Jaya Narayan Expressive Arts Practice

29/07/2026

Maybe I have to work harder to gain your trust
You tell me you have strong boundaries
I wonder if you seek assurance that I won’t hurt you
You judge yourself as less than
I sense your high expectations of self
You say you need time to decide
I perceive you pursuing safety in predictability
You tell me how angry you feel with me
I glimmer into the unfelt grief and sadness
You share about your numbness
I track intensity that is uncontained
I keep reframing your experience
So you can see how far you have come
how you creatively adapted
and to ask for what you need.

25/07/2026

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." — James Baldwin.

Six months ago, I could not imagine moving my body freely.

I made a spontaneous decision to have major surgery — a way to end a certain pain. But recovery from being under the knife is not for the faint-hearted. I had to relearn how to use my muscles, to stop just before they complained.

I cannot thank enough the support and care I received — from people young and old, and from those who held cultural safety as essential in medical care.

I celebrate this moment. Honouring the intelligence that teaches me to return to near-normal.

And I notice fear. Hesitation with movements I once took for granted.

This has been another experiential learning for me: what body-led resilience with love looks like. It's not about bouncing back. It's about returning, slowly, with tenderness, with witnesses.

22/07/2026

textures, tone and shades
differentiates you
accentuates uniqueness
for every moment lived
mistakes owned
unfinished curves and contours
imperfections owned
softened heart
impressions made
of grace, dignity and love
lessons learnt
values cemented
strengths casted
please look closely
at what makes you ... you
amplifying
a life well lived

18/07/2026

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
— Audre Lorde

Take up more space, make yourself visible, ask for what you need. These words are so easy to say when the very act of being seen is scary and perilous.

There is a way in which the body reaches towards me — curving, shrinking, collapsing. The idea of growth or change causes complex feelings of shame, fear and disgust. There are sensations of numbing, nausea and clenching.

This is a tricky, dilemma-filled space where practising a new reality needs care.

Sometimes, playing with an idea for someone by reversing the roles makes the unthinkable possible.

In this experiential. I move with the intention of holding the relationship lightly in space. I know when to stop and how much further I can extend.

18/07/2026

18/07/2026

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
— Audre Lorde

Take up more space, make yourself visible, ask for what you need. These words are so easy to say when the very act of being seen is scary and perilous.

There is a way in which the body reaches towards me — curving, shrinking, collapsing. The idea of growth or change causes complex feelings of shame, fear and disgust. There are sensations of numbing, nausea and clenching.

This is a tricky, dilemma-filled space where practising a new reality needs care.

Sometimes, playing with an idea for someone by reversing the roles makes the unthinkable possible.

In this experiential. I move with the intention of holding the relationship lightly in space. I know when to stop and how much further I can extend.

15/07/2026

packaged tidily
delicately wrapped
tight
intentionally concealed
stowed carefully
unfelt feelings
intense pain
numb sensations
unkept promises
anguish as protection
hurt, rejection,
Set aside
methodical bypassing
untrusting heart
over developed
intellectual capacity

11/07/2026

"Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time."

— Maya Angelou

There is such difficulty in staying with the body when complex emotions arrive.

Our brain, in order to protect, creates structures of separateness — like a loving friend who thinks they are helping by distracting you.

We need witnesses to stay in the body. To notice how it wants to move. To allow expression.

I always return to authentic movement. Now I use the camera as my inner eye.

I am surprised by how much is experienced in such short periods of time — sensation settling, shifting, redistributing, and permission.

Witnessing is so important for becoming a container for whatever emerges.

Often something gets missed in those early years — in the moments of fear, aloneness and separation.

That voice that says, I am here with you, as you find your way back to yourself. I hope my showing of myself allows you to be seen.

08/07/2026

Relational Contact

I wish
to see more of you?
Am I allowed?
Can I initiate?
Is that appropriate?
I want it and am afraid
when you offer to share,
remind me that it a shared space
invite reversing role and co-creating
dismantling mental hierarchy
of power as protection
vulnerability masked as professional boundaries
context matters
being fixed misses
relational opportunities
to connect anew