In reality what I do is not necessarily work. I create a whole lot. I make. I vision. I align. I also plan. Organise. Think. Feel. Communicate and problem Solve. I participate in LIFE.

And, I think you do, too.

For me, personally much of the pressure I experience today in my life has a very internal source. The urge and near constant push of creation, manifesting through me.

And I think that this source of creative inspiration lives within us all.

Yes, there are the, at time uncomfortable (and even sometimes highly uncomfortable) chores and elements of our modern day existence. I even find shopping is part of that, in our case currently having to get in a car – that does feel so unnatural (we have a garden, luckily, too). This stuff may include paperwork, a bunch of formal responsibilities, computer time (or lots and lots of computer time), so many logistics and regular daily life things to take care of constantly, seemingly endlessly.

These aspects are maybe not always the most flow-y parts of my creations, but like the stones of the earth, they do constitute a part of my landscape.

Structures provide foundations, paperwork creates clarity, formal agreements and communications establish ease and stability. Shopping (and in our case gardening, so we are lucky in that we have a garden), provide food.

I can see, the value of all these things, the mundane is as vital as the extraordinary and often a vessel for it.

So, I CREATE.

I have been and am creating a school, so that means so much content, almost entirely made up of my own original material – concepts, methodologies, pathways, videos, audio, courses, outlines, guidelines, frameworks, diagrams, sketches, images, poetry, written and spoken knowledge, as well as curation of the most interesting additional material and ideas, and guest teachers, communication, music, movement, practices, ritual and so much more.

I am also constantly learning in my creations.

Sometimes, I have engaged in all sorts of “work” in the past, each time filled with learning.

Sometimes I felt like I was working a lot, but truthfully I was actually learning a lot.

Often inlays that very much stretched me in all directions.

What if all our creation and participation in life is simply an ebb and flow of our time here on earth? There is nothing inherently better or worse than the other. Neither is “work” our aim and purpose, nor is “play” the opposite of that.

Today I “work” a lot more than ever before. A lot, lot more than in any “job” I would have ever had. A seamless flow of creation with, currently, few pauses. And the purses often create space for more inspiration. More creativity.

Playtime is often integrated into work time, and really, today I’d say that if its one thing that I feel I am aware of is taking necessary breaks from, it is “screen time” as so much of our creation needs some element of the technology world for various steps along the way. My body, eyes and brain prefer time off screen than time on screen and yet its an important tool for our creations at this time.

Playwork – Workplay …

It is ALL part of this one thing.

My life.

And that has never really been any different, in my experience.

I think it is important to remove ourselves from the apparent boxes that society places upon us, which may work for robots, but not for alive, magical, biological human beings.

Yes, we may work. But the content of that “work” may be creation, may be joy, may be suffering, may be numbing, may be alivening, may be challenging, may be limiting, may be awakening. And often, it cadges and shifts, according to our personal processes.

“Work” is not “work”.

So, for now, I am mostly creating.

And the parts of that creation process that feel too much like hard, hard labour, I aim to be constantly in a process of softening the pace, fine tuning the structures, aligning the pathways, allowing for true creativity which is intense, but born of aliveness, mastering communication, relearning, unlearning, awakening. Allowing for leadership that is true and soulful.

Today, I am nourished by the many yesterdays of participation with life in that way.

Countless hours massaging bodies nourish my understanding of human form, nearly as much time dedicated to Cranio Sacral Therapy inform me of the internal pulses of human nature and physiology.

Many exquisite, many still and many wild moments of being present and accompanying at births breathe life into the depths of my awareness and inner knowing, reminding me f the miracle of beginnings.

My years of selling flowers, organic vegetables and fruits at local markets (almost every Saturday morning from age 14 – 21) have gifted me forever smells and stories written in my heart. Close to the origins of things and close to the daily life of so many people. Salt of my earth inside.

The years sewing and designing clothes somehow connect me to ancient songs beyond time and space that tell of the weavers, stitchers and makers of life itself. Threads upon threads that passed through my hands. Reminding me of the value of baby steps. One pearl at a time, stitched upon the wedding gown.

My time assisting the elderly and dying informed me of the realms of age, transition and release. Humbleness was taught in these lessons and classrooms of life.

Many years as a student showed me a lot about learning and education, and what to do differently. Inspiring me.

Running my own clinical practice taught me a lot about patience, love and the pathways of human and feminine healing processes. Lived experience of so many souls.

These are only a handful of examples of my “working life”, is it not simply a path of experiencing the humanness of it all?

Today, in these days when my work is largely dedicated to the creation of this school, The Women School, I can only be thankful for the path that life gifted me.

It was exactly what I needed for these steps, now.

For all of what is possible now has been built on all that was created before, lived, breathed, loved and also – endured.

We ARE the ultimate artists of our own lives.

I know that my personal story also comes from some privileges that I have had. That we are not all given equal opportunities and that this world is NOT fair.

Like plants, if we humans do not have enough water, we flower less, or not at all.

We may encounter ourselves in circumstances that do not allow for creation much.

But I am convinced that our human-ness is essentially a creative expression, and that we are often more powerful creators and creatrixes than we have been led to believe.

I believe that we have deep, creative, life giving and loving potential just waiting to participate with dedication to this miracle called life.

We are born to create.

May we do it aligned with love.

With the planet, our earth.

And with our wisdom. 
For the benefit of all Beings.

“In Yoga of Courage we explore our creative voices in the world”