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Jack, the Beanstalk, and the Power of the Feminine

Like seeds in the dark earth, the meaning of myths and fairy tales is buried deep within us. Spring is a good time to let their luminosity unfurl in the darkness and push its way up to join the light.


Jack and the Beanstalk is a perfect tale for this time of year: A poor, destitute boy trades a cow for a few beans. Believed to be worthless, the beans are..


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Power

in the Light

You say you’re not feeling well and some of your friends tell you they’ll send light or, perhaps, love and light.You might be someone who think it sounds a little new agey or, even, corny. But you thank them anyway and say you appreciate it. What the heck, you think, it can’t hurt..


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The Float Power in Prana

Every year at this time, my desire to talk about, write about, even, sing about prāna, grabs me…  Recently, when I was walking my dog in the vibrant green and blooming park, when a way we can use this concept to alleviate the struggles in our daily lives came to me — and it came from a very disparate part of my own life: As some of you know, synchronized swimming is one of the great loves of..


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Connecting with the Creative Unconscious

Here where I live in Canada, winter is getting ready for her last gasp. We have a spring-like day or two and then are buried once again beneath the snow. These icy days give us a chance to burrow down, go deep, and be still.


As you may well know, this stillness is as much a part of the creative process as the active outpouring that results in our magnificent works. This was brought home to me by..



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Body

Betrayed

A few months ago I was in the hospital having my right knee replaced. Even though so much time has passed, I am still having a hard time with this – not with the surgery; the results couldn’t be better – but with the fact that my knee had disintegrated. In fact, both my knees have. To some extent this is my own fault; I have banged my knees around..


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The Force that Creates

The force that creates powerful imagery in your writing, art, and music is, quite simply, the force that creates. In some of the most beautiful words ever written, Dylan Thomas describes this force saying that it not only drives our red blood, it ropes the blowing wind, whirls the water in the pool, and blasts the roots of trees..


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Body Love, Oh Body Love…

I’ve been going to the same gym for many, many years. In the women’s section there is a large, wide-rimmed whirlpool. Women loll about, stretch out, submerge themselves, or just dangle their feet in the hot, bubbling water. Almost everyone is naked. Some are towel-less; some are towel-wrapped. This distinction does not blur over time. The women who are happy naked, remain happily naked. The women who are not, are not.


I am among the latter…



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Your Creativity Takes Wings

Recently I came across some writing by Yeshe Tsogyal that really inspired me. Although Yeshe is sometimes referred to as a cosmic, virtually divine, being in Tibetan Buddhism, she was also probably a very real Buddhist nun who lived in the 6th or 7th century. It seems strange that she isn’t more widely known because she is often referred to as “the foremost women in Tibetan Buddhism”. Let Yeshe inspire you…


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Darkness Before the Dawn

A writer and teacher I admire, Jill Jepson, recently posted a piece on what poet Grace Paley called “thinking time…hanging-out time…day-dreaming time” and how essential what might look like “doing nothing” is to the creative process. Jill quotes a  Los Angeles Times article on the topic that is essential reading for those of us cursed (or blessed?) with being both creative and what is often called..


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