lara simmons

In session three, we worked on bringing more presence into our lives. We began with a forty five-minute full body meditation . Taking a few deep breaths and then bringing awareness to each part of our body, starting with our toes. Feeling into each part of our bodies, feeling its structures, its movements, its energy. After the meditation we began to explore the concept of small stones. This exercise was created by Fiona Robyn a writer in England whose website is called Writing Our Way Home .  A small stone is "a very short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment." Writing small stones can help us be more present to our lives and to our writing. We read some examples of small stones from Writing Our Way Home, then we went out and wrote small stones of our own for 15-20 minutes before coming back together to share our experiences and our small stones. HOMEWORK: Write at least one small stone every day. It can be short or long, perfec...

"When you notice something clearly and see it vividly, it becomes sacred ." --Allan Ginsberg Today is the first-ever Mindful Writing Day , a day set aside to slow down, pay attention, and write about what you observe in those moments of stillness. Won't you join us?  For more information, follow the link above or go to Writing Our Way Home . Today is also free download day at Amazon.com of the new small stones anthology, " A Blackbird Sings: a book of short poems ." So hop on over to Amazon and grab your free copy. Write a rave review - and your own small stone - and have it published on the small stones blogzine, A Handful of Stones . Then sit back, relax and enjoy that feeling that comes from being more mindful, more connected to your world. Here is my small stone for the day: home a steaming mug of tea i wait. i wait. i wait.... then, a splash of cream a sip i taste- a good read in a comfy leather chair a roarin...

"When you practice mindful connections with others your life feels meaningful and so it is." --Mbali Creazzo, from the book "29 Gifts: How a month of giving can change your life" by Cami Walker My friends Fiona and Kaspa over at Writing Our Way Home are having a busy week. They are hosting the first-ever Mindful Writing Day , they are preparing to teach not one, but two, mindful writing e-courses in November ( Finding Your Way Home and Writing & Spiritual Practice ) AND they are promoting our new anthology, :" A Blackbird Sings: a book of short poems ." Yes, I said our . One of my small stones is going to be published in this lovely collection of mindful moments. AND this book will be available for FREE download on Amazon.com for one day only, Thursday, November 1st. So hop on over to Amazon on Thursday and grab your free copy. Write a rave review - and your own small stone - and have it published on their blogzine,...

In today's session we worked on bringing more presence to our lives and to our writing. Class began with a ten minute full body meditation . Taking a few deep breaths and then bringing awareness to each part of our body, starting with our toes. Feeling into each part of our bodies, feeling its structures, its movements, its energy. After the meditation we began to explore the concept of small stones. This exercise was created by Fiona Robyn a writer in England whose website is called Writing Our Way Home .  A small stone is "a very short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment." Writing small stones can help us be more present to our lives and to our writing. We read some examples of small stones from Fiona's small stones blog , her blogzine a handful of stones , as well as from my own small stones blog pebbles are small stones . Then we went out and wrote small stones of our own for 30-35 minutes before coming back together to share our...