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Monday, March 21, 2011

Sit- Walk- Write.

On my balcony a pink haze, as cyclamen, magnolia and miniature flowering cherry come into bloom. A bell sounds. From the playground I can hear children’s voices, soaring in release. Through the open door, this spring morning calls me into presence, and possibility. I take up my pen.

Some minutes ago I sat disheartened and empty before the blank page, the critic on my shoulder, passing judgement, preventing me from writing anything, reminding me that I had nothing new to say, promising that I would make a fool of myself.

For a moment I was almost caught – in the trap my own mind had made, in the story it had created. I was reminded of the Buddhist story of the person who painted an enormous tiger on the wall of their meditation cave and returned late that night only to be terrified by the very same tiger in the fire light, forgetting who had painted it.

To write it is necessary to befriend resistance, whether it presents itself as judgement, fear, inertia, shadow or paralysis.  Similar to meditation practice, we learn to sit with whatever comes, allowing it simply to be there. The great Sufi mystic Rumi wrote how our “ being human is a guesthouse/ every morning a new arrival/a joy a depression a meanness/ some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor”. This welcoming of whatever comes, this opening of the door, is essentially a journey deeper into what it means to be human.  In a wonderful poem by Czech poet Miroslav Holub the door becomes a metaphor for the writing process and indeed for the unopened possibilities of life itself. He urges the reader to go and open the door. Perhaps there will be a garden or a magic city, a dog rummaging, or a fog clearing. “Even if there’s only/ the darkness ticking,/even if there’s only/the hollow wind,/even if/ nothing/ is there,/go and open the door”.

The school bell signals the end of playtime. I imagine the children reluctantly going indoors to classrooms and formal lessons. I find myself dreaming of schools where children are involved in directing their own learning, where imagination is central, where all types of intelligence are celebrated. I see children in myriads of activities that are fun filled, creative, life-giving. I see all of us as children in those moments of our lives when we were pure possibility, when our spirits were unbroken and free. I find myself longing for the kind of self-expression that the German poet Rilke desired when he wrote: “May what I do flow from me like a river, /no forcing and no holding back,/the way it is with children”.      

So many of us long to re-discover that flowing stream of creativity that we sensed as children - those moments of light and play that opened us up to realms of endless possibility and newness. In one of Seamus Heaney’s poems he recalls a childhood game of sliding on the ice, where the children imagine, re-imagine and attempt the perfect slide: Running and readying and letting go/Into a sheerness that was its own reward:/A farewell to surefootedness, a pitch/Beyond our usual hold upon ourselves”.

This sense of moving beyond our usual hold upon ourselves can be glimpsed in those moments in writing when we suspend the critical mind and allow thoughts, images, feelings to flow easily from the heart to the hand onto the blank page. Of course there will be time to bring the critic in later when it comes to editing and refining the work, but as one of my great teachers advised me not to “ pay the critic” at the outset, or the result would be paralysis.

Writing practice is a little like meditation practice. We learn to sit in non-judging awareness and mindful presence, open to what ever comes. We learn to trust those first thoughts as the best thoughts as we empty our minds of clutter and noise and aspire towards beginner’s mind. We sit like the child in Heaney’s basalt wishing chair at the Giant’s Causeway, seeing and dreaming “beyond the range” we thought we’d “settled for”. We begin to locate ourselves within larger horizons of being and becoming. As the writer Natalie Goldberg, who had also spent many years in Buddhist meditation practice, said in an interview:

   Writing practice is a technique that allows you to contact the vastness of being without     
   going crazy. It gives you a structure. Whatever comes up, you keep your hand moving and
   you sit there until the time is up. Just like in meditation; whatever comes up while you're
   meditating, you keep the structure of the   posture until the bell rings. You put down your
   pen for a while and go take a walk, and then you dip yourself in again. 

The pastel pink blossoms of the cyclamen are offset against its cerise pink pot.  A gardener creates raised beds for the school children to plant and grow. The mindfulness bell sounds on my computer. Bird song is insistent, joyful. Everything is in bud.

Anne F. O’Reilly Ph D.


Anne F.O'Reilly. PhD. has over thirty years experience of teaching and facilitating workshops in spirituality, creative writing and sacred poetry. She was a senior Lecturer in Religious Studies in St Patrick's College Drumcondra until 2008 when she took early retirement and began working as a performance poet, celebrating the healing and transforming power of poetry. She brings to this work many years training with voice, poetry by heart, sacred clowning, drama and meditation. She is the author of Sacred Play:Soul Journeys in Contemporary Irish Theatre (Carysfort Press 2004), and Singing from the Belly of the Whale (2009), a book of poetry, with original paintings by Caroline Hunter. The CD Breathsong with her own poems and music by Wayne P. Sheehy was released in March 2011.  Ann is facilitating a two day writing workshop in Croi Anu Moone on Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd April.  For details call 087 8381933 or check out www.croianu.ie.


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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Happy Womens Day






Kuan Yin
Of all the buddhas I love best the girl
who will not leave the cycle of pain before anyone else.
It is not the captain declining to be saved
on the sinking ship, who may just want to ride his shame
out of sight.  She is at the brink of never being hurt again
but pauses to say,  All of us.  Every lade of grass.
She chooses to live in the tumble of souls through time.
Perhaps she sees spring in every country,
talks quietly with farm women while helping to lay seed.
Our hearts are a storm she trembles at.  I picture her
leaning on a tree humming or joining a vollyball game
on Santa Monica beach.  Her skin shines with sweat.
The others may not notice what she does to them.
She is not a fish or a bee; it is not pity or thirst;
she could go, but here she is.

Laura Fargas

Friday, March 4, 2011

Feng Shui: Can I be bothered?


Feng Shui: Can I be bothered?
Some years ago a friend gave me a loan of a book called Creating Sacred with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston.  As I took the book into my hand I said “looks interesting” but thought don’t think I’ll be bothered.  I had some kind of notion the this might be for bordering weirdo’s or maybe those hadn’t much to do with their time.  Then my friend said the writer lives part of the year in Bali and refers to it quite a bit in the book, now this was a different story my interest grew immediately.  I have been to Bali once and absolutely loved the place, the people and a sense of harmony that exists there that I find hard to put words on, any book that would take be back to the Balinese memory could only be good. 
I was ready to read with interest and enthusiasm.  The book had plenty full of concepts I never came across before but it felt like they made sense and certainly changed how I feel my environment and started to wake me up to my own power in changing the quality of the environment by making small adjustments.  It introduced me to the notion that clutter is stuck energy and that by clearing the clutter externally I help move energy and don’t allow an unhealthy stagnation to exist.  I find it a great help when spring cleaning to remember that a clear out is helping us on much more that just a physical level.
So what is Feng Shui?  It is the study of movement of energy and how the environment in which we live has an effect on our physical, emotional and spiritual well being.  On Sat 25th there is a one day workshop in Croi Anu which is an introduction to Feng Shui and those taking part will be working on the floor plan of their own house.  Oonagh Kavanagh is the Feng Shui consultant facilitating the days.  Find workshop details click here!  

Yoga: A journey through the Chakras

Yoga: A journey through the Chakras
Today I had a phone call inquiring about the yoga day here on 12th March.  The caller wanted to know if the teacher on the day was Colleen Burke, she said “if it is I really want to do the day, I used to be in her class.”  YES, YES, YES the yoga teacher here on 12th March is Colleen Burke and yes there are places still available.  I am sure there are many out there who were in her classes who would love to come along so help spread the word. 
On the day, Colleen will be using movement and mantra, some visualisation and meditation techniques to listen deeply.  Full details of the workshop are on the website