Many people have asked about the connection between yoga and writing.

Yoga practice can be a tonic to the ceaseless inundation we face every day.  Bombarded by the electromagnetic waves of cell phones, microwaves, WiFi, PDAs, computers, iPods, we turn up the volume to drown out any possibility of hearing the inner stillness. Even in yoga classes, sometimes students spring up before shivasana, needing to be off and about their business, back to crammed schedules and ceaseless hurried, harried busy-ness.

Any yoga at all is a good thing, even when it’s treated more like calisthenics than meditation. And the special secret, the magic and true power of yoga — when you fully give yourself over to the fullest and deepest experience of that  — is its ability to quiet the mind and transport you — body, mind, and soul — to completely different levels. Yoga practice is a time and space to settle deeply into the body and hush the surface chatter of the mind.

What can emerge, what can be heard in that profound inner silence, is what some call the still small voice. As a writer and conscious creator, I treasure any practice that helps me unplug and connect to that deep, quiet place, the wellspring of words, the source of flow.

Yoga is like the bucket on the pulley of my grandmother’s old-fashioned well.  The bucket, on the end of the pulley,  travels down the well shaft to the surface of the water far below ground. Using the pulley, the bucket submerges then is drawn back up, bringing forth a vessel brimming over with the waters from deep and dark places.

Yoga serves as bucket and pulley, drawing up from the depths the elixir of life to be savored then, above ground, in writing and on the page.  Such is the perfect precursor for writers and creators of every stripe, the palpable connection to the deep inner world.

If you want to explore these inner connections and possibilities, please read about the Yoga + Writing workshops, here. Feel free to call or email me with any questions or for more information.

Restorative Yoga + Writing Workshop

with

Monika Andreas & Bobbye Middendorf

Open your inner spaces with Restorative Yoga to release the flow of your writing. Reinvigorate your life with words…Unlock the heart of your writing, messages, and gifts.

Join us on the Inner Vision Quest

WHEN: Saturday + Sunday June 4-5 9:30 – 4:30pm

YOUR INVESTMENT: $250 per weekend; Early paid commitment = $220

One day only: $150; Early paid commitment = $125

WHERE: 3600 N. Lake Shore Drive  Chicago, IL

*Welcoming beginners — writers and yoga students of all ages, shapes & sizes

*Inviting anyone who loves words and self-reflection — including journal writers

*Opening with yoga makes your writing easier, deeper, and renews your creative self

Monika Andreas’ 35 + years of yoga teaching helps you feel safe and at ease in your body,  inviting you to tap your peace of mind and inner healing wisdom.

Bobbye Middendorf, award-winning writer, holds the space for your sacred stories and expressions to unfold.

Email jasbjm(at)earthlink(dot)net for more details about the workshop. Please put “Yoga and Writing” in the subject line!

The gifts, messages, and sacred stories are flowing with abundance. If you chose, you could listen in and connect with thought leaders in your niche every single day, multiple times a day. You can follow the teleseminars, webinars, tweets, blog posts of Cultural Creatives on many different parts of the same or similar paths. You can try to comment on everyone who resonates, and so many people do. Their messages are potent for you.

For those of us charged over the years as “Living Libraries of Light,” the ocean waves of messages from thought leaders threaten to swamp us. Information overload is very real. We inhale to take it all  in — and choke. We open our arms to embrace all that seems good and true and beautiful — and we are carried into the undertow because we cannot embrace it all.

The great shift and turning is upon us, the turning of an age. You can read about networks, circles, communities, tribes of people dancing at the edge of transformation, opening the doors, windows, and portals, ushering in new ways of being that are freeing and liberating and connecting us with our true selves, our deepest and  Divine Essence. The forward motion and momentum, unfolding us into our future selves, continue unabated.

Even so, others steadfastly yank on chains of the past that hold us fast in old models and paradigms that are breaking down.  The powerful in the world clamp down on anything that empowers greater numbers of us. That is the old story that the powerful are trying desperately to hold onto. And in this time of disparate and desperate polarities, we are tacking, our small ocean-going canoes heaved first one way, then another.

Discernment is key. How do you discern who to follow, who to listen to, who to invite into your own inner sacred space? I’m not saying I have all the answers, but perhaps together we can access and share some useful questions.

It’s so exciting to partner with
Yoga for the Seasoned Body(TM) expert
Monika Andreas for an upcoming weekend
of renewal! Details below.

UNLEASH YOUR INNER CREATOR @

RESTORATIVE YOGA AND WRITING WORKSHOP

with

Monika Andreas and Bobbye Middendorf

Renew  *  Refresh  *  Restore  Your
Body  *  Mind  *  Spirit

*  Leading off with deeply relaxing and
restorative yoga, Monika gently introduces
ease for your body and peace for your mind.
This Yoga taps your inner healing wisdom
with therapeutic effects on your heart,
immune, digestive, circulatory, skeletal,
and other physiological systems — AND
your spirit and creativity!

*  Renewing your creative self and
reinvigorating your life in written words:
Like Yoga, writing can heal the heart and
renew the spirit. Bobbye helps you awaken
to your inner gifts and expression. In our
sacred circle, you are invited to bring
forth the stories and truths you are
yearning to share.

Where:    Addison at Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois

Your Investment:   $225 for entire weekend of renewal

Sorry…The Early Decision Deadline has passed.

****Save $$$ with your Early Decision!****
Your investment on or before Feb. 25:
Early Registration (with deposit)  $180

(Individual sessions receive $10 discount
with early registration/deposit by Feb. 25)

When:
Friday, March 4 -   6:30-9:30 p.m.   $ 55**
Saturday, March 5 – 9:30-5:30 p.m.  $115**
Sunday, March 6 -   9:30-3:30 p.m. $ 75**
**Costs per session if purchased individually.

Monika Andreas, with 35 years of yoga wisdom,
responds to the needs of each student.
She has trained with master yoga teachers
including B.K.S. Iyengar, Roger Eischens, Angela
Farmer, and Victor VanKooten among others
during more than three decades as a yogi.

Bobbye Middendorf leads Sacred Story Vision Quests,
convenes circles for writing and meditating, and
mentors people with urgent healing messages.
She is an award-winning writer with an
M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts
from Columbia College and creator of

http://www.writesynergiescopywriting.com.

Please contact me to reserve your place, as space is
limited. Feel free to email me
jasbjm(at)earthlink(dot)net with any
questions, and we can schedule a
one-on-one phone conversation.

Wishing you an abundance of
Love, Light & Laughter,

Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

With all the weather-related stories blizzarding the media, I was entranced by this perfectly timed insight from a Toltec teacher visiting Maine.  I acknowledge with gratitude the source. The following comes via Joanna Pinney Buell at

http://thedowsingdeva.wordpress.com

And her post advising “Don’t-let-overwhelm-stop-you-from-showing-up”

“Weather is not an impediment. It is a blessing. The snow is beautiful, sparkling crystal medicine for you and the earth.”
– Dabadi Thaayrohyadi
January 30, 2011 in Blue Hill, in Maine

A few years ago, I created a personal mission statement. As a solo-soul-preneur, I am the face and being of my business.  At the end of 2010, I was called to update that document. Usually the word “mission” for me is a non-starter. I’ve read far too many mission statements that put me to sleep.

As the Write Synergies Guru, I teach people the magic of growing their results (in words) greater than the sum of the parts. To do that, it calls for stepping into a level of Being in the World (and in the moment) that can only be expressed as your mindful and conscious Presence.  Sometimes, that Presence yearns to share itself by owning the parts that it encompasses. Maybe my colleagues would benefit by revising their “mission” statements into “Presence” statements…Or what I call the Code.

As a writer and a mentor for those crafting,  honing, and polishing their public messages, writing is one piece of my process. Let me share a secret: Who you are Being, from your deepest essence, is what makes the critical distinction between you and everyone else. So ponder the following questions. Take them to heart. Write your answers. Then share your riches here and with your own community of customers, clients — your circle and tribe.

First, who are you Being?

= From your Being, what is your Vision for 2011?

= What is your process for bringing that Vision to life?

= What are the words, the code that you live by when you are truly expressing from your highest and deepest self?

Please share!

For me, it is out of a place of deep inner space, of silence, of a kind of solitude, of words written by hand and by keyboard.

The Write Synergies Code

Out of the deep inner space of silence and solitude grow discernment, intuition, compassion

Walking a spiritual path, I commit to living these core values:

Listening deeply and with loving attention

Exploring with joy, curiosity, passion

Living mindfully and artfully with health, serenity, abundance

Knowing the sacred flow in all energy exchanges

Promoting peace, creativity, wisdom

Expressing compassion for Gaia, nature, and all sentient beings

Advancing with honesty, integrity, authenticity, gratitude, imagination

Connecting with the highest expression of those intersecting my path

Embodying a focus on the Light within and highest good for all concerned

Such foundational and visionary work is the beginning of declaration — what some might even call the basis for a Manifesto. Rest assured, that is coming. Living and expressing fully from this deep place calls on all our intent, requires that we show up in these new and powerful ways of Being.

I have been able to share, above, acrostic messages as part of my Write Synergies Code. These totems and ways of Being are also part of the code and reminders to me about the deeper forces at play in all aspects of life.

We are being called to wake up and act from a more powerful place. Start by unlocking your Being, shining a light on your Vision, and acting each day in the truth of your Code!

Join me on the Write Synergies Path!
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

When I read Seth Godin’s comments on making your mark (his “Soles” post) from last week, something clicked. How about for you? Here’s an excerpt:

“The concrete impact of our lives and our work is the mark you make on other people. It might be a product you make or the way you look someone in the eye. It might be a powerful experience you have on a trip with your dad, or the way you keep a promise.

The experiences you create are the moments that define you. We’ll miss you when you’re gone, because we will always remember the mark you made on us.”

–Seth Godin  (see the full post here)

The particular magic that each of us brings to our interactions with people — these are the gifts that make the difference. And it’s the giving of these particular gifts that is the true purpose of our coming into this world. It is in the giving of the gifts of ourselves, our uniqueness, the sacred center and essence of who we are — these are the signs that we are in the space where we can “make our mark.”

It’s what I call “owning your greatness.” It’s encompassed in the phrase “Living your Legacy.”  The potentiality to make a mark is always there. Our responsibility is to come at it mindfully and for positive, life-enhancing purposes.

Just like Christmas is always on December 25, so Epiphany is always on January 6. We’ve finished the twelfth night of the Christmas season and move on to the season of Epiphany.

I always loved the idea of epiphanies — those great ah-ha-s. Epiphanies were a big deal for Stephen Daedalus in James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, one of my favorites of the “great books.”

Epiphany, beyond the capitalized version of the religious holiday, according to Merriam Webster (at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany :

2   an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being

3  a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b : a revealing scene or moment

Such illuminations are indeed possible — especially using the writer’s toolkit. It’s a matter of paying attention to what is there, as one friend says, “Notice what you notice.”

Together throughout 2011, we will explore the many possibilities for synergies, legacies, epiphanies.

Here’s to Love, Peace, Joy …
and Epiphanies filling your 2011 to the brim!

2010 Pre-Solstice

Brilliant
SunSparkles on snow
mingling my tracks with squirrels’
Fluffed robins drunk on fermented berries
Crows sing raucous verses
The passing V of Canada geese honking refrain
And the gibbous moon
rising midday spectral ghostly blur
waxing toward Solstice full
in blue firmament
Magic is airborne
riding currents of
short days with mid-afternoon dusks
punctuated by window candles
Holiday lights like multi-hued
stars of an earthbound universe

Energies of Divine Feminine
a Shakti blossoming
within perfect
circle of protection
Embracings within yin and yang
the balance unspoken
yet profound
Festivities foretold unfold
celebrating rebirth
of love alive
illuminating
the innermost sacred
center of the heart
Divine Love ignites
whisperings soul to soul
Missives of grace

17 December 2010
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru

Chicago’s extended autumn, with mild-ish weather for much of November, has allowed extra time for being in our garden (aka Shangri-La). I wrote in late June, in my Missive from Shangri-La experience, all about a retreat that literally opened my eyes to, as they say, “the diamonds in my own back yard.” That is, Shangri-La is present just outside my door. This outdoor space is where and how I’ve been rooted on many a day of inner journeys — whether writing, dreaming, dining, or conversing.

In this month for gratitude, with so much to be grateful for, I wanted to share some of the special gifts in my life. Our Shangri-La garden is one that I’m looking at with grateful (and grace-full) eyes. I’ve been out there most days barefoot and doing a simple Qi Gong practice, soaking up the beauty and energies from the earth, the trees, the sky, and crow flying over.

It looks different in autumn. The trees shed their leaves. The Tree of Heaven, also known as the ailanthus, loses its leaves first. The copper beach will be the last, hanging onto golden crisp leaves through the winter, only to release them once the new growth starts. Without the leaves, even with the sun arcing low in the Southern sky, the garden glows in the light. At least on the days when clouds don’t get in between us and the sun.

A climbing hydrangea, its leaves brilliant yellow, stands like a small sun against the fence. Virginia creeper on the fence and side of the house always fades to a delicious pale pinky yellow with bright red stems. Crunchy leaves under foot mark one of passages of the autumn symphony.

Past mid-November in Chicago, the autumnal symphony is in its final movement. With deep gratitude and appreciation, I say Mahalo to all that has unfolded so that this particular humble little garden Shangri-La is now passing its grace through my life.