Creating Brave Retreat at 1440 Multiversity

1440: Stunning New Retreat Center. Join us for Creating Brave

I am thrilled to be offering this Creating Brave Retreat  at 1440 Multiversity, a stunning new center nestled in a magnificent forest of of redwoods just outside Santa Cruz, California.  This campus is carefully crafted to nurture, educate and inspire! Bring 2017 to a Close by Gifting Yourself Time Step Outside Your Life Pause to…

Read More

Unity in Sharing Art: Amulets and Talismans

Sharing with you a closer look of my Kitchen Altar.

Sharing Art – A Courageous Act   Sharing art is a act of trust. It is an act of bravery. Because our creations are tender, innocent newborns, they need protection and nurturing care. Thus, it is anxiety-producing to place our creations in the spotlight for other eyes to see. Yet by sharing our creations in a safe…

Read More

Mindful Nature Mandalas: A Restorative Practice

Nature Mandala

Not familiar with Mindful Mandalas, read more about them here – Mindful Mandalas     Mindful Nature Mandalas Whether you create mindful nature mandalas by yourself or within community, it is a restorative practice.  With nature as our guide, we step into a quiet, nurturing world where time moves at a different pace.  By slowing…

Read More

Community Healing: The Monks Are Coming!

The Tibetan monks are ready to begin our community mandala.

    A Video Captures Our Story Our community needed healing.  Three weeks before the Tibetan monks were to arrive from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, our city was devastated by a”100 year flood.”  Extremely heavy rains caused our rivers to overflow, which caused many dams to break, which caused huge devastation throughout our community.  Homes were destroyed. Our water…

Read More

Tibetan Inspired Community Art: Mandalas, Talismans and Prayer Flags

Talisman of Healing

  Tibetan Inspired Community Art For our 20th anniversary exhibition, Circles of Life: Making Art, Creating Communities of Hope, I wanted to pay tribute to the Tibetan Culture, as they had influenced the design of my creativity practices for at least 15 years. Curious why Tibet?  Read our earlier post – Travel Inspiration: Stumbling Across the Tibetan Sacred…

Read More

Fear No Art: Trust & Blind Contour Drawing

Many times, it is plain, old-fashioned fear that keeps survivors from signing up for our offerings – not the fear that comes with a cancer diagnosis, but the terror associated with the words creativity and art: “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. I do not have a single creative bone in my body.” We believe that everyone has creative bones;…

Read More

Tranquility Practice: Creating Radiant Mandalas

There is a wonderful strangeness about meeting in a classic business boardroom for our Lunch and Learn series. A very large, stately, dark mahogany table fills the room. Two of the four walls are almost floor-to-ceiling glass. It is an elegant space that holds us well. This boardroom is transformed when we meet the first…

Read More

Calming Practice: Creating Mandalas

When I arrived last Wednesday to set up for our new Lunch and Learn Series, Mickey and Linda were already there, setting up the registration table. Our “greeters” Donna and Mae arrived soon thereafter, and Evelyn was not far behind. These five women are our ambassadors. They are experienced, seasoned participants who are well on the…

Read More

Your Springtime Creative Muse

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard This weekend, I wandered throughout my neighborhood, slowing way, way down to see my familiar environment through a different lens, traveling in my own backyard. As spring begins to…

Read More