Happy to see my course on haiku for Parkinson’s Art aiming at people living with #Parkinson‘s, their families, and friends, being included in HAIKU BRIDGES, the new feature of The Haiku Foundation!

HAIKU BRIDGES is a new periodic feature from The Haiku Foundation designed to encourage and communicate significant haiku outreach initiatives to new audiences.

Scott Mason, running the feature, invites suggestions of such initiatives for possible inclusion in a future post.

I copy the post below:

Regular readers and writers of haiku recognize that their haiku practice confers personal benefits beyond the literary—it offers the therapeutic values that come with mindful awareness plus a felt connection with their surroundings. The nonprofit organization Parkinson’s Art, through its Parkinson’s Art Academy, will be offering those with Parkinson’s Disease and their families, friends and care partners a free eight-session course on haiku and haiku-related forms starting on September 18th. The online course was designed and will be conducted by Stella Pierides, a Member at Large of The Haiku Foundation board.

The mission of Parkinson’s Art is “to inspire and develop creativity across the Parkinson’s community.” Through its Academy the organization currently offers courses ranging from the visual arts (“Drawing & Painting Portraits”) to the literary arts (“Poetry Without Fear”).

Jan Sargeant, Director of Literature in the Arts at Parkinson’s Arts, states: “We are delighted to provide our audience with the opportunity to experience the power and beauty of this deceptively complex form of poetry. And we’re just thrilled to have someone as accomplished and committed as Stella to teach it.”

For more information, visit Parkinson’s Art.

Trevor Woollard, who set up the organisation noted that a lot of the major charities in the sector focus – rightly so – on exercise. But there are huge numbers of people who are less mobile or not sport-orientated or don’t have that kind of ability. And they’re often forgotten.

Exercise is important – but so is exercising the mind and soul.

I am looking forward to the course. Haiku, the shortest of poems, packs quite a punch!