Sophia’s Center for the Healing Arts
About Us
Sophia’s Center for the Healing Arts is a gathering place dedicated to nurturing the creative wisdom within each of us. No matter the pain we may carry, all of us have the capacity to tap into the medicine of storytelling, the possibilities of the imagination, the refuge of deep breaths, and the hospitality of genuine community.
Sophia’s Center offers classes and retreats that encourage self-expression through practices such as generative writing, SoulCollage®, yoga, and dreamwork. Learn more here.
“Sophia” is the Greek word for “wisdom” and represents an ancient, feminine presence who leads us back to the divine spark within. Sophia’s Center for the Healing Arts aims to honor and cultivate this sacred essence we all carry.
Offerings
“Sophia”
Meet the Director
Claire Coenen (M.S.W., M.Ed., M.T.S.) is a poet, author, and facilitator with a passion for sharing the renewing and liberating powers of the creative process with her community. Claire’s first collection of poems, The Beautiful Keeps Breathing (published by Kelsay Books, 2024), explores themes of imaginative power, loss, and healing. Claire offers mentorships, workshops, and retreats focused on writing, collage, yoga, and creativity online and locally.
A lifelong learner, Claire earned a Master of Education & Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University and received her Master of Social Work from The University of Tennessee. In 2021, she completed the Advanced Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program, a two year post graduate program offered by the Nashville Center for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Therapy. As a registered yoga instructor and a former psychotherapist, Claire integrates her understanding of the body’s wisdom and depth psychology into her offerings. Claire has been fortunate to work with a variety of teachers, therapists, and mentors from various traditions. While Claire has gained knowledge from her formal training, she has tapped into wisdom through her relationships, lived experiences, and creative explorations.
Originally from Athens, GA, Claire loves living in Nashville with her husband Davey and dog, Lion.
Learn more about Claire at www.clairecoenen.com.
Sophia Speaks
Dear one, I carry the bouquet of transformation—
the colors of night, of snow, of blood, of gold.
I bestow and embody the spiral at the center of the rosebud,
the spiral at the center of everything.
Dear one, I am ancient cypress and purple flower.
I am ocean in its deepest places. I am the cycle of the sky.
I am held together by life in the same breath I am holding together life.
I see with clarity. I am vaster than fear
but never disconnected from the pain of being.
I am the changer who leads all of life from pain toward Love.
I am wisdom, wild, whispering.
Everywhere kind—never pretending.
I know when and what to give.
I know when and what to take.
I am always.
(poem by Claire Coenen)