BODY OF TRUST
Creative Investigations in Movement & Image
An intimate somatic expressive arts studio series with Alyssa Jurewicz Johns
What might emerge if your imagination took the wheel for a while?
A sensation becomes a color. A line becomes a landscape. A gesture gives shape to something you haven’t quite found words for.
Welcome to Body of Trust, a series of small-group creative investigations in my Pittsburgh studio. Through movement, body mapping, drawing, painting, creative writing, and dialogue, we’ll explore the body’s many ways of speaking—and give ourselves time to follow what appears.
Each gathering begins with a different part of the body: feet and legs, guts, kidneys, spine, heart, or pelvis. We’ll meet its physical structure, explore its possibilities for movement, and invite sensation and imagination into conversation.
Your feet might have something to say about the ground you’re standing on. Your spine might offer an unexpected picture of support. A perfectly peculiar shape might arrive before you have any idea what it means.
You’re allowed to stay curious. Explanation can wait.
From page to practice
Inspired by my book, Body of Trust: Listening to the Living Body through Movement, Image & Relationship, these gatherings bring the living studio practice behind its pages into a shared creative space.
Rooted in the Tamalpa Life/Art Process, we’ll move between embodied experience and artistic expression, making room for reflection, witnessing, and connections to everyday life. Our opening investigation through feet and legs offers a place to begin: meeting the ground, finding our stance, and considering the paths we’re walking.
A little room for the unexpected
With approximately six to seven participants, there is space for individual exploration and the companionship of creating alongside others.
You choose how you move, what you make, and what you share. Seated movement, quiet observation, pauses, and changes of direction are welcome. We practice witnessing with curiosity and respect, leaving the meaning of each person’s work in their own hands.
No previous movement, dance, or art experience is needed. Your drawing skills are officially off duty.
Come into the studio
Paper, paints, pastels, charcoal, and markers will be waiting. Mats, bolsters, blankets, and props are available for comfort and support. There will be hot tea, filtered water, and a cozy place to spend a Saturday with your body and imagination.
Select Saturdays · 11 AM–2:30 PM
In person · Pittsburgh · Approximately 6–7 participants
$70 for one gathering
$195 when booking three gatherings · $65 each
All art materials and studio comforts are included.
Gatherings are individually bookable. Attend one or return throughout the series. The Pelvis gathering is reserved for returning participants, with a brief conversation beforehand about readiness and fit.
You do not need to own or read the book to participate.
Find Your Saturday
Body of Trust · Creative Investigations in Movement & Image
January 23, 2027 · Guts & Stomach
Instinct, sensation, and listening.
February 20, 2027 · Heart
Protection, longing, and the choice to receive.
March 13, 2027 · Kidneys
The back body, effort, and receiving support.
April 10, 2027 · Spine
Support and the ways we hold ourselves.
June 5, 2027 · Legs & Feet
Ground, direction, and the ways we stand in our lives.
August 7, 2027 · Pelvis
Creativity, desire, and the subtle beginnings of movement.
For returning participants, following a conversation with Alyssa.