“Tending Your Spiritual Truth: A Meditation + Writing Workshop”
I was delighted to co-teach a meditation and writing class on telling our spiritual origin stories with my friend and fellow dharma practitioner, Ryan Rose Weaver. This class just felt so good! We led participants to explore how early experiences with the numinous inform our current relationships with spirituality—and why we don’t need to erase parts of ourselves to be “good Buddhists” or anything else, for that matter.
Including all parts of myself in my spirituality was I struggled with as someone who came to Buddhism after practicing land-based Celtic spirituality as an adolescent (I was totally one of those witchy girls in your high school). We discussed how syncretic spiritual traditions have existed throughout history, and how our lived spirituality is often a multiplicity of braided influences rather than a single strand. Through creative writing, guided meditation, discussion, and sharing, we connected with our inner voices to uncover experiences of wonder, awe, and a connection to something greater than ourselves.
You can access the full recording of the class here.
Below is the class description:
Have you ever felt like parts of your spirituality don't fit neatly into one category or tradition? How can we honor our myriad selves and influences without feeling like we're cosplaying a religion or appropriating? How can we be fully ourselves in traditions which we weren't born into? And how can we live out our spiritual expression in a way that is meaningful and transformational to our daily lives?
In this space, you will be supported in creating your own rituals and writing practices to help you understand your spiritual origin story in all of its complexities, nuances, and contradictions.
You'll be guided through writing exercises and discussion that will help you discover your inner resources, understand your spiritual influences, and uncover the spiritual practices that already support you. You'll walk away with a few pages of writing and hopefully, a deeper understanding of your relationship with the numinous.
This event will include:
Introductions + intention-setting
Grounding meditation
Facilitated discussion
Generative writing prompts
The opportunity to share your ideas and hear from other like-minded participants
In this workshop, we aim to support you wherever you are on your spiritual path.
This means that you are welcome if you are:
Interested in exploring “where you come from”--biologically, ancestrally and/or spiritually
Interested in discerning what to keep and what to release regarding inherited traditions and beliefs
A parent or caregiver asking deep questions of themselves about what and how to pass on spiritual beliefs to your children, who needs the space and time to do so
Interested in engaging with new-to-you traditions and rituals in a way that is culturally respectful vs. culturally appropriative
Feeling estranged from your spiritual self lately, and feel the pull to reconnect
Anyone who is longing to connect with a sense of our inherent interwovenness in a world that feels especially divided and sectarian right now
WORKSHOP FACULTY
Ryan Rose Weaver, M.Ed (she/her) is a former journalist, veteran educator, mother and longtime meditator who lives on the ancestral lands of the Nipmuc (Central MA). After surviving the loss of her only sibling, as well as infertility and late pregnancy loss, Ryan came to understand just how important it is to have not just a supportive community and a set of personal coping tools, but a spiritual framework that can help us remain rooted during times of profound change. Though she is descended from some of the first Mormon pioneers to enter Utah, she chose to take her refuge vows as a Buddhist in 2017. In 2024, Ryan founded In Tending, a newsletter and online space where contemplative caregivers can connect with inner clarity, community and the work of collective liberation. Ryan is also proud to offer the merits of her deep apprenticeship to change, birth and death as a support group facilitator, meditation teacher, and 1:1 guide. Learn more about Ryan at ryanroseweaver.substack.com.
Sarah Kokernot (she/her) is a teacher, fiction writer, and essayist who has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for over twenty years. Sarah is passionate about facilitating and guiding others to connect with their innate creativity, joy, and wholeness, especially in times of difficulty and loss. Her writing has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, Tricycle, EPOCH, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crazyhorse, West Branch and other publications. She teaches creative writing as an artist-in-residence at Northwestern University and at StoryStudio Chicago. She is currently revising her first novel and is working on an essay collection on dharma practice and lived experience. Sarah writes about dharma practice, writing for wonder and amazement, and spiritual ecology on her monthly Substack, Your Wild And Radiant Mind (sarahkokernot.substack.com). You can visit Sarah’s website atsarahkokernot.com to read more about her work, teaching, and projects.
