Use writing to open your mind, generate great new material, and write in ways you never have before!
A radically different approach to writing more and better by honoring the subconscious mind
Just a few of the dozens of published works by former students of The Opening.
The Opening is a place for writing that emphasizes the intuitive mind of the writer. We prioritize open-ended exploration and a playful attitude for discovering the unexpected in ourselves, and in the world.
As of 2022, we are offering one free 2-week introductory course, "Learn to Love the Writing Process." Since the start of the pandemic, all of our live classes have gone online with Zoom. We plan to offer a variety of self-paced courses in the future, perhaps as soon as late 2022. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, if you'd like to study with Andy in a live course, please visit our website.
More Courses Coming Soon!
Andy Couturier
Andy Couturier is an active and widely published author with more than forty publishing credits to his name, including a Pushcart Prize-nominated essay.
In his two-year graduate program at San Francisco State University, his research emphasized bringing creativity and pleasure to the revising process and how to organize long pieces of writing in innovative ways. Instead of going the traditional MFA in Creative Writing route, Andy chose an MA in Composition, which focused on the art and science of teaching writing, his real passion.
He has lectured internationally at more than 40 locations, including the Commonwealth Club of California, Powell’s Books, and Book Passages. He recently returned from a month-long speaking and teaching tour in China. Aside from his books he has published articles in Adbusters, The Japan Times, The Oakland Tribune, Creative Nonfiction Magazine, The North American Review, Spirituality and Health, among many others.
In addition to directing The Opening since 1996, Andy has taught writing in a Silicon Valley corporation, SF MOMA, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychotherapy, inner-city classrooms of San Francisco, JFK University, Cal State University East Bay, and at UC Santa Cruz.
In 2017, he won the Nautilus Book Award, Gold, in Green Living/Sustainability for The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan (North Atlantic Books, 2017).
He loves to teach writing.
Our Banner Course, Introduction to Writing from the Subconscious, is Available Now!
Tired of writing in a straitjacket?
The revolutionary approach of this course doesn't trigger the fear centers of your brain, but rather gives you permission, multiple permissions, to take risks, tap into your own intuition, and surprise yourself by leaving the planning, judging, criticizing mind behind.
