Dreaming with Whales Series

Dates:
Session 1: 📆 Saturday May 16, 2026 | Every Fluke Tells a Tale
Session 2: 📆 Saturday October 10, 2026 | Whale Song
Session 3: 📆 Saturday December 5, 2026 | Whale Fall
You can choose to join one, two, or all three sessions! 

Time: 10:00am–1:00pm Pacific Time 
Location: Online
Facilitator: Vidhu Singh, PhD
Cost: $119 + tax each, or $300 + tax for all three!

Registration Deadline: Wednesday prior to training.

🐋 Session 1: Dreaming with Whales Series – Every Tail Tells a Tale

Inspired by the life-cycle of whales, this Expressive Arts session is an invitation for a creative exploration of the wisdom of whales as a metaphor, mirror and compass for our own lives. Just like humans, whales carry unique stories and songs as they make their epic annual migration journeys. Harnessing our imaginations – let’s dream into the wisdom of whales! Drawing on an intermodal approach, participants will nourish their creative expression through visual journaling, collage, poetry and expressive writing to deepen discovery and personal growth.

See below for Required Materials and Learning Objectives

🐋 Session 2: Dreaming with Whales Series – Whale Song

Inspired by the life-cycle of whales, each Expressive Arts session is an invitation for a creative exploration of the wisdom of whales as a metaphor, mirror and compass for our own lives. Just like humans, whales carry unique stories and songs as they make their epic annual migration journeys. Harnessing our imaginations – let’s dream into the wisdom of whales! Drawing on an intermodal approach, participants will nourish their creative expression through visual journaling, collage, poetry and expressive writing to deepen discovery and personal growth.

Whether newer to the expressive arts field or more experienced, this journey opens the doorway for participants to trust and engage in their own creative process, to reap discoveries to bring back into their lives, and to witness each other’s work in a field of collective wisdom.

Drawing on the clicks and codas of whale song, Session 2 is an invitation to express the song we carry within.

See below for Required Materials and Learning Objectives

🐋 Session 3: Dreaming with Whales Series – Whale Fall

In this final session, participants will engage in a creative exploration of whale fall–a process by which a whale dies and sinks to the depths of the ocean floor–thereby creating a vital ecosystem that sustains marine organisms for decades to come. Harnessing our imaginations – let’s dream into the wisdom of whales! Drawing on an intermodal approach, participants will nourish their creative expression through visual journaling, collage, poetry and expressive writing to deepen discovery and personal growth.

Session 3 invites us to create and decorate our own powerful symbolic imagery on the page, imagining the nourishing ecosystems we wish to cultivate in our communities.

Materials List (applicable to all three workshops)

Note: You’ll receive an email with a list of art supplies, and whale/fluke imagery to print out during the week of the workshop.
Please bring whatever is easily accessible.

• Notebook and pen
• Watercolor paper or journal to draw on (The size of the watercolor paper/journal/sketchbook must be at least 9 inch x 12 inch. I recommend a larger page of 11 inch x 15 inch, if possible.)
• Coloring utensils such as watercolors/pencils/markers, posca pens/gel pens
• Glue-stick
• Scissors
• Hair-dryer (to help dry the page quickly).
• Bring a waterproof pen, if you have one.
• Collage items: bring some cut out images you are drawn to, an extra magazine, such as a national geographic, and a children’s book with images, that you don’t mind cutting images from.
• Bring a copy of a whale and fluke (tail).

*It’s all about process not perfection: you’re welcome to adapt the materials as you need. 

Learning objectives

1. Participants recognize the expressive arts are available to everyone–this is a process-centered opportunity to create without judgement.
2. Participants practice an intuitive approach to art-making, experimenting with layers of imagery and meaning.
3. Participants reflect on whales as sources of insight and wisdom, deepening their sense of connection with the more-than-human world.
4. Participants gain personal and shared insights by witnessing their own process/art-making and that of others.

As a lover of whales and a SoulPages® and applied poetry facilitator, Vidhu Singh, PhD, brings a wealth of wisdom to these workshops.

This workshop is part of our Creative Community offerings!
These are open to mental health clinicians, educators, coaches, community leaders, healthcare workers, artists and more! Creative Community offerings strive to bring information, techniques, and continued learning for your own personal enrichment and/or guidance on how to bring the expressive arts into your professional spaces.

Please note this workshop does not offer continuing education credits.

Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute Cancellation & Refund Policy