Introducing Poetry at Work

“It was a gift to have to time to be slow”
– workshop participant

If you’re a poetry reader, you know that reading poetry can take you to a spacious internal place. To read a poem is to slow down to the level of breath, to pay close attention, and to feel a bodily sense of homecoming (literally–poetry activates an area of your brain associated with bodily awareness!).

Reading poetry has also been shown to reduce feelings of sadness, fear, worry, anger, and fatigue. And it helps us integrate meaning–there’s a reason we turn to poetry in time of crisis. Poetry, in other words, helps us find respite.

At Brick Books, we believe in the power of poetry for good so much that we’ve developed a way to integrate it into people’s workplaces and lives. Our workshop infuses poetry into a very specific practice of rest based on restorative yoga. Our goal is to help open new ways of being and seeing at work by putting the practices of poetry and rest to work; we know these practices can lead to transformative thinking and innovation, enhanced group connection, resilience in the face of change, and employee retention.

How does it work? We’ll come to you for a two hour workshop, then, because we know rest takes practice, follow up with a series of an email a week for six weeks with a poem and a rest poem.

“I felt cared for in a way I haven’t felt for a long time”
– workshop participant

This workshop is for any iteration of a group, including but not limited to teams and clients in arts organizations, healthcare, social work, fitness and wellness industries, service organizations, businesses with engaged and thoughtful leadership, community groups, women’s groups, and women’s mentorship programs.

If you are tired, burned out, and looking for more than lip-service wellness, and/or if you are an employer, please visit our project site to sign up for more information.