Clay Bodies: A Yin & Clay Workshop
Jose and Aussy have been conducting Clay Bodies: A Yin & Clay Workshop since 2020. With La Union being a tourist and wellness destination, it has naturally become a weekend activity for visitors to the province. It was particularly sought-after during the pandemic, when it served the unspoken but prominent uncertainty that many people were carrying during that time. Nowadays, it serves as a complementary experience for overall wellbeing and art appreciation.
In this workshop, husband and wife artist-entrepreneurs provide their crafts as outlets for creative expression and emotional release. Beginning with a 30-minute Yin Yoga & Meditation class, Aussy prepares the participants to align their body with their mind through a slow and mindful practice that focuses on fluidity in the connective tissues, organs, and joints. The result is deep relaxation and clear energy, which allows Jose to introduce the participants to pottery as a learning and cathartic experience. Ultimately, this back-to-back program aims to empower its participants to liberate themselves from limiting self-beliefs that stand in the way of their personal journey of healing and growth with proprioception, non-judgment, and tactile therapy.
The pilot workshop conducted by Jose in 2013 was held in Tacloban for the IMPACT Foundation response to the disaster-stricken communities after Typhoon Haiyan. Through this experience, he saw both young and old rebuild their lost houses, pets, and belongings using clay, as a way of processing what had happened.
The Clay Bodies Workshop developed to include yoga, meditation, and pottery to help participants creatively release stress, tension, and emotional turmoil along their personal healing journey. Participants are prepared in mind and body to work with a tactile medium that enables non-verbal expression and empowers through the process of creation. Each participant learns the basics of meditation and goes home with basic know-how of working with clay.
In 2026, Jose offered a series of summer pop-up classes designed for kids at Mesy Club and Forbes Town. Limited to small batches, with parents assisting, the artist created a similar experience to when he first encountered pottery as a first-grader at The Learning Child, then later as an 8-year-old at the Pettyjohn Pottery School in Madrigal Center.
According to Jose, ”There is always an element of risk in pottery. The work can crack or break at many stages of production so it teaches one to deal with multiple outcomes, to face failure and start over again. On the other side of the coin it can give you an element of control of your medium: clay, which is highly malleable. Pottery also needs focus and one can easily experience ‘flow,’ or the total immersion in the experience to the exclusion of all, sometimes forgetting time, hunger, and fatigue — that includes one’s grief, preoccupation, and other troubles.“
The most recent Clay Bodies workshop was designed to be a multi-age activity, where both children as young as 3 and as old as 13 can explore their curiosity and play. Before even working on a pottery wheel, children become familiar with their most important assets: their own hands and senses. Pottery establishes critical connections in the brain that prompt expression and movement. The subjects of their creations reflect their interests and how they perceive the world.
The kids made dinosaurs, cats, dogs, snails, and other animals.
Some of the kids were able to create pinched bowls and small plates. There were also food items like ice cream cones (or were they vases?) and even a taco shell.
The next Clay Bodies workshops will be held in the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay area, Manila, and La Union in 2027.
