Writing as a Meditation: A Women’s Retreat
Writing comes as a practice, as a form of meditation, and when the writer disappears in her writings the creative self is revealed. These moments of creativity are a door to the infinite.
Writing practice leads to a profound experience of timelessness and present moment awareness - a single moment of inspiration can become an eternity. That is also true of the art of meditation.
Both writing and meditation can lead to the disappearance of the ego and the disappearance of the mind. For those who undertake meditation, life is transformed physically, spiritually, and emotionally. What is left is the song of the soul. And that is where we start.
Meditation and Writing
When we give attention to silence, stillness, and present moment awareness, we will dive into our inner space and knowing. You’ll transcend your external world, your senses and your thought, and bask in the womb of spaciousness and creativity, then you’ll reemerge to express your story.
Breath Awareness Meditation Exercises
We’ll play with the flow and distribution breath and the movement of subtle energy in the body through breathing practices.
Silence
What is beyond the farthest star or inside the smallest quark? More. Infinity. Similarly we also have no limits to our energy fields. As we spend time in silence, we'll explore the question: Who are we really? With regular practice your sensory perceptions increase – for instance, it’s not difficult to feel someone’s love or anger from across a room or even in the realm of the sixth sense. We’ll explore the unseen yet palpable energy that exists around us just above the silence. And we’ll explore the expression of it in our writing.
Nature
We’ll be informed and inspired by the natural beauty of the Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona, Arizona. At the base of the surrounding red rock mountains, the spring fed waters of Oak Creek create a healing, magical oasis-the perfect setting for the Briar Patch- a quiet blending of cottages, towering sycamores, majestic canyon oaks, dappled sunlight, and frisky squirrels.
Retreat Details:
Where
Briar Patch Inn, Ponderosa Cabin
3190 N. Hwy 89A , Sedona, AZ 86336 Phone: (888) 809-3030
Website: www.briarpatchinn.com
When:
Thursday– Saturday October 16 - 18, 2008
Retreat Hours: Thursday 4 pm – 9 pm, Friday 9 am – 5:30 pm, Saturday 9 am – noon.
Tuition:
$275 per person early registration (45 days in advance).
$350 per person regular registration.
Add $200 for lodging in the writing cabin (limited space available - register for this when you sign up for the retreat).
Tuition includes a vegetarian dinner on Wednesday evening, the famous Briar Patch breakfast and a vegetarian lunch on Thursday, and the Briar Patch breakfast on Friday.
Registration:
Attendance is limited to eight women. Call (928) 204-0067 or email meditate@esedona.net to register. Click here for a registration form.
What to bring: Paper, pen, an open mind, and comfortable clothes. You’ll receive more information once your registration is confirmed.
Directions
The lodge is located three miles north of Sedona, off Highway 89A, in Oak Creek Canyon.
Coming from Phoenix: north on I-17. After approximately 120 miles or 1 1/2 hours from Phoenix, take Exit 298 Sedona-Oak Creek Canyon, which will put you on Hwy 179. Once on Hwy 179, travel approximately 25 miles. At intersection of 179 and Hwy 89A, turn right and go three and a half miles up into Oak Creek Canyon - Briar Patch Inn is located on the right side of the highway at 3190 North Hwy 89A.
Coming from Flagstaff: Travelling south on I-17, exit on Hwy 89A South to Oak Creek Canyon for approximately 20 miles. We are just beyond the Rainbow Trout Farm on the left at 3190 North Hwy 89A.
Your Facilitators:
Sarah McLean
Along with my 18-year daily meditation practice, I've had some unique opportunities: I served as the founding education director of Deepak Chopra’s Center, and as director of Byron Katie’s School for the Work, and assistant to Seat of the Soul author, Gary Zukav. Not only were each one of these pioneers great company, each was also a best-selling author.
My aim is to make meditation accessible to anyone who wants to learn as well as to integrate it with creative practices and everyday life. I’ve explored world spiritual traditions: I was a 2-year resident in a Zen Buddhist monastery, lived in an ashram in India, bicycled along the Silk Route through Pakistan, and trekked the Golden Triangle in Asia. I wrote about each experience and continue to express myself in the practice of writing as a meditation.
I now teach meditation throughout Arizona and wherever I am invited. I am also an avid writer of personal stories and have worked professionally as an editor. My columns on mind/body health are featured regularly in the Sedona Home & Garden Magazine, the Four Corners Magazine, and the AZ Net News. This month my work was featured in this issue of Phoenix Women magazine. I look forward to being with you, tapping into creativity, and expanding our awareness together. I love spending time writing with my writing partner Victoria, you’ll love her too.
Victoria Nelson
Whenever I find myself in museums or reading a great book, I become alive in ways I had never experienced in board rooms or business gatherings. After my mother died at the age of 59 in 1993, I followed my secret ambition to learn to paint and write fiction. Her death gave me the courage to quit a successful business career to become a full time artist. It was her final gift to me. And since 1994, I’ve given my heart and time to both endeavors equally.
I was born in the Dominican Republic, an Island in the Caribbean Ocean. My father was extremely political, and in 1972, his career led my family to migrate to the United States. Two years after we settled in New Jersey, my father died unexpectedly of heart attack at the age of 43, leaving my mother, me, and my three siblings to figure out how to navigate this foreign country on our own. I focused on achieving the American dream of material success, and in 1985 I graduated with a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University in Tempe. I successfully climbed the corporate ladder in the computer industry for ten years. When I quit my high powered job to pursuit painting and writing, my family and friends thought I had lost my mind. In a way I had. My soul demanded that I pursue my dream of becoming an artist.
It’s been 14 years since I took that leap into the unknown. I plan every day around meditating, spending time in nature, writing and painting, and my life as an artist has exceeded all my expectations. In the fall, winter, and spring, the light and the contrasting colors of Sedona are a daily source of inspiration to me. In the summers, the sea and the dramatic light of Monhegan Island in Maine, are my muses. I am a self taught painter and writer. In 2007, my poem “Ancient Elements” was published in the Northern Arizona Poetry Anthology Collared Piccary and my paintings were exhibited at the University of New England Museum’s “On Island” show featuring women artists of Monhegan Island. My paintings are shown at the Lupine Gallery in Monhegan Island and by appointment in Sedona. A book of short stories will be published in 2009.
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