Hello Magpies. Today I’m visiting Jo Crawford at Crafting the Sacred. She’s doing an insightful and well-curated series on sacred connections, focusing on everyday sacred moments. I’m pleased as punch to be guest posting on her site, where I talk about one of my right-fit spiritual practices, holiday cooking. I’ve got a blessing waiting for you there. Won’t you join us?

Your community and website focus on spirituality and crafting a belief system that nurtures YOU, just special you. Why is it so important to form such a belief system as an artist?

Curious? Click here to read my answer.

Thanks for being here today.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle
*your magpie girl

Have you met Teresa Deak of Given to Gratitude? I love her combination of being very real about the ups and downs of life, whilst still being dedicated to a practice of gratitude. Today Teresa steps Behind the Mic to share her eloquent and insightful thoughts on photography as gratitude practice. Teresa, step right up…

Gratitude as Spiritual Practice
by Teresa Deak

As I write this I hear birdsong from my backyard even though the windows are all closed. I huddle inside keeping warm with sweaters and slippers and feel grateful.

I’m grateful that I don’t have to be outside in the rain. Grateful I have a warm dry home and an abundance of sweaters and slippers.

And I’m grateful for the rain. Some of the things I love best were longing for it: flowers, trees, lakes, rivers, even us.

Still, I hope for and wish for a reprieve from the wet. Just a few minutes would do. Minutes when I could take my camera outside and capture the vibrant colour the rain has awakened in the autumn leaves. But the clouds are thick, the light dim and that reprieve will not come today.

So I return to gratitude.

This is a common theme for me, finding gratitude even in the midst of longing. And for me it is the fuel for my spiritual engine.

Easy to say, but what do I mean Gratitude, and how do I connect with her?

I take photos. Like some people go to church or pray, I take photos.

The first time I was led by her to something amazing I had a broken shoulder. While I had one arm immobile and had little I could do in the hot summer but sit and appreciate my surroundings, I one day became lost in the sea of purple that is a pansy. When I was startled from my trance by the shock of orange at its center I realized that I had been somewhere.

I felt I’d travelled to a place within and beyond, something grander than our imagining and deep at the center of everything. Words are such a clumsy means to express it. They are never quite enough, never quite right.

Shortly after that day I acquired my first digital camera. Suddenly the expression of this feeling became a lot easier. Without the weight of words to muddy the experience, I could capture something with my lens and share it with others who could feel it too. This is what I do on Photos You Feel. There are words there, too, my version of poetry. But it’s the photos, really, that carry the message.

It’s taken years of sharing, years of diving into this sensation that is so hard to name, years of blogging and connecting and losing myself in this presence, in the Infinite, over and over again for me to revisit the idea that she needs a name.

Because there is so much more to this than merely taking photos of pretty things.

There is this awareness, this seeing something beautiful in sometimes the most mundane of moments.

There is a feeling of community, of connection with something greater than me and my lens, with people who share this same journey.

There is a respect and desire for kindness to these glimpses of something eternal and mysterious.

And there is thanks. There is always thanks. I am so thankful to see what not everyone sees. I am so thankful to have this camera that can capture it, that sometimes captures something I didn’t even see in the taking. I am so thankful that I can sort through these images, melt into them again, that I can share them across the electronic universe. I am so full of thanks that others see the divine in them also.

And all of these feelings, all of these elements – the awareness and kindness, the community and the thankfulness – they are all parts of one thing that is so hard to name. But with much meditation, much thought about how they all work together, I’ve decided that this shall be called Gratitude.

And so it is. When I need to refuel, when I need to remind myself that alone is a myth, the universe is right here ready for me to tap into. When I need to breathe life into my soul again, I can dive into any part of that process. The photo taking, the sorting or the sharing, and I can fill up on Gratitude right there.

You might be getting the impression that my spiritual practice is taking and sharing photos. It’s part of it, but it’s not the core of it.

The photos are key for me, but what is key for you is whatever lets you sink down into Gratitude.

This is my practice of Gratitude. Letting myself become fully drenched in the moment, alive with thanks and awareness and community and kindness. The giving in to that feeling. The release of my white knuckle grip on the tether to everyday life and the slipping deep into her water. The practice is to become Given to Gratitude.

So for me the photos and their sharing is the ritual, the key that will almost always open my heart, but the practice is Gratitude.

Knowing this, I can practice Gratitude anytime, even without my camera, even without the gorgeous sunshine. Sinking into Gratitude can be thankfulness for any bounty, can be doing a kindness for someone, can be stopping mid-sentence to enjoy the two flickers on the neighbour’s house (which are actually there, right now, as I write this), or connecting with my soul-family.

And each of those acts, each of those moments in Gratitude, fills me. Like a well fuelled vehicle, I have what it takes to continue.

What ritual will bring you to Gratitude? What practices can you begin that will let you feel free to be drenched in her waters?

Gratitude, like Beauty, is in all things. And in small things. Can you see she is in you?

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What about you Magpie? How do you interact with Gratitude?

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our generous guest posters by making donation in their honor. Teresa has chosen to direct her donation to The Girl Effect a non-profit organization dedicated to education, health care, and justice for girls worldwide. If this article was helpful to you, please click here to make a donation. (Thanks, you.)

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With a spirit that lights up the room, and a generous heart, Teresa Deak brings Gratitude into her every action. Using a camera to explore the small things we often miss, her photographs evoke a sense of the mystery in all things. With gratitude as her guide, she shares the raw honesty of her experience with us, and encourages a place for gratitude in our own lives. Photos shared at Photos You Feel give a glimpse into that small beauty. Join Teresa at Given To Gratitude for a journey to welcome gratitude into your everyday with joy and abundance.

A Hybrid Patchwork
by Marjorie Gray

Spirit balloons me, fires my passion and compassion. I’m a child, exuberant at dawn, playful throughout the day, smiling in sleep. Books, faces, trees, the sky, lakes, streams, birds, flowers and leaves call to me. Eagerly, I read, watch, explore, discover, listen and respond. I’m also a spirited grandmother, growing daily in my capacity to drink in wisdom from all ages, from group spiritual directors, prophets, visionaries and sages. My roots are deep and growing deeper, even as new shoots sprout on old and new branches.

Sound like too much hunky-dory gobbledy-gook? Yet as I write it, just as when I write in my journal multiple times a day, someone I call Great or Holy Spirit lets me know it’s actual as well as factual. Granted it’s harder to write the sadness and anger for public view. Even in the journal, gratitude dominates (my alter-ego, clown name is JOYO). But Spirit often actively engages me through tears, rants, and hurting heart cries for HELLP (that’s how I spell it in silent yells and yelps). Yet I am certain that Holy Love blesses and guides me in marriage, family, church and community. In her wondrous, patient peace my jumbled, paradoxical dance finds joyful balance on the arc of hope.

Timely, beyond time, Spirit’s infusions are momentous and daily. Monday, on my way to a used bookstore in Baltimore, she drew me to sit on a ledge beside a woman asking for spare change. Would that I had stayed for conversation instead of only to get directions and give her a dollar. Wednesday she infiltrated our newly forming Resilience Circle at church. Thursday her vibrancy invigorated my body-soul on a trash and recycling pickup walk round Greenbelt Lake. Always available in abundance, Holy Breath comes alive in my awareness of desire, in solitude and silence, in appreciation of children and of the child in each of us.

So my spirituality is a hybrid homegrown patchwork. Seniors and kids and others who ride with me see this sign on the dashboard: 2001 Prius owned by Jesus, operated by Sister Marjorie in his service. I love driving almost as much as walking. When I’m alone in the car, the sign and the wide skies above remind me Great Spirit is human too. I’m neither female nor male then, but pure spirit powerfully embodied.

What about you Magpie? How is it your right-fit spiritual hybrid and how did you discover it?

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our generous guest posters by making donation in their honor. Marjorie has chosen to direct her donation to Dayspring Retreat Center.

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Marjorie majored in Art and English at Calvin College, and taught both subjects in elementary and middle schools. She has a Masters in Recreation from the University of Maryland and has worked in various settings with senior adults. She is the author of Mulled Words: A Word a Week from God’s Word and Mulled Psalms: Moving from I to We. She blogs at Mullstream and lives in Greenbelt Maryland.

Have you met Andi Johnson? No, she’s not one of the women pictured here. :-) But she’s carrying on their tradition — knitting! Today at Behind the Mic, Andi is telling us how knitting is her right fit spiritual practice. Andi, step right up…

The Heart & Soul of Knitting
by Andi Johnson

Knitting is an art and a craft. You need some mathematical ability. You need to have some dexterity. You need to have good eyesight. And, if you don’t knit, please, as you read this, substitute the word “crochet”, “weaving”, “woodworking”, or whatever other craft you do.

Knitting keeps me sane. As one who is ADD, I bring my knitting everywhere. It helps me focus and concentrate on the speakers and conversations. And, I suppose I knit for sanity, for stress-relief. Can you be upset when you knit, while you knit? Stressed out about events happening around you? Think about that. How connected do you feel when you knit? With your past, connecting to your present, connecting to your future. When you are thinking the stitches involved in an intricate pattern, turning a heel, or purling & knitting when you should be knitting and purling, how can you be stressed?

Last spring I read The Knitting Way by Janice MacDaniels. When I received the book, I allowed it to take me on its journey through the patterns, deepening my understanding of knitting as a spiritual practice. The spiral is on the cover of the book. I’m drawn to spirals, eternity, the circular pattern of the spiral. I had to knit the spiral. The book explains, “This spiral is a reminder that we are on a journey. As your hands work this pattern, reflect upon where you are along the
journey and be content with your progress.”

After many years’ hiatus, I picked up the needles when I became a caseworker. I brought my knitting into peoples’ homes while I sat and talked with them. If I happened to finish a hat while there, I’d hand it over to the mom, saying, “You need to take better care of yourself, and this is a start.”

A few years later, one of the women in our church began a Shawl Group. It began as a spiritual group, beginning in silence and meditation, with a reading, and just knitting for a while. The shawls would be given to parishioners who had lost someone, who needed just that bit of comfort in their lives during a tough time. And, so we continue with our shawls. Not in silence, and not always together after the service– sometimes in our homes, out in public, and usually in church. I think the connections we make in church through our knitting, whether we knit in a group, or in our homes, make us stronger, and build a better community through sharing skills, patterns and yarns.

We recognize the need for someone to take care of themselves with the finished project as we pass it on. In that way, we connect our spirituality in the work we do.

The colors and textures can be luscious. I’m reminded of sunrises, sunsets, mountains, rocks, flower gardens, oceans…I love perusing yarn shops. When I pick up a skein of yarn, I am awed that I can turn this beautiful yarn into something wearable, something usable, and something beautiful. My heart flutters a little.

When I mentioned to someone about writing about knitting, they said to be sure to tell you that mistakes are okay. We learn from them. They can be corrected, but they don’t always need to be corrected. They can make our finished pieces interesting and creative. And, isn’t that the way life is. Is there anyone here who does not make mistakes?

When you knit, you pick up from the last stitch you knit, connecting the yarn, row to row. And, on and on it goes. You connect the loops. Stories are told, occasions are celebrated and recognized. You are carrying on a tradition that is hundreds of years old. It is a craft passed down from generation to generation, within families, among friends. Connections: yarns to yarns. Connections: women to women, and, even between the sexes. Connections: community.

What about you Magpie? How is it you connect your heart and soul to community?

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our generous guest posters by making donation in their honor. Andi has chosen to direct her donation to Lumunos, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people find their calling. If this article was helpful to you, please click here to make a donation. (Thanks, you.)

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Andi Johnson is the Community Manager and Administrative Assistant for Lumunos.  (www.lumunos.org)  She has previously
worked in human services and hospital financial accounting and patient accounts.  She is active in politics, her Unitarian Universalist Church (www.kuuc.org), and sings with Animaterra Women’s Chorus. (www.animaterrasings.org)  She lives in Marlborough, NH with her 2 cats and a large stash of yarns.

Have you met Jennifer Luitwieler? Jennifer is the maker of my fabulous personalized napkins, and in her own words she’s also “an award winning author, a speaker and a woman who chooses to run with her dog. She is the wife of one hooligan, and mother of three school aged ruffians. She shares a house with two cats and The Dog. She lives in Tulsa, OK but will always love her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. Her love for sports, especially the Steelers, knows no bounds. She regularly writes for regional and online publications and has contributed to The Practice Of Love (Civitas, 2011).’

Today Jennifer is behind the mic, talking with us about one of her right-fit spiritual practice, Running. Even if you aren’t a runner, you’ll love her musings on how she discovered her own beautiful worth through a practice of gentle solitude. Jennifer, step right up…

Running as a Right-Fit Spiritual Practice
Jennifer Luitwieler
author of Run With Me: An Accidental Runner and the Power of Poo

Some people, and I know who you are because I used to be one of you, might scoff at the idea of physical exercise being also a spiritual one. But I drank the kool-aid; a whole bucket of the stuff and I have to say: running is spiritual.

The first thing I want anyone to know, whether I’m just meeting you today through our mutual friend, Rachelle, or if I’ve known you for ever and a day, it’s this: running is not a right-fit spiritual (or otherwise) practice for everyone. This series is wisely given the caveat “right-fit,” because there is no one formula for all people. Running as a spiritual practice works for me. Yoga or weaving or shaving soap into bear figurines works for others. It fits my life; it fits my needs. I came to running against my will: I began to run because I needed an efficient way to train The Dog to stop using my sewing studio as his personal toilet. It was a means to an end, but not for house training The Dog. What I found, after a time of running, wheezing and in pain, through a summer of short distances, was that running held something for me I had yet to discover anywhere else.

I found solitude. Because I often run alone, I have 30 minutes to more than an hour every time I hit the road all to myself. All. To. Myself. I can not over state the value of this solitary and totally self-dependent time. Each solo run gives me something, even tiny things like a menu plan for the week. Sometimes it’s much bigger, the gift I get from these moments. I found resolution for issues with our kids while running. I solved the ending of a problematic chapter of my book. I know I’ve heard the quiet voice of a loving God in the wind, felt it in the sun and rain, gloried through the shifting seasons and each new challenge they brought to my running. Solitude, in itself, seems imperative in spiritual pursuits. But first, I had to learn to be comfortable with the solitude.

Comfort in quiet is a challenge for many of us, whether we have hordes of children or a demanding job or financial worries, or all of these things. Our world makes it easy to hide from an interior monologue, and even easier to avoid any kind of spiritual dialogue. Music in my ears only added to the sounds I could attend so I would not have to think about my stuff. After miles and miles, after leaving The Dog at home, I finally hit that place. That perfectly comfortable place where I understood the value of quiet. When I finally got quiet, I could hear. And I heard this: “You have value. You have worth. You are beautiful. You are smart. I love you.”

I fought the quiet because I didn’t want to hear that. I didn’t want to be told of my value when I could offer cold hard facts to the contrary. I wanted to deflect a message that so few people really understand. After the fighting, when I could hear, I believed. I believed, for the first time in 40 years, in my own worth.  There is something incredibly empowering about a belief grasped tightly in one’s heart. When I knew that truth the way I knew that I have ten fingers, I became virtually invincible. Suddenly instead of trying to keep quiet out of fear of being misunderstood, I found that I could speak, be understood and share something of value. I found that instead of being judged for my ideas, I’m being asked to continue to talk about them. You have value, too. You are beautiful and worthwhile. You have something to say in a voice that is uniquely yours.

So you see, my voice found me when I shut up long enough to know what it really had to say. The world crashes in; it demands my time and energy. It wants to dictate my choices and increase my insecurity, because in that way, it will continue to convince me to buy what I don’t need and to live a life I do not want. So I keep running, because I forget and because sometimes those things the world offers seems to pretty and shiny. I remember, when I’m running, to turn off the noise, to be quiet in my mind, to listen.

You can smirk and call it an endorphin rush, and sure, there is that. But it’s deeper. It doesn’t wear off over time. I want to go back again and again to empty, refill, renew. To breathe in and out, to push myself aside, to let more true words hit their target in my heart.

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our generous guest posters by making donation in their honor. Jennifer has chosen to direct her donation to Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income households build their own homes. If this article was helpful to you, please click here to make a donation. (Thanks, you.)

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What about you Magpie? Have you adopted a new spiritual practice lately? How did you find it? (Or how did it find you?) What are you learning? (Do tell!)

Have you met Jesica Davis of SurfPrayLove? Jes and I met at Blogher ’11 in the Faith Blogger’s forum. In the group of about 20 women, we were the only bloggers who weren’t involved in institutionalized forms of faith. Jes has a bright smile and an open demeanor, and I think there was something more about her spirit that made every woman in there not only want to talk to her, but to touch her. I watched as person after person approached her and put a hand on her shoulder, or touched a finger tip to her arm. I’m pleased as punch that such an appealing spirit is with us today. Jes is getting behind the mic to talk to us about one of her right-fit spiritual practices: surfing. Jess, step right up….

Surfing as Spiritual Practice
with Jesica Davis of Surf Pray Love

My introduction to formal spiritual practice came when, almost twenty five years ago, a friend introduced me to Buddhist chanting. Raised in an open-minded but non-religious family, I was intrigued and (somewhat) disciplined about it, but I was a freshman in college and other pursuits soon took its place.

Nevertheless, the spiritual path continued to call and, in the ensuing decades, I delved into a variety of traditions. I practiced contemplative reading, meditation, Afro-Cuban dance and yoga. I prayed in Native American sweat lodges, did extensive dream work and experienced shamanic journeys.   I also spent over a decade applying (and helping others to apply) the principles of personal transformation as taught by Landmark Education.

And through it all, I was drawn to the ocean.

Almost a year and a half ago I was at a spiritual crossroads. I was about to complete coaching a workshop at Landmark Education and Lawrie, my beloved dreaming and shamanism mentor, was moving to Pennsylvania.  Still an avid yoga practitioner and an irregular meditator, the question that most concerned me was: what’s next? When Lawrie recommended that I let spirit be my guide, I knew what I had to do.  I had been dreaming about surfing and surfers for a year, so I went with it.

I bought a board and a wetsuit.

With only a few lessons under my belt and only the occasional buddy to point me in the right direction, I began to surf. I’d listened to the wisdom and experience of others for years, but this time around, I had a strong feeling that the ocean would be my teacher – and I have not been disappointed.

So what have I learned through my experiences surfing and why is surfing the right spiritual practice for me now?

• Surfing is a confrontation with unquestionable truths. A wave is a wave. The water is the water. I fall down. I stand up. I fall down again. My opinion does not matter. What’s so is so, regardless of how I feel about it. There’s no room for argument. My teacher is always right.

• Surfing takes me outside the mind and aligns my physical actions with something larger than myself. Meditation is powerful, but can easily become an escape for someone like me who is naturally drawn inwards. Surfing forces me to direct my attention to the interface between my body and the world.  It brings me down to earth.

• Like the I-Ching, the ocean is a book of change. Whether it is stormy and grey-green, or calm and crystalline, it remains true to itself.  I may get mad at my children or my husband for being inconsistent, but the ocean teaches that I am responsible for my own expectations. I cannot expect the water, or my family, or the world, to be a certain way.  I can only be responsible for my response to how it is.
• Though surfing is not easy, it’s fun. Even if I catch nothing – and many times this has been the case – I have a good time. That’s what keeps me coming back to the beach. In this way I’ve learned that passion and joy are the gifts we are given to fuel us when pursuing lives of purpose.

Ultimately, through surfing I have discovered that I am a different self when I am in the water – a self that my ego/identity, aka my “dry land self,” cannot comprehend. Week after week, my “dry land self” would just as rather not surf, thank you very much because, out in the water, it’s not running the show.

There was a time when I was afraid to be at the beach too long because I feared that I would mellow out too much and lose my drive and ambition.  Then one day I realized that maybe what I really feared was happiness. It was then that I began to risk the possibility of letting go of old dreams in favor of something which did not yet exist and which I could not identify.

In taking on surfing as my spiritual practice, that “something” has begun to shape my life in a far deeper, more satisfying way than drive and ambition ever did.

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Jesica Davis is a graduate of The University of Chicago Divinity School, a tarot card reader and the mother of two. A year of intensive dream work and her studies at Landmark Education resulted in her exploration of surfing as the ideal spiritual and transformational practice for her. You can read more of her observations and insights regarding surfing, spirituality and family life at SurfPrayLove.

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our brilliant guest posters by making donation in their honor. Jes has chosen to direct her donation to the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting our oceans. If this article was helpful to you, please click here. (Thanks, you.)

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What about you Magpie? Have you adopted a new spiritual practice lately? How did you find it? (Or how did it find you?) What are you learning? (Do tell!)

Have you met Danielle Krysa? I fell for her immediately upon stubling on her blog, The Jealous Curator. Jealousy is one of my ongoing gremlin challenges, and art is my first love. So of course, I was drawn to the confligration of the two on Danielle’s blog. Today in our on-going interview series, Danielle muses for us arond the question: How did you turn jealousy into a super power? Danielle, step right up…..

I love that question. It makes me laugh, or more correctly, it makes me happy. When I started my blog 2.5 years ago, I never would have believed that the soul-crushing, creativity-halting jealousy that I felt toward so much of the amazing contemporary artwork out there could be turned around–but it has. Phew. What a relief – that kind of awful jealousy was exhausting!

Let me step back for a second and explain how I found that relief. As an artist myself, whenever I came across work that I truly loved, I had a 50/50 reaction. The first feeling was always a rush of uplifting inspiration–the kind that made me want to run out, buy ten new canvases, and become the next great artist of my generation. Unfortunately, that feeling only lasted for a few minutes and was almost always quickly replaced with an overwhelming sense of doom. The thought process went a little something like this:

“Gasp! This is amazing, and simple, and I love it! Damn, I wish I thought of it. Well, maybe I could do work like this? Maybe? No? Oh, who am I kidding, there’s no way I could ever be this good.”

See? Exhausting.

I rarely ever made it to the art store to pick up those brand new canvases that were meant to display my life-changing masterpieces. I finally just got so sick of feeling like this, that one day, I think it was a Saturday, I decided to take the power back. Instead of bookmarking these artists, and clicking through their work late at night on my laptop, I decided to celebrate them. Why? Well someone told me, somewhere along the way, that when jealousy is kept inside it becomes toxic, and can poison you from the inside out–but when you actually say it out loud, in a positive way, jealousy magically transforms into admiration. That person was right – 100% right! I started writing every few days, whenever I found an artist’s work that I truly loved. Just a paragraph or two with my gut reaction to the work. I throw a lot of “sighs” and “oh my words” and “sweet jiminys” into my posts because, well, that’s truly what’s happening in my head. I write what I think. Within a few months, I was writing about one artist every day, and before I knew it, people were actually reading! It turns out that a lot of people feel exactly the same way that I do. Who knew?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have “Damn I wish I thought of that” pop into my head all of the time, but now it’s a good thing–it means I have tomorrow’s post! I’ve also realized through being a “jealous curator”, that there is room out there for all of us. I see so much artwork every single day –some I like, some that’s not my taste, but it’s out there. It’s in galleries, in people’s homes, in magazines, and in books. I always knew that art was a subjective thing, but it’s really, really true! Now I know that there have to be people somewhere in the world that will like my work too. But, honestly, the best thing to come out of this entire experience? I finally like my own work. That’s the biggest relief of all.

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Danielle has a BFA in Visual Arts, and a post-grad in Design. In 2009, after years of looking at beautiful contemporary art and thinking “Damn, I wish I thought of that”, she finally decided to say it out loud, and just like that, The Jealous Curator was born! Her curation went from the blogosphere to actual gallery walls in 2011 with shows opening in Washington DC, and Vancouver. She is currently planning two new shows for 2012, a series of art workshops, and is thrilled to be speaking at Alt Summit in Salt Lake City for the second year in a row.

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What about you Magpies? What (or who) are you jealous of? How might you turn that jealous into a super power?

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Thanks.Giving. Here at Magpie Girl, we say “thank-you” to our brilliant guest posters by making donation in their honor. Danielle has chosen to direct her donation to RX Art, a non-profit organization dedicated to placing original fine art in patient, procedure and examination rooms of healthcare facilities. If this article was helpful to you, please click here to donate $5 to RX Art. (Thanks, you.)

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You Might Also Like:

Turning Envy Into Inspiration by Jennifer McGuggian of The Word Cellar

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Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE is the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery offering a variety of online classes and other resources to integrate contemplative practice and creative expression.

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Monk on the Mat
by Christine Valters Paintner

I believe that each of us has an inner monk.  The monk archetype exists across cultures and traditions and is that aspect of our inner life which longs for depth, sees the sacred in the most ordinary of acts, and experiences all of life as a window onto a holy shimmering presence.  The monk strives to live contemplatively in a frenetic world, to be fully present to her or his own experience, and savors rather than consumes.

Eight years ago, after many years of falling more and more in love with monastic spirituality I took the step of becoming a Benedictine oblate.  St. Benedict was a 5^th century monk whose Rule was known for being supremely wise and balanced and has persisted through time.  As an oblate, I live in the everyday world, in an apartment in the heart of Seattle with my husband and my dog.  I try to let my inner monk guide me through the daily tasks of shopping for groceries, balancing our finances, going on dates with my husband, and dealing with the stresses and demands of modern life.  I do this to varying degrees of success.

I am also a yogini.  I first learned the practice of yoga as a child.  My aunt introduced me to it and it was one of the few physical practices where I felt at home.  As an adult I have deepened into yoga, both as physical practice, but also as a profoundly wise philosophy and way of life.

One of the things I love about yoga is how parallel its principles are to the Christian principles of monasticism which sustain my spirit.  I learn through yoga philosophy how to be fully present to my experience in this moment of time with compassion.  I encounter exactly the same invitation in the wisdom of early desert monks who taught how to stay with our experience and not run from ourselves.  When I practice yoga I become a better monk.  When I practice my monastic side, I become a better yogi.

Yoga teaches about satya, being with the truth of this moment.  About santosha, finding contentment within this truth.  About tapas, stoking my inner fire to stay with my experience, to stay with the practice.  My monastic tradition also teaches me to open my eyes to reality as it is, not how my ego wants it to be.  It teaches me to practice being content, accepting the fullness of this moment.  It encourages me to practice discipline and welcoming in difficult or painful feelings I often want to run away from. By staying with these wisdom paths the invitation is to enter more fully into places of grief, transition, letting go.

Both being a monk and being a yogi for me are about meeting life in an open-hearted way and being fully present to my own experience with compassion and curiosity.  There is really little difference for me between my life on the mat and off in terms of how I approach the world.

I am a Monk.  I am a Yogini.  I have sometimes wanted to call myself a “monk-ini” but that sounds a little too much like an umbrella drink.   I am a Monk on the Mat, a Monk in the World.

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What about you Magpies? Do you practice from two different traditions? How do they compliment one another? We’d love to hear from you “because there ain’t no place to go, but together.” Comment by Sept 5th, and be entered to win two of Christine’s beautiful books!

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Ready to pay it forward? Did this post help you? Join Magpie Girl in making a donation to Christine’s charity of choice –  Samarya Center in Seattle, WA, a non-profit yoga center. Thanks so much!

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Relig-ish is a new series dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U.  Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts. Thanks for  being here today! (*your magpie girl)

Step right up Michelle!

As a yoga teacher, I offer people the opportunity to practice compassion, curiosity and acceptance (disguised as yoga poses). I am also the Fairy Princess (it’s a long story) of It’s All Yoga – a sweet, unassuming yoga studio in Sacramento, California. I write at Blogasana and am launching a site about savoring the quiet moments called Love Wasting Time.  I love my husband, stepdaughter and my horse. It’s a full and blessed life.

My Spiritual Hybrid
by Michelle Marlahan

Little known fact: I left my husband six months after our wedding.

We’d been together almost four years. I didn’t learn something alarming about him after the wedding, nor did he change into a completely different person. Nope, I left because of something I read in a yoga book.

Let’s back up. I started doing yoga in 1996. It was offered through the wellness program at my work as an exercise class. I loved it instantly.

I went to church “on the side.” Coming from a Catholic upbringing, church was a way to stay grounded after leaving my small and isolated hometown even though I didn’t subscribe to every belief of the religion.

Life felt very compartmentalized. I had a job, relationships, church, self care – and no connection among those things.

Little by little I got the sense that there was more to this “yoga” thing than the teacher let on. Eventually I went to other yoga classes and did reading and research on my own. I learned about the spiritual side, the moral guidelines called Yamas and Niyamas and the practices of pranayama (breathing) and meditation. While the language and ideas were new and mysterious, something about it felt very much like home. It brought many of those separate pieces of me together, into wholeness.

In 2001 I did a yoga teacher training, and in 2002 I got married.

After the wedding I dove into yoga philosophy even more deeply. I remember sitting in my favorite chair and reading the following excerpt from Alistair Shearer’s The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

“Society reaches a stage where property confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond of union between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of enjoyment, and outer trappings are mistaken for inner religion.”

For some reason – on that day, in that chair – I decided that I could not be a Yogi while living the life I was. I was ready to ditch it all – the paycheck, the mortgage, the car… the husband.

My husband did not do yoga. He was not a vegetarian. He did not go to church. He did not like lima beans. I could come up with a hundred things we do not have in common.

I could also come up with many things we do have in common: core values, humor, love of animals, the joy of sitting on the couch holding hands.

But you find what you look for, and I was looking for an out. I was scared and confused – marriage was the real deal and I didn’t have many great role models in my life (you’re lucky if you do).

Aren’t we supposed to have everything in common? Shouldn’t it be easy if you love the person? These were daunting questions and in my search for answers my view became very narrow, very black and white.

That was almost ten years ago. We are still married. I did a decade of growing up in our year apart and learned that life is perfectly imperfect, subject to interpretation and full of contradiction.

One line in one book does not fit all people the same way (just like one instruction for a yoga pose does not fit all bodies). It is possible to be a “modern yogi,” adapting wisdom from thousands of years ago to this life where I have a job, a house, a car… a spouse.

Having a “container” for spiritual practice – a lineage, a path, a group, a dogma – is wonderful. It can provide guidance, structure and a sense of belonging. And… it can be limiting, forceful and exclusionary.

My “spiritual-hybrid” is very much in line with the advice from the Buddha: Don’t believe what anyone tells you, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own knowledge and experience.

Now when I read or hear something new I let it go in one ear and halfway out the other. I let it hover, a suspended question mark. I notice the sensations in my body as I consider the idea. I write about it. Practice yoga with it. Talk to a friend or therapist. Sometimes I postpone a conclusion. And I always reserve the right to change my mind.

My life path does not follow the lines of a rule book. My hybrid way is messy, it takes more time and attention, it’s sometimes unclear and uncomfortable. There’s vulnerability in the discovery process and I have to take responsibility for my choices. This approach feels real and alive to me.

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Ready to pay it forward? Michelle supports Heartsent Adoption Agency (in honor of her friend Tami who is adoptions a child from Taiwan).   As a thank you for her post today, Magpie Girl has donated $25 in her honor.  Did this post help you?  Consider donating.

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What about you Magpies? How do you stay flexible around opinions or new ideas? How do you find middle ground between contracted and collapsed? I practice yoga with a new idea, or I journal about it. What do you do?

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Relig-ish is a new series at Flock dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts.

Thanks for being here today.
Much Warmth, Rachelle

Step right up Jennifer!

Jennifer (Jenna) McGuiggan is a writer, editor, and writing coach who works with creative souls and organizations with heart. To celebrate women in creative community, she published Lanterns: A Gathering of Stories. She also teaches Alchemy, a series of online writing workshops. Visit Jenna in The Word Cellar.

The Awkward Phase
by Jennifer McGuiggan

My husband recently compared my current state of spirituality to a haircut.

“You’re in that awkward ‘growing-out’ phase,” he said.

He’s right. My spiritual-hybrid is unruly, neither fully one thing nor another. I’ve left behind the close-cropped, predictable style that I adopted as a teenager. My theology, once so neatly defined by evangelical Christian doctrine, has grown looser. Those tendrils of doubt that I used to tuck behind my ear or pin up securely with a barrette have now worked their way out of confinement. They blow in the breeze and tickle my face. I can’t choose between letting my hair fly wild in the wind and pulling it back into a ponytail. The first approach feels daring – and dangerous. The second feels stifling – which is its own kind of danger.

I used to believe a lot of very specific things about God and salvation. Now I only know one thing: I still believe in God. Other than that, I live in the questions. I’ve been in this “growing-out” phase for several years now. In the beginning, I really thought there was a resolution to be found. I thought I would find a new concrete theology to replace my old one. If only I could think or pray hard enough, I I would find an answer. But now I’m beginning to suspect that there is no “there” there, as the saying goes. Maybe there is no destination when it comes to belief, only the journey.

I have to say: I’m not very comfortable with that idea. And yet, I sense a sort of freedom in it. If I don’t have to “figure it all out” and can just live…well, wouldn’t that be a beautiful journey?

So I wander through this land of questions. What first felt like a desert is now rich with signs of life.

To find my way, I pray. I write. I breathe in the scent of freshly mown grass or the salt brine of the sea and feel blessed. I practice kindness, honor beauty, and believe in a loving Creator even if I don’t know what to call that Being. I seek. I question. I wonder.

In the best moments, when the questions and the journey and the fly-away strands are enough, I feel less like I’m growing-out, and more like I’m growing-into something.

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Ready to pay it forward? Jennifer supports Girls Write Now, an organization that provides mentoring for young female writers.  As a thank you for her post today, Magpie Girl has donated $25 in her honor. Did this post help you? Consider donating.

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What about you Magpies? What is your spiritual hybrid?  What questions do you live in? Tell us in the comments below.

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Relig-ish is a new series at Flock dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts.

Thanks for being here today.
Much Warmth, Rachelle

Michelle Currie is founder of Meditative Arts, a creativity and wellness program. She uses African drumming and mindfulness to help ambitious women lead balanced and empowered lives.

This font fanatic can also be found at Creative Cove, where she designs fresh websites and ebooks for wellness solopreneurs and small businesses.

Michelle, step right up!

My Right-Fit Spiritual Practice
by Michelle Currie

How I define a spiritual practice?

I define a spiritual practice as something that connects my spirit with the spirit of others and nature/the universe/divine. I believe this connection exists for all of us, no matter who you are or what you do.

A spiritual practice reminds us of this connection and strengthens it. It also shows us—just as water does—that there’s a part of you in each person, bird, cloud, and star.

My favourite right-fit spiritual practice

Some choose dance or writing as a spiritual practice. Others do yoga or live in ashrams.

I feel the most spiritually attuned while drumming and meditating. I then share my joy with others, so that the energy spreads outwards.

My favourite right-fit spiritual practice is transformative. It affects how I move through and view the world. It presents a deeper meaning to situations when I open myself up and listen to what’s being revealed.

It aligns me physically and emotionally. When these parts of myself are in harmony with one another, I feel my self-others-universe connection the most.

It’s multifaceted. I feel connected through drumming and meditation but also experience the same level of connectedness when practicing reiki or walking among trees.

It enlivens me. Most of the time, my spiritual practice fills me with joy, with spirit. It shakes up stagnant energy and lets me know when I’m on the right track.

What to do with the mushy parts

I think that a common misconception is that a spiritual practice will be filled with nothing but goodness and ease. It’s almost like assuming that every apple you eat will be sweet. The reality is that not all apples are sweet, and you’ll sometimes bite into mushy parts.

In other words, a spiritual practice will sometimes require you to make difficult decisions, especially letting go of people and things that are no longer healthy.

Once you give yourself some space, however, a spiritual practice will not only provide you with ways to overcome these barriers but also fills you with the belief that things will work out.

How to find your right-fit spiritual practice

Finding a spiritual practice that fits you can take months, years even. No matter how long the process is, the key is to remain open.

Try and think of it as a marathon instead of a sprint. Let go of your expectations.

Try to be mindful of how each practice makes you feel emotionally, physically, and energetically. Try also to be mindful of your experiences along the way. It’ll be just as important to look back and see just how far you’ve traveled.

Be honest, be playful, be you.

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Ready to pay it forward? Michelle supports the Nzirambi Education Fund, an organization in Uganda that helps young people access secondary education.  As a thank you for her post today, Magpie Girl has donated $25 in her honor.  Did this post help you?  Consider donating.

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What about you Magpies? Why is your spiritual hybrid?  How do you cultivate honesty in your life?  Is your right-fit spiritual practice playful?   Tell us in the comments below.

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Relig-ish is a new series at Magpie Girl dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts, and join the mailing list for additional musings on this (re)construction project.

Thanks for being here today.
Much Warmth, Rachelle

Kyeli Smith, step right up!

“I help idealists who long to change the world find a path with heart.  I’m a writer, a witch, a lesbian, and an unschooling mom. I also sing in the shower, wear fantastic stripy socks, and believe in faeries. ” Connect with Kyeli on her website , Facebook and Twitter.

I Am a Spiritual Nomad
by Kyeli Smith

I’ve cast about the spiritual world, meandering from place to place, always seeking.  I left the Christian church when I was just a teenager – and never looked back.  I didn’t fit in there, wasn’t for me.

But the world outside the church is vast.  Bigger than I ever imagined.

I’ve dabbled in many religious, and I eventually decided that religion is too structured for me – I’m too fluid, too much of an edge walker to adhere to rules and regulations.  I need to be free to move about, to pick and choose what feels right and ditch what doesn’t.  It took me a long time to come to terms with never finding the Perfect Fit, One-Size-Finally-Fits-Me religion, but peace I have made, and peace I have found.

I’ve tried black magick (don’t recommend that), voodoo (extremely powerful, not so great for kids).  I’ve been saved, thrice: once as a baby, once at a revival (oh, the story there!), and once in a Baptist dunk-tank (that’s an experience, woo).  I’ve been damned.  I’ve been kicked out of Sunday school on more than one occasion.  I’ve been lost and found, tumultuous and tame.  I’ve had no faith and I’ve been so full of faith I walked on air.  I’ve had long conversations with Mormons, I’ve been accosted by zealots, I’ve had lunch with a nun, and my business coach is also a Sufi master.

So where does that leave me?

I am a Witch.  (I didn’t choose that, I was chosen.)  When I was just starting to maybe, possibly step away from the church of my childhood I had a vision.  I was sitting on the couch, surrounded by books and papers, listening to music, doing homework.  The vision hit me so hard I almost fell over – suddenly, I left the comforts of my living room and was in a forest.

The trees were tall and ancient.  I could hear the ocean roaring in the distance.  There was a woman sitting on a log, long red curls tangling about her as she looked up at me.  Into me.  She reached out her hand and I took it, and she smelled of earth and sea and love, and her eyes were infinite and so full of love and magick it nearly broke me to meet her gaze.  And she called me her child, her daughter, and she smiled at me, and I was hers forever.

And I woke up on the couch, and I knew I was a Witch, and I knew, no matter what else, that I would never look back.

And I never have.

I see faeries.  I have spirit guides – a dragon and a unicorn, both of whom are proud, fierce, and kick my ass when it needs kicking.  I do Remembrance (a form of meditation), I cast spells, and I’m learning herbology so I can be the old witch in the woods who gives you weird and smelly potions that really work even though you think they won’t.  I help the dead find the light so they can go Home.

And everywhere I go, I sing to the Goddess and I stop to smell her flowers and I meet the gaze of everyone I meet, because we are all Goddesses and Gods on the inside.

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Ready to pay-it-forward? Kyeli supports 50 for 50, a Kickstarter project with the goal of raising $50,000 in 50 days for Writegirl, a non-profit that empowers young women through classes in writing and communication.  In addition Writegirl helps send these girls to college.  As a thank you to Kyeli for her post Rachelle has donated to 50 for 50 in her honor.  Did this post help you?  Consider making a donation.

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What about you Magpies? Why is your spiritual hybrid?  How did you decide to break the mold and find something that fits?  Tell us in the comments below.

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Relig-ish is a new series at Magpie Girl dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts, and join the mailing list for additional musings on this (re)construction project.

Thanks for being here today.
Much Warmth, Rachelle

Andrea Briggs is a designer & teacher of mindful living and the sole creator of Inside Thread, an online portal for conscious living. A yoga + meditation teacher for over 5 years, Andrea’s loving nature and ecological background gives her the edge to teach others how to live, love and serve with abundance.

Rooted in Nature + Blossomed in Love
by Andrea Briggs

What could be more creative, rooted, and authentic than knowing you are connected to everything else on the planet?

My spiritual practices began as a young child when a close knit relationship with the ocean stirred my desire to explore my place within the environment. My loving parents gave my brother, sister and I endless play on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico where my earliest memories had me synced with the vibrations of my living space. At a young age, I realized how all actions where intimately tied into everything thing else. I was a caretaker of this pristine circle of life around me.

This awareness and connection with the environment laid the foundation for what would lead me through my adult years as a I began to formulate my own true authentic spiritual practices.

Like a multifaceted gem my approach to spiritual practices shined in multitudes of directions and encompassed all aspects of daily living.

Now I believe the root of this practice is global oneness. With the Western Society’s emphasis on individualism, independence, and even alienation, the idea of oneness seems far off but this understanding is key how all actions contribute to the whole.

I realized my “oneness” was amplified when I practiced these ideas…

• release + reduce + renew. By reducing my personal belongings to only what I really love and necessary, I freed myself of excessive wanting and gained new appreciation for what I have realizing that my possessions are tools to help me serve others.
  less distraction + greater love
• consume mindfully When I do buy something, I buy items made well with lasting qualities and are thoughtfully made with respectful to the environment.
• know my place in the environment Everything I eat & buy affects the environment. Therefore, I see my place as on this earth as a single cell and the health of myself affects that of all others around me.
• be of service Teaching others how to live more consciously in the world is how I am of service to others. I employ my background in Classical Hatha Raja Yoga and ecology to help others become less stressed and more conscious of their daily habits.

From this, I constructed a diagram I call the tree of “truth” which models my way of spiritual practice.

• The roots: this is the connection, the roots represent the interconnection of life. Ultimately we are connected to every thing on this planet.
• The trunk: knowledge, the position we take as individuals that builds our awareness and framework. We use the energy of our connection to nurture our growth.
• Strong + stable + bendable nature. Like the inside rings of a tree trunk, each year we grow deeper in awareness + practice + love.
• The branches are the practices. Each branch is a different way to express, a different tool to feel, another way to view and learn. One branch may serve, the other yogic asana, another meditation…relaxation…writing any way which allows to serve one another based in the roots of interconnection.
• The leaves form the love that is given from the practice. Practice in action. Love in action. Serve in action.
• The fruit is the loved shared.

Day to day my spiritual practices lie within every moment. It keeps me rooted to the whole of the planet and helps me see everyone as my spiritual guide. I believe in order to be useful to others we must individual seek our true nature by employing all the facets of living. Through true kindness, gratitude, love, devotion, wisdom and forgiveness we can benefit all living beings including ourselves.

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Ready to pay-it-forward? Andrea supports Greyhound Pets of America, an organization that rescues and cares for racing dogs all across America. On behalf of Andrea, Rachelle has donated $20. Did this piece help you? Please consider making a donation.

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What about you Magpies? How do you stay connected to the earth? What are you rooted in? What is your right-fit spiritual practice? Tell us in the comments below.

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Relig-ish is a new series at Magpie Girl dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts, and join the mailing list for additional musings on this (re)construction project.

Thanks for being here today.
Much Warmth, Rachelle

Journalist and traveler Prime Sarmiento helps women craft their own journeys. She blogs at The Gypsygals, where she offers inspiring stories and practical advice to solo female travelers. You can follow her at Twitter or join her growing community of solo female travelers in Facebook

Conversation with a Goddess
by Prime Sarmiento

Here are some of the things that have to be in my backpack whenever I travel – hypoallergenic soap, first aid kit, cash, passport, travel journal and my deck of Goddess oracle cards.  Most of those items I need to survive as I travel in an unfamiliar place. But my journal and my oracle cards  – I need them to go through my inner journeys.

I find it a bit ironic that the Goddess cards will become part of my daily spiritual practice. In my angst-filled 20s, I spent a lot of time and money consulting psychics, asking them to use their Tarot cards to tell me how to find a career and/or a relationship that will make me happy.  I was thinking that if I can see the future, I will have a way of controlling its outcome and give me the happy ending that I was seeking for: a fulfilling job, a kind husband, love, security.

Years later, as I traveled and went through my own spiritual journey, after I read numerous spiritual books and consulted various teachers, I learned to let go. In the process, I also discovered my deep connection with the Goddess Isis – and longed to communicate with her. That’s how I ended up buying a deck of Goddess cards.   And this time, I’m not interested in knowing my future.

Raised in a devout Catholic household where I used a rosary and a novena to pray – to “talk” to the Virgin Mary and the myriad of Catholic saints -  I needed to hold on to some revered object to communicate with someone higher than me.

That’s how I view my Goddess cards – some kind of device to communicate with the Goddess Isis (and the many Goddesses that represent the universe’s energy).  I like touching each card, looking at the colored portraits of Goddesses – Isis, Freyja, Lakshmi, Brigit.

Every day, usually in the mornings before I go to work, I sit in front of my altar, close my eyes, breathe deeply and ask the Goddess Isis to help me to fulfill my mission as Her priestess in this lifetime. After a few minutes of silence, I will get my cards, meditate while shuffling them, and ask the Goddesses for guidance for the day. Sometimes, when there’s a pressing problem in my mind, I ask for help in solving it.   Or if I’m really happy because of small blessings that I received, I used that meditation time to send my thanksgiving.

Once I’m finished shuffling the cards, I lay them out in the table, cut them, pick the topmost card and read the message in the chosen card. I will ponder on the card’s message, and if I have time, I write my reflections in my journal and let that message, the energy of the card, be my guide for the day.

There are times that I feel that these cards aren’t enough. That I need to visit a temple somewhere to be closer to Her.  Oh, how I sometimes I envy my mom or my sister who can just drop by any Catholic church to hear mass and pray their rosary. In my case, the only way for me to go to a Goddess temple is to travel to Egypt, where Isis temple resides in the island of Philae.  There are also no Goddess spirituality groups here in manila, so I don’t even have a support group. Finding The Flock online is for me a beautiful coincidence that must have been facilitated by the Goddess Isis.

I have yet to visit Egypt as I’m still saving money for what is perhaps the biggest trip of my life.  In the meantime, I will divine on my cards and let the Goddess Oracle cards take me to journeys within my soul.

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What about you Magpies? Do you use Oracle cards or have a Goddess practice?  What is your right-fit spiritual practice?

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Ready to pay it forward? Prime has chosen to support Jenn, the Magpie assistant, and her trip to India this summer.  Jenn, an International Development major, is traveling with a group of medical professionals to rural Rajasthan, India for two weeks. She’s raising money for the trip through her blog The Freelance, Unconventional Nun and you can read more in her Magpie Interview.  As a thank-you for Prime’s post today Magpie Girl has made a donation in her honor.  Did this piece help you? Please consider making a donation.

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Relig-ish is a new series at Magpie Girl dedicated to exploring a new kind of faith — one that suites Y.O.U. Come along with us as we help each other find a spirituality that fits. Click here to read all the Relig-ish posts, and join the mailing list for additional musings on this (re)construction project. Thanks for being here today. Much Warmth, Rachelle

Christine Claire Reed is a dancer, an intuitive healing dance educator, and a writer at blisschick.net She returned to dance at the age of 40 and has been experimenting with her body ever since. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and her website.

SoulCare: Caring for the Soul through the Body
by Christine Reed

In some Celtic traditions, they describe the soul as residing outside the body rather than in.  They say we are walking around inside the soul.  I love the imagery this evokes, and it also matches Eastern beliefs about our aura extending out from the physical body.  (There is so much cross-over and exchange between the East and the Celts, but that is for another time.)

When I am leading intuitive healing dance, I emphasize the body as the gate to the spirit and teach that the breath is the key that opens that gate.  These three elements are inextricably bound together; we cannot separate them and if we try, dis-ease (of mind, body, and/or spirit) is the result.

For instance, it is a fallacy to believe that it is possible — or even a “right” goal — to ever transcend the body. We are manifested physically to have a physical experience, to grow spirit through sensually attained wisdom.

To take the most excellent care of your soul or your spirit means taking the most excellent care of your body.

To grow the soul, to attain wisdom, we must be firmly rooted in the body and the body must be attended to every day in a gentle and loving way.

Too many of us compartmentalize our body care.  For instance, we think in terms of “exercise” and “task” and “goal” and “obligation,” rather than joyful play and experimentation.

We head to the gym and beat ourselves up with machinery.  We try to eat “perfectly” rather than for pleasure.  We avoid “bad foods.”

The body is seen as a vehicle for the mind and spirit when it is an equal to each of those aspects of ourselves.

And yet…

I think this is what happens in a culture founded by Puritans.

As I sit in Mass a few times a week, I ponder the body on the crucifix.  I think about how it is an empty cross that hangs in protestant churches and this makes sense in a culture that sees the body as never good enough or even sinful.  The body is the point, the crucifix says to me.  The body is the point, most paganism cries out.

Even in some factions of the yoga community, we are dangerously close to throwing the body out yet again.  We are dangerously close to becoming Puritanical Yoginis as more writers and thinkers in that community are judgmental of anyone’s yoga which they perceive as too body centered and not “spiritual” enough.

To tend to the soul, we must tend to the body.

How do you tend to your most precious self?

Here is a very basic level practice for intuitive healing dance:  Pick a piece of music.  Drumming is great. Anything by the avant garde cellist Zoe Keating is amazing for this exercise.  Preferably something with which you have no history.  Put the music on when you are feeling very safe.  Stand with eyes closed and near no mirrors.  Start the music and just breathe deeply into the belly.  Imagine that you are pulling breath and energy up through your feet as you inhale, and then share energy back down into the earth as you exhale.  Keep doing this until movement happens. Do not move on your own. Wait until breath and rhythm compel the movement from the inside. (Have your music on repeat in case this takes many minutes.)  Remember to envision your body INSIDE your soul and see your dancing as a way to clean out this critical area and make way for fresh, invigorated, creative energy.

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What about you, dear Magpies? Do you move your body as form of soulcare?  What is your right-fit spiritual practice?  Tell us about it the comments!

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Ready to pay-it-forward? The kitties need you! Christine supports Orphaned Angels, a sanctuary and adoption center for orphaned cats.  As a thank-you for her post today, Magpie Girl has made a donation in her honor. Did this piece help you? Please click here to give to a kitty.

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• Can we take care of ourselves (and our families, and our jobs) and have enough (emotion, money, time) to give away?
• Can we bring hope to dark places without burning out?
• Can we afford to fall in love with a cause?
• Can we use art to serve our world?

Yes. Yes, we can.

To that end, Magpie Girl is proud to feature new projects where Art walks hand-in-hand with Service. (They make a nice couple, don’t you think?) Each of these projects will be funded through donations made to Kickstarter, an excellent site dedicated to helping artful start-ups micro-source the funding they need. (You know, so they can do Big Things without burning out.) Here’s a great project to give a dime to this month…

Within Every Women-The Film

Women.  What comes to mind when you think of women?  Many of think of bravery, of strength, of overcoming spirits.  It’s a story that permeates throughout the world—women who overcome great challenges to survive for their sake and the sake of their families and their communities.

Within Every Women is a documentary that seeks to tell the stories of women in Asia who were forced into sexually slavery during World War II.  During World War II many women and even female children were held in military  “comfort” camps in South Korea, China and the Philippines.  It is “considered the largest institutionalized rape system in world history.”  The film aims to tell the stories of the “Grandmothers,” as they are now called, who endured such harsh treatment. The film is meant to “help peel back the layers of silence, shame and sacrifice they have endured…[and] reveal their wisdom, resilience and compassion.”

In order to reach a mass audience Within Every Women has asked for funding through Kickstarter.  They are just days away from their deadline and are still in need of almost $500.

Please visit their Kickstarter page to watch their videos, read their story and to contribute to Within Every Women.  Lets help tell these stories through art and bring about healing not just for the “Grandmothers” of Asia, but for all women who have experienced abuse.

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Where Soulcare meets Worldcare is a once-a-month series featuring projects through Kickstarter and independent projects. To read about our previously supported projects click here.  Thanks for being here today.

Nude: Profile © Sarah Marie Lacy, 2011. 12″x16″ oil on canvas. Used with permission.

Buying a piece of original art is an amazing feeling. And thought artists rarely “make” money on their work — considering the time and preparation that goes into each piece — it can still be out of most people’s price range to purchase a painting.

Enter Sarah Marie Lacy. Sarah is a very talented painter, who shares her art and her process on line. After surviving the acute stages of an ongoing chronic illness, Sarah is in a place of strength and productivity and has been invited to study painting in Paris. As part of her fundraising efforts, she’s offering us her original works of art on a Pay-What-You-Can basis.

 Click here to see her generous offerings through 3/20/11.

Today at Behind the Mic, Sarah tells about her brave experiment, and lets us in on what it feels like to send one of her babies off to a new home.  Sarah, step right up… 

Tell us about this opportunity in France and how you are funding it?

I am honored to have been accepted into Studio Escalier’s summer program, which is a 3 month intensive classical figure painting and drawing course. They only accept 12 students each time, so I’m still pinching myself.

I’ve been doing a variety of things to fund this trip – up until now, mostly selling paintings & prints, and subscriptions to my private email list, “Sketches from the Road”, where every week I’ll send out an email sharing my photos, tales and paintings as well as a little video post.

This weekend though, I’m doing something a little different – I’m running an experimental “Pay What You Can” event for my artwork. Basically, people can make me an offer on my artwork, and if it’s fair and I feel comfortable with it, they get it!

What makes you nervous about a pay-what-you-can project?

I think what made me most nervous was worrying about getting offers of $10 for a big painting and having to turn people down. I’m a people pleaser, so it would have been a challenge for me to say no, especially if it was someone that I liked a lot and if I knew they loved the painting.

What energizes you about this experiment?

Funnily enough, it’s the experimental quality of this project that excites me. I like trying something different and new, especiallywhen it comes to marketing art. I had no expectations, but I’d seen a lot of internet marketing folks doing it, so I thought – how would this work with art? Would it work at all? Would people bite or not? It’s been fun seeing people’s reactions – everything from total shock to excitement.

How does it feel when you send off a much-loved piece of work to a new home?

It’s actually the most wonderful feeling. I get really excited about sending my work to new places. I create my work forpeople to experience and enjoy. No matter how much I love a painting, unless I’ve painted it for myself, I feel like the circle isn’t complete until someone else is enjoying it. I believe that for every painting, there is the perfect owner, so when that owner shows up, it’s a really beautiful feeling.

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Sarah Marie Lacy writes wisely and eloquently about thriving in the creative life on her blog.   She also help artists, writers, and other creatives get a website set up in a weekend! Click here to get on the early bird list for the next class. Don’t forget the Pay What You Can experiment is only available through 3/20/2011 and I already bought “Strawberries,” so you better get on it! :-)

• Can we take care of ourselves (and our families, and our jobs) and have enough (emotion, money, time) to give away?
• Can we bring hope to dark places without burning out?
• Can we afford to fall in love with a cause?
• Can we use art to serve our world?

Yes. Yes, we can.

To that end, Magpie Girl is proud to feature new projects where Art walks hand-in-hand with Service. (They make a nice couple, don’t you think?) Each of these projects will be funded through donations made to Kickstarter, an excellent site dedicated to helping artful start-ups micro-source the funding they need. (You know, so they can do Big Things without burning out.) Here’s a great project to give a dime to this month…

The Round: Bringing Art Back to the Community

When a little church in Seattlegave up its space so the neighborhood could have an arts center, they had no idea a Tuesday night mash-up of artists, poets, and painters would become a sold-out sensation. Under the care of Nathan Marion and his band of happy art enthusiasts, Fremont Abbey has become a household name for community, music, and creativity; and the monthly Tuesday night special, The Round, has a become a cornerstone of Seattle’s music scene. 

The Round features musicians, poets, painters who collaborate to create live in front of an audience. Proceeds from the night get funneled back into art, music and dance programs benefiting the local community. Now, Mezzanine Floor Studios –a local record producing company — is putting together an album of the music that has been featured during performances.  Half money raised from the sales of these albums will help to fund the Youth Fund at the Fremont Abbey. We interviewed Jonas G, the producer of the album to learn more about the projects inspiration.

1. How did you become passionate about your subject/project? 

I realized how amazing, and rare, it is to see musicians collaborating while an audience really listens.  A friend of mine was recording the show, so I got involved in the mixing and podcasting process, and now we’re taking it to the next level and making an album.

2. How do you feel your art helps care for the communities you are focusing on?  

One, we pay the artists and musicians who perform at The Round, so that helps to sustain art in Seattle. Two, the arts are the focus and many are represented at once, so it’s great for community building and collaboration. Three, lots of inspiration is happening at The Round, and everyone leaves felling so refreshed and ready to go home and make more art.

3. How does your passion for world-care nourish you?

 I love sharing experiences, and helping others achieve, which is why I work for The Round.  I make sure it sounds good, and that the podcast is good quality. Working on this project is mainly inspired by the thought of sharing the experience of The Round in a lasting way so everyone can enjoy and be inspired by it.

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• Did you know? Our last Kickstarter feature was fully funded! A big Magpie Girl “Mwah!” to everyone who pitched in!
• To help fund The Round Album Project click here.
• To read all Magpie Girl’s interviews in the Behind the Mic series, click here.  
• I’d like to give a special shout-out to Jenn Renee Pekol of Freelance Unconvential Nun for all her help on these Kickstarter interviews. Thanks Jenn! We’ll see y’all next month with another project where soulcare and worldcare meet. Thank you for being here today.

• Can we take care of ourselves (and our families, and our jobs) and have enough (emotion, money, time) to give away?
• Can we bring hope to dark places without burning out?  
• Can we afford to fall in love with a cause?

Yes. Yes, we can.

To that end, Magpie Girl is proud to feature new projects where Art walks hand-in-hand with Service.  (They make a nice couple, don’t you think?) Each of these projects will be funded through donations made to Kickstarter, an excellent site dedicated to helping artful start-ups micro-source the funding they need.

“Reteaching Gender and Sexuality is about helping young people to do more than just survive their teens; we want them thriving.”      -Sid Jordan, Co-Director, Put this on the Map

This month our pledge goes to Put This on the Map– a group of young people who are ready to reteaching gender and sexuality in mind-blowing, creative ways.  Their video blew my mind. In under 3 minutes, they introduced me to at least three paradigm-shifting concepts. And their stories, passion, and confidence made me cry. This group of youth are ready to SCHOOL you, (and Lord knows, we could all use some consciousness raising ’round here on this topic!)

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality from PUT THIS ON THE MAP on Vimeo.

Look, it’s true, it does get better…but do you the next generation to suffer until then? I didn’t think so.  Together, we can  click a button and help these folks create, not just a safe place, but a liberating space for youth. But we have to do so by Sunday, January 23rd, when all the Kickstarter pledges are due in. It would be swell if you could pledge today.

To learn more about this passionate project, Co-Director/Producer  Sid Jordan  is getting behind the mic to tell you more about this empowering film-and-teaching project. Sid, step right up!

1.     How did you become passionate about your subject/project?

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality is a new approach to pervasive problems experienced by many queer and transgender people. As an adolescent, family conflict about my gender expression and sexuality resulted in me eventually leaving home before graduating high school. Now, after almost a decade of working with youth in the human services sector, I have witnessed so many young people who fall outside prescriptive norms of gender and sexuality in the unnecessary struggle for equal opportunity of success. My personal experiences and the experiences of those around me inspired me to create PUT THIS ON THE {MAP}; a documentary featuring the stories of 26 queer/trans youth in the suburbs of Seattle. I worked with my long-time colleague and friend Megan Kennedy, a licensed therapist and artist, to create a film that would represent a diversity of voices within a small region. In 2011, we have an amazing team of youth educations who will be taking on the road with us. The energy of the team is contagious and I can’t wait to see what we can do together!

2.     How do you feel the film and tour helps care for the communities you are focusing on?

In 2010, the national media spotlighted a series of tragic LGBT youth suicides. The culprit was named “bullying”; and the answers varied from anti-bullying prevention programming, to “it gets better”, to “make it better”. These campaigns drew attention to a pre-existing problem of the high rates of suicides among queer/trans youth. Reteaching Gender and Sexuality is about helping young people to do more than just survive their teens; we want them to be thriving. We know we need to look deeper than bullying in order to address educational and health disparities among LGBTQ youth, as well as disproportionate incarceration rates, homelessness, and underemployment. . Reteaching Gender and Sexuality tour is a platform for queer/trans young people to speak out and be advocates for change that will help them thrive. It’s a campaign that goes to the heart of the matter.

3.    How does your passion for world-care nourish you?

World-care and self-care are closely aligned in our work. Reteaching Gender and Sexuality views community’s health and wellness as a principal goal; our team’s personal nourishment or wellness is necessarily interrelated to that goal. Many of us have survived harassment or violence, family conflict, and housing insecurity; many of us have seen liberation work and creative/cultural production as key in our personal and community healing.

4.   What else would like us to know about your project?

Our kickstarter campaign will create the base of funding we need to launch the Reteaching Gender and Sexuality tour this February – May 2011. Contributions go to support leadership development of our team, as well as equipment, travel, and stipends for our team of young educators. Readers can contact info@putthisonthemap.org to invite us to their communities!

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To help fund Put This on the Map click here. To read all Magpie Girl’s interviews in the Behind the Mic series, click here.  I’d like to give a special shout-out to Jenn Renee Pekol of Freelance Unconvential Nun  for all her help on these Kickstarter interviews. Thanks Jenn! We’ll see y’all next month with another project where soulcare and worldcare meet. Thanks for being here today.