For a young child, the story image of a little house where a character can find refuge in a cozy, warm, sturdy, place, makes the child feel safe within their own ‘little house’, their physical body.
Our body gives us a boundary to the outer world, and is our metaphoric life shelters. In story, when we come upon a little hut in the woods, a cottage, even a hollow tree, there is resonance with the holiness of our own body. These images are always of significance in purposeful stories.
Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts trains teachers, parents, and others who love young children, in the wisdom and meaning of this ancient sacred art form. Within our online trainings, we offer many classes including how to write Protection Stories, and Shelter Stories for puppetry. These shelters in puppetry are visual images of safe spaces for story characters.
When a child hears this kind of story or views the imagination in puppet form, they feel as though the sheaths of Good surround them too. They also nestle in a story’s hollow stump, old grandfather’s boot, deep in the tulip’s well, within the upside-down wheelbarrow. You may find yourselves thinking of other ‘shelters’, as you read this, and what character may find a peaceful home there. Perhaps it is a ladybug inside a lost thimble, a spider in the welcoming knot of the wood ceiling, a mouse in the pocket of a harvest apron. As you walk in a woodland or meadow, you will notice these shelters everywhere, in the curved root of a tree, in holes made by woodpeckers, tiny caves in rock piles, under a willow’s branches. Gently allow your stories to arise, for they are everywhere and within you as well!
For a young child, the story image of a little house where a character can find refuge in a cozy, warm, sturdy, place, makes the child feel safe within their own ‘little house’, their physical body.
We offer two online courses focusing on Protection and Shelter Stories.. .
If ever there is a time to support our children with these healing stories the time is NOW!
We have a story writing 10 day challenge on the Protection Story which is a step by step guide to the qualities that create children's stories that support their sense of well-being. Click Her for Details
Shelter Stories for Puppetry is about bringing the protection qualities to your puppet shows, in this course we focus on a shelter and the visual layers that help children feel that all is well in their world. We will create a shelter and puppet character and also go into the therapeutic ways to make visual the qualites of safety and goodness. Click Here for Details.