Greetings Friends! Just halfway through my first season of teaching Women’s Writing Circles and I love pretty much everything about it — the honor of hearing people’s stories, and the simplicity and generosity of a process that invites us to meet ourselves on the page. The practice can be full of surprises, words sprinkled with our unique spiritual breadcrumbs, all leading us back to our true selves.

What we do in these circles is simple, I read a poem and we write together for a short amount of time. Then one by one we read. We listen, we do not comment. It takes courage for sure, but the gifts are worth it —meeting all parts of ourselves in a circle of safe listening. It’s an honor to facilitate these circles.

There’s no better way to get a feel for what the practice is than to try it. So I would like to share with you a short poem and video so that you can try this on your own, or maybe with a trusted friend. If you watch the video, I will give you brief instructions on how the practice works. If reading is more your thing than watching, simple instructions are below.

The next round of Women’s Writing Circles begins mid January, both on zoom and in my home in Berkeley. Find out more at daynamacy.com. Or feel free to email me at dayna@daynamacy.com for more info.

Love,

Dayna

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October Writing Practice

What you’ll need:

A pen

Paper/journal (I recommend pen and paper instead of your computer. It is a more visceral experience.)

• Set your timer to ten minutes or have a clock handy.

• Read the poem below out loud.

• Choose one of the jump off lines from the poem below:

• Everywhere you turn there is an entrance

• Everyone is connected

• Or an alternate line: Here’s what I want to say

• Read the poem aloud one more time then… 

•Begin writing. Pen doesn’t leave the page. If you’re stuck use the line, Here’s what I want to say… and keep writing. Keep your belly soft. Say yes to what arises. You got this.

•When the time is done. Put the pen down. Take a few deep breaths, settle in, then read your writing aloud to yourself (or if writing with a friend, take turns reading out loud. Listen and do not comment).

Take a few moments to feel what lines you wrote resonate in any way. Surprise. Laughter. Anger. Grief. These are our spiritual breadcrumbs. They are windows into knowing ourselves better. It’s all part of the human stew and it’s all good.

“An Entrance” by Malina Morning

If you want to give thanks

but this time not to the labyrinth

of cause and effect–

Give thanks to the plain sweetness of a day

when it’s as if everywhere you turn

there is an entrance–

When it’s as if even the air is a door–

And your child is a door

afloat on invisible hinges.

“The world is a house,” he says,

over lunch as if to give you a clue–

And before the words dissolve

above his plate of eggs and rice

you suddenly see how we are in it–

How everywhere the air

is holding hands with the air–

How everyone is connected

to everyone else by breathing.

***