Tag — behind the mic
Behind the Mic: Right-Fit Spirituality for Artists
I have about a dozen people lined up who I’d like to interview in our Relig-ish series about right-fit spiritual practices and relig-ish hybrids. But right now the time to ask for and edit those interviews is not accessible to me. Thanks why I’m grateful for Create Hype, who kindly interviewed me about art + spirituality over at their place. It was nice to step behind the mic for someone else. This was my favorite question:
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
Relig-ish: My Right-Fit Spiritual Hybrid with Marjorie Gray
Have you met Marjorie Gray? Marjorie is a teacher, poet, mother, wife, grandmother, volunteer and all around fascinating soul. Today at Behind the Mic, Marjorie is giving us a peek into her right-fit spiritual hybrid — part church, part service, and a whole lot of Spirit. Marjorie, step right up…
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?
***
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.
***
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.
Right-Fit Soulcare: Knitting as a Spiritual Practice
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?
***
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.)
***
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.
Right-Fit Spiritual Practices: Surf Pray Love
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.
***
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.
***
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.)
***
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!)
Buying Original Art at Acessible Prices
Last weekend I purchased a painting from an artistI’ve been admiring for a long time. She was showing in Seattle, and when one of my favorites appeared on the wall, I took a deep breath and plopped down my debit card. At the same show my 12-year-old daughter fell in love with a numbered print and dedicated several weeks of allowance to it’s purchase. The look on her face as she bought her first piece of original art was priceless. She looked nervous, and excited. I imagine if I was a different kind of mother this is what it would feel like to get my daughter her first pair of high heels. But in our house, it’s the numbered print that becomes the rite of passage.
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.
+++
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! :-)
Kickstarter: The Round Album Project
This year at Magpie Girl, we are exploring the place “Where Soulcare and Worldcare Meets.” We want to know:
- 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.
+++
- 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.
Kickstarter Spotlight: Reteaching Gender and Sexuality
As you know, this year at Magpie Girl, we are exploring the place “Where Soulcare and Worldcare Meets.” We want to know:
- 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!
+++
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.
Behind the Mic: Where Soulcare and Worldcare Meet with Heather Plett
As you all know, I’m a big proponent of soulcare. Our culture rushes us around, demands that we consumeconsumeconsume, and then burns us out. In the midst of that we struggle to give ourselves adequate soulcare. To eat well. To do yoga. To hire a therapist, or a life coach, or a Reiki practitioner. All of this is important, and as a care-provider, I value those things.
And somehow…it’s not enough.
When my children were infants and toddlers, motherhood didn’t come easy to me. I struggled. And P.S. I had a chronic migraines. All the save-the-world energy of my youth seemed to dry up. It was all I could do to keep my head above water. I started offering soulcare at Magpie Girl because I need soulcare. As a former mentor of mine used to say “You only preach the sermons you need to hear.”
Now that the kids are older (10, 12) and my migraines are in remission (huzzah!) I’m feel a new sermon comin’ on. It’s called “Where Soulcare and Worldcare Meet.” I was ruminating on it when my fellow-coach, Jen Louden wrote this here:
“For a long time, I’ve been part of a sub-culture that believes if you raise your consciousness and do good stuff like buy quinoa in bulk and shine light to others during hard times, that will be enough to change the world.
I say that’s crucial, that’s glorious,
and that’s not enough”.
To this I say “Amen.”
We are enough. and We can offer more.
We have to take care of yourselves. and We must work for the behalf of others.
We struggle. and We are abundantly blessed.
“Where soulcare and worldcare meet.” I’m not sure what this turn of phrase will mean for my work, or my world. But I know it has captured my heart. To that end I’m turning to other wise souls — women I trust and who are asking the same sort of questions. This week Heather Plett of Sophia Leadership steps Behind the Mic to talk about where she finds guidance to balance soulcare and worldcare in her life. Heather, step right up…
Where Soulcare and Worldcare Meet
with Heather Plett
Q: We all want and need to take care of ourselves. And we can all see the needs of the larger world around us. What are your tips for making space for both soulcare and worldcare in our lives?
A:t was in a hospital bed that I learned my greatest lesson in making space for both soulcare and worldcare.
I was at “the top of my game” in the Fall of 2000. I had risen through the ranks in my career to a director position in the federal government. I had a young and talented team working for me and we had just entered the busiest time of the year. I was thriving on the demands of a busy, productive life.
I was looking after everyone’s else’s needs, and I was doing it well. Not only did I have a team looking to me for direction, but I had two small children and was pregnant with our third. I knew that I was needed and it felt good. I was a master in worldcare. The fact that I was nearing burnout barely registered as I competently juggled all the balls I had to keep in the air.
Suddenly, though, a routine ultrasound showed problems with my pregnancy and my world (and worldcare) came to a grounding halt. After failed surgery, I landed in a hospital bed and was told “If you want this baby to survive, you will move as little as possible for the next few months.”
That was not good news. How could my daughters survive without Mom in the house? How could my team make it through the most hectic season of the year without their leader?
For the first few days, I fought to stay in control. I tried to manage my team from my hospital bed, and gave direction about what should happen for my daughters in my absence. I wasn’t ready to let go.
Gradually, though, I had to let control slip from my fingers. My mom took my daughters to the farm where they thrived under her nurturing, my team rallied and started making decisions without me, stuff got done, and life moved on.
For me, though, stuck in that hospital bed, it felt like some giant hand had reached down into my life and hit the pause button. I could do none of the things I was so competent at, and I was left with only two choices. I could resist it and sit there in misery, or accept it and find the value in a break from my life.
I chose the latter – for my baby’s sake and for my own. Gradually, I turned that hospital room into my own personal retreat centre. I hung cards and my daughters’ artwork on the wall, I borrowed a friend’s stereo and listened to peaceful music, I invited a massage therapist friend in to give me a massage, I wrote endlessly in my journal, and I spent long hours in rejuvenating conversations with dear friends and family.
As I look back on it now, that three week period in the hospital was one of the most transformative times of my life. My spirituality deepened, I learned what it meant to approach live with greater mindfulness, I deepened my relationship with my husband, friends, and family, and I began a rather faltering meditation practice. Though I had no idea how much I needed it, retreating from my life quite possibly saved my life.
When my son Matthew died, at the end of those three weeks, I was spiritually prepared to let him go. It was excruciatingly painful, but I was at peace. His short life inside my womb had transformed me in such profound ways, I couldn’t imagine how he could have impacted me more had he lived.
Now, ten years later, my son continues to serve as my spiritual director. I’ve gotten much better at realizing when I need to step away from worldcare to focus on soulcare, and when that need arises, one of my first destinations is to Matthew’s grave. I retreat once again from the world, I sit in silence in the graveyard, and I invite the Sacred to replenish my soul.
When I emerge from my retreat – whether it’s the same day or a week later – I am once again ready to offer whatever acts of service the world requires of me.
+++
How do you balance soulcare and worldcare? Does one feed the other in your life? How have you made room for both? We’d love to hear your comments, because “there ain’t nowhere to go but together.”
+++
Heather Plett is a writer, speaker, and leadership consultant. She can be found at here . Lately, she has been exploring the question “what could happen for the world if we all learned to trust our feminine wisdom more?” She blogs on this subject at Sophia Leadership, and will soon be releasing a unique e-book in which she has invited people from all over the world to explore the question with her.
To read all Magpie Girl’s interviews in the Behind the Mic series, click here. Thanks for being here today.
Behind the Mic: Dance as Spiritual practice
Today at Magpie Girl we get to hear from my fellow seminarian, Katie Bagby. Katy is a Nia instructor, and is getting behind the mic today to talk to us about movement as a spiritual practice. Katie, step right up…
Dancing my Devotion
by Katie Bagby
When I was a girl, my family spent hours and hours in church…and in Christian prayer meetings…and in bible studies and potlucks with people from church and prayer meetings. When I was three, my dad had “found Jesus,” and man, did he run with it, dragging a family of 7 in tow. I wasn’t necessarily opposed to all of it – I was a very adaptable kid – but it wasn’t all comfortable for me either. Sitting in church, my attention wandered. Sometimes I found it hard to breathe. My coping strategy? I played with my hands. I would turn them over and over, look at them on all sides, explore how they were put together, what they felt like. My hands felt real, part of me, not something “out there.” They were part of, what we call in Nia, my “now body.”
I’m a recovering community sociologist and incurable do-gooder. Decades of study, research, and trying to save the world and make every one happy in the process left me feeling depleted, “out there,” and disconnected from my body. Sure, I was very physical. I grew up in a household of older brothers with lots of rough and tumble. I was an athlete. I knew how to do things with my body, like it was a vehicle I could steer to run, play ball, garden, dance salsa, hike mountains, etc. But I didn’t know how to be in my body, how to really inhabit her and know her as essential to who I am.
In 2004, I started practicing The Nia Technique. Nia is a sensory-based fitness and movement form that playfully blends dance, martial arts, and healing arts, including yoga. It is practiced in bare feet to soul-stirring music, connecting us to sensation in the feet – “the hands that touch the earth” – up through the energy centers of the body’s core, and out through expressive arms and hands. Comfort and pleasure are the guiding principles – what could be better? For me, it’s been an incredible joy-centered journey to healing and connection with my body, and to a much healthier relationship with my mind, emotions, and spirit. Most importantly, it’s a whole lot of fun.
The last few years, I’ve come to know my body as my most trustworthy, wise, and loving companion. She sends me signals when I’m moving toward or away from my delight and purpose in life. She invites my heart and mind to hold hands, helping me to express my true self in the world. Expressive movement – and for me, Nia specifically – has also become one of my most effective tools for stimulating creative flow in my life.
There’s a phrase in Nia called “Dynamic Ease.” It’s my favorite. It’s a powerful alchemy of dynamic energy and the sensation of relaxation, the in-breath and the out-breath. I love playing with the sensation of Dynamic Ease when I dance and move. To me it’s the secret ingredient of grace, that sacred blend of oil and light that makes everything easier. Remember when you learned to swim? If you were like me, at first it was all struggle and splashing. But then I learned to trust the pause that allowed me to take a breath, and I found I could move with greater efficiency, blending power and ease to swim a lot farther. That’s how I want to live my life. That’s how I want to share my gifts with the family of earth. And gradually, as I practice Dynamic Ease in movement, I find I’m practicing it in life.
For instance, when I practice martial arts blocks, not only am I strengthening my muscles and heart, but I am also embodying the practice of creating boundaries and saying “No.” To an inveterate world saver and people pleaser, it’s really quite delicious! And I notice that when I move my forearm to block in one direction, I open my chest and heart-space in another. I like that – saying “no” to one thing so I can make room for another. In life, I’m finding it much easier to stand in my own power and make choices that nourish me and the people around me.
Most mornings I start my day with a movement prayer I’ve created that blends the Unity Prayer with Nia-inspired movements. (Some days I’m not comfortable with the word “God,” so I change the words to Goddess, or spirit. Choose the muse that you want to invite into your day. Perhaps “Creativity.”) I’ve added a line to the end of the prayer: “The Spirit of God moves within me with…” As I say this line, I move expressively and say words like Grace, Dynamic Ease, Balance, Joy, Kindness, Creativity – whatever muse I want to embody that day.
And you know what I find? When I teach that Nia class, or facilitate a group visioning session, or write an article, or have that difficult conversation, those muses show up, right here in me! They move through me, from the inside out. Through the practice of movement, they have become familiar to the cells of my body. Dancing my devotion has changed the way I move through the world, no question. Like all things, Nia is a practice. I still get cranky, or uptight, or creatively blocked sometimes, but now I know how to come back to what I know is real, just like I did as that 10 year old girl, quietly playing with her hands during Mass.
Suggestions for creating sacred connection with your body:
- Create your own movement prayer or blessing. What do you want to embody in your life? Experiment and create patterns of movements to express it. Practice it every day for a week. How does it feel?
- Check out a Nia class and dance! If you can’t find a class near you, order a DVD and practice at home. I did for years.
- Put on some music with sounds, silences, or lyrics that inspire you, and free dance for 5 minutes. Trust your body to guide you. Let comfort and pleasure be your guides. Play with trying something new. No one’s watching.
- Got something big going on? Maybe a challenging relationship or a big idea you want to manifest? Put on some music and dance for it, embodying your intention. Recently, I needed to heal a relationship. Before I could trust my mouth to speak honestly, but with compassion, I danced for us. And you know what? It helped.
- When your mind’s busy Gremlins just will not stop chattering, come back to your body. You can trust her. Breathe, touch your hands, wiggle your toes, dance, go for a walk, lie down in the grass. Bringing my awareness back to physical sensation always brings me back to the present moment. It’s a good place to be.
+++
Katie Bagbyis a writer, editor, and nonprofit consultant working with diverse communities to make life more just, healthy, and sustainable. Her latest passion is teaching The Nia Technique and inviting people into joyful relationship with their bodies and life! She loves her rural community in the mountains of Northern California, where she lives with her sweetheart, Ron. You can find Katie at https://www.nianow.com/katiebagby.
+++
I love interviewing coaches and artists who resonate with soul. Find all our Magpie Girl interviews at Behind the Mic. Thank you for being here today!
You are Your Own Muse
Today we take a brief break from 30Stories so that you can tap into your own story. I completely admire my neighbor to the north, photographer Vivienne McMaster. This woman really knows how to capture the true beautiful of herself and others — regardless of age, style, or body shape. And huzzzah for you! Because now Vivienne is offering a class all about self-portraiture: You are Your Own Muse. To help us tap into the way self-portraits can shape and improve us, Vivienne is here today to get behind the mic and answer our 1Q:
Q: “What’s so powerful about self portraits? And can i do it if I feel shy about my looks?”
Often when other people take photos of me it makes me nervous. Will they capture me in a way that I feel comfortable with? Will I look silly?
Despite being a portrait photographer, I totally get this question. It is a big part of why I like to take pictures of other people, to help them feel seen. But it is a vulnerable thing.
To some people the idea of taking self-portraits is even scarier. That is the exact place I was at when I started to turn the camera on myself.
The powerful thing about self-portraits is the way that it can shift the way that we see ourselves, the way that we allow ourselves to feel seen.
I’ve been on this self-portrait journey for the last few years and my biggest discovery has to do with that word Power. Ever since I was a teenager it has felt like the power I had to see myself as beautiful was being stolen. Daily. I feel like we are always being told what to look like, who we should be, what we should strive for. We are being told that we are not enough, right here, right now.
This troubles me. Why can’t we be enough, be seen as beautiful, exactly as we are right now? The truth is that we absolutely are beautiful, with our curves to dance with, our big strong arms to hug with, or our scars that tell our stories. These things make us beautiful.
So I took that camera into my hands, placed it on the ground, set the timer and created a space where I allow myself to be as silly, as quirky, as uniquely me as I want to. Often the images that come out are much like the photos that I don’t like when other people take photos of me. The thing is, I have learned I can smile at that girl kindly and then delete them. Then one photo will pop out that I feel is so me. Maybe it is the way my skirt twirls or the fact that I’m jumping in the air. Maybe it is the way I really look in the camera and smile, or my awkward moments or the laugh that comes after them.
Through taking self-portraits we have the opportunity to find our own beauty again, on our own terms.
We can take the power away from outside sources of what our beauty should be and connect with t he beauty that we already are. That power is in our own hands and the tool to find it is that camera we hold in those hands. Realizing that a camera can be a tool to re-connect with my beauty, with my identity and with telling the story of my life.
It is powerful.
+++
What about you? When you think about photos of yourself, how do you feel? What might self-portraiture open up in you? Do tell! Because there aint nowhere to go but together.
I love interviewing coaches and artists who resonate with soul. Find all our Magpie Girl interviews at Behind the Mic. To find out more about photographer Vivienne McMaster read her work, browse through her photos, or register for her course. Thank you for being here!
