"Let's Grow Some Love" Breathe/Read/Write Circle

“Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace.… If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” Martin Luther King, quoted by bell hooks in "Toward A Worldwide Culture of Love."

As hooks puts it, "[t]he practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination."

In this Breathe/Read/Write Valentine's Day event, we play and work with the power of love:

step one ~ the personal ad as jumpoff point

step two ~ the ground of self love

step three ~ the wide open sky of love for other, love for the world

optional step four ~ casual conversation, sharing in Zoom from 5:30 to 6 pm ET

FOR NEWCOMERS, WHAT IS BREATHE/READ/WRITE?

Breathe/Read/Write welcomes everyone.

In BRW circles, we combine short periods of meditation with timed free-writes off a prompt. Lisa Freedman facilitates the breathing, the writing, the sharing, and the responding. You can relax and write.

To sit with Lisa and quiet down, then write, is a great feeling....no one knows what will surface, and the sharing is such a relief from the noise of daily nothings. Highly recommended for poets and for all those who feel. Pamela Brown

No meditation or writing experience required. And the free-writing is free, as in wide open, no need to be correct or logical. Just let the pen move non-stop. This opens space to express the vastness of your unfettered mind.

After each round of meditating and free-writing, everyone has the option to read what they’ve written. We listen deeply to one another and briefly reflect back (without evaluation or criticism) what stands out. This is where the BRW magic happens. As June F. says, strangers become family.

The Let's Grow Some Love BRW happens in Zoom. The "official" program lasts last two hours (3:30 to 5:30 pm ET) and includes three cycles of meditating, free-writing, sharing, and responding. With larger groups, zoom breakout rooms give everyone a chance to be heard and get encouraging responses.

The optional casual conversation goes until 6 pm ET.

"It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and reactive these days. Every time we guide our wandering minds back to the breath, we offer ourselves a fresh start. Every time we meditate and then pick up our pens to write in response to a poem, we are in a realm of unlimited possibilities."

Event Venue

Online