Inviting the Muse

TAKING A STANCE MEDITATION FOR 2026
Inviting the Muse: Art for Joy

Close your eyes.

Let your feet feel the ground beneath you.
Not as floor —
as earth.

Take one breath
as though your ribs widen sideways.

And another.

Imagine now
that you are standing beside a horse.

Not riding.
Not directing.

Simply beside.

You do not need to see it clearly.
Just sense its presence.

Warm.
Breathing.
Alive.

Notice:

It does not hurry.
It does not predict the year ahead.

It stands.

Listening.

Through its skin.
Through its hooves.
Through the ground itself.

Stay there a moment.

Beside.

Now notice:

The horse is aware of what approaches
long before it arrives.

A shift in wind.
A change in light.
A distant tremor.

And yet —

It does not brace.
It does not resist.

It adjusts.

Weight through one leg.
Then another.

A listening body.

Let yourself imagine:

Your body
is also such a body.

Capable of sensing.
Adjusting.
Trusting.

2026 does not need to be solved.

It can be met.

Feel now:

The road rising.

Not as burden.

But as terrain.

The horse beside you does not ask:

“Can we control this?”

It asks only:

“Can we travel together?”

Place a hand on its neck.

Warmth.
Muscle.
Life.

Let gratitude arise
for the body that carries you.

For breath.
For weight.
For movement.
For the ability
to begin again.

This year is not about mastery.

It is about stepping forward.

With listening.
With steadiness.
With companionship.

When you’re ready,
open your eyes.

and return to the room,
your breath,
your self.

FEB 19 PROJECT: 2026 HORSE TOTEM

Intention:

This is not decoration.
This is relationship.

You are not designing a horse —
you are meeting a guide for the year.

HOW TO DO:

You already have a simple horse head outline with “2026” below it.

Use this as your base.

1. Slowly redraw the lines.
Let your hand “listen” as you trace.

2. Add marks that represent:
- steadiness
- sensing
- forward movement
- trust

(Lines, texture, pattern, symbols — anything that feels right.)

3. Consider including:
- pathways
- breath lines
- ground textures
- light or direction

4. Let “2026” become part of the form
(woven into the mane, bone, horizon, or field).

5. Realism is not needed.

This is a totem.
A companion image.

CLOSING REFLECTION:

When finished, ask:

What quality does this horse bring to my year?

Not:
What will happen?

But:

How will I meet it?

Yesterday in The Muse, we worked with the image of the horse- not as decoration, but as a way to access emotional movement.

Sometimes what we’re carrying can’t be spoken directly.

The nervous system doesn’t always respond to explanation- but it does respond to image, metaphor, and creative engagement.

Research in neuroscience shows that working with symbol and image activates different pathways than verbal processing alone.

Very often, I find that we draw what we cannot yet say.

In this space, Linda and I help create gentle openings where our joy, grief, transitions, and emotional complexity can move- without needing to be solved.

It’s not about making pretty art.

It’s about allowing something inside to shift.

If you’re navigating change, loss, uncertainty, or simply feeling “stuck,” you’re welcome to join us. Being held in community is so life affirming.

Inviting the Muse is a space for reflection, release, and quiet reorganization.
You can join us at The Other Side on Thursdays and Fridays at the Foodshed Co-op. Both days are 10-12.

On a personal note…Linda and I are both actively care-taking for our mothers and are finding it necessary to cancel more than we would like to at the moment. If you’d like to join us- we’re emailing everyone with up to the minute class info, so please dm us to be put on our email update list. Or, call one of us if you’d like to attend. 🙏Thanks for understanding.

Many blessings,
Janet and Linda & the Muse

Welcome to The Muse!

Linda Cannizzo and I host Inviting The Muse twice a week in person — a creative circle where art, presence, and connection meet. This relaxation meditation is one we've used to help ground and open our busy and often overactive little selves before we begin creating.

It’s designed to drop you into a calm, embodied state that awakens your natural creativity — the perfect way to arrive fully, breathe, and receive inspiration.

We’re sharing it here as an offering, from our Muse table to yours.

Link to the meditation: https://youtu.be/C5Cpo1vw_Fk

Follow us on: facebook.com/invitingthemuse
🎨✨
Blessings to you,
janet

Here's the link to the meditation: https://youtu.be/C5Cpo1vw_Fk

The Muse is a lovely choice for self expression, community, playing and unwinding. We supply the material, the Muse brings the inspiration. Would love to have you join us.

Crystal Lake, on Thursday at The Other Side 10-12

Woodstock, on Fridays at the Food Shed Co-op 10-12

$20 cash or check at the door

The Muse is on vacation this week, no classes. Join us next week for some exciting creative work as we settle into the autumn season! 🍁

Join us tomorrow or Friday to "DO" something fun.
We will "BE" waiting for you 🎨💕🎉
Thursday 10:00-12:00 at The Other Side in Crystal Lake.
Or Friday 10:00-12:00 at The Food Shed Co-op in Woodstock.
All supplies included, no experience necessary. $20 at the door.

Hi Muse Family! We have a shortened schedule this week. There will be class at the FoodShed on Friday from 10:00-12:00.
No class on Thursday this week.

Hi Everyone!!! The Muse is on vacation! There will be no classes this week. Please have a fun and safe holiday! We will see you next week!!

Join us tomorrow morning to create a "personal symbol painting." We will be at The Other Side in downtown Crystal Lake.
10:00am-12:00pm. Drop-in for $20. All supplies are included, no art experience necessary. This will be fun!

An invitation to join the Muse!
The Other Side 10-12 Thursday June 5th- tomorrow!
The Food Shed 10-12 Friday June 6th

🪨 Come Paint Rocks. Cry a Little. Laugh a Lot. 🎨😎

Is it art? Is it therapy? Is it the weirdest, most unexpectedly healing thing you’ll do all week?

Yes. Yes it is.

At The Muse Experience, we paint rocks to process emotions, celebrate life (and death), and give our brains a much-needed break from doomscrolling. It’s like a spa day for your soul—with paint, gel pens and of course, rocks.

No talent required. Just your beautiful, messy self.

Rock up. Paint something. Leave lighter.

Working with the natural forms of rocks, we spent some time with gratitude and its impact in and on our life. What is gratitude? How is it the twin of generosity?

It gets very quiet as we work, lost in that open creative space that gives us pause- and room to practice creativity as a way of living our everyday, extraordinary life.

❤️Join us!
The Other Side Thursdays 10-12
The Food Shed Co-op Fridays 10-12
$20 at the door