365 Inspirations—320: Seeing Green

Right before my second writing workshop this week at Kalani, I was up in my bungalow trying to gather some notes together for my presentation. How do you prepare for intuitive writing or a talk on intuitive writing?

I created a sort of skeleton of the presetation: a bullet point list, a few pages earmarked in Penny Peirce's book The Intuitive Way, a few pages of my own book earmarked for a reading, but the rest would have to unfold as it was meant to unfold.

So I stepped out of my 'planning' box and out into the nature that is all around me. I started to see green everywhere and it was vibrant, lush and alive. It was calling me outdoors, beckoning me to pay attention to it. So I did.

A tall coconut tree, some banana trees, and several fragrant, flowering bushes are all in our backyard at Kalani. In the distance, beyond all this green, I can see the ocean.

I stepped out on the patio to touch the smooth, glowing green surface of a plant and was surprised to find a little gecko camouflaged in the flesh of this plant. It had bulging blue eyes and beautiful red markings on its head. It came up out of the middle of the plant as if to greet me.

Next to this was a flowering bush and I bent down to smell its sweet nectar.

It's easy for me to get stuck in my head, but nature always brings me back.

Down at the EMax room, where I was to give my talk, a huge crowd had formed. It was a bit intimidating. Maybe some people wouldn't like what I had to offer or say.

But then I was reminded of the that little gecko on the green plant outside my room and thought that little guy offered up all he had. He showed his true colors and that's all we can really do.

Do you spend much time in nature? Do you find that being in nature brings you back to this moment?

365 Inspirations—319: From the Top of Mauna Kea to the Depths of the Ocean at Kihena Beach

Full moon on top of Mauna Kea

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

— Rachel Carson

There's a full moon above me. Out here in the middle of the ocean, this moon glows like nothing I've ever seen. We were supposed to go to a night concert out at a sanctuary tonight, but we got lost on the winding roads. The moon was glistening over the ocean casting crystals everywhere. I had to pull over so we could stand up on a cliff and feel the roar of the waves smashing against the rocks. I can hear that roar from the room where I type this.

I swam in that ocean today at Kihena Beach, otherwise known as Black Sand Beach.

 The beach is black from volcanic rocks. The power of the ocean nearby can be felt even at a distance, but close up it shakes you. The undertow is strong. I braved it twice on this trip. I got hit by one big wave and then swam out as soon as the wave receded. I floated around out beyond where the waves were cresting and breaking. I was safe out there, the problem was coming back in. I had to swim fast as soon as there was a lull in the ginormous waves that were crashing the shore. I found my opportunity and took it. A wave was coming in just as I was running up the beach.

My husband was hit by a wave and lost his glasses. He struggled up out of the wave and made it to the beach and realized they were gone. He came over to me on the black sand and said,

"That wave took my glasses. I can't see."

Later a woman at lunch said she was happy that the wave only took Yoon's glasses. Apparently the waves out at this beach have claimed a number of lives. I swam out there with dolphins in March while we were on yoga retreat here, but the waves seemed quite tame at that time.

Yoon is now wearing my red retro glasses. Luckily we have a very similar prescription and I wear my contacts most of the time. People have noticed that he looks different and then he has to tell the story of what happened.

Not only is the ocean powerful here, but so are the mountains and the volcano, which is still very active. Lava is still spewing out and over the ocean cliffs here.

Yesterday, we decided to drive almost to the top of Mauna Kea, the highest peak in all of the Hawaiian Islands. There was a point when we had to stop because it required four-wheel drive. Instead of driving up to the tip top, we hiked up a small mountain which gave us a 360 view of the sunset, the full moon rise and the clouds below us. We were above the cloud line and could here a clap of thunder in the clouds below us. It was raining and storming down at sea level, but we were up above the clouds at  13,000 plus feet.

Here are some pictures from that day:

Do you prefer the mountains or the ocean? Have you been to both in one day?

365 Inspirations—318: Waking Up at Kalani

“How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!”—Arthur Conan Doyle

I woke up early, not because I like waking up early, but because the entire bedroom was cast in a fiery glow. It seemed like the land outside must be burning. Maybe Pele, volcano goddess, was paying a visit.

In a half-asleep dream-like state, I wandered outside in my nightgown and slippers to the edge of the grass and looked out at the ocean. It was the SKY that was on fire—a brilliant sunset. How could one sleep with this glow?

Birds were chirping and fluttering about, the smell of sweet tropical plants filled the air. As if this place wasn't alive enough, now things were really getting started.

We are way out here on Ocean Vista point. A bit of a hike to the dining hall, but we decided to hike it this morning.

We walked slowly on the dirt path that was wet from an early morning rain. The air was humid and the combination of wet and the rising sun caused a fragrant, tropical steam to rise from the ground.

Palm trees rustled in the breeze, greeting us as we walked along.

On the way up toward Guest Services, an island cat came running down the street toward us meowing. He rubbed his body up against our legs as if to say, "Good Morning, so nice of you to come this way!"

We passed the pool, the reclining Buddha statue in the bamboo and a statue of a feminine-looking Buddha who may well have been Pele, with many offerings of shells and crystals.

 Finally we reached the dining hall.

A tiny woman blew into an enormous conch shell signaling the start of breakfast. The sound can be heard all the way to Ocean Vista.

Breakfast was fresh Kona Coffee, fresh squeezed juice, egg frittata, french toast, oatmeal with homemade granola and an abundance of fruit—papaya, pineapple, berries, mango, watermelon, grapes and some other tropical fruit that I couldn't identify. I topped my fruit with fresh whole yogurt.

After breakfast, I walked slowly back to the room feeling full of all the abundance and beauty of this morning. I could get used to waking up here....

Have you ever woken up to amazing beauty? Where were you?

365 Inspirations—317: Teaching Intuitive Writing at Kalani

Teaching Intuitive Writing at Kalani on The Big Island

"The intellect has little to do with the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you, and you don't know how or why."—Albert Einstein

I'm the Artist-in-Residence for the Hawaii Yoga Festival at Kalani on the Big Island. Yesterday I taught my first class called First Thoughts: Intuitive Writing for Greater Clarity and Purpose.

There was a pretty good turn out to my class. I started out by telling my story of how I met Yoon, how I started sharing my writing through blogging and how I published my book Lessons from the Monk I Married.

I am a firm believer in not only writing intuitively, but living intuitively.

The best things in my life came on their own. I didn't have to force anything. When I let go, I'm often led to what I need in my life, but that is still scary for me.

The funny thing is, I'm not sure why it is scary. Experience has taught me that it works. That all good things—my husband, my book, being here at Kalani—all flowed into my life at just the right time.

Of course, I did do the ground work. I was seeking something. I was curious and searching, but I found that I had to let go of the hows. I had to truly trust and believe in myself completely.

There are still areas of my life that don't feel quite right. I am still holding on to that little bit of my past and the false sense of security that it brings, which keeps me from living fully how I'd like to. I'll get there. Too many amazing things have happened to me and now I'm beyond doubt. I know I will follow my heart completely.

In my writing class, I gave the students a one-word prompt. I told them to keep moving their hands across the page. I told them not to stop and not to think. Once the thinking mind comes in there is a tendency to edit. The inner critic comes in and starts giving reasons why we should stop writing, why we are no good, why we should just stop before we even begin.

Keeping the hand moving across the page keeps the intuition engaged and leaves the left-brain thinking on the side. Often times, people have no idea what they have written until they read back over  their journals days later. This is usually when people find answers, nuggets of wisdom, words they were looking for, direction, ideas, purpose and light.

Intuitive writing is playful. You can write with your left hand or your right. You can write in symbols, doodle, repeat words, write fragments, run-on sentences, forget about punctuation. Intuitive writing is very FREE and in it contains a power that comes from oneself, but is also beyond the small selves that we are.

I shared with the students a book that really helped me with my writing and life called The Intuitive Way by Penny Peirce. Penny has appeared on my blog before and wrote a lesson as part of my 31 Writers, 31 Lessons series. I shared writing prompts from her book and asked the attendees to pick a prompt and write intuitively for five minutes each day. We will have a follow-up class on Saturday.

Here's what Penney Peirce has to say about first thoughts and intuitive writing:

"Natalie Goldberg, who teaches writing as a spiritual practice, advocates writing from 'first thoughts' as opposed to second and third thoughts, which the inner censor has rehashed many times. She says, "First thoughts have tremendous energy. It is the way the mind first flashes on something....First thoughts are also unencumbered by ego...(and) if you express something egoless, it is also full of energy because it is expressing the truth of the way things are."

I was excited to see how engaged everyone was with the first one-word prompt which was 'nature'. The second prompt I gave was 'love'. There are many other prompts one can use.

Signing books at Kalani!

I plan to teach this class again at a yoga/writing/collaging retreat along with my husband at The Yoga Lodge on Whidbey Island January 23-26. The class is called Setting Intentions and we will be setting powerful intentions for the new year.

Have you ever written intuitively? Do you feel you live your life intuitively?

365 Inspirations—315: Being Welcomed into Ohana (Extended Family) at Kalani

Today, after a vigorous Ashtanga Yoga class at 6:30AM and after a night of hurricane rains, Manuela from Brazil came and found me at breakfast and said, "You and Yoon should come to our volunteer meeting.We welcome you."

I was already feeling quite welcomed and people have really extended themselves to us, but the community (Ohana) meeting today really gave us a feel for what Kalani is all about.

There something special about this place. I know it's probably been said at a million places, but Kalani really has something here.

They don't tell you to do anything. There's no dogma or practice or rites or rituals or religion you must follow. There's a buffet of classes offered at the Hawaii Yoga Festival and at Kalani and it's up to you to pick and choose what appeals to you. There are ukelele classes, hula, yoga, meditation, space for being with yourself and enjoying the amazing natural beauty here, there's space for writing, for meditating and for just being. You can come work as a volunteer and cook, clean, do maintenance or garden.

What I love most about Kalani is the way they celebrate each person talents and uniqueness. They believe everyone has gifts to offer and they support each other in offering those gifts. Some people can cook, some people are good at gardening, others here are artists or writers in residence. It's beautiful how everyone is supported in this lovely setting to be who they are. You really can feel a lot of love and aloha here. There's a lot of spiritual growth happening, but that growth and the way it unfolds depends on each individual.

So today Manuela welcomed Yoon and me to the community and mentioned that I was the Artist-in-Residence for the Hawaii Yoga Festival. She placed a lei around my neck and everyone smiled and clapped and we really felt happy to be part of this place.

Yoon and I gave announcements about our upcoming classes and encouraged people to join.

Tonight Yoon gives a talk called Overcome Fear and Follow Your Heart. I'll be there as the designated photographer.

More soon from the land of Aloha.

Have you ever joined a retreat or community where you felt a lot of love from the group? Where was it? Did it encourage you to spread that around?

365 Inspirations—314: Being an Artist-in-Residence at Kalani on The Big Island

Yoon and I selling books at the Hawaii Yoga Festival

I'm the Artist-in-Residence at Kalani on the Big Island. I'm here for the Hawaii Yoga Festival with Yoon. I'm writing and teaching a two-part class called First Thoughts: Intuitive Writing for Greater Clarity and Purpose. Yoon is giving a lecture tomorrow night called Overcome Fear and Follow Your Heart and he'll be teaching his Yoon's Vinyasa Yoga class.

They gave us a sabbatical room in the Ocean Vista complex. It is amazing. We can see the sunrise right from our front patio.

There is no glass on any of the windows, just screens. The Coqui frogs perform a symphony all night long. It's like we are living out in the jungle. The community here is amazing and this place is HUGE. It's the largest yoga retreat facility on all of the Hawaiian Islands and Kalani is hosting the Hawaii Yoga Festival.

The food is out of this world and as teachers here, our meals are included in our stay. There is a vegetarian option, but there's also meat available. Last night, we had a big salad, pork roast, mashed potatoes, root veggies, soup and some sort of amazing butterscotch crisp. This morning we had eggs, passion fruit juice, papaya, pineapple, berries, Kona coffee—the works! We sat out in an open-aired dining hall. It's very lively and you can really feel a community vibe. People have a true sense of Aloha here and have welcomed us with open arms!

Today we sold books at Green Lake for the opening of the Hawaii Yoga Festival at the Kalani tent there.

Now Yoon is swimming in the pool and I'm writing this post from the dining area. Last night, after dinner, we swam in the pool by the light of the moon! More soon from the land of Aloha.

Have you ever taken a sabbatical? Where did you go?

365 Inspirations—199: Exciting News

Friends on Kehena Black Sand Beach, Big Island, HI 

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”—Henry David Thoreau

I'm not very good at hiding exciting news. I was going to wait, but why?

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of valuing yourself and I also wrote about how each of us gets to choose how we define ourselves. You can call yourself a painter, a blogger, a basket weaver, a candlestick maker, a parent, a doctor, a community organizer, a bird lover, a friend, a fellow human being or whatever you wish.

Today I'm going to call myself a soon-to-be artist-in-residence! I received an e-mail from Kalani, a  retreat center on the Big Island of Hawaii, inviting me to be an artist-in-residence and a featured writing workshop leader at the Hawaii Yoga Festival in November.

Kalani is the largest retreat center in Hawaii and will be the host of the Hawaii Yoga Festival.

I'm honored to be invited to participate in this amazing event and to offer writing classes in November. I'll also be using some of the time to write/research a book I'm working on.

How did I find this lovely retreat center tucked away on the Hilo side of the Big Island of Hawaii? By sheer luck!

Yoon conducted a yoga retreat on the Big Island in the Pahoa area last March. We had heard about a famous black sand beach where you could swim with dolphins and woke up early one morning to do just that. When we arrived, lots of people were on the beach doing yoga. I found this very interesting because we were also on a yoga retreat.

While I was floating out in the waves, people began pointing in my direction from the shore. Right then and there, a spinner dolphin put on a huge show inches from where I was floating. Then pods of them came in and we were swimming with them. I even got to see them up close under the water with a mask.

My husband Yoon making a whale tail on Kehena Beach

It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Afterwards, we were driving home and saw what looked like a shop or restaurant on the left hand side of the street. We walked in to the shop and were greeted with warm smiles. We ordered lunch and sat outside near what turned out to be the yoga studio. That's when we realized that this peaceful place was Kalani!

Having lunch at Kalani with friends on our yoga retreat

Afterwards, I researched Kalani and now I'm going back to this magical corner of the world once again as an artist-in-residence. We just never know what we might discover on this journey called life and where those discoveries will take us next! 

Are you good at hiding exciting news or do you share it right away?