What is my body’s deepest prayer? When I started asking myself this question, it was a revelation. It took me to such a deep level of awareness, I felt my consciousness shift simply by saying the question out loud. I lived a long time with a chronic illness that was difficult to treat. My life felt like a roller coaster, with major ups and downs in my health, no matter the exquisite self care I consistently practiced, and the many thousands of dollars I spent on treatments. The best doctors and healers I consulted were unable to prevent the breakdowns and setbacks that kept happening, and were always devastating. As I turned more and more to my own body, to ask her voice and wisdom to guide me, I found that the right question made all the difference in the kind of guidance I received. This question: “What is my body’s deepest prayer?” is one that consistently revealed a path I would have never seen; a path that made a palpable difference in my life. Have you ever asked yourself this question? It’s a question that can lead to insight in a variety of situations. If you’re sick, it can lead you to layers and nuances in your own self care that you might not otherwise come to. If you’re wrestling with a decision, it’s a very powerful question to ask. If you’re seeking guidance in your day, or in a project, this question can yield tremendous fruits. I find that when you bring the word prayer into an inquiry, it allows your body and your spirit to come into alignment with your highest self, and your greatest possibility. Prayer is about more than supplication. Prayer is also about communion. When you ask, “What’s my body’s deepest prayer?” you open to the possibility of communion with Source that’s always available. Your body’s deepest prayer is always to find wholeness and holiness, and your life’s journey provides many opportunities to learn what that means for you at any given moment. These days, many of us are concerned about the state of our nation, and the state of the world. We’re concerned about the divisiveness in our political discourse, and many of us are concerned about the fate of the earth itself, given our current administration. If you’re called to action, it’s extremely important that you take care of yourself so that your voice and your actions come from a centered, balanced place within yourself. And, if you find yourself struggling with despair or discouragement, it’s doubly important that you make your own self care a priority. Asking the question, “What is my body’s deepest prayer?” is a powerful tool to add to your Self Care tool box. It’s also one of the reflective writing exercises you’ll receive, if you participate in the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey, Come Home To Your Body. Sometimes you’ll do writing exercises that free your expression and jumpstart your creativity. Those are interwoven with Soul Writing Inquiry, like the question I just offered you. Together, the writing practices, along with radical self care practices, bring you deeper and deeper into communion with the home that’s possible, inside your own skin. This homecoming with your own body provides you a powerful foundation for your writing. When you’re strongly rooted in your body, your voice will be rich and subtle, allowing you to express the full range of what you want and need to say. As one of last year’s participants wrote, I will be forever buoyed up by the deep beauty that is this program: “21 Day Soul Writing Journey!” I began writing to my soul, then for my soul , and then as my soul. I’ve discovered that my soul, my Self, actually loves to write. My struggle to become a writer has ended—finally. During this journey I came into sweet rapport with all the pieces, parts, and places of me, once lost, now newly found. I gained access to the hidden light within the chambers of my body temple and beheld my very own sleeping beauty, for which I will never again apologize. I trust my gifts. Rev. Dr. Joanne Coleman, minister Culver City, CA Your writing practice: Whether or not it’s time for you to participate in this Soul Writing Journey, give yourself the gift of asking yourself this question, if you feel drawn to it. I suggest you set aside 10-15 minutes when you can be quiet and undisturbed. Sit down and write, “What is my body’s deepest prayer?” Then, pause for a moment. Take a few centering breaths, and feel your awareness sink into your body. Feel your feet on the floor, feel your self sinking into the chair or whatever you’re sitting on. Then, pick up your pen again. Invite your body’s deepest wisdom to respond. Let your body know you’re ready and willing to listen to whatever she has to say, no matter what. Then, write for at least five minutes. I’d love to know what happens if you do this process. I think your body and your soul will be grateful for the opportunity to speak to you in this way! I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions about the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey, please let me know! Blessings on all the songs and stories of your soul, Debora Seidman www.deboraseidman.com … [Read more...]

What’s a Soul-Writing Journey? And why would you want to take one? A soul-writing-journey has the potential to be many things. Today, I want to talk about a soul-writing-journey as a very specific process I’ve designed, to guide you to explore one aspect of your life through writing. A soul-writing-journey will help you to understand your life through the lens of your soul. When you look at your life’s journey this way, you’re able to shift your perspective on what you’ve been through. As human beings, we don’t like it when things don’t work out the way we hoped they would. When life gets hard, and things break down or fall apart completely, it’s easy to look for someone to blame. Sometimes that someone is another person, sometimes it’s our self. Either way, the impulse to blame will lead you to feel stuck. When, however, you face a challenging situation and you let your soul have a voice about what’s going on, you start to see things differently. While you may have only been seeing what you’ve done wrong, or how messed up things are, your soul will invite you to see a larger picture. “What are you learning?” your soul might ask. Or, “What’s being repaired, that could only be repaired this way?” When you start to ask those kinds of questions, you gain a new perspective on your life. You actually start seeing it as a journey, with lessons, instead of a series of things at which you either succeed or fail. You may still want to change something that feels out of sorts, but you’ll approach that change with a more expansive curiosity. As the 13th century mystic poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi wrote: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense. What I’ve come to know is that my soul loves to “lie down in that grass…out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing.” When I get to that field, everything changes. Instead of wondering why this is so hard, or why I failed so miserably at that, I start to see things from the eyes of my soul. My soul sees everything with so much love and compassion. My soul also sees things as learning opportunities. It’s taken me some time to come to terms with the fact that what my soul came here to learn may defy the plan I’d thought was such a good idea. But I’ve come to trust that things lighten and ease when I’m willing to understand my soul’s perspective. The poet John Keats said it this way: “Call the world if you Please "The vale of Soul-making". Then you will find out the use of the world.” If soul-making is indeed the use of the world--as in, it’s why we’re here-- how do you come into closer contact with your soul, so you can know its purpose in being here? Of course there’s no one way, but writing is one tried and trued way that people have used for centuries. I’ve created several courses that have been designed as soul-writing-journeys. A soul-writing-journey builds on writing’s natural tendency to be a pathway to the soul, by incorporating specific exercises that will quickly allow you to connect with your soul’s voice. My students and I have found soul-writing-journeys to be rich ways to explore and hear the soul’s voice and point of view, while also nourishing your creativity and deepening the power of your writing voice. The first soul-writing-journey I created is called Come Home To Your Body. It combines writing and radical self care. I’ll be offering that course through DailyOm later this month. I just learned that it will be launched on March 28, not early in March, as I’d originally thought. That means if you’re interested, you can start preparing now, and when March 28 arrives, be fully ready to dive in! If you want to learn more about the course, go here. All registration happens through DailyOm, and thanks to their generous sliding scale, you can sign up for as little as $10.00!! Next week I’ll talk more about how a soul-writing-journey helps you come home to your body. Meanwhile, if you feel inclined to listen more deeply to your soul this week, I suggest you try this, as a writing exercise: 1.Sit down where you can be quiet and undisturbed for 5-15 minutes. It doesn’t take long to connect to your soul through writing! It just takes a little focused attention. 2. Let one hand rest on your heart and one hand rest on your belly. Take three, gentle breaths, bringing your awareness to the sensation of your breath coming in and out of your nose. 3. Pick up your pen with your usual writing hand. Write down a question that genuinely concerns you right now. It can be personal or it can be collective, or political. Whatever is on your mind or in your heart that feels troubling or unresolved, write it as a question. 4. Consciously invite your soul to be present. Ask your soul to write through your hand. 5. Then, pick up your pen with your “other hand.” (I.e. if you’re right-handed, use your left hand.”) Start writing your response to this question with this hand. 6. Continue writing with your “other hand” as long as you want, and then keep going with your usual writing hand. It may be awkward or slow-going to write with your “other hand” but you’ll find your soul can speak very clearly that way, as you’ll bypass the traditional pathways of your left brain. 7. After you write, read what you wrote. If you have more questions, ask them, and let your soul respond again. Keep going for as long as you want, or until you feel satisfied with what you’ve heard your soul say. Writing this way can be highly illuminating, if you let yourself do it. Start with five minutes and see what happens! If you’re curious about the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey Come Home To Your Body, you can find more information here: https://deboraseidman.com/21-day-soul-writing-journey/ I’d love to hear what happens when you ask your soul’s response to a question that’s troubling you! Blessings on all the songs and stories of your soul, Debora www.deborseidman.com … [Read more...]

What do you need to rest from? This question, when you ask it to yourself, can be paradigm shifting. It’s a question I ask at the beginning of most of my programs. It’s also one of the first writing exercises you work with in the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey, Come Home To Your Body. The journey of coming home to your body is one that takes place through listening. It’s easy to ignore your needs for rest. Maybe you’re so used to being worn out that feeling rested and energized feels like an impossible dream. And yet….to write your most important work, and live your best life, you need your vitality. The gift of a Soul Writing Journey is that you’ll be renewed and revitalized by the writing you do; and at the same time, you’ll receive clear guidance from your own wise self that’s very specific for you, about what will help you to feel restored on all levels of your being. This question, What do you need to rest from? can lead to surprising revelations, if you give yourself permission to let the unexpected come through your pen, when you respond. The question itself is a form of permission. You’re giving yourself permission to acknowledge that yes, you do need to rest, and yes, you’re allowed to rest from the particular things that drain you. This kind of self care can be revolutionary! The answers to this question will change, according to what’s going on in your life. Sometimes you need to rest from worry, anxiety, or a particular obsession that’s claiming your attention. Sometimes you need to rest from over-work, not having enough down time. Sometimes you need to rest from being “on” socially, and sometimes you need to rest from being on technology, or social media. Always, it’s a question that will lead you home, if you ask it with an open heart and an open mind. Pause for a moment right now, and ask yourself, “What do I need to rest from?” What’s the first thing that comes into your mind? Ideally, do this as a writing exercise. Writing down the question and your response will lead to considerable clarity. Once you’ve gotten a response, ask yourself what it would take to actually start resting from the thing you most need to rest from. What’s one action you can take this week, to support your need to rest in this way? In the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey, I suggest you ask this question every night, for a week, just before you go to sleep, and see what emerges when you wake in the morning. If you’re drawn to it, try that this week. In my own life, I find it’s a good question to ask when I feel run down on any level. I’ll ask it if I’m physically tired, and I’ll also ask it if I feel stressed out and overwhelmed. If I’m stuck in a writing project, or if the inner critic is speaking loudly, I will turn to this question for guidance. It’s so reassuring to know that you can get guidance from your own soul, any time you ask. Sitting down to write a question to your soul is a great way to ask. Try it this week at least once. Sit down and write, “What do I need to rest from?” Then, invite your soul and your body to respond, and see what answers emerge, when you write. In just a few weeks you can sign up for the 21 Day Soul Writing Journey, Come Home To Your Body. All registration happens through the DailyOm, and thanks to their generous sliding scale, you can sign up for as little as $10.00! To learn more, and get on my early bird list to be notified as soon as registration is open, go here. 21 Day Soul Writing Journey I hope you’re feeling full of radiant vitality when you read this. If you’re feeling anything other than that, I invite you to ask yourself, “What do I need to rest from?” and see what guidance emerges from your pen. Blessings on all the songs and stories of your soul, Debora Seidman www.deboraseidman.com … [Read more...]

On Writing and Vulnerability Many years ago I had the privilege of hearing Pulitzer Prize Winning poet Joseph Brodsky read his poems. I was living in Western Massachusetts, and he was reading at Mt Holyoke College in South Hadly, MA. He was about 75 years old. What I remember about that reading was his presence, his humble vulnerability, that nonetheless exuded a deep sense of power. At one point in the reading he was speaking about the process of writing poems. He said, as I recall it now, “If you’ve been an airline pilot for 25 years, you step into the cockpit with a fair amount of confidence. You know what you’re doing, you’ve flown enough planes that you know what to expect by now. But when you’ve been a poet for 25 years, you sit down at your desk and you really don’t know what will happen this time when you begin to write a poem.” He went on to speak about this. You need to be in that place of not knowing what will happen, if you’re going to write an honest poem, he said. A good poem requires that vulnerability of you, that honest vulnerability of not knowing what’s going to happen, not knowing if it’s going to work, but entering into the present moment of what is asking to be said. There’s tremendous power in that kind of vulnerability. It’s the place that real authenticity comes from. If you want to write in your own voice, and write something true, that matters to you and to another person who reads it, you need to be willing to start from that kind of honest, can’t-be-faked vulnerability. This is true not just for poets, but for any writing that comes from your soul. Which means that in the act of writing, you’re going to need to be very intimate with your own fear. This is a profound and significant paradox for writers, and one that it’s important to understand, if you want to keep writing and stay sane, sober and consistent. If you start to know that vulnerability is a threshold you’re going to have to cross as part of the writing process, you don’t have to be so scared of it. If you know that your vulnerability is actually a necessary part of the writing process, you can find ways to welcome it, take care of it and take care of yourself when you feel vulnerable, so that you can stay connected to the core of what makes your writing authentic, and also stay centered and strong as you keep writing. This inherent vulnerability is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about self-care as part of the writing process. The more present you are with yourself—which is one of the gifts you receive from engaging in true self-care—the more aware you can be of the subtle emotional shifts that are part of the writing process. Writing itself will always involve risk, because it’s about the truth, and it’s also about telling the truth that only you can tell. In order to do that, you have to enter into yourself. Writing also has the potential to involve tremendous healing and personal growth, if you stay present to the possibilities that arise, when you face challenges along the way. The first step to changing your relationship with the fears and vulnerabilities that are part of the writing process is to be very aware of how they manifest in your own writing life. Does the very idea of sitting down to write scare you so much that you avoid it at all cost? Or do you get to the page, but then mercilessly criticize what you write? Do you compare yourself to other writers and feel yourself less than them? Or maybe, you sense there’s something you need to write about, but you keep putting off this writing, because you know it will ask you to explore memories and experiences that are charged and loaded for you? Start to pay attention to your own process. And as you do, remember this: writing is ultimately kind, and on your side. Meaning, writing wants you to write, wants you to write what really matters to you, and rewards you, when you show up to the page, with a sense of wholeness that nothing else will give you. Why is it then sometimes so hard? And what to about it? I’ve come to see that the fears, vulnerabilities, and hesitancy that are part of the creative process are akin to crossing a threshold, in a mythical or archetypal journey. To get to the treasure, there’s often a dragon to be tended with. In the case of writing, the dragon is very often your own fear. A part of you is so convinced its job is to protect you, that it will do anything to keep you from writing. The fears and vulnerabilities are the signs that some part of you is gearing up to keep you safe. When you start to recognize what’s going on, you can breathe. You then call in your own witness consciousness, and make a different choice. Years ago, my yoga teacher used to say, “Fear is just excitement without the breath.” Next time you feel scared in any phase of your writing process, come back to your breath. Feel your body breathing, and find a more centered place to anchor your attention. Once you’ve gotten more centered, look again at the fear that’s arising. Look at it with compassion, and ask it to talk to you. Once you develop the habit of shifting your relationship with your fear, you’re more able to navigate it when it shows up. You get to go deeper in your writing, and be more resilient with the places that used to stop you. Back to Joseph Brodsky: I find it enormously comforting to remember that our most brilliant poets and writers feel the same vulnerabilities that I do. Those feelings are just part of the process. And, I’d also say that in 25 years of writing poetry, you may not develop the confidence or bravado of an airline pilot about the act of writing itself, but you can nonetheless develop both compassion and skill to navigate the vulnerable thresholds that are part of the writing process. As you develop more awareness of what the writing process entails, you know how to keep going when things get challenging. You have a different relationship with your writing, and you’re no longer so afraid of the fears that might have stopped you in the past. If you want to learn more about how you can make your own creative process work for you, I invite you to join me in a free class on Thursday, February 2. You can register here. Also, consider this course coming up in March: Come Home To Your Body: 21 Days of Writing and Radical Self Care. You’ll learn to create a very safe container for your voice within the temple of your own body. You’ll be amazed how your body can strengthen your writing process, when you invite its wisdom to guide you! … [Read more...]