Mapping "the Disturbed Country": Writing Illness and Aging

Mapping "the Disturbed Country": Writing Illness and Aging (starting at $179)

Mapping "the Disturbed Country": Writing Illness and Aging

In Intoxicated by My Illness, Anatole Broyard writes, “Always in emergencies we invent narratives…. I saw my illness as a visit to a disturbed country.” This five-session generative free-writing circle is for those who are or have been patients and/or caregivers and who want to write about their experiences in the realms of disease and diminished capacity.

The format of each session helps us get to know and support one another. Each time we meet, we start with a few minutes of silence followed by a short guided free-write and sharing time to warm up. Then we do two longer rounds of meditation, free-writing, sharing, and responding. The sharing is always optional.

Texts by Jorge Luis Borges, Jane Kenyon, Audre Lorde, and more guide our freewriting. 

 Each session explores a different theme, such as these:

Lisa Freedman is an author, activist, and professor. Her online community, Breathe/Read/Write, blends meditation and writing to cultivate free expression. Lisa has been living with chronic disease for 60 years and writing about and through it for 40 years. See her work in Satya, the NY Times, and more.