Many of you are already engaged in learning, doing, and expanding your creative lives through writing, yoga, painting, photography and more. Some of you are exploring your creativity independently and others are taking courses or workshops locally or attending regional or national conferences or pursuing your creative lives professionally.
Why would someone consider coming to Oaxaca to pursue what can be done at home?
We talked about this during the women’s writing and yoga retreat. There was overwhelming agreement that the travel experience feeds the mind and soul and is as important as having the quiet writing time. While the writing work needs to be alone and solitary, the richness of cultural immersion feeds the creative process. So, for example, our writing program is not a “retreat” in the traditional sense of the word where one goes away in the woods in isolation to write without interruption. It is more of a ground-breaking exploration to gain support, specific feedback and inspiration. The sense of place is always an important aspect as we stretch to discover what we are capable of achieving.
In Oaxaca, water is scarce. Drink water: the earth and I are thirsty.
Each moment is a new beginning. I am a beginner of everything.
Fireworks punctuate every ceremony in Teotitlan del Valle. The blue sky is infected with fireworks.
The village water source, a dam in the foothills at the end of the hiking trail, was also an inspiration. The water held sunlight and gave it back.
On the second day, we moved from yoga to silence through breakfast almost as a cleansing to begin the writing day fresh.
