She Held in Her Hand...

...the ticket to high-flying freedom.

best seat in the house, beautiful views from all angles...oh yes she did!

{her favorite ride as a child}
Some things never change.

Exploring Yoga and the Creative Process

the view from my yoga mat

Hello, Summer! Hello, Saturday morning oceanfront yoga!

I've been a wannabe yogini with a wavering practice for a couple years now, but today I think I can officially say, I'm hooked!

Stuffy yoga studios and my living room just weren't cutting it, so I decided to try a class outdoors. There happens to be a Meetup biking distance from my home at a place called Palisades Park on the grassy cliffs overlooking Pacific Beach. I've written about this sacred place before.There is a wonderful energy about it and it was especially strong today.

The park was covered with yoga mats and very bendy people. I did my wobbly best. I am getting better at conscious breathing, and that's big for me. Shavasana pose (picture sprawled out on your back) in the sea air and sunshine? What could be better than that? Yes, there were challenging parts. I'm going to be very sore tomorrow, but the level of relaxation and mental clarity I felt in the end were worth the hard bits. An amazing workout, plus a connection with nature and my soul- I know where I'll be spending my Saturday mornings from now on.

As an artist, I want to explore how spiritual practices (like yoga and meditation) can feed my creative practice. At this point I know that in both yoga and creation I must: show up, learn to be present, move past blocks, and mind my mind. By deepening my yoga practice, I hope to learn strategies for growing my creative practice and settle deeper into my creative process. The teacher who led us today said that we can apply what we learn about ourselves on the yoga mat to our day-to-day lives. How about transferring our learning from the yoga mat to the art studio?!

Now that I have this intention for my practice, I am motivated and very excited to move beyond child's pose!

Beach Journaling

The moment I sat down on the beach today, the roar of the ocean drowned out all of my mundane and unproductive thoughts. The salted air cleansed my stale energy. The sun kissed the top of my head until there was clarity. I was able to tune into the whispers of my heart. This is what happens every time. This is my best peaceful-thinking place. This is the place where writing is inevitable...

June 28, 5:15 p.m. 

The sun is still high in the sky. I sit on my beach towel, my back against a sun-baked rock, warm and relaxed to the core. The tide is high, the surfers are out. Finally, I breathe in summer. It's been a couple weeks in limbo, in "recovery." I'm pleased with myself for not getting too anxious about this ebb. 

That is all it is. 

This time I recognize it and I am patient with myself. I am gently easing into a new season, feeling the shift deep down to my bones. I am slowly, but surely, recalling the intentions in my heart and reconnecting with my creative spirit.

Time is on my side today. We sit together and look out at the wide open sea and even wider sky. My soul feels this wide openness. I am open to receiving messages and gifts form the Universe. The uncertainty and lack of action that usually bring so much discomfort are not getting me down. I am simply at peace with my feelings and my circumstances. I trust that what I need to know next will be revealed to me in a timely manner. I believe that something great is just around the next bend on my path. I have faith in my potential energy. 

Like the single sailboat on the horizon, my heart's desires are still off in the distance, but I can begin to make out their shape. This will be a summer of sailboats on the horizon, rolling on the waves, turning in the sun, making their way closer to my beach...until the time that I am ready to step on board with my dreams and sail off into that wide open sea. 

What Summer is For

It's here! My favorite season. It really snuck up on me this year as I'd been so preoccupied with the culmination of a certain epic project. The summer solstice ceremony earlier this week helped me reconnect with my hopeful self and my happy-go-lucky inner child. So even in my post-365 slump (yes the energy has been a little stuck this week), I just know that the flow of new ideas and happy projects is imminent. My muse is apparently just taking a well-deserved vacation. I really don't blame her. It's been a big year. But she'll be back. She always comes back.

With another school year finished, my routine is shifting I've been left to my own creative devices to plan my summer tutoring...and create my long summer days. I worried, at first, about losing momentum, about getting sucked back into the dizzying rush of everyday life and losing touch (again) with my creative spirit. A few days of going about my teaching work and trying to be patient with myself in regards to my creative output, and I'm beginning to realize, everything is just fine.

It's like riding a bike. As soon as we decide to be brave and happy, despite uneven ground, we regain our balance. 

So now that it's officially summer, my motto is "Don't worry, be happy." I wholeheartedly believe that "every little thing is gonna be alright," even if I don't exactly know where my creative path will take me this summer. I'm going to go easy on the plans and schedules. I'm just going to roll with it and let my summer spirit lead the way.

Summer is for being wild and free, barefoot and brave.
Summer is for bike rides, trying new things and digging into the whole watermelon with a spoon.
Summer is for being a little more relaxed and a lot more spontaneous, in both art and life.
Summer is for finding balance and creating energy.
Summer is for me.

My daily commitment to create has evolved into a genuine need to stay connected to my creative spirit, as authentically and spontaneously as it began. I will continue to write, to play with color, to photograph my days...and to share the unfolding of my creative life in the hopes of stirring the creative spirit in others.

Hello, summer. Shall we keep on keepin' on?

The Summer Solstice and the Super Moon

sea level at the summer solstice

To celebrate the summer solstice, I decided to join a friend of mine who was hosting a special gathering at the beach. It was one of those sweetly surprising events that turned out to be more meaningful that I could have imagined.

We did yoga in the late afternoon sun. (I'm still finding sand in odd places.) We learned about our chakras and practiced some energy healing. (I'm intrigued!) Best of all was the intention ceremony. We were told to find a rock on the beach with which to do a little guided visualization and meditation. We were asked to choose one meaningful intention for our life right now. (Oh man, was this hard! There was so much that I wanted to tell my rock!) Then we prayed our intentions into our rocks and tossed them far out into the tide. We were reminded to simply have faith that putting our intentions out into the universe would get the ball rolling on our heart's desires. I realize it may sound kooky to some, but at this point in my life, I'm doing what feels good to connect with my true self. And this felt good. Down on my knees in the sand, taking photos of the way the sun glimmered on the heads of the rocks good. {Mine's out there somewhere!}

A new season, I'm learning, is always a perfect time for letting go of that which no longer serves us, just as mother nature does during her yearly cycles. During my ceremony, I chose to let go of the limiting beliefs that keep me from showing up courageously in my creative life, along with unnecessary clutter that enters my mind. I chose to create a kind and peaceful place in my heart and mind to explore my creative process, free of guilt and negative self-talk. I intend to be kinder to myself and my creations.

This year, the coming of summer happened to coincide almost perfectly with the moon's perigee, the time that it is closest to the earth during it's orbit- the "Super Moon" it's been called. I think perhaps I had super-sized it a bit bigger in my mind, but it was still worth the drive to Torrey Pines State Beach to see it tonight.

With the roaring Pacific at our backs, we watched the full moon, in it's most golden glory, rise over the mountains to the east. A few attempts at photos that didn't do it justice, a hushed awe, strangers stopping to see what our group was gazing at...mere moments and the super moon had risen high enough to duck behind the clouds. I had just enough time to ask it for help in moving the tide. I stood there, picturing the sea churning my little rock, sending waves of intentions out into the universe.

I didn't know what I was in for today, but it was precisely what I needed: to reconnect with nature and my spiritual self. On the cusp of my favorite season, I needed a little ceremony to help me make the transition and honor my place on the path. A change of seasons, a full moon, a breathtaking sight, an honest intention...they all brought great energy today.

In the Wake of Things

A week after completing my 365 Days of Creative, I feel like I finally have the time and energy to process it all. I was in a coma all last Sunday, sleeping off a year's worth of diligence, a week's worth of party planning, and an afternoon of the happiest of celebrations. Then I threw myself back into my teaching work, preparing for my summer of tutoring. I spent the better part of the week out of town visiting with old friends and young creative spirits. Now I am home by myself, sitting with all these strange and sudden feelings. I knew that they would come as soon as I slowed down and got quiet. They came today when I was lying on my back, taking more photos of the lanterns...

I am the orange one...still twirling with excitement, dancing on the summer air and floating on the wake of things.

Now comes the patient reflection, the harvesting of lessons learned and the synthesizing of honest realizations. Now come the questions. How to hold on to the sweetness? How to keep the momentum going? How to stay connected to that creative spirit that saw me through such a life-affirming year?

Now comes the inevitable asking...
Now what?

Inside, I avoid the unpacking from my days away. I stare at the flowers my husband gave me in congratulations. They are beginning to wilt. I see my days beginning to fill up with things removed from my creative endeavors. How quickly I forget. How easily I lose touch. I feel an odd sense of loss, and burnout and accomplishment and urgency all at once.

I decide to give myself permission to take my time processing it all. It is all I know to do in the wake of things bigger than me.

REALM Creative Academy

I've just spent the last three days in serious play mode and I couldn't be happier. My brilliant teaching partners from my old life back in Santa Monica invited me to help out at their first week of summer camp at the R.E.A.L.M. Creative Academy. The theme for the week was "Imaginarium." We painted and crafted and constructed and read and laughed and swam in the sea and asked "What if?"

I am so uplifted by this magical learning environment, and by the community of grown-up children at heart and creative, curious and empowered kids who share their joyful spirits there. As a teacher, I am beyond inspired by the idea of Redesigning Education and Living Meaningfully.

What if we did?