Awakening to the Poetic:
Meditation and Poetry for Coming Alive
A 9-week online workshop series
with Brooke McNamara
Mondays, 9 live workshops:
March 6, 13, & 20,
April 3, 10, 17,
May 1, 8, & 15
(no class March 27 & April 24)
9-10:30 am PST | 10-11:30 am MST | 11am-12:30 pm CST
12-1:30 EST | 5-6:30 pm GMT
6-7:30 pm CET | 10:30pm-12am IST
~ optional meditation 30 minutes prior to each class ~
(same Zoom link)
All workshops will be held online via Zoom, and recordings will be available for registered participants.
Investment:
Please choose the price that works for your current financial context:
$565, $345, or $125
~ Partial scholarships available for students, BIPOC, and those with significant financial hardships ~
In these bewildering times, both our inner and outer worlds are undergoing rapid change. So much is unknown. We may fear becoming overwhelmed or disconnected from the emotional, relational, creative, and spiritual resources we need most right now.
What if there is a dimension of experience always available right here, which is innately meaningful and vital - without cause or condition?
What if it's possible to simply awaken to receiving and transmitting this poetic dimension of being human?
We can tune and open ourselves to the living poetry of life – that which tenderizes the heart, soothes the mind, energizes the body, erupts in sudden laughter, and inspires compassionate action. When we do, we access the world’s innate aliveness, teeming with seen and unseen layers of intimacy, guidance, beauty, humor, and ever-present Awareness awake as it all.
Meditation harmonizes body, mind, and breath, allowing deep letting go of unnecessary tension and revealing an ever-present Awareness. This deeper nature is our birthright to realize, is not separate from any moment or expression of life, and is refuge when old reference points fall away.
Poetry ushers us into a realm of imagination, soul, and the liminal where we remember or sense things we didn’t know we knew. A realm where we can receive vision or whole-hearted wisdom (Prajna), not available through thinking or the conventional five senses alone. Where we may court and be courted by our muses, guides, or noble daemons. And where we can unfold bits of magic and insight simply by showing up to the page.
“By far the best poetry class I’ve ever done.”
~ Bridget Hanley, Writer, CA
“This course has been medicine for me.”
~ Esi Wildcat,
Artist & Priestess, Los Angeles, CA
"The sessions with Brooke and the community she gathers are gently powerful and powerfully gentle. After every session you have a sense of having had close friends for a visit and you would like them to stay, almost like when you were a kid, playing outside and being called in for dinner — you just want to play a little more…”
~ Igno Van Niekerk,
Author, Photographer, Storyteller, South Africa
EACH 90-MINUTE WEEKLY WORKSHOP INCLUDES:
- Optional meditation instruction and sitting practice 30 minutes prior
- Spoken poems and teachings to bring themes alive in your experience
- Writing prompts, guidance on technique and artistry, and time to explore through your own writing
- Interpersonal exploration and time for connection in small groups and big group
- Co-creation of robust relationships and intimate community through consistent creative and spiritual practice together
About Brooke
Brooke Teisui McNamara, MFA, is a poet, teacher, meditation instructor, and ordained monk. She has been a Zen student of Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi since 2010, and before that studied and practiced with Dorothy S. Hunt, a spiritual teacher in the lineage of Adyashanti. Brooke has published two books of poems: Bury the Seed and Feed Your Vow, and has taught at Naropa University in Yoga Studies and CU Boulder in Dance. She lives with her husband and two sons in Boulder, CO on the unceded land of the Hinóno'éí (Arapaho) and Cheyenne nations.
You will also be invited to join a private Mighty Networks online group for members of Awakening to the Poetic, in which to share poems, share your own writing and receive feedback, and generally explore together what comes up in the workshops.
Workshops will be recorded and sent to you within 48 hours, along with prompts and inquiries to consider in your writing and living between workshops.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
Week 1, March 6th: Ordinary Magic: What Does it Mean to Awaken to the Poetic?
Week 2, March 13th: Start Where You Are: This Moment is a Dharma Gate
Week 3, March 20th: Just Listen: Being Receptive, Heartbroken, & Ready to Laugh
NO CLASS MARCH 27th: Catch Up, Integration, & Rest
Week 4, April 3rd: Get Real: What Do You Most Need to Hear Right Now?
Week 5, April 10th: Courting Aliveness & Play: “Satori is Mistake After Mistake”
Week 6, April 17th: Awakening Your Voice: Poetry is An Embodied Art
NO CLASS APRIL 24th: Catch Up, Integration, & Rest
Week 7, May 1st: Timeless & Ever-Present: The Poetic is Resilience
Week 8, May 8th: Tending the Garden: The Art of Revision
Week 9, May 15th: Celebration & Reading of Works: Integration and Completion
“My central passions were fed to the point where I'm now uncluttering my life to focus more completely on what matters the most to me.”
~ Ernie Tamminga, CA
“This course totally opened the floodgates to my creative flow… I found each session deliciously rich with nourishment & inspiration.”
~ Elizabeth Winheld, Writer, CEO of WINC, Boulder, CO
“My expectations have continually been surpassed. I would highly recommend this course for poetry beginners or seasoned practitioners.”
~ Priya Logan, Aritst, Doula, Mother, Scotland
“I deeply appreciate that you hold this space grounded in your Buddhist practice and as a beautiful bodhisattva-poet-warrior-gentle being!”
~ Sabine, Germany
You are invited to awaken to deeper dimensions of yourself and this life, and to express your honest, beautifully unique, surprising discoveries.
You are invited to remember together our shared infinite heart, and weave visions of play, truth, beauty, and justice, together in community, as a weekly ritual.
I hope you'll say yes to this adventure!