Writing as Refuge ™

Writing as Refuge ™

Writing as Refuge ™ is a mindful journaling practice for self-discovery, transformation, and creative renewal. The practice is for people who love journaling and mindful journaling but are looking for something deeper. Through guided writing, meditation, and connection with nature, Writing as Refuge™ invites you to explore your inner landscape, reconnect with your authentic voice, and find your way back to belonging with yourself and the living world around you.

Writing as Refuge ™ begins with a simple but radical act — turning toward your own story with kindness and curiosity. There are stories inside you that want to be told. Not perfected. Simply heard and met with kindness and compassion. This practice creates the conditions in which your authentic writing voice can begin to emerge. This is where healing and transformation begin.

Writing as Refuge ™ practice is less about craft and more about presence. It is a practice of slowing down, turning inward, and allowing whatever wants to be expressed to move through you and onto the page. No forcing anything. No inner critic in charge.

When we stop trying to write and simply listen, something shifts. Words come. Truth surfaces. The page becomes a place of refuge and revelation where we bear witness to our own stories with kindness and acceptance. Writing in this way has a remarkable capacity to bring order to inner chaos, restore a sense of wholeness, and reconnect us with our own inner wisdom — the part of us that already knows.

This is a practice of writing honestly, with curiosity, compassion, and presence. Whether you are a lifelong writer or have never considered yourself one, you are welcome here.Come as you are. Bring a journal and a pen, an open heart and mind, and your curiosity.

Writing as Refuge ™ was created by Jen Johnson from 40+ years of practicing and teaching mindfulness as well as her own experience of writing to transform life’s difficult moments into deeper meaning. What began as a personal practice became a framework she has shared with writers, creatives, and seekers for several decades.

What Writing as Refuge ™ Practice Offers

This mindful writing practice can help us to:

• make meaning from our lives
• claim our ordinary lives as valid
• connect with our emotional and sensory lives
• embrace ourselves as we are
• discover the voice of our wise inner self

Page by page, we write our way into a more inspired and meaningful life.

How Writing as Refuge ™ Works

Each session opens with a writing as refuge meditation — a guided practice to settle the mind, invite presence, and connect us with a sense of belonging with the living Earth. From this place of stillness, we write in response to mindful writing prompts designed to guide you toward your authentic voice and the stories that make meaning from your life.

Over several weeks, we explore themes that reconnect you with a sense of inner calm and creative aliveness. When you participate in a Writing as Refuge ™ workshop, think of it as a sanctuary carved out of ordinary time: a space that nurtures self-discovery and transformation.

Writing, Neuroscience, and the Stories We Live By

Writing as Refuge™ draws on the intersection of mindfulness, narrative medicine, writing for healing, and neuroscience. Research confirms what writers and seekers have long known — that writing about our lives helps us process difficult experiences, integrate memories, and develop greater self-understanding. When we pair writing with mindfulness practice, we deepen that effect, cultivating the present-moment awareness that supports lasting change and resilience.

Identity is both declared and created with narrative. — Rita Charon, MD

Writing as Refuge ™ helps us relate more skillfully with difficult experiences, cultivate positive mental and emotional states, and develop new insights that support lasting transformation.

I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say. — Flannery O’Connor

The stories we tell ourselves about our lives determine how we live and how we heal. When we pay attention to the stories we tell about our lives, we begin to see them from a fresh perspective — and that shift can transform not only our writing, but how we live. Through this practice, we learn that we can reauthor our stories into healing narratives and reclaim a sense of our identity.

Telling our story does not merely document who we are; it helps to make us who we are. — Rita Charon, MD

What We Explore Together

In Writing as Refuge™ workshops, together we explore:

• Writing as a path to self-discovery and creative awakening
• How our stories shape our lives and how we heal
• Cultivating authentic voice and creative freedom
• Meeting ourselves and our experience with kindness and curiosity
• Finding belonging in the living world through story and soul

About Jen Johnson– Creator and Facilitator of Writing as Refuge ™ Workshops

Jen Johnson is a mindfulness coach, therapist, and writing teacher with more than 40 years of experience in mindfulness practice and teaching. She has taught mindfulness at UNC Chapel Hill’s mindfulness program and has taught writing at Mars Hill University, UNC Asheville, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Antioch University, and Story Circle Network. Jen has led private mindfulness and writing workshops for individuals and organizations.

Jen is the author of a forthcoming book on mindfulness and writing for self-discovery, transformation, and creative renewal. Her writing has been published in anthologies, magazines, literary journals, and professional training manuals.

What Participants Say about Writng as Refuge ™ Workshops:

“Jen offers a sanctuary for creative discovery in her Writing as Refuge™ workshops. She is a seasoned master of the well-placed prompt. She can ignite the imaginative spark lying dormant in every soul.” — Ethel

“Jen provided a safe space in her writing workshop that allowed my mind and my heart to be open to discovery. The workshop invited me into a deeper understanding of my inner self, to become unstuck, and move forward on my life journey with new tools.” — Corinne

“Jen’s approach is helping me to trust my inner voice. Writing from the heart is something I’ve always wanted to try, and I can’t wait to keep going.” — Geraldine

“Writing about my father’s early death has helped me to be more aware of how his absence has affected my whole life. I’m so grateful for the thorough, thoughtful, compassionate, and helpful way that you’ve welcomed my work.” — Kaaren

“I have new tools to use on my grief journey. Writing has helped me to put some difficult thoughts on paper — sometimes causing me to remember things I had pushed deep down.” — Shayne

“One of the most important insights from this workshop was discovering that it is possible for me to find a calm center so I can deal with and write about difficult emotions.” — Paul

Upcoming Writing as Refuge™ Workshops

The next Writing as Refuge workshop is happening in fall of 2026. For more details on this and other workshops, check out the mindfulness workshops page.

CONTACT JEN TO JOIN THE WAITLIST

If you have been hearing an inner call to story, to soul, or to deeper connection with the living Earth, perhaps this is your time to answer it.

Interested in 1:1 writing coaching with Jen for self-discovery and transformation or for support in establishing a regular writing practice? Learn more about therapeutic writing coaching or contact Jen for a free 15-minute consultation to discuss therapeutic writing coaching.

Mindful Journaling as a Path to Authentic Voice

When we practice writing from the heart and soul of who we are — meeting whatever arises on the page with kindness and curiosity — we begin to discover our authentic voice. This is not a voice we invent. It is one we uncover, layer by layer, through the practice of honest attention.

Writing is really a way of thinking — not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic or just sweet. — Toni Morrison

Writing as Refuge™ encourages an exploration of our inner landscape with non-judgment, compassion, and curiosity. When we explore our inner experience with kindness, this nourishes self-compassion in our everyday lives and deepens our appreciation of our own beauty and complexity.

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. — Joan Didion

Mindful Journaling as a Path to Inner Freedom

Mindful writing practice can support us in our journey toward personal and creative freedom. When we write regularly, new insights begin to emerge that support forward movement and growth. The practice can help us shift from a fearful mindset to an inspired and courageous one.

Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende

Making time to write is an act of self-care — a radical act of standing by ourselves and validating our ordinary experience.

So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters. — Virginia Woolf

Mindful Journaling for Resilience

Writing for resilience helps us cultivate positive mental and emotional states that support healing and wellbeing. Through a regular mindful journaling practice, we begin to pay attention to the stories we are telling — and to see the opportunities for growth and transformation that live within them.

Whatever we rest our attention on grows. Mindful journaling as a meditation practice helps us refocus our attention in ways that support mental health, inner peace, and happiness.

Storytelling is at the heart of life. In finding our own story, we assemble all the parts of ourselves. Whatever kind of mess we have made of it, we can somehow see the totality of who we are and recognize how our blunderings are related. We can own what we did and value who we are, not because of the outcome but because of the soul story that propelled us. — Marion Woodman

Writing as Meditation

Here, we make art from everything. — Carole Maso

In writing as meditation, we practice meeting ourselves and our writing with kindness and curiosity. This can lead to many benefits in daily life including increased self-acceptance, self-confidence, and a greater sense of agency and voice.

We write through our eyes. We write through our body. We write out of what we know. — Terry Tempest Williams

Writing Courses and Workshops Previously Taught Privately, in university settings, and for organizations include: 
Writing as Refuge™
Writing as Meditation
Grief Journaling
The Still Place: Mindful Journaling for Transformation
Mindful Writing: The Path to Freedom
Mindful Writing: Discover Your Authentic Voice
Mindful Journaling
Mindful Journaling for Resilience
Mindful Writing for Transformation
Mindful Writing for Transforming Grief
Narrative Witnessing: Healing Bodies & Souls
Expository Writing
Argument Essay
Writing the Personal Essay
Writing for Healing
Narrative Witnessing: Stories of Survival
Invisible Wounds of War Writing Workshop