is as sure to be good (and get made) as water is sure to boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. 

But screenwriting is — when it’s great (or even good) — not an intellectual exercise based on rigid formulas and structure. To be sure, structure is important in all storytelling, but a perfectly structured script without depth and heart is like relying on a chain link fence for warmth on a cold night. 

The key to a great (or even good) script is one thing — HEART.

I’ve been a professional screenwriter for over a decade and a half. And I came to screenwriting after 20 years in politics had broken my heart. Because I didn’t know any better, I ignored the structure and just wrote scripts from my heart. I needed to heal, and a still small voice inside me told me that telling my truth would do that. And it worked. 

It also worked from a business perspective (which I was not expecting), because heart-centered screenwriting is SO rare that it jumps off the page for the producers, directors, agents (and fellow writers) who spend all day reading scripts that stay on the surface, focused solely on the formula or mimicking that other script that everyone else loves. 

I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of scripts, and I’ve spent a lot of time counseling new writers who are getting started in screenwriting. Almost all of them want to learn “the formula” — how many acts, where do I put the inciting incident, how do I ‘save the cat?’, etc etc. But none of those things make a great script. Over-focusing on them also robs the writer of the fulfillment and enjoyment and personal growth of writing and of being a writer. Whenever I stay on the surface of a story, whenever I am afraid (and it is often fear that holds me back) to go deeper into the story I’m telling and — most importantly — WHY I’m telling it, the process gives me about as much nourishment as eating sugar. And — here’s the rub — the script is usually unsuccessful too.

But when I go deep, when I plumb the depths of my heart, when I write about what scares me (I’ve had a post it on my laptop for almost a decade now with the Mary Karr quote: “What would you write if you weren’t afraid?”) the process is deeply nourishing and fulfilling AND the script almost always succeeds.

This is an imminently teachable and learnable process for any writer who wants to learn it. I want to teach this process to writers at all levels, from the novice screenwriter who has never sold a script to a seasoned professional who can’t figure out why they’re not enjoying (or succeeding at) screenwriting anymore. In my experience, writers can improve their lives and careers by writing their scripts and telling stories from their hearts and not their heads.

Bio:

Jay Carson is a screenwriter and producer. He is the creator and writer of the first Apple+ show, the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated The Morning Show, and was a supervising producer on the first Netflix show, the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated House of Cards. 

Jay is an avid surfer and outdoorsman, and is currently training to be an instructor at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Boulder, Utah. He was born and raised in Macon, Georgia where he attended public schools. He has a BA from Columbia University, and he currently lives in Topanga Canyon, CA with his wife, Carly Jo Carson, and their four children.

April 16-19th at THE MIRROR / Pioneertown

I design transformational journeys because it is a true calling. When I can help others heal their suffering, it allows me to experience my own painful childhood as a gift. I do this work because I feel the world needs it—it needs us all to stay connected to our hearts and to one another. Having guided journeys for over a decade, I’ve seen the powerful ripple effect—how it activates purpose and inspires creativity.

I believe our work is to reflect back God’s beauty in whatever way feels purest and truest. One of the ways I do that is by creating ceremonial soundscapes that unlock emotion. Part of this training will be to instruct you in guiding powerful breath journeys—either with my music or with your own creation or curation—to help others awaken the heart and connect with the divine without any external substances. You will gain an understanding of the power of sound to support individuals in accessing deeply embedded trauma in the body. You will learn to create safe, healing experiences where others feel held, uplifted, and capable of cathartic release. You will learn how to hold a container that feels both grounded and deeply human.

Trainees will be immersed in a methodology that goes far beyond standard instruction. This experience is tailored to help you tune into deeper ways to express your authentic gifts. You will be empowered to design your own healing experiences. We all have the power to facilitate healing when we hold space with presence, authenticity, and love. This 3-day container will be a deep exploration of how you, in your own unique way, can invite people into deeper connection with themselves, with one another, and with a Higher Power. There are infinite ways to positively impact humanity, and this workshop will help you find yours.

I am always blown away by the incredible humans who come together for these experiences and by how the alchemy of the group always brings forth something profound and unexpected. You will be inspired and will get ideas about how to weave in other modalities by witnessing the gifts of the group. Together we will explore creativity and becoming by weaving together the tools we have all gathered in our lives.

*option to pay via installments

This will be the first Mirror Journey in London!  It will be an intimate gathering at the beautiful studio of Milena Silvano.

March 7th 
5PM-8PM

Carly Jo Carson is a mother, artist and journey designer based in Topanga Canyon and Pioneertown.  The Mirror Journey Work her unique and ever-evolving improvisational practice that weaves breath, sound, and the wisdom of the group into a living mirror, revealing who we are and how our gifts serve the greater fabric of existence.  Her heavily layered original soundtracks invoke healing, transformation, and remembrance — offering a pathway for people to awaken the heart, ignite creativity and purpose, and connect with the divine without any external substances.  Her guided journeys invite participants to witness the beauty that continually arises within life’s natural cycles of expansion and contraction, death and rebirth. 

The Journey will flow naturally into a meditation accompanied by improvisations by Joe Harvey-Whyte - a multidisciplinary artist working at the cross section between ambient/experimental music, visual art and environmental sound. His solo work combines the sound of the pedal steel guitar with electronics and field recordings to make works that create a space for deep listening & reflection.

Location: 
Milena Silvano Studio
Regent Studios / Hackney, London