Prompts

Make a note of your location. An address, intersection, or landmark.Take some deep breaths. In, out. In, out. In, out.

Touch and hold something in the place where you are. With your hands, ears, eyes, or sense of smell. Reflect and engage, using a journal and pencil, camera lens, drawing pad, sound recorder, or your body as your vehicle of exploration and expression.

Somerville has been a sanctuary city since 1987. What does sanctuary mean to you? Look or sound like to you? Does it have a memorable taste or smell? Where do you find sanctuary in the city

Ground your reflections in the place where you are. In what way does or might this place provide sanctuary?

Begin with a potted plant on a windowsill or a container of native milkweed on a deck. A blade of grass growing in the crack of the pavement. A tree trunk caught in a chainlink fence.


Breathe and listen, as you are able. To what? Breathe and look, as you are able. At what? Breathe and touch. Smell. Taste. Feel . . .  what?  What do you notice? What – and who—is calling you into relation? Where do you feel this relationality most in your body?


Begin to breathe into that place. Begin to move from that place. What gesture, what walk, what dance are you doing with that container on your deck or potted plant on your windowsill? With that blade of grass growing in the pavement? Who is leading and who is following? Who or what is choreographing the dance you are dancing?


Open a journal and write your thoughts. Doodle. Record a voice memo. Open your camera app and film your dance.
Make a pattern with your toes in the dirt, with your fingers in the mud. Then, reflect some more. Sit or walk as you are able.What form does this moment of engagement need to take next? What is needed to make it sharable?

Check back for additional prompts and practices.