Welcome to The Creative Soul Sessions
Explore Your Creative Potential in Tune with the Seasons
Curated for you by:
Rose Margaret Deniz
Storyteller, Artist, and Yoga Instructor
Melisa Maya Kumar
Psychotherapist
Does this Feel Like You?
- Burned out on work, life responsibilities and emotional labor
- Struggling to make time for yourself
- Feeling like you lost or need to reinfuse your creative spirit
- Overwhelmed by things outside your control
- Unable to shut out the inner and outer noise
- Feeling disconnected from your passion and purpose (or even unsure what they are!)
- In need of self-compassion
- Seeking self-expression
- Inspired by lively, vibrant discussions
- In need of a reset
- Love deep conversations
- Wish to get in touch with nature and your natural rhythms
- An artistic, creative spirit
- Unsure if you are an artistic, creative spirit!
- On a self-growth journey
- TIred of feeling like you’re going it alone
- Drained and fatigued
- Fan of small-group settings
- Eager to learn about topics that matter to you
- Ready to rediscover your inner compass
- Ready to listen to the quiet, still voice inside of you guiding you
If you answer YES to even one of these, you’re on an inner quest to merge creativity with holistic living that’s in tune with you and your natural rhythms.
The weekend was absolutely amazing. An incredible experience. This morning, I woke up and did the deep breathing and stretching that we did that morning. So it was great and it helped calm me down. I just needed that sense of relaxation again and it really helped.
M.K., Summer 2025 Session
Why the Creative Soul Sessions?
Creative Soul Sessions exist at the intersection of insight and experience. They’re spaces where psychoeducation meets the body, where theory becomes practice, and where personal transformation is supported by collective presence. Being in a group allows us to see ourselves differently, through the stories of others. Stepping into a focused space away from daily demands helps us reconnect with what matters.
The Creative Soul Sessions Invitation
- Slow down and experience still spaces
- Reconnect with yourself
- Connect with others
- Plug into your creativity
- Experience the spark of conversations and connections
- Feel nurtured
- Explore nature
- Reset your nervous systems with accessible movement and meditation
- Seek and find support
- Benefit from guidance and mindful moments
- Unlock or re-access your inner rhythms, dreams, and goals
- Take small, but powerful steps towards your goals
LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. and honestly I can’t tell you I keep thinking about the collaging exercise because it was interesting how it was really my subconscious making it.
E.R., Summer Session 2025
Are You Ready to Experience the Power of Creativity & Psychology?
Inspired by the seasons and our natural, creative cycles
- Discover and unlock inner rhythms, dreams, and goals
- Participate in vibrant discussions
- Join creativity break-out sessions
- Apply psychological science and tools for growth
- Reset nervous system with gentle yoga & breathing sessions
- Explore accessible movement
- Experience the spark of dialogue and power of self-reflection
- Enjoy seasonal foods & nourishment
- Relax in a nature setting
This morning I got news that stressed me out and I practiced how to return to my “ventral vagal” through different breathing techniques and opening up the chest.
M.K., Summer 2025 Session
Get Ready to Experience Your Creative & Personal Potential
Four Seasons
Four Themes
Three Days
Two Nights
One Incredible Event Curated to Facilitate Connection with Yourself and Others
Countless Vibrant Moments to Dive Into Growth and Creativity
The greatest ideas and biggest sparks can happen spontaneously, which is why the Creative Soul Sessions are built with ample time for self-discovery and connection.
I’m going to allow myself to do collage stuff and random lists journaling and just let it be. I do not know why or how or what it is but that two half day sessions were different for me.
E.R., Summer Session 2025
Meet Your Co-Hosts
Meet Rose and Melisa
Rose Margaret Deniz is a storyteller and content creator with over three decades of creative experience and as an artist and writer, and a certified yoga instructor.
She has lived in Türkiye 20 years, led creative workshops, written curriculum for creative thinking courses and writing courses, and have completed five fiction manuscripts. She is passionate about creativity as a life-source. It brings her deep joy to connect people with their creativity and each other, and to merge creative practices with the self-reflection and awareness that has led her to live a life she loves living.
Melisa Maya Kumar is a psychotherapist who accompanies people through the often-unseen terrain of inner life—where past wounds, present patterns, and the longing for change meet. Drawing on over 1,500 hours of clinical experience, she supports clients in making sense of what hurts and how to heal, as they navigate the complexities of being human.
She is a Systemic Family and Couples Therapist and works integratively—bringing in perspectives and tools from Internal Family Systems, Emotionally Focused Therapy, EMDR, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Brief Solution-Focused Therapy. Melisa holds a BA from Sabancı University, an MA in Developmental Psychology from Boston College, and has completed a 460-hour certification in Family and Couples Therapy. Her practice is grounded in continued education, guided by what she sees making a difference in the therapy room.
Her work is especially informed by an understanding of the nervous system, attachment dynamics, and the impact of early trauma. Again and again, she sees healing unfold when we meet ourselves with gentle curiosity—especially in moments of overwhelm, disconnection, or change—and take small, steady steps toward balance and integration.
Why Are We Hosting the Creative Soul Sessions?
- Rose’s creative practice is her soul food, and she is beyond excited to share with you the habits, practices, mindset, and physical steps that support a healthy creative life.
- Rose knows what it’s like to be a busy professional and mother who can’t drop everything for a week-long or month-long retreat.
- Melisa co-hosts Creative Soul Sessions to bring together what she values most in her work—curiosity, embodiment, and shared reflection. These sessions are shaped by her love for teaching, her intention to offer grounded, accessible insight, and her commitment to creating spaces where meaningful inner work can unfold.
- We both know the power of creativity to help live an abundant, productive, happy, satisfying, and meaningful life.
- Three days can change our lives. We can do a lot with a little – it’s not how much we have; it’s what we do with it.
- Rose follows a hybrid auto-immune friendly and IBS protocol diet and acknowledge the difficulty in finding a retreat that suits me and my diet. I have felt left out of retreats that were inflexible about diet and sensory needs.
- We love the spark of conversations that allow us to feel seen and heard.
- We all need a break from burnout, adverse news, and disconnection.
What Do You Need to Bring?
Yourself, as you are, and…
- A willingness to let go of cultural norms about art and creativity
- Explore new creative paths
- Be open to possibilities and connection
- Leave your “best” ideas at home. Bring all the dusty ones, the vague, half-formed, dream-like ones lingering in the back of your mind and heart.
Want to Learn More?
Be the first to find out about upcoming Creative Soul Sessions, events, and related news!
The Creative Soul Sessions are fueled by of Art is Dialogue.
Art is…Healing
Art is…Connection
Art is…
