About us
Creativity is more than what we make; it’s how we live. Writing, painting, research, teaching, designing, thinking: all these forms of expression are sustained not only by talent or inspiration but by the art of practice itself. The Art of Creative Practice is a community for writers, artists, academics, thinkers, makers and everyone in between who want to deepen their creative relationship with themselves, build sustainable rhythms, and grow within a space that understands the complexity of a creative life.
At its heart, this is a place for people who take their inner world seriously. A place to explore ideas, cultivate courage, steady your practice, and connect with others walking a similar path. Whether you’re starting something new or carrying a long-term project forward, this community gives you structure, companionship, and breathing room.
This community is for you if you’re looking for:
- A circle of fellow creatives who understand both the exhilaration and the vulnerability of making.
- A more sustainable, nourishing rhythm for your creative life.
- Encouragement that feels authentic, not performative.
- Tools and practices to help you move from intention into action.
- Space to think, reflect, and build a deeper relationship with your work.
Whether you’re just beginning or have been practicing for years, you are welcome here. We honour the process as much as the outcome, and we believe that showing up for your creativity—imperfectly, experimentally, consistently—is a profound act of self-trust and possibility.
Here you’ll find a blend of practical structure and reflective depth. We host:
- Weekly Creative Flow Coworking Sessions: two-hour co-working gatherings where we write, think, sketch, or plan side by side.
- Group coaching sessions to help you clarify your goals, navigate blocks, and nurture a more resilient creative life.
- Meditation and contemplative practices to ground your imagination and connect creativity with inner stability.
- Special events and workshops from guest speakers to themed explorations of how creativity shows up across disciplines.
About Your Facilitator
My name is Allan Johnson, and I’ve spent more than twenty years working at the intersection of creativity, scholarship, psychospiritual development, and contemplative practice. I am an academic and writer with extensive experience teaching, researching, and publishing on literature, creativity, and contemplative practices. Over the course of my career, I have worked with thousands of students, artists, thinkers, and practitioners at all levels, helping them to develop clarity, confidence, and depth in their own work. Alongside my academic work, I am a qualified Psychosynthesis Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist, trained to support personal growth, transformation, and wellbeing. I am also a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher (MBSR/MBCT) and a registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), which allows me to bring together contemplative, embodied, and psychological approaches in an integrated way. This combination of scholarship, coaching, therapeutic training, and meditative practice gives me a unique perspective on creativity as both discipline and discovery. I also draw from integral pedagogy, contemplative studies, and a long-standing personal practice in meditation and inner work—disciplines I regularly explore on my YouTube channel and in my writing.
Upcoming events
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- £12.00
Managing Anxiety as a Creative: Practical Tools for Feeling More Confident
·OnlineOnlineIf you're a creative person who experiences anxiety, this workshop is for you.
Whether anxiety shows up as overthinking, procrastination, perfectionism, self-doubt, fear of failure, difficulty getting started, comparison with other creatives, or simply feeling overwhelmed by your own creative ambitions, this is a practical workshop about learning how to work with anxiety more effectively.
We'll explore what happens when anxiety gets in the way of your creative practice and, most importantly, learn practical tools for managing it. The aim isn't to eliminate anxiety or convince yourself to "just be confident". Instead, we will be looking at what's happening when anxiety takes over and develop strategies that help you respond differently so that you can keep making, writing, performing, experimenting and putting your work into the world.
What We'll Explore
We'll look at some of the particular ways anxiety shows up around creative practice, including:- The fear of starting: when the blank page, canvas, studio or project feels strangely threatening
- Creative procrastination: understanding what's actually happening when you keep finding other things to do
- Comparison and self-doubt: particularly the feeling that everyone else is further ahead
- Fear of being seen: sharing your work, submitting it, performing, publishing or putting yourself forward
- Overthinking: when thinking about the work becomes a substitute for doing it
We will look at how anxiety can make creative work feel harder than it objectively is, and develop tools to support you with the anxiety that emerges around your creative practice.
You will learn tools and approaches for:
- calming yourself when you're stuck in an anxious state
- interrupting spirals of overthinking
- getting yourself into a more productive creative state
- building a more sustainable relationship with creative uncertainty
- creating simple rituals and practices that help you return to the work
This event is particularly for writers, artists, musicians, performers, designers, makers and other creative people who recognise themselves in things like:
- "I know what I want to do, but I can't seem to make myself do it."
- "I keep putting my work off because I want it to be good."
- "I have loads of ideas but struggle to finish anything."
- "I compare myself constantly with other creatives."
- "I want to put my work out there, but the thought of being judged makes me want to hide."
- "I spend more time worrying about my creative practice than actually practising."
- "I want to be more confident, but I don't know what that would actually look like."
You don't need to have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. This is about the very ordinary — but often surprisingly powerful — anxiety that can become entangled with making, performing, sharing and pursuing creative work.
A little extra support, if you'd like it
Because anxiety can appear in so many different ways for different people, I'll also offer attendees the option of booking an included 15-minute 1-to-1 call with me after the workshop.
This is a chance to briefly talk through what's happening in your own creative practice and identify one or two strategies that might be particularly useful for you going forward.
There's no obligation to take this up, it's simply there if you'd find a short individual conversation helpful.And if you want to go deeper
If anxiety is something you'd like more sustained support with after the workshop, attendees will also receive 20% off my Calm Confidence programme.
Calm Confidence is my in-depth six-week 1-to-1 programme for working with anxiety, confidence and mindset. It normally costs £500; the workshop discount brings it to £400.
It's designed for people who want more than a handful of techniques: a period of focused, individual work in which we can look at the particular patterns that keep getting in the way and develop strategies that work for you.About your instructor
I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and psychosynthesis coach specialising in anxiety, confidence and personal development, with extensive experience working with people in the creative industries.
My work sits at the intersection of psychology, creativity and practical self-development. I work with writers, artists, performers, designers and other creative professionals who are dealing with anxiety, overthinking, perfectionism, self-doubt, creative blocks and the pressures that come with putting your work into the world.
Alongside my therapeutic work, I'm a researcher and writer specialising in creativity, spirituality, and modern culture. I've spent much of my career thinking about what enables people to do meaningful creative work, and what can get in the way.
My approach combines clinical hypnotherapy, psychosynthesis, mindfulness and practical psychological tools, with a particular focus on helping people understand their patterns and develop strategies they can actually use in everyday life.1 attendee
Past events
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