What we are here for

As a child I was very shy preferring to engage in a world taken in through the eyes and felt with the heart rather than understanding intellectually. I was brought up in the era where it was promulgated that "children should be seen not heard" and for many years I aimed to be pretty invisible.


Over the years I grew in myself and learned how to be seen more and more and gradually heard too. I realise that it has taken me a long time not only to be seen and heard but also to feel comfortable with that. Much of the necessary inner transformation has been due to self reflection, counselling, yoga, teaching, voicework and facilitating workshops to empower others to find their voice and negotiate themselves into yoga postures. This posturing can be thought of as positioning, positioning in one's mind, positioning oneself in life, seeing where we are. I have also done various forms of active meditation, learning to be free in my body and use the space around me to move creatively and become clearer.


All this clearing enables the creativity to flow and although I have written poetry since childhood I now feel as though I am finding my voice and allowing the words to flow through me and onto the page; first thoughts, first words, uninterrupted, uncensored, true. Over the summer I have been writing more poetry. This has in part been encouraged by someone having told me that they love my poetry and would like to collaborate with me creatively. I hadn't really shared my poetry much before through reading it to others, although it is on my website and mspace page, and so have not previously received much comment on it.


And so then began the process of talking about performing and realising that I needed to practise. This summer I have also been "feeding the creative well " more and attending various exhibitions and private views of some artist friends and for this I am grateful to have been included and given an opportunity to engage with other creative people and their work. Through talking to other creative people (and we are all creative beings are we not?) about what I do and allowing myself to "talk myself up" which involves recognising first for myself where I am and what I'm capable of and describing that work in an honest way. This too is a learning processs for we British are so ingrained in the saying "don't blow your own trumpet" . Well who else is going to blow it? And surely if we speak accurately and humbly then it is not arrogance but truth that we speak?


So the other night, for the first time in years, I read out my poetry at a performance evening in an art gallery. It was daunting at first but then on looking around the room I realised that people were engaging with the poems and I began to enjoy the experience, letting go of the internal judge and performing the reading with the emphasis and timing that the poems deserved. In this way people could really connect with the words and the feelings I was conveying and touch into their own experience to find their own meaning. A validating experience for all concerned. 

So here I am, finding my rightful place in the world (or perhaps one of them) and enjoying the moment!! And just to give you a flavour, here's a poem to go with it.


Truly Seeing
Space expanding
time slows down
mysteriously dissolving form into the ether

How many moments indulgently enjoying

the exchange of those spangled beams of light
homed in, locked on
your eyes on mine
my eyes on yours
No thoughts
just being
truly seeing.
(c) 2009 Narayani L Guibarra

Herding and hunting

I remember once reading about a guy whose idea of heaven was to be sitting down to dinner with friends, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends included and everyone getting on with one another.

Well for him I think the emphasis was on the notion of the ex-girlfriends and perhaps present girlfriend getting on together as a group. Essentially simply a group of friends.

Yesterday I was so blessed. Several of my friends some of whom I have known for several years, one or two others who I’ve very recently met and a couple more inbetween, came over to my place for a barbeque in the back garden. From what I could tell everyone seemed to be getting on with one another.

Curiously the males of the group had all positioned themselves on one side of the table leaving the remaining seats for the females. Tribal instinct? Innate herding tendency? The females were certainly curious. Birds of a feather? If so what type of bird one wonders. On being questioned about this male togetherness one of the three explained that it was do with having the “wall” of the garden fence, trees and shrubs behind their backs so that they could survey the scene. Aah, thought we five females, to gaze upon the female form peut etre? No, he informed us, to keep a watchful eye on the food!!

Perhaps a little disappointing for us gals to be put second to the food. But that was just one point of view. Was that the majority opinion one wonders. I suppose though it just symbolises the tribal instinct where survival is foremost. The guys could see what predators might be present and from what angle such menace might approach. What or who could the predators be? I can only guess that us girls were what the guys were protecting the food from. I have to say I was left feeling a little miffed but absolutely had to laugh. And hey, that’s primal instincts for you, you just can’t predict or control them and I guess that’s the beauty of having a bunch of different people round for a social gathering – you can just never tell how its going to turn out!

joy with the juice of life

Having returned from a week in sunny Egypt to an absolute climate shock of snow as we got off the plane it has taken me a while to adjust to being back in Blightey.

However, just the other day I delighted in finding this joyful flower carefully hidden in an orange. It inspired me to take a photo of it - 'see my beauty and rejoice in my juice' it silently whispered - which is exactly what I did - its sweetness mixing beautifully with carrot and apple juice - a sacrifice well worth its short lived life.

It is these small things that can spur us on in our creative and spiritual lives. Just smiling to this juicy flower I thank it for its simple beauty and for the moments of wonder that I enjoyed. It helped me at a time when I actually was not feeling too well and gave me its goodness whole heartedly.

Now I have the energy to promulgate my work, not the least of which is a week in the sunny Charente in France late in June this year, really looking forward to it - a week of sun, yoga and relaxation and perhaps a massage treatment or two thrown in - bliss!!

the joy of new things

Part of being a creative person is to notice with wonder the many small things in life that are wonderful. Here for example is a wonderful design on the back of a new frying pan, beautiful silver segments forming an almost labyrinthical (yes, and create new words too if necessary) design absorbing the colours of its surroundings and reflecting that beauty back out to the viewer.

Alternatively just look inside your coffee cup, best if its the frothy kind or even a hot chocolate and see, when you've finished drinking your chosen hot (or cold) beverage, what the froth, or chocolate, has left behind. There can be all kinds of shapes, symbols, letters even. I do enjoy observing these shapes and though I have trained my eye to see images that perhaps my friends cannot, I do not consider myself to be a professional coffee/ chocolate reader who will assign meaning to the shapes seen in the cup.

Here's the wonderful chocolate picture from today's hot chocolate. At the top there is a lovely heart shape. To the right of this is a suggestion of a paint brush. Below the heart is a smaller heart and then below this can be seen the suggestion of a standing figure rising up out of a crescent chocolate moon where other mysterious figures reside, man or beast who's to say. What can you see?

Anyway, I offer this is a simple suggestion as a playful means of bringing creative observation and fun into your life. Enjoy!! Who knows what you might find in there ...