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Remember the good ol’ days in elementary school when your teacher introduced you to haiku, a Japanese form of poetry based on syllables, not rhyming?

Psychotherapist and author Anne Helfer describes haiku as the rap of expressive writing that unlocks the door to emotions hidden deep inside and leads to even deeper healing.

Anne explains how the 5-7-5 formula behind haiku is a simple healing exercise in mindfulness and why more people should follow her Silver Rule this week on Spirit Gym.

Learn more about Anne and her work as a psychotherapist, author and healer on Instagram.

Timestamps

6:22 Anne’s maternal abandonment, wounding and emotional neglect.

11:57 Teaching people how to externalize their truths by writing simple, condensed haiku is an exercise of mindfulness.

24:25 Anne’s Silver Rule.

36:04 Learning how to be comfortable without certainty.

40:44 Writing haiku is a practice.

47:37 Why do people live in their left brain?

54:40 Numerology and the structure of haiku.

1:00:07 “Renaissance woman, professional amateur, master of nothing.”

1:14:40 Learn to enjoy the glimmers.

1:25:30 Is it possible to breathe deeply through your womb/pelvis and use that experience to create haiku/mantras of focus, relaxation and calm?

1:38:16 How the Japanese language affects the benefits of using haiku (or not).

1:46:09 The impact high tech has on the world has forced Anne to stop working with kids.

1:50:00 Equanimity.

1:57:28 Interpersonal peace.

Resources

Healing With Haiku: A Poetic Exploration of Self by Anne Helfer

The work of Bashô, Dr. Dan Siegel and Caroline Myss

Jeffrey Mishlove’s conversation with David Whyte on YouTube

Alexithymia

Paul’s Spirit Gym conversation with Nancy Mellon

Find more resources for this episode on our website.

Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music

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