Deepen Your Spiritual Practice Through the Dharma of Poetry
How can poetry open up new ways of thinking, feeling, and being in the world? Author, teacher, and poet John Brehm shares how we can enter a poem, allowing its power to be a gateway to experience a deeper sense of wonder and mystery.
John Brehm is the author of several books of poetry, and editor of the anthology The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy. His most recent book is a collection of essays, The Dharma of Poetry, which we will be discussing today. His poems have appeared in numerous publications including Poetry, The Writer’s Almanac, Poetry Daily, The Best American Poetry, The Norton Introduction to Literature, and many other journals and anthologies. John teaches for Mountain Writers Series in Portland, Oregon, and for The Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, Colorado. He offers a monthly Poetry as Spiritual Practice gathering and with his wife, Alice Boyd, leads mindfulness retreats that incorporate Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons, guided meditations, and mindful poetry discussions. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
WEBSITE: JohnBrehmPoet.com
GUEST COMMENTS: Thank you so much, Laurel, for having me on the show and being such a wonderful host. I felt such a nice connection with you and so appreciated all your questions, as well as the calm presence you brought to our conversation. You made it easy to go deep into the poems. It was a real pleasure and I'm extremely grateful. I know it will bring attention to poetry as spiritual practice.
YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: As a person who is not really into poetry but would like to be, this conversation has helped open up a new appreciation for me. John Brehm says we can let go of analyzing a poem and what it means, which is the traditional way poetry is taught and just listen, experience and appreciate the poem. I appreciated how he said that poetry has become his spiritual practice. He said "Reading, writing and teaching about poetry are deeply spiritual for me. It has always felt like a way to get closer to the sacred. It gives me a sense of being in the universe in a way that is awake, alive and aware." It was beautiful to hear Laurel read some of the poems to John as well as offering him opportunities to read. His inclusion of poems from many different authors illustrates the concepts that he wants to share. The discussion of James Wright's poem The Blessing as well as Denise Levertov's poem Aware deeply moved me and inspired me to see and read poetry in a new way. Laurel’s inclusion of Yogacharya O’Brian’s poem, Someone Left the Door Open from her book The Moon Reminded Me, at the beginning of the program beautifully set the stage for the rest of the conversation. Thank you for bringing John Brehm to us.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: What a joy it was to have John Brehm on the show to talk about poetry and his lovely lovely book The Dharma of Poetry. I loved sharing some poems with our listeners and talking about how poems can be spiritual teachers, with lessons like: “pay attention; walk through the world with reverence and wonder; look closely at extraordinary experiences and even more closely at “ordinary" ones”. I also loved the idea that poems, which are written through the heightened awareness of the poet, can call forth that same heightened awareness from within us. We gave some great examples of how poetry can deepen one’s spiritual practice which I hope were inspirational to our listeners.