The poet “from his early days, has been destined to set in motion supreme forces within his own heart, forces which others hold at bay in theirs and reduce to silence.”
– Rilke
– How can poetry be a meditative process?
– What are the differences in the mystic poetry of Wordsworth and Mirabai?
– How can we access the source of our own creativity?
It gives me great pleasure to offer, for the first time, a free online meditative poetry workshop through the LivingWise Project.
Poetry and spirituality or meditation have a deep, inherent connection. The earliest utterances of spiritual realisation were in the form of poetry – namely of the Vedas.
Poetry can be both a powerful spiritual practice, as well as an expression of deep insights and realisations (e.g. Willam Blake, Tagore or Wordsworth) or of deep love and joy (as in the case of mystic or bhakti poets).
This workshop is an invitation to explore words and where they may lead inside us. You do not have to be a poet or even have ever written before. The focus will be on the ability of words to evoke, inspire and point us to the deeper mysteries of life and our own selves. The workshop will include a short meditation and reading of some poetry by Wordsworth, Rilke, Rumi and Mirabai. The aim will be to connect to the state from which these mystic poets wrote. And of course, we will have a go at some short writing exercises ourselves.
I have been writing poetry since I was a child but only much later in life did I formally understand its place as a meditative process. The workshop is not only for me to share my love for the written word and its use as a vehicle into the experience of Being, but also to come together to read and write poetry and inspire each other.
To touch the basis of creative expression is immensely valuable for all areas of our lives. The more we exercise the inner muscle of sensing, feeling and silence, the better we can progress both on the spiritual path and in other activities of life, be it personal relationships or business.
This workshop offers that quiet, contemplative space so needed today, from where creativity and clarity can emerge and benefit our lives in a wholesome way.
To sign-up, please register at the following link: https://forms.gle/QaVgVvg3SWZtvpxM6
An email with the meeting link will be sent closer to the date to all those who have registered.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Shruti
Sh
ruti Bakshi is an author, poet and founder of the LivingWise Project where she has written over 200 articles on yoga, philosophy and other aspects of spirituality and culture. Formerly, she worked in banking and consulting in London, Paris and Australia. Shruti is an MBA graduate from INSEAD Business School (France), an MPhil graduate of Cambridge University where she was a Shell scholarship awardee and has been a topper at Mumbai University. Her spiritual journey began seriously in 2016 and has led her through the practice of yoga (Sivananda Academy & Isha Foundation), self-enquiry in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta (Ramana Maharshi’s lineage) and Krishna devotion (more formally, including a course in Vallabh Vedanta from Mumbai University). Shruti is the author of ‘From Dior to Dharma’, ‘Yoga, Work & Life’ and ‘HeartWords: mystic poems’. She is also a certified yoga instructor from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy, Kerala and has completed courses in Creative Writing including from City Lit, London.
Connect
Instagram: @shruti.heartwords
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shruti.bakshi.2024
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