Spiritual Grit

The gloves are coming off for this episode. // Spirituality and activism are not mutually exclusive. One can exist without the other, but you don't have to choose one over the other. // Spirituality is your grounding place to help you understand who you are in this world as a spirit soul having a human experience. Activism is the act of standing up to do what we are called to do in order to create change. // We need to raise our voices to tell our story and to stand up for who we are and who we're being. // Are white allies willing to put themselves on the line, including personal safety, in order to fight for racial equality? // And yes, I’m calling out the white folks who are sitting in deafening silence. // The layers of being Asian American and trying to shake the “model minority” myth. // Speak your truth unapologetically. // There must be a Black-Asian coalition so that we can effectively fight white supremacy. // Join me on Tuesday, March 30th 7-9pm ET for Write to Heal, a healing space for women of color, a space for you to just BE. To feel cared for, to be held. To be seen and to be heard. Register at https://suryagian.com/write-to-power // Follow me on Instagram for Maverick Mondays, Free Verse Fridays, and some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “Throw Me On A Scale” by Hafiz “Making Roti in the Land Guard Kitchen of Highway 99” - Preeti Kaur Rajpal

You are more than who you're being right now, more than your physical or cultural identity, and more than the roles that you play in this life. // Let's understand who we are in this physical moment so we can learn how to expand. // The idea of identity and naming your stories give us a starting point for healing. // Before you can get where you want to be in the future, you need to know where you’re starting from and how you got there. // Be present in the Now. Don't live in the past and try not to project into the future. // Look at the past so you can see how far you’ve traveled and identify the lessons learned along the way. This will help you figure out the next steps to move forward. // By writing these Maverick Monday stories, I am finding that they hold the power to transmute energy into healing. // Over time, we gain knowledge and wisdom from our lived experiences. Will you choose to grow from this? // Telling our stories can help us understand that these things happened to help us grow and to inform who we are right now. // If you want to experience the healing magic of telling your stories, join me on March 30th 7-9pm ET for Write to Heal, a workshop where we’ll work on identifying the source of our hurts and uproot them from our gardens through meditation, writing, and ritual. Register at https://suryagian.com/write-to-power // Follow me on Instagram for Maverick Mondays, Free Verse Fridays, and some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “Without Brushing My Hair” by Hafiz “Wished for Song” - Rumi

Everyone is discovering the intimate universe in their own way - don't worry about what others are doing or thinking or even what their opinions are of you. They are on their own path. // It's important to think about how you can best serve others by being your most authentic self// The nectar of this life is a every divine moment, even when you're sleeping. Every moment is taking you to grow. Every moment is not wasted. Every moment is information for one’s growth and evolution. // Meditation practice is different from other practices. It doesn’t have a goal. Meditation is a practice in which you sit and observe. You create awareness. // With meditation practice, you get more attuned to your inner voice and your inner wisdom.// Don’t forget to play. We adults should be reminded to play and to experiment just like kids for our growth and evolution into our highest selves in every moment in our lives.// Your subconscious mind does not register negative thoughts so help it by making positive statements. // Move forward in ways that are within your power, within your control. // When you show gratitude, the hard things, the challenges, the pain, the difficulties, they all can be seen as moments that are helping you grow rather than as afflictions.// Living in the past, doesn't help us heal. It doesn't help us learn either. // The questions we ask help shape the quality of our lives. // The moment you decide you want to heal usually is when you can no longer withstand the pain of hurt. // Follow me on Instagram for Maverick Mondays, Free Verse Fridays and some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “Insight Verse 160" from The Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche “Who Will Feed My Cat?” by Hafiz

In this episode, I talk with Luisa about how poetry writing and spiritual practices overlap and intersect. Both are a kind of meandering, a kind of exploration. // Our human minds always want to be linear - a ‘feeling’ is not a straight line nor a destination, but it is a moment or an experience. // This episode brings the idea of mapping the patterns according to what we see in nature rather than trying to live a linear life. // Writing is not all magic nor fairy dust but it is an idea of finding a point of stillness where you can just be in your own space. // Poetry is a lot like a prayer. The idea of prayer as an internalized form of speaking to another, not just a supplication but also for disclosure or for company. // It has the capacity to draw out an experience from us when we are most vulnerable, as if we're not just talking to ourselves, but we're talking to something else in the living universe. // Memory is something that is directly attached to the ability to repeat. You use it as a way to find something or to find your way back to that thing by remembering its associations. // Poetry is related to saying the rosary - it is how we lay down the verses, how we lay out the lines, and how we choose the words. // Follow me on Instagram for Maverick Mondays, Free Verse Fridays and some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “In a Circus Booth” by Hafiz Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison The Buddha Wonders If She is Having A Midlife Crisis by Luisa Igloria “The Morning Porch”(blog) by Dave Bonta “Fata Morgana” by Luisa Igloria Keywords: Creativewriting, ChooseInnerKnowing, InnerKnowing,healing, healingblueprint, blueprint, healingjourney, meditation, suryagian, writing, yoga, trauma, light, love, feel, past experiences, joy, offering, kindness, beauty, failure, inspiration, self care, love yourself, human beings, live life, healingtrauma, purpose, lifepurpose, humanconnection, humanwellbeing, wellbeing, humanego, meandering, evolution, memory

Monotony is an illusion. // Compassion and dignity are the antidotes to Anger. It helps us thrive in this human experience.// We have choices as far as how we interact, how we see those interactions. We have intentions that we're in charge of. We have power over how we respond to things.// The physical body needs human connection. Sharing of the everyday actions/tasks reminds us of our humanness. // Take notice of how amazing your life experience is despite the perceived limitations and perceived monotony // We're spirit-souls having a human experience. We can use that perspective to really pay attention to how different life's every moment while breathing. No moment is the same. // You have life experiences that help build and shape and shift and evolve the way you see the world // Pay attention to the details of what's going on in your life and just see the wonder and the beauty of it. There is no monotony. // Appreciate where you are at this moment even if it is uncomfortable and painful. There is growth happening. // Suffering is a choice. Be mindful of what it is that we tell ourselves. Notice how we're living our lives right now moment by moment.// Follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “The Great Expanse” by Hafiz “How To Prepare The Mind for Lightning” by Ben Saito

Omg. I’m so freaking excited about this episode! You don’t even know. I get to talk with one of my favorite people and oldest friends, Ross Gay, award-winner poet, professor at Indiana University, baller, gardener, and all-around big-hearted human. We were poetry babies together in college with Lee Upton, poet and professor extraordinaire, as our poetry mama (Ross mentions her here). We talk about the practice of poetry and presence, about being part of a collective (both physically as people and spiritually), and how to “unfix” a poem. We also explore how we hold each other’s memories and minds, that what constitutes our minds are held, not just by us, but also by others (enter the story of Negative Nelly and Positive Polly - haha!). People, this conversation was so much fun! You GOTTA listen! (We might even do a Part 2!) Also, he mentions a few folks I’d like to identify: Pat is NJ-based poet, Patrick Rosal. Nora is a CA-based writer and editor, Nora Issacs. // REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for Write to Heal, my 2- day workshop to help you identify what’s holding you back and getting you started on the healing journey. But hurry! Doors close on Thurs Feb 19 at 9 pm ET! // And follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “That tree we planted” by Hafiz The Wisdom of No Escape (book) by Pema Chodron “To the Young Who Wants to Die” by Gwendolyn Brooks

When trauma happens, your neurological pathways get interrupted and new ones get formed. Without healing, these pathways become your way of life - one in which you experience the trauma again and again. // Often, the conversation around healing from traumatic experiences excludes people of color. // By focusing on God, the divine, the Universe --whatever you name the higher power-- we remember that we are more than just a physical body. We are love made manifest; we are love in a physical existence. // Spiritual work is one effective component for healing. // Healing trauma IS possible. // Your life is meant for way more than you even dreamed possible. // Dream by tapping into your inner selves, beyond what you see and what you feel.// Trauma is like a big anchor that weighs you down. //  Our power is within us. // By healing our trauma, we can help ourselves to open up our lives to something bigger. // We need to start stepping into our power because we're not put on this planet to live a half-mast life. // When you're living your life at half-mast, when you're settling for life, instead of really stepping out and thriving, you risk spending time on this planet with more suffering than necessary. // Seek your purpose. // REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for Heal to Power, my 8-week course that teaches women writers of color how to heal from the inside out so that they can speak their truths and claim their power. But hurry! Doors close on Thurs Feb 11 at 9 pm ET! // And follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “Forgive the Dream” by Hafiz The Magic (book) by Rhonda Byrne The Body Keeps the Score (book) by Bessel van der Kolk “Won't You Celebrate With Me?? by Lucille Clifton

In today’s episode, I am joined by Ruth Forman, an acclaimed poet, writing mentor to many, and author of children’s literature. Her most recent children’s books are Curls and Glow from Simon & Schuster. We talked about ways in which we can connect with ourselves, including saying a prayer in the morning when you wake up, and how the connection with nature is so essential to our nourishment. // Remember to just give yourself a little bit of time to write and let the divine just come through. // Give yourself space to respond to others because it speaks to your own practice of staying connected to yourself. // Talking to somebody doesn't necessarily change their behavior or their thinking, but the example you set, by staying connected to the power within yourself, can create change in people’s lives.// Connect with the divine in our own ways. // Want to learn more about healing your trauma? Visit https://suryagian.com for more info on Heal to Power, my 8-week course that teaches women writers of color how to heal from the inside out so that they may tell their truths and claim their power. And follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “The Sky Hunter” by Hafiz We Are The Young Magicians (poetry book) by Ruth Forman “The Vintage Man” by Hafiz “May You Take Your Pen In Your Hands and Never Stop Writing” by Ruth Forman

Our intuitive voice knows that we are worthy, knows that we deserve all the things we want.// Our desires in our hearts were put there for a reason - this is our purpose in life: to go and to seek it out. // We are here to play the game of being a human on this planet and learn lessons in the process. // It takes some work to discern between the desire of the heart and the desire of the ego, but if that doesn't resonate in your heart, in your intuition, and in your deepest inner self, that’s materialism. // FREE WORKSHOP! We are worthy of so much more than we give ourselves permission to have. Are you ready to stop holding back and declare your worthiness? Sign up for my FREE 5-day workshop, You Are Worthy, that helps boost self-love and invites you to step into your own innate power. It starts on Monday, February 1st. Sign up at suryagian.com/you-are-worthy // Grab my free resource, 5 Tips on Meditation, to get your new year and your new healing started on a high note! Email: leslieann@suryagian.com // Want to learn more about healing your trauma? Visit https://suryagian.com for more info on Heal to Power, my 8-week course that teaches women writers of color how to heal from the inside out so that they may tell their truths and claim their power. And follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “The ambiance of love.” by Hafez “Dervish at the door” by Rumi Movie mentioned: "The Best of Enemies"

In this episode, I talk with Autumn Saunders, a very special guest who is a soul dancer, a soul doula facilitator, a NIA movement artist, a poet, a singer-songwriter, and a budding herbalist. // Here she shared about how she uses movement in the work of connecting the mind, body, and spirit for healing and encouraged us to find our internal rhythm - Rise, Rest, Rejuvenate. // Find what’s fun for you, finding a way to play. Once you have the fun, it makes you want to do it again. // We need to give ourselves permission to heal. To be on that path gives us the opportunity to live our best life. // Believe that we deserve to heal. Make this a conscious choice and commitment to oneself. // The pathway to connect in believing that we deserve to heal is to go back and recognize your ancestors.// Joy is a life force energy - energy that gives us our liveliness. // Healing is not an achievement, it's a process, an integral part of living. // Voices are powerful. It is powerfully healing to hear your own sound. // You can find Autumn and all the good work she does at her website: https://www.soulflowerrising.com and on IG: @soulflowerrising // FREE WORKSHOP! We are worthy of so much more than we give ourselves permission to have. Are you ready to stop holding back and declare your worthiness? Sign up for my FREE 5-day workshop, You Are Worthy, that helps boost self-love and invites you to step into your own innate power. It starts on Monday, February 1st. Sign up at suryagian.com/you-are-worthy // Grab my free resource, 5 Tips on Meditation, to get your new year and your new healing started on a high note! Email: leslieann@suryagian.com // Want to learn more about healing your trauma? Visit https://suryagian.com for more info on Heal to Power, my 8-week course that teaches women writers of color how to heal from the inside out so that they may tell their truths and claim their power. And follow me on Instagram for some real talk about healing AND play: @leslieannhobayan Today’s poems/ Books mentioned: “The body, a tree.” by Hafez “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver "Wild spirit dance" by Autumn Saunders